“Tell
me something about you that I don’t know,” I say.
He
smiles at me. He has the sexiest smile I’ve ever seen. “I think you’re
beautiful. And I could stare into your eyes all night.”
“Oh,
stop it.” But he’s looking at me like he means it, which makes my mouth feel
suddenly very dry. I glance up, looking for a waitress. “Where are our drinks? We
ordered them, like, forever ago.”
He’s
still gazing into my eyes. “It hasn’t been that long.”
“Yes,
it has.” I crane my neck, trying to find the woman who took our drink orders at
least ten minutes ago. “The service in this place isn’t very good.”
“It’s fine.”
“But
I’m thirsty.”
“Brooke.”
He shakes his head. “We’ll
get our drinks any minute now. Don’t pitch a dying duck.”
I
stare at him. Don’t pitch a dying duck.
Sydney’s favorite expression.
“What…
what did you say?” I stammer, pulling my hand away from his.
He
shrugs. “I said we’ll get our drinks any minute now. So calm down.”
“No.” I squeeze my fists together
under the table. “You said ‘don’t pitch a dying duck.’”
“Yeah,
so?”
I
swallow a lump in my throat. Where is my goddamn Diet Coke? “Where did you hear
that expression?”
He
shrugs again. “I don’t know. I picked it up somewhere.”
I’m finding
it hard to breathe. Just because Hunter said “pitch a dying duck,” it doesn’t
mean he knew Sydney. Just because he had bobby pins in his apartment, it
doesn’t mean Sydney was in his apartment. All of this is circumstantial
evidence. I mean, I met the guy randomly on the street. What are the odds that
he’s the same guy who was dating Sydney? It’s got to be at least… one in three
million.
Detective
Bateman’s voice rings in my ears: So you’re dating a guy who you think could
be a murderer and you’re just… okay with that?
But
Hunter’s not a murderer. I know he’s
not.
Although
if I really knew, I wouldn’t have given the detective that hair.
“Hey.”
Hunter reaches out to take my hand again across the table. I let him, even
though I know my palm is clammy as hell. “I was just thinking, Brooke. How
about if after dinner we go for a little walk around that park we passed a few
blocks from here?”
My
blouse feels too tight around my chest. “A walk around the park?”
“Sure.” He grins at me with those
perfect, white teeth. “It’s fun to go for a walk after dinner. Romantic.”
I
grab a fistful of my skirt with my free hand. “It just seems a little… deserted
around the park at this hour.”
“Don’t worry.” He winks at me and
his face glows eerily in the light of the candle. “I’ll protect you.”
Why
am I hesitating to do this? Hunter is not a murderer. This whole thing
is ridiculous. He’s a great guy and he’s right—it would be romantic to
take a walk around the park. And Hunter is… God, he’s so handsome. And the way
he’s staring at me with those dark eyes makes me feel tingly everywhere.
He
rubs his thumb against the palm of my hand and the tingly feeling intensifies. Hunter
is just so goddamn sexy. There’s no possible way he could be responsible for
hurting anyone. I want him so badly. I want to go to the park with him if
that’s what he wants. I will go to the park with him. I’ll do anything.
I
will surrender to him. I will be his. I will give myself to him.
Before
I can tell Hunter the park sounds like an excellent idea, I see the door to the
restaurant opening across the room. The sight of a familiar face surprises me
enough that I yank my hand away from Hunter’s. Actually, it’s two
familiar faces. Gabby and Jamie.
My
eyes meet Gabby’s and she waves enthusiastically. That’s when I realize this is
not a coincidence. The bitch must have planned it. I bet she looked at my phone
when I got up to go to the bathroom yesterday when we were having lunch.
Jamie,
on his part, looks like he had no part of the intel. He seems shocked to spot
me across the room and even more shocked when Hunter turns around to see what
I’m looking at.
“Brooke!”
Gabby calls across the room, waving maniacally.
Hunter
looks at them, then raises his eyebrows at me. “Your friends?”
