AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Is that really necessary? It was just some flowers, probably from some weirdo who had read my books from what I can tell. No need to go overboard,” I told the group.
Summer touched my arm and when I glanced at her, she had a serious look on her face. “Why do you think it is someone reading your books?” she asked. Then before I could think about what to say to try and de-escalate the conversation, Jurnee jumped in.
“You are not going to the book signing next week alone!” she said loudly.
Then Landon’s voice, strong and demanding, along with holding no room for question, boomed loudly for everyone to hear.
“Oh, she won’t be alone. You can bet every damn dollar I have on that!”
Well fuck, that was a lot of goddamn money. How was I getting out of that?
ChapterSix
LANDON
Speeding down the dark,empty, scenic highway toward the coast a little too fast, my mind raced with the events of the day and what had happened over the last few hours. I needed this drive to think.
When I first saw the flowers, jealousy reared its ugly head. But then when I read the note and watched a terrified Alley, who usually showed very little emotion at all over the last few years unless it had to do with one of her two best friends, drop the vase full of red roses, I saw red.
Anger ripped through my body and the protectiveness that was always there for her since the first day I had met her, swam like acid through my veins.
Nobody was going to lay a fucking hand on my lady.
ChapterSeven
ALLEY
The puffy,white clouds and the baby blue sky went by fast as I took in the view from my seat by the plane's window.
And although it was beautiful and the flight to Vegas short, it still felt way too long when I was hyper-aware of the man sitting a few rows behind me the whole time. I felt his eyes practically burning a hole in the back of my head as he watched me close, his gaze never straying.
I couldn’t believe that Landon bought a ticket and was going to the signing like a guard dog, or that my brother and best friends had gone along with his plan.
I was tempted to disown them all.
The small jolt as the wheel of the plane touched down on the runway and the pilot's radio crackled just before he welcomed us to Vegas and thanked us for flying with him pulled me out of that last thought.
Determined to have a good time, even if I didn’t know what the hell I was going to do with the personal bodyguard behind me, I pasted on a smile and focused my brain on what I had come here for.
I was here to celebrate my writing, meet fans, and have a fantastic time hanging out with J.E. Parker, who I was meeting in person for the first time.
And now thanks to the well-dressed protector who tagged along, I saw a lot more alcohol in my future on this trip. With him around I needed it, or I just might find myself asking her to help me bury a dead body in the Mojave Desert. Something I knew her husband surely wouldn’t appreciate.
That wouldn’t really happen, but my brain never stopped creating plots for stories and Lord knew Landon and I had one helluva story to be told. Only my lips were sealed on that one.
“Miss,” I heard a woman’s voice say as I felt a tap on my shoulder. “You can exit the plane now.”
Well shit, I’d been off in La La Land and was holding things up. Unbuckling my belt, I rose to my feet and grabbed my carry-on from the overhead compartment.
“Need some help with that?” a familiar and very sexy masculine voice asked. I wondered where the hell my game face was at that moment. Heart beating furiously, I was sure my lust-stricken expression had given me away for a minute. With a huff, I turned trying to look unaffected by Landon, but the smirk on his face told me I was not pulling one over on him.
“No. I am perfectly fine on my own,” I announced, sharply. Then, putting the strap of my bag on my right shoulder, I turned my back on him and headed off the plane.
Thing was, Landon was staying in the same hotel as I was and had bought VIP tickets to the signing, so I didn’t think I was going to have much luck avoiding him at all, but I was going to try.
One weekend, that was all it was.
I can do this.
