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“Everything good?” I asked as I opened the door and removed the sign.
“It is what it is,” he said in lieu of giving me a straight answer. “Got a crew heading in,” he added, making a beeline for the range.
Lana almost barreled into him on her way out.
“I have to go get the kids!” she said. Too loud. Too chipper.
But if Amos noticed anything off about it, he said nothing.
I had to push open the door for the group of guys who had been suckered by Kit and Layna, so I wasn’t paying attention.
Not until she was rushing out the door, and I turned to see she’d left the cash and gun on the counter.
I had this sinking fucking feeling that I wasn’t going to get another chance with her.
CHAPTER NINE
Lana
What the ever-loving hell was wrong with me?
Sleep deprivation.
It had to be that.
Because nothing else made sense.
I’d made a deal with myself weeks ago that I was not, under any circumstances, going to get involved with Seth.
First, because he was my landlord. Hell, that was reason enough. I still hadn’t filled out any official paperwork, either. Which was okay with me. But it also removed that level of protection that came with official leasing documentation. Like preventing Seth from kicking me out completely out of the blue without warning or time to prepare. Which could happen if things got messy.
I didn’t genuinely think he was that kind of guy. If for no other reason than his father would kill him for it. But, still. You never knew. I’d learned a long time ago that sometimes first and second and third impressions were just an act, just a clever disguise to entrap you before the real person showed their ugly face.
But if that wasn’t enough, there was the fact that he was also the owner of the only range in a fifty-mile radius.
I didn’t have the time to travel to different ranges with the kids at Miss Patricia’s. I didn’t like leaving them there, period. Let alone for an extended period of time.
What’s done was done, though.
I mean, it had just been the perfect storm.
Weeks of pent-up frustration thanks to his frequent shirtless walks not only around his house, but sometimes outside. Because he wanted me to die of blue tubes.
Then Amos had some sort of pressing matter to deal with.
The doors were locked.
We were alone.
He wanted to move in close to show me different stances.
His hands were on me.
And, yeah, shit happened.
It didn’t have to matter.
We were adults for chrissakes. We both, surely, have had casual encounters with the opposite sex before. I mean, yeah, usually casual encounters went their separate ways afterward, unlikely to cross paths again.
But we would just have to deal.
Because it happened.
God, did it happen.
Sitting at a red light, my head slammed back against the rest as the memories flashed across my vision, seeming to spark another fire in my system that was aching to be fanned into a wildfire before it got extinguished. With several, long, rolling orgasms.
“Not gonna happen,” I grumbled to myself as my foot moved to the accelerator.
I was just going to need to try to… avoid Seth for a little bit. Not like going out of my way to do it, so it didn’t look suspicious. No grabbing the kids and running into the cottage when I saw his car or anything obvious like that.
But maybe just… being busy.
Taking the kids out all day until they were too beat to play outside when we got home. That kinda thing.
And avoiding the range.
Just for a week or so.
Nothing serious.
Especially now that I was actually hitting the target like I wanted to. I didn’t want to lose that.
Decision made, I exhaled hard as I pulled into the lot of my old apartment building, barely able to stop the curl of my lip at just the sight of it.
Eventually, I hoped to find another babysitter for the kids. Someone a little closer. A little younger. Someone the kids liked spending time with. Especially if I was going to choose not to enroll them in school. I was going to need a little time to myself here and there. Especially as I moved on to the next step in my plans.
But, for now, I had Miss Patricia. Who wouldn’t even let me pay her, no matter how many times I’d tried. If I got smart and left money somewhere in her apartment that she wouldn’t find until later, she would hold onto it and force me to take it back.
Leaving the windows open, I climbed out of the car, cursing the humidity and the heat in equal turns while beads of sweat formed on my chest and brow as I made my way toward the door to my old building.
“Look who it is,” a voice said, immediately chasing any traces of desire away as nothing but a slimy feeling overtook me.