I nod
guiltily. “It’s Gabby. I swear I didn’t put her up to this.”
I
expected him to be pissed off, but instead, he chuckles. “Well, I suppose you
should ask them to join us at this point, since they’re already here.”
I let
out a sigh of relief. “You’re not angry?”
He
chuckles again. “Of course not. It wasn’t your fault, was it?”
I can
see Gabby and Jamie talking across the room. They look like they’re arguing. Gabby
is pointing to our table and Jamie is pointing to the front door. It seems like
Jamie isn’t too eager to join us.
Gabby
wins out though. While a waitress helpfully moves an adjacent table over to
form a foursome, Gabby and Jamie make their way across the room. The restaurant
is cramped though, with lots of tables and chairs, which means Jamie is
struggling a little with his cane. Gabby has to help him move a couple of
chairs so he doesn’t snag it. But when he’s about one table away from us, his
cane gets caught on a chair and he’s down.
“Shit,”
I hear him say as he falls ungracefully, partially catching himself on another
table to soften the blow but still ending up on the floor. Gabby lets out a
yelp that makes everyone in the restaurant who wasn’t already staring turn
their heads.
Hunter
rises to his feet and quickly moves to help Jamie. He holds out his hand to
Jamie, who takes it rather reluctantly and allows Hunter to help haul him back
to his feet.
“You
okay, buddy?” Hunter asks Jamie.
“Fine,” Jamie mumbles.
I
stand too for what is now certain to be awkward introductions. “Hunter,” I say, “these are my friends Jamie
and Gabby.”
“Hello, Gabby,” Hunter says to her. He
turns to Jamie and instead of shaking his hand, he pats him on the shoulder. “Hello, Jamie.”
I
move to the other side of the table so I’m next to Hunter and Jamie is next to
Gabby. The two men are across from each other, and I can immediately see how
they’re sizing each other up.
“So,”
Hunter says, “are you two brother and sister?”
Jamie
frowns, and Gabby shoots Hunter a look. “No, we’re a couple,” she corrects him
in a sharp voice.
“Oh!”
Hunter’s eyes widen, but then
he quickly smiles. “Well, that’s just… wonderful!” He smiles at Jamie. “Good
for you, buddy.” He looks at Gabby next. “And good for you too. You’re a good
person.”
Jamie’s
blue eyes darken, and for a brief second, he looks like he wants to take a
swing at Hunter. But that doesn’t happen, thank God.
Jamie
and Gabby place their orders with the waitress and we make casual conversation.
Gabby is chatting with Hunter, but Jamie is staring sulkily at his water glass.
I catch his eye for a moment and he shakes his head at me.
Gabby
is describing her advertising job to Hunter, who is listening dutifully. He’s a
good listener. If I do ever bring him home to meet my parents, I think they’re
going to be impressed with him. Of course, at this rate, he won’t want to meet
them for several years.
“And
how about you, Jamie?” Hunter says. “You don’t work, I assume. How do you fill
your days?”
“I
work,” Jamie says tightly.
“Really?”
Hunter says in amazement. “Do you? Well, that’s just fantastic!” He smiles
patronizingly at Jamie. “A girlfriend and a job too. Good for you. Part-time
then or…?”
“Full
time,” Jamie says. I see his right hand has balled into a fist. I’m getting
seriously worried he might hit Hunter and I don’t know if I’d entirely blame
him. Hunter’s acting like he’s never seen a guy walk with a cane before. Honestly,
I’ve never seen Hunter act like this before. Sometimes he can be a little over
the top, but it’s usually in a charming way. It almost seems like he’s goading
Jamie on, trying to make him angry.
But
that’s crazy. Why would he do that?
“A
desk job then?” Hunter asks.
Jamie
narrows his eyes. “Computer
programming.”
“Ah!”
Hunter nods like he gets it. “Well, that sounds just perfect. I bet you can
even do that from home.”
Before
Jamie can answer, I make an attempt to divert the conversation. “I wish I
could work from home,” I comment.
