by Rhea Wilde
Table of Contents
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
LOVE ME LAST:
A Military Man Romance
(NEW DAWN)
RHEA WILDE
PUBLISHED BY RHEA WILDE, 2018
Copyright © 2018 Rhea Wilde.
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. All persons appearing on the cover are models and being used for illustrative purposes only.
About Love Me Last and the New Dawn
Love Me Last is a part of the New Dawn series. New Dawn is a banner label for my newer titles. All New Dawn titles take place in the fictitious city of New Gardens.
Each book is a standalone novel. There are no cliffhangers. They can be read together or individually, in any order.
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Table of Contents
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
Epilogue: A New Dawn
Author’s Note
Special Offers
Other New Dawn Titles
Chapter 1
EVA
He was in his late-fifties. Even from this distance, I could see his hair was white and barely there. His skin was droopy on his face and wrinkled like an old grape left out in the sun. His suit looked like it was squeezed onto his rotund body.
The girl in the passenger seat might have been the exact opposite of him. She looked like she’d barely graduated college, if she wasn’t still attending. Definitely less than half his age. She had enough make-up on her face to frost a cake, which was a shame considering she’d probably look gorgeous without it.
They both sat calmly in the front seats of the car, seemingly alone.
“Damn weather…”
I muttered to myself as I sat there in the silence of my car. It was late in the night, but it still felt like the sun was out. I wiped the sweat from my brow with the back of my hand and let out a frustrated sigh.
When I turned and looked at the girl sitting next to me in the passenger seat, I noticed she was sitting there with the patience of a saint. She didn’t seem to be suffering from the heat. Maybe it’s because she was smart enough to wear just a small top and a pair of shorts.
But even as content as she seemed, there was no denying the boredom on her face. I brought her along to keep her out of trouble. There was no reason she had to suffer in silence with me.
I raised my camera up and peeked through the lens. It was powerful enough for me to get a good look at the far away provocative scene.
“He’s sitting next to her, his lips moving as he stares off into the distance. He’s rambling a bit and being nonchalant about it. ‘I’ve got a few million in a Swiss bank account the government can’t touch. I could retire right now if I wanted to.’ He talks about how much money he has as if it’s some indication of how big his dick is. There’s something about guys after forty that they feel the need to compensate. There are some things money can’t buy but an inflated sense of self-worth isn’t one of them.
“She sits there next to him, looking at him with her mouth half-open, feigning interest in everything he’s saying. She’s interested all right, but it’s not because of what he looks like. A young, pretty woman like her could do a lot better. All she would have to do is go to any bar or club in town and she’d get enough attention to last her a few months. Of course, it’s not every day you got a guy worth a fortune sitting next to you. She’s just a victim to her greed.”
I ignored the sound of giggling next to me.
“He finally finishes rambling. It felt like an eternity. He turns to look at her and she smiles back at him, probably to hide the fact she was beginning to doze off. She wants his money but she doesn’t really give a shit about how he gets it.
“He stares back at her and his lips stop moving. He’s got that look in his eyes. That power look most men his age with money have. It’s the look that comes with having a massive ego because of how much money he has.
“Finally, he leans forward and kisses her. He’s not wasting any time. The kiss is sloppy, mouths open, tongues moving in every direction at once. It’s like they’re putting on a show at a circus. ‘Come see the kissing couple and marvel at the horrors.’”
The giggling next to me continued but I remained focused, looking into the distance. Thankfully, my passenger couldn’t see what was happening. It would have scarred her for life.
“There’s the money shot… Now she’s on top of him in the driver’s seat, her back to the steering wheel.”
I zoomed the lens of my camera in just a few inches more and snapped some photos. The sound of the camera clicking was loud in the silence of my car.
“I don’t get it,” the young woman next to me said.
“What don’t you get?” I said as I continued snapping photos of the couple going at it in the distance.
“Why would he spend time with another woman? Isn’t Mr. Anthony married?”
“Yeah, he’s married,” I said with a chuckle. “He’s definitely married. That’s how I got this gig.”
“So, why doesn’t he just spend time with his wife? Why does he have to do it with someone else?”
