by Evelyn Adams
“Why? Not for me?” I couldn’t take it if she grew to resent me for taking her away from something she loved.
“Not entirely.” She searched my face with her gaze and I found myself getting distracted by the look in her eyes. A look I’d gotten glimpses of but hadn’t recognized before. Love.
“I had a client scheduled for this afternoon. For now, actually, but I couldn’t go through with it. After what we did together, anything other than genuine surrender made me feel like a fake. And I didn’t want to surrender to anyone but you. You see my dilemma.”
“I do.”
“I thought I might skip the academic thing and go straight to writing my book. It’s what I wanted to do from the beginning and I’ve got enough money saved to give it a try for a couple of months. If I can’t sell it, I’ll figure something else out.”
“You’ll sell it,” I said, as sure of her success as I was of things like gravity. The woman I loved was beautiful and brilliant and had a unique way of looking at the world. I had no doubt she’d master whatever she turned her attention to as easily as she’d mastered me.
“I don’t have to figure it out now.” She linked her fingers with mine and brought our joined hands to her lips. “I was planning on salving my broken heart with Outlander reruns and Scotch. We could go home and I could read to you instead.”
I fucking loved the way it sounded when she said home.
“We do it naked, and you try not to come while I do my best to make you.”
“Is that a dare?” she asked, her eyes shining mischievously.
“Absolutely.” I wrapped my arms around her, fitting her body to mine and feeling at home for the first time since she’d walked out my door.
“Deal,” she whispered the second before her lips met mine and the world dissolved into Alex and me and the love we’d make together.
I LISTENED TO THE WOMAN with the dark hair hammer away on the keys of her laptop. She was there every day, in the same seat, pounding away at something. I’d started to believe I was imagining her because she almost never talked to anyone and rarely did more than type and stare off into space. She seemed so wrapped up in her own little world I’d wondered if I’d created her from mine, but then the guy in the suit showed up and everything changed. Her face lit up, softening. Focusing. He kissed her and they looked at each other with so much—it had to be love, nothing else was that big—I knew they were real. I couldn’t make those feelings up. I didn’t have the frame of reference.
Besides, I hadn’t had a hallucination in years. Or maybe I had. I couldn’t be sure. The city wore its crazy out on the surface for everyone to see. It’s one of the reasons I’d chosen it. With the ghost tours, voodoo shops, and tourists abandoning normal society limits in favor of the excesses of Bourbon St. and the French Quarter, day-to-day life in New Orleans was weirder than anything my off-kilter brain made up. Or maybe not, but it was close enough to make the city a comfortable fit for me.
“Can I get a macchiato, please? Whole milk, not skim.”
I heard the voice over the clacking of the keyboard and the ambient coffee shop noise. Its lyrical melody played over the sound of the barista foaming milk and the couple two tables over arguing about whether they could afford a new sofa before someone’s “shrew of a mother” came for Thanksgiving. It was as if I wore one of those hearing aids that isolated sounds, tuned to the specific frequency of that voice.
Careful not to knock my coffee onto my notes, I turned in the direction of the sound. I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting but it wasn’t her.
She was perfect. Red hair with the barest dusting of freckles over her slender nose with a jawline strong enough for a Celtic princess. She looked like she’d be at home in the Scottish Highlands or painted with woad and dancing with the Druids in the shadow of the standing stones. She was tall and willowy, and everything I’d ever imagined in a woman. Perfect.
So perfect, in fact, I started to question if my brain had created her to ease an ache I hadn’t realized I felt. I’d gotten so used to being alone; I stopped feeling lonely a long time ago. Until I heard her voice and a cavern opened up inside me so deep I was scared to move for fear of being swallowed whole.
I froze in place, watching as she took her coffee, smiled at the barista and crossed the room to the dark-haired woman. She brushed past my table, close enough that I had to clench my hands into fists to keep from reaching out to touch her. I sucked in my breath and inhaled the sweet scent of toasted sugar and butter surrounding her like her own special perfume.
The women greeted each other like they’d been friends forever. Breaking one of my own rules of behavior, I strained to listen to their conversation. They talked about proposals, and agents and publishing contracts. And then they talked about the man in the suit. Erik—he had a name now; but I didn’t need to hear his name to know who they meant—the dark-haired woman loved him and he loved her. He was the only person who fit. He’d given her a ring and they needed a cake from her friend.
Meredith.
She had a name, and I had a reason to turn away. To forget I’d ever seen her. To try to bury the loneliness before it ate away at the tenuous peace I’d built for myself. Because I was broken—a monster—and a woman who smelled like cookies didn’t belong with a wolf.
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoyed a Deposition and a Dare. My author friends know it as my shiny ball because it’s the story that’s been distracting me for years until I finally broke down and wrote it. I love Alex. She says the things I sometimes think and has a kind of arrogance combined with Saint Bernard puppy eagerness I can relate to (It’s the puppy awkwardness thing not the arrogance. Maybe. Or not. Don’t ask my family.)
Obviously, Meredith’s story is the next book in the Saints and Sinners series. She and her Wolf are woven deep in my heart. I love the idea of a damaged but spectacular hero and a woman strong enough to see the truth and beauty of him. The link for my mailing list is below. Sign up and you’ll be the first to know when their story is available.
I’d love to hear from you at [email protected] and you can find me on Facebook.Sign up for juicy bits and find out about new releases at www.authorevelynadams.com If you have a moment please consider leaving a review. Honest reviews from readers help authors and make it easier for people to find books they will enjoy. I’ve also finished a Southerland novella of Jude and Autumn’s wedding with a little surprise. It’s on sale for $.99 but I will be happy to send it to you for free if you sign up for my mailing list.
I’d love to have you join my readers group Sweet Tea and Peonies. It’s a place to hang out and talk about books, mine and others, as well as indulge in my love of Fixer Upper and the Great British Baking Show. I do the occasional giveaway and post sale info too, so you don’t want to miss it. I hope to talk to you soon!
Many Blessings!
Evelyn
DEPOSTION AND A DARE
A Contemporary Romance
Book One of the Saints and Sinners Series
by
Evelyn Adams
Digital Edition
ISBN: 978-1-944801-22-9
Copyright 2017 Evelyn Adams
All rights reserved
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereinafter invented is forbidden without the written consent of the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.
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Also by Evelyn Adams
For the Billionaire's Pleasure - Eric & Julie
Wrapped
Around
You
Wrapped Around You
For the Billionaire's Pleasure - Luke & Claire
Wired
Wanton
Won
Wanted
Wired Wanton and Won
Saints and Sinners
Deposition and a Dare
Southerland Security
Falling Free
Wicked Intent
Closer This Time
Slow Motion
Breathe Me In (Coming Soon)
Studio 1247
Bound Collection
The Southerlands
Feels Like Home
Loving Bailey
Practical Arrangement
Riding the Pause
A Little Bit Closer
Love at the Lost and Found
Laws of Attraction
Someone to Love
Halfway to Happily Ever After
Feels Like Family
House On Fire
Southerlands: The Complete Collection