Hunter
smiles. “Brooke here has such an interesting job. She’s a phlebotomist.”
“I
know,” Jamie says irritably.
“Yes,
I suppose you do,” Hunter says vaguely. “But… I can’t say I’ve ever met a woman
who did that before. It’s
fascinating.”
“You
couldn’t get me to do that for a million dollars,” Gabby says with a shudder. “Sorry,
Brooke, but blood is gross.”
Hunter
looks at Gabby as if she said something blasphemous. “Blood is what keeps us
all alive. Red blood cells carry oxygen to all the cells of our bodies
to give them energy. White blood cells fight infection. And platelets… they
help with clotting. Without any platelets, you’d bleed out all over this
table.”
Gabby
looks positively green at this comment. What he said doesn’t bother me, but it
does bother me that he said it. Why would he say something like that?
“Listen, Hunter,” Jamie says, “maybe
we could change the subject. Talking about blood is bothering Gabby, and
honestly, I don’t like it either.”
“Well,
that surprises me,” Hunter says. “Brooke is your friend. You’re honestly
telling me that you don’t have any interest whatsoever in what she does?”
Jamie
glares at him. “I’m just saying that maybe blood isn’t appropriate dinner
conversation. Okay?”
Jamie’s
hand is still balled into a fist, and now Hunter bares his teeth at him—it’s
almost a smile but not quite. The whole exchange is starting to freak me out.
“Hunter
said he’s going to get us tickets for Book of Mormon,” I blurt out,
hoping that will change the subject.
Gabby
immediately picks up on the cue. “Oh my gosh, are you serious, Hunter? I’ve
been wanting to get tickets forever, but they cost a fortune.”
“Well,
Brooke said she wanted to see it.” Hunter smiles and shrugs. “So what’s a few
hundred dollars?”
“Wow,
that’s awesome,” Gabby says. “I’m totally jealous.”
Jamie’s
cheeks redden. “I didn’t know you wanted to see that show, Gabby. I can take
you.”
“Oh…”
Gabby smiles awkwardly. “That would be great, but… it’s so expensive, Jamie. You
don’t have to…”
“How
about this,” Hunter says, “when I’m going to get tickets for me and Brooke,
I’ll buy an extra two tickets. I’m sure you’re living on a fixed budget, Jamie,
and I’d be happy to treat.”
Jamie
narrows his eyes at Hunter. “I can afford two tickets to Book of Mormon.”
Hunter
smiles. “But it’s no problem for me. It would be my treat.”
Gabby
looks between the two men, as if unsure what to say. “Um…”
“Really,
it’s fine,” Jamie says
through his teeth. “I can afford it.” He looks at Gabby. “I’ll get the tickets.
Really.”
Gabby
looks at him like he’s crazy, but I understand why Jamie is upset. What man
wants another man to treat him and his girlfriend to a show? And the strange
thing is, even though Hunter is being nice, I still can’t shake the feeling
he’s doing it to intentionally provoke Jamie.
As
soon as the check comes, Jamie tosses some bills on the table and stands up so
quickly that his chair nearly falls over. Hunter picks up the bills from the
table and tries to return them to Jamie. “I’d be happy to treat for dinner
tonight,” he says.
“No,”
Jamie says tightly. “Not necessary.”
I can
tell Jamie wants to get the hell out of the restaurant, but it’s only gotten
more crowded while we’ve been sitting here. It’s a struggle for him to get past
the rows of tables and chairs. I can see at one point his cane gets snagged on
a chair and he’s taking deep breaths as he works it free. Gabby puts her hand
on his shoulder and he shrugs her off.
After
they’re gone, Hunter turns back to me with that sexy smile he’d been giving me
earlier. “So how about that walk in the park?”
I
narrow my eyes at him. “Why were you treating my friend that way?”
He
frowns. “What do you mean? I was very nice to Gabby, considering she
intentionally ambushed us.”
