Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 131728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 659(@200wpm)___ 527(@250wpm)___ 439(@300wpm)
If I buy it, then it will put me back another week with my renovations.
New lamps or a possible night with Henley James . . . hmm.
It’s a tough decision.
Lamps . . . Henley . . . lamps . . . Henley.
I twist my lips as I stare at my reflection.
Fuck it. You only live once. “I’ll take it.”
Saturday afternoon and I am rushing around like a madwoman. Chloe is coming over to stay with Barry after she finishes work. I have my bag packed and ready to roll. We are checking into the hotel early and getting ready there. My nerves are at an all-time high. My phone rings.
Henley
Why is he calling me? Don’t tell me he’s canceling. “Hello?”
“Hi.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Are you ready?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Any chance you could sneak over here?”
“What?”
“If Carol sees me pick you up, we will never hear the end of it. But if you sneak over here, she will be none the wiser.”
“Um.” I think for a moment. “Yeah, okay. But I have my overnight bag.”
“Throw it over the back fence.”
“You want me to climb the fence?” I gasp.
“Can you?”
“No.”
“Too high? I thought you were an elite athlete.”
“I am, and boxing is my specialty, Henley.”
He chuckles. “Okay, throw your bag over the back fence, and then sneak around to the front.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes. Trust me on this. Neighborhood watch is alive and well.”
“We went out two weeks ago, and she didn’t see us.”
“She was out when we went to the wedding.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I asked her what she was doing the day before.”
I roll my eyes. “Fine, come out back now.” I hang up and take my bag out to the backyard, and Henley’s arm comes over. I pass my bag over to him.
“Fuck, what have you got in here? It weighs a ton.”
“A body bag,” I whisper. “To dispose of the evidence.”
“What evidence would that be?”
“A body.”
“Mine?”
“Who else’s would it be?”
“I told you not to get any ideas,” he replies. “Now sneak around to the front.”
“Yes.”
“Are you coming now?”
“Yes.”
“Hurry up.”
“Henley,” I snap. “Shut up.”
I go inside and lock my house up. Then I walk out the back door and around to the side gate. I look left and right, and I slip behind the bushes and sneak into Henley’s yard.
Hmm, not bad. Stealth mode at its very best. Those bushes come in handy.
I run around to his backyard and slip through the side gate. Voilà . . . I did it.
I’m in.
Henley is waiting at the back door. “Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in.” He smirks.
“Reason five hundred why I bought a body bag,” I mutter as I walk past him.
And suddenly, I’m inside his house, his personal space. My eyes look around in awe. It’s modern, gorgeous, and totally spotless. It sort of has a European feel: lots of marble and white walls. Textured furnishings and abstract art.
“Wow.” I smile as I look around. “Henley, it’s beautiful.”
“Thanks.” His eyes linger on my face, and I get the feeling he wants to say something else.
It’s there between us; the electric current is back. It’s actually more like lightning, but whatever.
Butterflies flutter in my stomach. “What have you got in store for me tonight?”
“Lots of things.”
And I already know from the look in his eye what lots of things means.
At least I hope I do.
“Let’s get there and get ready,” he says. “We can have a cocktail or two before we have to go.”
I smile. “Sounds like a plan.”
He leads me out to his garage, and he unlocks his Range Rover.
We climb into the car, and the garage door begins to go up. He begins to reverse.
“Fuck, duck down,” he splutters.
“What?”
“Carol and Taryn are out front. Get down.”
I put my head between my knees. “Aah, they’re going to see me.”
“They won’t.” He pulls out at high speed. “Keep down.”
I actually wish Taryn would see me. That would teach her show-off, hot, roller-skating ass.
Henley pulls out and, with a quick wave to the neighborhood watch program, speeds past them. “Stay down,” he tells me.
I’m crumpled up in a ball. “Are we past them yet?”
“Stay down.” He grabs the back of my head and pushes me farther down.
“Aah.” I swat his hand away. “You’ll break me in half.”
“Not yet,” he mutters under his breath as he drives.
“What did you say?” I sit up.
“Nothing.”
But I heard him, and I roll my lips to hide my smile.
Please.
We drive along in silence for a while. My mind is running at a million miles per minute.
I have a plan, and I know it’s not a smart one.
But it’s a plan.
I want to get to know Henley better, and he’s afraid of commitment. I’m thinking that if I can just create a safe space for us to get to know each other . . . Without the pressure of expectation, who knows what may happen?