738 Days: A Novel
Page 40
“Come on,” Mia says impatiently, a blur in bright blue satin as she darts out the door to the limo that will take the three of us to the premiere of Coal City Nights in Wescott. My parents and Liza, insisting that they won’t want to stay for the after-party, have already gone ahead in a separate car. Mia will probably want to be out later than all of us.
Chase extends his elbow when I reach the bottom of the steps, as formal as our clothing. I love it. I take his arm, and he starts us toward the front door.
“Wait.” He pauses with a frown. “It’s cold out. Do you have a jacket … shawl thing?”
“A wrap?” I ask, amused.
“Yeah.”
“Yes, it’s upstairs.”
He raises his eyebrows.
“I don’t want to cover up this dress,” I admit with a grin.
I’m finally feeling comfortable enough with myself, with all of who I am and what I’ve been through, thanks in part to Dr. Lundstrom. She’s lucky number eight, a therapist I found through a fellow member of a sexual violence survivor’s group I joined last year.
“I don’t want you to, either,” Chase says, watching me with a heated gaze as he moves to open the front door for me.
As I pass him, he leans forward and brushes his lips against my bare shoulder, and I go still. “I’m warning you, though: I don’t have any extra shirts to give tonight,” he murmurs against my skin.
With a delicious shiver, I turn to face him. “Bet I could talk you into it.” With these heels, I’m a lot taller than normal, which brings my mouth within easy reach of a lot of interesting places, and I can’t resist temptation.
I lean forward and press my mouth against his jaw, and he catches his breath sharply.
“Always,” he says. “Always.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The daughter of a minister and a music teacher, Stacey Kade grew up reading Harlequin romances on the sly in the basement. Her obsession with IMDb and the entertainment industry in general means no one will play her in Scene It or Hollywood Game Night anymore. Her one brush with fame was possibly seeing Billy Crystal in an airport once. In the random fact category, Stacey is related to Margaret Scott, one of the women executed during the Salem Witch Trials.
Stacey is also the author of two young adult series (The Ghost and the Goth and the Project Paper Doll trilogies.) Prior to writing full time, Stacey worked as an award-winning copywriter for several Fortune 500 companies. She lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, Greg, and their two retired racing greyhounds. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Epilogue
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
738 DAYS
Copyright © 2016 by Stacey Kade
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Getty Images
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The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-8040-1 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-7653-8041-8 (trade paperback)
ISBN 978-1-4668-7413-8 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781466874138
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First Edition: June 2016