“I
don’t mean Gabby,” I say. “I’m talking about Jamie.”
He
blinks his eyes a few times. “He’s your friend?”
“Well,
yeah,” I say. “He’s lived downstairs from me for like three years. And… well,
yes, he’s my friend. One of my closest friends, actually.”
He
used to be, at least.
“Really?”
Hunter snorts, although I’m not sure what that means. “Okay, well, I didn’t
think I was unpleasant to the guy. I offered to treat him to a show, for God’s
sake.”
“Yes,
but…” I shake my head. “You were treating him like he was some kind of… I don’t
know, invalid.”
“But
he is.”
“Are
you kidding me?” I cry. “He just uses a cane. It’s not that big a deal.”
He
snorts again. “Well, I’m sorry I felt bad for the guy and tried to be kind to
him.”
I
suppose he’s right. He didn’t say anything to Jamie that was intentionally
mean. It’s true—it seemed like he was going out of his way to be nice. I’m not
sure why his behavior made me so uneasy.
“So
how about that walk?” he says again.
“I…” I
bite my lip. “I’m really tired, actually. I think I’ll just go home.”
Hunter
drops his hands into his lap, a frown on his face. “It’s not even ten o’clock.”
“I’m
sorry,” I say. “Next time. I promise.”
At
first I think he’s going to start whining, but instead, he smiles at me. “Okay,
whatever you want, Brooke. I’ll drive you home.”
He’s
a complete gentleman during the drive home, which makes me feel guilty for
having shut him down. He opens the car door for me both when we get in and when
we get out. And before he tells me goodnight, he gives me a long, lingering
kiss that almost makes me tell him to come on up to my apartment and keep the
date going. Almost.
Next
time.
Instead,
I go upstairs myself. I really am tired from that tense dinner and it’s nice to
be alone in my apartment. I turn on the television and watch until I pass out
on the cushions of my couch.
At
around midnight, I get woken up by urgent knocking on the door interspersed
with the doorbell ringing. I shout at the door, “Hang on a minute.” I’m already
pissed off at the asshole who’s knocking on my door at midnight. It couldn’t
possibly be Mr. Teitelman. He would never be that rude.
I
throw open the door without even checking the peephole. I’m startled when I see
Jamie standing there, looking rumpled in his jeans and T-shirt, his blue eyes
slightly bloodshot like maybe he’s been drinking.
“Jamie,”
I gasp. “What are you doing here?”
“Can
I come in?”
I nod
and step back. He limps in, leaning even more heavily on his cane than he
usually does. He makes it to my sofa, then collapses. I sit down beside him.
“Are
you okay?” I ask him.
He
shakes his head at me. “Are you really going to keep dating that guy?”
I
cringe. Is that why he’s here? To give me a hard time over Hunter?
“I
like Hunter,” I say. “I’m sorry he was a bit of a jerk to you—”
“A bit of a jerk?” he
repeats.
“Fine,
he was being really patronizing,” I
admit. “But usually he’s really great. Wonderful, actually. And I like
him a lot.”
Jamie
sighs and rubs his face with his hands. “I don’t trust him, Brooke. I don’t
think he’s a good guy.”
“Jamie,”
I say. “I understand your concern, but… well, you’re not my dad. Hell, even my
dad doesn’t get to tell me who I can date.”
“I
just get this really bad gut feeling about him.” Jamie’s eyes are pleading with
me. I’ve never seen him like this. He’s practically frantic. “I’m worried about
you, Brooke. I mean it.”
“I
don’t know what to say,” I murmur. “I respect your opinion, but… I’m not
breaking up with him.”
“Please,
Brooke.” His brows are scrunched together. “I’ve never asked you to do anything
like this before. But the whole time I was at that table, I just got this
strong feeling that…”
I
raise my eyebrows at him. “That what?”
He
averts his eyes. “He’s evil.”
I
stare at him.
