AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her forced gaiety jarred him loose from her vocal web and allowed his brain to function. Why had she left? Where had she been? What did she want? Why was she calling?
“I know I’m probably the last person you want to talk to and I understand, considering how I ended things and I—”
He remembered this about her, the stream of talking on an endless loop. His favorite remedy? A cock-stirring, toe curling kiss.
“Indi, spit it out.”
A thick silence, and then—
“Can you post bail for me? I’ve been arrested for burglary.”
Well that happened.
The door to the precinct closed behind Indi. Exhaustion weighed her down, leaving her head throbbing and her sight unfocused. She shivered, her cable knit sweater offering inadequate insulation from the chill.
If she had a bucket list, she could confidently check off this experience: get yourself arrested in an unfamiliar city. It hadn’t been anything like Orange is the New Black—Thank God!—but she had met some interesting women while she’d been booked and processed. Turns out, her unstable living situations and various relocations equipped her with the unique skill set needed to survive the city’s holding cell.
But she didn’t do bucket lists. They were created for people who scurried through life afraid to take chances, regretting their caution when faced with their mortality. Indi’s life was a bucket list. Hence, her current predicament.
“Where’s Ryan?”
The brusque voice wrapped itself around her heart and squeezed. She stilled and her breath went on strike.
Those words. That tone. This situation. It wasn’t how she’d pictured their reunion.
Though their best friends were married to one another, careful planning on her part would’ve given her several years to let time and distance erode the memories and allow them to comm
unicate without her recalling the way he’d made her body quake with ecstasy. She’d be cool, look polished, and possess the proper grace to put them both at ease.
That had been the fantasy BN—Before Nugget. Now she’d settle for an encounter where she didn’t look and smell like a cat lady’s ashtray, and she possessed something other than an unplanned pregnancy and a felony charge.
Despite his harsh tone, the man leaning against the metallic silver Porsche Panamera—new; the last time she’d seen him, he’d been driving a Jaguar—was as gorgeous, as powerful, and as autocratic as the luxury sedan he drove. He’d tamed his blond curls—what a shame—into a sleek mass that shone beneath the street lamps and his body looked trim and powerful in a dark tailored suit and crisp white collared shirt without a tie. He could’ve been waiting for his date to a society gala and not standing in the street in front of the sheriff’s office after midnight, waiting for the state judicial system’s newest enrollee.
Indi hefted her backpack onto her shoulder, ignored the dips, swerves, and inversions occurring in her belly, and slowly descended the concrete steps. “He’s finishing up the paperwork.”
She’d forgotten how big he was. She was a tad taller than average and she knew from experience her eyes would be level with his chin, a chin now covered in downy blond fuzz. Experience also taught her the stubble would be a delicious abrasion against her skin.
“Do you have anything to say to me?”
She blinked. She had much to say to him. But here? Now?
She’d hated calling him. Truthfully, she would’ve hated calling anyone in this situation. Would rather have stayed behind bars and figured a way out of this mess. But this wasn’t about her personal preferences. She needed to make decisions in Nugget’s best interests. And that meant doing what was necessary to ensure she spent as little time in jail as possible.
She hadn’t seen Mike in three months, since she’d awakened to see his face softened in sleep. Terrified of the feelings budding to life within her, she’d stealthily gathered up her belongings and left without looking back. And despite her behavior, when she’d called, he’d shown up. He deserved many things from her, starting with gratitude.
But did he have to be an arrogant ass about it?
She balled a fist in the folds of her skirt. “What else would you like me to say?”
He pushed away from the sex-mobile. “How about ‘Thank you for canceling your plans and coming to get me’?”
Crap. She’d pulled him away from something. Or someone.
It was none of her business. She’d given up any say in who he spent time with the night she’d walked away.
“How in the hell did you get arrested for burglary?”
She swiped at the allegation. “Those are trumped up charges.”