I turned and looked at her.
I’d only known Kimmy for a few months. I saw her on the street by herself. She looked completely lost. When I noticed the tracks on her arm, I knew something was wrong. There were a lot of junkies on the street. This city had no shortage of them. Most of the time I just walked by and ignored them. It wasn’t my problem to fix.
Kimmy was different. She was still a young girl on the verge of adulthood. Her skin was pale, which was strange considering how sunny it’d been this summer. Her body was so thin it looked like a stiff breeze would knock her over. Her hair was straight and looked like one of the few things she was managing well.
My conscience got the best
of me the first time I looked at her. I’d like to think I still had a heart somewhere inside of me, even if it were hard to find.
I was able to get her to the hospital and I thought that would be the end of it. She somehow managed to find my office. Rather than turn her away, I had to commend her for being clever enough to do so.
But she was still a young woman who hadn’t experienced what it was like to be an adult. Most people would have questioned why I brought a teenager with me on a case like this but I had to be honest with her. You couldn’t make it in this town without seeing the hard truth. Being blunt with her would only help her.
“There are a lot of reasons,” I said. “Maybe Mr. Anthony just wants to be with someone different for now. Maybe this woman, his secretary, is blackmailing him. Maybe Mrs. Anthony isn’t giving it to him, so he has to go somewhere else.
“One thing is for sure: Mr. Anthony is an asshole and Mrs. Anthony paid me to follow him.”
Kimmy grinned and we giggled together before I turned my attention back to the couple who were in the throes of their awkward passion.
“Have you ever had sex before?” Kimmy asked me.
“What?” I said, wondering if I’d misheard her.
“Have you ever done something like that before?”
“You mean cheated on my spouse? No.”
“No, I mean just had sex.”
I turned back to Kimmy and saw the curiosity still tattooed on her face. Considering what was happening in the distance, I had to be honest with the teenager sitting next to me.
“Yeah,” I said with a nod. “I’ve had sex before.”
“What’s it like?”
“…You haven’t had this talk with anyone else before, have you?”
She shook her head at me.
Most teenagers these days were already sexually active. It wouldn’t have surprised me if Kimmy had already done something. It was mildly relieving to know she had maintained her innocence. There was a city full of men more than willing to take it from her.
“It’s overrated,” I said.
“It is?”
“Yes. Having sex is like having a really good burger. Sure, it’s satisfying. But there are a lot of other things that can satisfy you.”
“Why do people do it then? I mean, why would he cheat on his wife?”
“Because the people who do are assholes.”
Kimmy’s eyes shifted up like she was thinking and considering what I just said to her. A few seconds later, she started to nod in understanding. I giggled at the sight of her, relieved she wasn’t offended by my blunt honesty. I figured I would be blunt with her. Life on the streets in this city was rough enough.
“Are you telling me not to have sex?”
“I’m not telling you what to do. Sex can lead to some pretty serious complications though, especially for someone as young as you. It’ll always be your decision though. Just be careful.”
“Sure.”
It felt strange to be lecturing her. I didn’t know much about her. The only thing I did know was she’d been in this city for most of her life and she seemed alone.
“I want you to remember something, Kimmy. Nobody in this city cares about you. They only care about themselves. If they act like they care about you, they don’t. They’re doing it because they want something from you. They’re never doing anything out of the goodness of their heart. Remember that, okay?”
“I’ll remember,” she said with a quick nod. “What about you though?”
“What about me?”
“You care about me, don’t you?”
I hadn’t really thought about it. When I saw Kimmy, I saw some pieces of me when I was younger. I didn’t think I could explain it to her.
“How old are you?” I asked.
“Sixteen.”
“Sixteen… I’m more than a decade older than you are.”
“How old are you?”
“I’m twenty-eight. That means I’ve got that much more experience than you do.”
“I guess.”
“As you get older, you’re gonna be faced with a lot of decisions. You’re gonna have to figure out what’s right and what’s wrong.”
“It already feels like that now.”
“I’m sure it does. But it gets easier. Once you’ve been through enough, you’ll know what the difference is. You’ll know what it means to be a decent person and what it means to be a person on the other side.”