“I
know it sounds stupid,” he says quickly. “I realize that. But… I just…”
I
bite my lip. If I told Jamie about the bobby pins, he’d go crazy. And then the
“dying duck” thing. He doesn’t know any of this, and he still thinks I should
stay away from Hunter. Maybe he’s right. Maybe I should block Hunter’s number
from my phone and cut him out of my life.
Except
I already know I’m not going to do that. Even as I’m sitting here talking to
Jamie, my hand is itching to pick up the phone and call Hunter. To tell him to
come over. That I’m his if he wants me.
He
lifts his eyes again and he can see that nothing he’s saying is doing anything
to convince me. His shoulders sag.
“Fine,” he grunts. “Keep dating
him.”
“Thanks
for giving me permission.” I roll my eyes, trying to make light of the whole
thing. I don’t want him to see how uneasy I feel.
“But,
listen, just… do me a favor.”
“Uh…” I can’t imagine what he’s
going to say.
He
digs into his pocket and pulls out a tiny metal spray bottle. “I want you to
keep this with you at all times.”
I
frown. “What is that?”
“It’s mace.”
I
roll my eyes. “Come on,
Jamie…”
“Put
it in your purse, okay?” he says. “Promise me you’ll do it, Brooke.”
I
take the small can of mace from him and put it on the coffee table. “Okay. I
promise.”
“Do
it now,” he says.
He’s
being ridiculous, but just to indulge him, I put the bottle in my purse. I
guess it’s useful to have. I can’t imagine I’m going to need to use it on
Hunter though.
“Happy?”
I say as I settle back down on the couch.
“Not
really,” he says.
He’s
looking at me again and it’s almost heartbreaking. I thought it was over before
it began with me and Jamie. He’s with Gabby, after all. She spent the night.
But
the way he’s looking at me now makes me think it’s far from over.
_____
On
Sundays, Gabby and I generally have brunch together, so I’m surprised when it’s
nearly noon and she hasn’t called me. Also, I’m dying to do the postmortem with
her on our double-date last night. Jamie was totally irrational, but I know
Gabby won’t be. She’ll tell me what she actually thinks of Hunter.
After
I shower, I give Gabby a ring. She usually answers on the first or second ring,
but this time, the phone rings so long that I think it’s going to go to
voicemail before she finally picks up. “Hello,” she says flatly.
“Hi!”
I say. “Want to grab brunch?”
Gabby
is silent for a moment. “Not really.”
She
doesn’t sound like herself. “Are you okay, Gabs?”
“Not
really,” she says again.
I
take the phone with me to the kitchen to see what I can eat in the fridge,
since brunch isn’t happening. “What’s going on?”
“You
mean you don’t know?” she snaps at me.
I
think of how Jamie showed up at my apartment at midnight. “Um, no…”
Gabby
is silent again for at least thirty seconds before she finally lets out a sigh.
“Jamie and I didn’t go to the movies last night after dinner.”
“You
didn’t?”
“Jamie
was too upset,” she says. “We went back to his place and he kept going on and
on about Hunter. He really hated Hunter.”
“Yeah,
I figured that out,” I mumble. “But, you know, it’s none of his business.”
“That’s
what I said!” Gabby cries. “I
told him Hunter is your boyfriend and it’s your business.”
“And?”
“I’m
telling you, he wouldn’t stop,”
Gabby says. “He just kept ranting about it. How he couldn’t believe you were
dating a guy like that. How he thought it wasn’t safe.”
“Wow,”
I breathe.
“So I
said,” she continues, “that maybe he’s so obsessed with Hunter because he’s
still in love with you.”
A
horrible silence hangs on the other line. “And what did he say?”
“He
said he thought I was right.”
Oh my
God.
“So I
told him if he was still in love with you,” she says, “we should probably just
end things and I should leave.” Her voice breaks. “And he said he thought that
was a good idea.”
Goddamn
it, Jamie.
“Oh, Gabby,” I whisper.
“I
know it’s not your fault,” she murmurs. “You didn’t do it on purpose—I mean, I
knew he liked you before he even asked me out.” She pauses. “But honestly,
you’re the last person I want to talk to right now.”
