One Year LaterThe light from the sign towering a few feet above us highlights our location on the Vegas strip. It isn't the town that brought us together, but it's close enough. Vegas is where I was headed when my car got stranded on the road one year ago and I met Lukis, the man who changed my life. It's also the first place we stopped once we hightailed it away from the Last Chance Motel. I figured he'd drop me off once we hit civilization and tell me good luck, but here we are, still together.Elvis says something, his top lip curling higher on his face, and I chuckle. Who knew Lukis, of all people in the entire world, would want to be married by Elvis. And who in their right mind would've thought I'd agree to it?The last year has been full of surprises. We traveled the world together... Well not the world, but the continental United States. Everywhere his Jeep could take us. Most of the time, Lukis makes me sit in the motel room while he does spy things. It's not as cool as
VOLUME SIX: BIGGEST RISKThe door is forcibly pushed open, the sharp wooden corner jabbing into my naked foot. I step back, fear overpowering my senses. "You guys aren't from the cable company. Are you?"The tall one pushes the door again, forcing his way into my living room. "Winnie, didn't your mama teach you never to open the door to strangers?" he asks with a sneer, allowing another tall equally mean-looking man inside behind him.My mother did teach me not to open the door for strangers or talk to them either. The problem is that I've always had a problem listening to what my mother tells me to do.With the door open, I spot my escape and turn, ready to run out into the apartment hallway. The first man, big Blondie because of his blond hair, grabs me from behind and twist my arm."Shut the door," he says and his friend is quick to listen. "I'll handle her. You search the place.""Look, I don't know what this is about, but I'm pretty sure you have the wrong person." I h
Knuckles rap against my wooden door and I drop the book I'd been trying unsuccessfully to read the last two hours. My heart immediately accelerates. The last time I opened my door to a knock it wasn't good news. Quietly, so as not to let anyone figure out I'm here, I ninja-walk my way to the living room. My apartment is not that large, so it doesn't take long.Whoever installed the peep hole in this door was ridiculously tall so I stand on my tiptoes to peek out. The view that greets me stops my breath. On the other side, standing with his cowboy hat to the side of his head in a way I've started to think I'd only imagined, stands my savior. I didn't know if he would come and I'm not sure if he can help, but I've never been so glad to see someone as I am to see Huxley Weiss right this moment.No longer worried about who's standing in my hallway, I throw open the door with abandon."Huxley," the words are breathless as I grab onto his elbow and pull him into my apartment. I don't w
The egg cracks on the side of the pan and a piece of the shell falls into the gloop."Mother fucker." The four prongs dig at the side of the nonstick coating probably releasing a ton of toxins into our food as I scrape at the quickly cooking eggs to get the piece out. Maybe Huxley will consider it extra protein?I'm not normally so bad in the kitchen, but when you spend a night in bed with someone it can make the morning tense. I mean I slept with a cowboy last night. It's an easy fantasy for any woman. Hell, it's my fantasy.Okay, we didn't sleep together, but we did sleep together. And that's enough to fret on a girl. As the sun started to set and Huxley and I looked at one another, each of us wondering what came next, I tried to play it cool and offered him a spot on the couch for the night.He took one glance at my rose covered couch — a hand-me-down from Tabitha — and said, "Nope." Then, just like that, he stripped down to his boxers and slipped into my bed.I wasn't abo
"You don't understand," Blondie stutters over his words, cutting Huxley off. "She doesn't accept failure.""We'll consider this a learning opportunity. Or if you're really that scared of a woman," the way Huxley says woman like we couldn't be scary is a bit irritating, "then pretend his trail led you to the Southwest. I don't care where, as long as it's far away from here."I've pressed my body so close to the side of the wall to hear better I lose my footing as my socks slide against the tile floor and I'm forced to reach around and hold on to the wall so I don't fall. When I regain my balance, I stay hidden on the side, hopeful Huxley didn't notice."And you can come out now, Winnie," he calls.Busted."You're also going to apologize for making Winnie cry." Huxley wraps me up in a big side hug, pulling me close to his body in the middle of the living room. The black gun is still held firmly in his other hand and pointed at the blond giant.My dress gets caught around my k
"That's your work uniform?" Huxley leans against the door jamb staring wide-eyed as I zip up my tall black leather boots. They're my favorite and tonight I need the comfort of the old beloved boots I picked up at a Ross store three years ago.The leather footwear come nearly to my knee and you would think the tall black leather would be difficult to wear, but they're the opposite. These boots are the most comfortable shoes I own. I could walk all day in them. When you're a club promoter and work till three o'clock in the morning, comfort is an important feature."Yeah, don't you like them?" I ask, standing from the bed.Huxley rubs the pad of his thumb against his jaw. "This is not what I pictured when you said you had to get ready for work."I shrug. There's only four or so inches of exposed skin from the top of my boots to the bottom of the black miniskirt. Add in the baby pink polo I made Noah order when I accepted the part-time position at his club and I'm more covered than
"Aren't you exhausted?" Huxley asks around his own yawn.I widen my eyes, not having to fake being awake this morning. "Nope. You're getting old," I quip, grabbing the purse I left over the back of the kitchen chair last night.Or, well, this morning since we didn't get home until two. I'm not required to stay until the club closes since most of the action usually winds down between midnight and one. But last night's group was rough and with only one bouncer at the door after midnight I didn't want to leave them shorthanded. It's a lot easier to see and stop a fight before it even starts with my vantage point mixed in the crowd.Plus, last night was one of my best nights of sleep ever. The first few nights Huxley was here, I lay beside him in bed tossing and turning, unable to get any sleep. My head was full of thoughts. Who is looking for Archer? What does Huxley think of me? Will the guys come back again? What did they mean when they said Archer was in Pelican Bay? Why wasn't H
"This church is better. Trust me," I say turning onto the long road that leads to the older section of Pelican Bay. "This is the church I went to as a kid. It's where all my best church memories happened."It's tiny, the same design as an old one-room schoolhouse but featuring a bell tower on top. It doesn't fit many people, and that's okay because not many people go to it. There isn't a nursery for the children and they don't do specialized classes. You go in, sit down, get a sermon, and go home. It's exactly my kind of church.My promise to God I'd attend church more may have taken place in a small airplane over the ocean while I thought I'd die, but that doesn't mean I plan to default on the agreement.Two weeks ago, the sermon was about old friends and being there for them even when they go through hard times, it doesn't seem odd to me that Huxley is here now — even if the circumstances aren't great. God, faith, mother nature, whatever you want to call it, the forces brought