“You mean like Mr. Anthony?”
“Mr. Anthony is just a scumbag who got caught up in his own lust… But yeah, something like that.”
We shared another laugh together and I snapped a few more pictures.
“It looks like they’re finishing up,” I said.
“That didn’t last very long. It was barely a couple of minutes.”
“That was longer than I expected…”
The couple didn’t even bother to bask in the glow of the post-orgasmic after sex.
“She still looks like she’s interested. She has to be if she’s gonna get the money he’s promising her.”
“What about Mr. Anthony?”
“Mr. Anthony is… He looks like a man who’s disinterested. That’s the kind of look every man has after he finishes having sex. Looks like they’re sealing the deal with a kiss…”
I zoomed the lens of my camera in as far as it could go. I waited for them to kiss and snapped a photo right when they did.
“Perfect. That’s the money shot. I’ve got all I need.”
Just as I lowered my camera down, the car in the distance immediately sped off down the street and disappeared around the corner.
“That’s it?” Kimmy asked.
“Yeah,” I sighed. “It took a week of surveillance but I caught him. Frankly, I’m surprised it happened so quickly. I guess I should be thankful he’s so sloppy.”
“Now what?”
“Now… I get these pictures developed and show all of the evidence I have to Mrs. Anthony.”
“Then what happens?”
“I don’t know,” I said, shrugging and laughing at Kimmy. “That’s up to Mr. and Mrs. Anthony to figure out for themselves. I’m not a marriage counselor.”
“So… people pay you to spy on other people. You take pictures and that’s it?”
“Well…”
I tried to think of a way to make it seem more glamorous than it was. But when I realized I was at a loss, I just started to laugh.
“Mrs. Anthony told me that her husband was acting strange,” I explained. “She said that she wasn’t seeing him as often. He’d come home later than usual. He was acting cold around her. She hired me to see if he was up to anything. Now we know exactly what he was up to. He was banging his secretary.”
“So, you are a spy.”
“I’m only a spy in the sense that I don’t want to get caught. But real spies have a lot more to do than just waiting outside of buildings and tailing people in their cars.”
“Yeah, this seems easy. I think I might want to be a private investigator like you.”
Kimmy’s candid honesty was so brutal it made me burst into laughter. She smiled a little bit, too. She knew she could get away with teasing me because I didn’t mind.
“Some aspects are easy,” I said with a nod. “But other times, it’s not so easy.”
“Like what?”
“Like waiting for people to come asking you for help. I’m not always busy. People like Mrs. Anthony aren’t common.”
“But it’s enough to make a living. You make money, don’t you?”
“I make enough to get by.”
I shook my head and stopped laughing just long enough to speak.
“You can do better than me,” I said to Kimmy. “There are a lot of better jobs out there and you’ve got your whole future ahead of you.”
“Yeah. It’s just an option.”
“Didn’t you say that you had someone working with you at the shelter? Someone who was helping you out?”
“Miss Cooper? Yeah, she talked to me about a lot of things. She said that I could get a job and she would help me find one.”
“That’s a good option.”
“She also said that I could study and go to school. Maybe I could go to college if I work hard enough.”
“That’s also a good option. It sounds like she’s got the right idea. You should probably take her advice. Study, work hard, make something of yourself. You have your whole life ahead of you.”
“But you just said that nobody cares about me. You said that the only person who cares about me is myself. Are you saying that Miss Cooper is trying to use me?”
“Hmm… You’ve got a point.”
I looked down at the ground, pondering what she’d just said to me.
“It’s clear that this Miss Cooper has her heart in the right place,” I said. “That doesn’t mean what I said doesn’t apply. There are a lot of bad people in this city. New Gardens isn’t known for its friendly reputation. She might be willing to help you study or get you a job but in the end, it all comes down to you. You’re the one who has to make the right decisions.”
Kimmy looked away from me and stared out through the passenger seat window into the distance.
“It sounds so hard,” she sighed.
“It’s not easy. Especially at your age. It’ll get easier though. The right choices will become clearer when you finally have to make them.”
