She shuts the door behind her and paces from one side to the other, and the only reason I don’t try to follow or listen in is because she remains in sight.
Although tense and serious, she shows no sign of duress, so I give her space even after she ends the call and turns to stare out into the sunset.The wind teases her hair and billows her dress.
She’s a voluptuous goddess worthy of all my praise and adoration.Hunger and awe steal my breath.
I can’t wait to spend forever with her.
She turns and strides back inside with determination in her gaze.
“I need to visit my dad for a few days,” she announces.
“Do you want me to go with you?”I ask.
“No, I just… it’s a little complicated, so I’ll be gone for a few days, but it’s nothing I can’t handle on my own,” she says.
Despite her bravado, jumbled emotions lurk in her eyes, so I reach for my phone.
“I’ll cancel my—”
“Don’t you dare,” she scolds.
I close my fist around my phone and meet the challenge in her gaze.After losing our staring contest, she rolls her eyes, huffs, and wedges her hips between my legs.I lean back when she pushes on my shoulders.“I know you have several important projects underway.Focus on those and I’ll be back before you notice I’m gone,” she insists.
I lose the war when she straddles my lap and kisses me with all the heat of the sun.She shreds my control and shoves me into a fever pitch until we’re so desperate for each other we both forget how to breathe.
I notice she’s gone before she even walks out of the apartment, her distraction apparent as she tosses a few outfits in a luggage bag and shoves her purse inside her work bag.Her sweet goodbye haunts me every second of every day while she’s gone.
Even though we text almost nonstop, I jump her when she returns.Her lovemaking assures me our time apart meant nothing, but I can’t shake the feeling something is wrong.
When she changes the location for our lunch meeting a few days later less than thirty minutes before our date, I push my suspicions aside and rush to the corner bistro.
A red haze slips over my vision when I see my cupcake flirting with another man.
It doesn’t matter who he is.He’s dead.
Karey Justice is mine.
Chapter 13
Karey Justice
“Damn, girl, that new apartmentlooks good on you.Couldn’t you at least have pretended to miss Matthew just a little?”Fabio exclaims.
I chuckle and roll my eyes despite the guilt spearing through me for not telling them about Brad.
Fabio is being way too nice, like always.Sure, my skin is glowing because living with Declan is beyond perfect, but a familiar ache plagues my abdomen.I didn’t bleed my last three cycles, which is normal for me despite taking my pill like clockwork, so this cycle will most likely wipe me out for an extended number of days, but I’ll power through with a cheery smile like always.
“Sorry, Fabio.So much has happened since I moved out,” I answer with an exaggerated eyelash batting.
Fabio rolls his eyes with a smile.
“Alright, I can take the hint.I’ll give you two sweeties time to catch up without me interrupting like a savage.”He turns to Matthew and pecks him on the forehead before skipping toward the bathroom.
The blush on my best friend’s face looks good on him.
“You aren’t looking too bad yourself, are you, Matthew?Fabio is taking amazing care of you, I see,” I half joke, half mock reprimand.
“He is,” my best friend says with a dreamy smile.