Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 60018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60018 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
She couldn’t hold back her smile. “I can think of a few things.”
Next thing she knew, he was inside her again and nothing around her existed or mattered but Remy.
* * *
That night, Remy was on high alert at the coffee shop. He still couldn’t believe how the little minx had gone about convincing him to take her.
His gaze darted from the entrance around to every corner of the room. No Lance.
Though she’d come to his apartment with the clothes on her back, Remy had gone upstairs to her place one night while she was busy at the bar, and packed up clothing and personal items to bring home. He thought surrounding her with her own things would help ease her anxiety. Raven was grateful but to his surprise, she’d also ordered items online that were more like his sister’s taste and tonight’s outfit was a new version of Fallon’s boho look.
Raven dressed in a new flowy skirt, this one a bright orange, leggings to keep her skin warm underneath, a navy sweater with open shoulders and a pair of white Chucks.
He had the sense she was coming into her own without realizing it and her need to be there for the young girl she’d mentioned was the deciding factor for Remy in agreeing to come tonight. He couldn’t be the reason she let the girl down.
He leaned against a wall at the coffee shop, drink in one hand. He’d chosen a spot with a good vantage point to look around and one with a direct view of the entrance. Raven had promised to stick close and let the people she knew drift toward her to say hello instead of him having to scope her out as she moved around the crowded room.
Since this wasn’t his first time there, familiar faces said hi to him and he nodded or smiled back. Remy wasn’t an antisocial guy but he had an important focus tonight and he didn’t want to be distracted because he was deep in conversation.
Raven was more jittery this evening than last Sunday, which surprised him since she wasn’t going onstage. She bounced lightly on her Chucks, looking around.
“If you see him, all you need to do is tell me. He won’t get near you. Not with me around,” he assured her.
She tilted her head up to meet his gaze. “I’m not worried about Lance. Angel isn’t here and I hope she didn’t decide to blow the night off.”
He couldn’t control the warmth filling his chest at her response, nor did he want to. She was everything warm and giving and the deeper she let him in, the more he liked what he saw.
“I’m sure Angel will show up.” He hoped he was right because he had a feeling Raven would be devastated if she didn’t. “Do you have any way to reach her?” he asked.
Raven shook her head. “She never gave me her number.”
“Raven.” A young guy wearing a beanie with long hair walked up to her and engaged her in conversation, which gave Remy a chance to look around. To see if there was any sign of Lance.
The early, mingling part of the evening continued in the same way, with Raven worrying about her friend and Remy’s concern more focused on her brother. And he wasn’t talking about Caleb.
“She’s here!” Raven exclaimed in an excited voice. She took two steps away from him and he grasped her elbow, preventing her from leaving.
“Let her come to you, remember?”
His gut told him it was time for Lance to make a move. The bastard had broken in through her bedroom window, and had obviously been tailing her as she went to dinner with Caleb, and then at the last poetry slam. Lance would be dying to step things up again, scare her and receive an adrenaline rush-filled jolt of satisfaction, knowing he’d gotten to her.
“You made it!” Raven exclaimed, relief filling her eyes.
“I’m so sorry I’m late,” a young girl with long blonde hair said as she rushed over. She pulled a hat off her head and tucked it into a worn tote bag. “My train stopped and I had to wait until it got moving again.” She panted, out of breath.
“Relax,” Raven said, touching Angel’s shoulder. “It hasn’t even started yet.”
Nodding, she rubbed her obviously cold hands together. After a few minutes, she removed her jacket and placed it on a chair near where Raven and Remy had put theirs.
The owner, who Remy recognized, stepped up to the mike and the night began. He listened to the poems with half an ear and kept an eye on the door at the same time.
“I’m ready. I can do this,” Angel said to Raven, who still stood beside her.
Raven smiled wide. “You can. Now go knock ’em dead.”
“Come with me!” The young girl grabbed her hand and pulled.