Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 19985 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 100(@200wpm)___ 80(@250wpm)___ 67(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19985 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 100(@200wpm)___ 80(@250wpm)___ 67(@300wpm)
Avery.
I almost bit her head off when she handed me that coffee. In my line of work, random people coming up to you and asking you personal questions isn’t a good thing.
I wanted to tell her to leave and never come back. Not because I didn’t like her being there but because I liked it too much. Because for the few minutes we spoke, I forgot about blueprints, the vault, and the ten-minute window to escape.
She cut through my walls with ease, like she was cracking a vault. And that thrills me, but it also scares me.
I roll up the blueprints, say goodbye to the boys, and drive off. I drive home in silence, but my thoughts aren’t quiet. It hasn’t been quiet since she sat down in the chair in front of me. I think hard about my future. Where it could go. What it could be. And then, I make a decision.
Not a big one. Nothing dramatic. Just a quiet shift inside on how I do things.
This will be my last job. After the bank, I’m done. Out. Over ten years without a bust, and I’m walking away while I still can.
Danny and Marco have it right. A life isn’t a life if there’s no one in it. It’s just a schedule. One job to the next. Fake IDs and empty houses. Nothing real.
I don’t want an exit strategy anymore. What I want is a reason to stay.
Two days later, I go to the bookstore at noon. I’ve been up since four a.m., thinking about her long legs, the curve of her neck, and the way she said I’m not most people.
That’s for sure.
I park and wait, watching the shop door, checking my mirrors and entrances to the lot. Old habits die hard. Three minutes later, she comes out.
Hair down, wearing a patterned yellow sundress, and carrying a canvas bag over her shoulder. She’s beauty incarnate. Despite my self-control, blood starts rushing between my legs, awakening desires I’ve managed to suppress for a long time.
A thought strikes me like a blade. I don’t even know how old she is. She’s definitely young—far younger than me. I can never tell with girls in her age bracket, but she’d better be over eighteen because those curves have got my heart pounding.
She stops and glances around like she’s looking for someone. Me maybe?
I stick my arm out the window and wave. She spots me, and the brightest smile crosses her face, causing me to warm inside. My blood pumps faster as she skips over to the car. She’s not wearing a bra, which only makes me want to get her in the backseat and lift the hem of that dress up all the way…
No. Calm down.
I’m losing it. My edge. The thing that keeps me free.
I should honestly stay away from this girl. Just put the car in drive right now and speed away. Never see her again.
But I can’t. Not with her. She’s got a hold on me, and it’s only getting stronger.
“Chris,” she says, coming up to my window. “I wasn’t sure you’d actually come.”
“Get in,” I tell her before I change my mind. “I’m taking you to lunch. Wherever you want to go.”
“Really?” she asks, beaming like the sun.
“Yup. Just one thing. You’re eighteen, aren’t you?”
She blushes instantly, does this cute little thing with her arms, crossing them over her stomach as she looks down. She twists her hips, causing her dress to lift ever so slightly, giving me a glimpse of the soft skin just above her knees.
“I know I look young,” she says softly. “But I’m eighteen. You want to see my ID?”
“No. I trust you. Now get in the car.”
She nearly hops out of her shoes as she skips around the front of the car and climbs in beside me. What have I done in my life to be worthy of such a woman? Simply sharing her company is a gift I don’t deserve.
She shouldn’t even be here with a guy like me. Her friend spotted who I am instantly and rightfully tried to pull her away. But Avery saw something in me—something I’ve never even seen in myself. Something that makes her feel safe to go out with me.
And when she looks at me, there’s a thrill in her eyes that I recognize because I’m feeling it too.
“So you’re buying?” she teases.
I nod. “I’m buying.”
Without thinking, I place my hand on her knee as I pull out of the parking lot. The contact sends a pulse of impossible desire through me that almost hurts, causing more of my blood to rush south.
She doesn’t move my hand. In fact, she blushes harder and lets her hair fall over her face in an attempt to hide it. Such an innocent spirit. The opposite of who I am.