“I
get it,” I say, even though my heart is breaking.
“Anyway.”
She heaves a sigh. “Maybe we’ll talk in a week or two. When I’m all cried out.”
“Okay,”
I say softly.
We
hang up and I feel awful. This whole thing is my fault on so many levels. I
shouldn’t have told Jamie to ask Gabby out to the movies, knowing how he felt about
me. It was none of my business. I screwed up everything.
Yet I
can’t stop thinking about Jamie. I’d never seen him as upset as he was last
night. I wonder if his gut feeling had more to it than I was willing to
believe…
*****
Hunter
and I are having dinner at a trendy new Japanese restaurant, but I’m having
trouble focusing on him. The good news is that I haven’t heard back from
Detective Bateman for a week, which I’m assuming means the bobby pin hair was
not a match. So Hunter is not a murderer.
But
he’s also not Jamie.
Over
the last week, Jamie has called me repeatedly. He’s texted me a bunch too,
always with a similar message: “Can you call me or come by? We need to talk.” Except
I already know what he needs to talk to me about—the fact that seeing me with
Hunter apparently made him realize he’s in still love with me. And I don’t want
to take his calls until I’m sure about what I want to say.
Seeing
Jamie with Gabby has made me recognize my feelings for him are far from
platonic. I like him a lot. But I’m still not certain that taking the next step
with him is a good idea. He’s one of my best friends and this isn’t going to
just be a casual thing—if we go out, it’s going to lead to something really
serious. Do I want that?
Also,
there’s the fact that he only just ended things with Gabby. If I started dating
him now, it would crush her. I don’t know if I can do that.
And
that’s why I’m not taking his calls.
I
watch Hunter take a piece of sashimi off his plate with his chopsticks. Gabby
and I always say New York is divided into People Who Eat East Asian Food With
Chopsticks and People Who Don’t. I’m not surprised Hunter falls into the
Chopsticks category—Sydney did too. She would make fun of the way Gabby and I
dug into our shrimp fried rice with our forks while she was elegantly picking
up grains of rice with her chopsticks. Gabby would yell at her for being a
“chopstick snob,” and Sydney would tell Gabby to quit pitching a dying duck.
I
miss Syd sometimes.
“You
seem distracted,” Hunter notes. He’s
surprisingly perceptive. “Everything okay?”
He
has no clue. “Just a long day at work.”
He
reaches out to take my hand across the table. “I was just wondering how you
would feel about me coming over to your place for a bit tonight. I’ve never
seen it before.”
“Oh…”
I bite my lip.
He
gives my hand a gentle squeeze. “No rush, Brooke, but... I’d love to see where
you live. We can have a glass of wine, then I’ll go.” He winks at me. “Unless,
of course, you want me to stay.”
I should
say no. I don’t trust Hunter right now, and as a general rule, it’s a mistake
to invite a man you don’t trust into your apartment.
I
look into Hunter’s dark eyes. God, he’s sexy. So sexy. So sexy that it almost
hurts. Tonight, yes tonight. Screw the three-month rule. It’s a stupid rule
anyway. A rule like that shouldn’t apply when a man like Hunter comes along.
I
will surrender to him. I will be his. I will give myself to him. Tonight.
“Yes,”
I hear myself say. “I would like you to come over.”
Half
an hour later, I’m unlocking the door to my apartment with Hunter beside me. He
looks possibly a little too excited, but I can’t blame him. I can’t believe
this is really going to happen. I’m usually so strict about my three-month
rule, but somehow I know this is the right thing to do.
“So
let me give you the grand tour,” I tell him as we step inside. “Living room,
kitchen, bedroom. Oh, and there’s a bathroom somewhere.”
He
laughs. “You got any wine in that kitchen?”
“I
think there’s some in the upper cabinet,” I tell him. “And there are wine
glasses above the sink.”
I
watch him fumble around my kitchen. He pulls out my bottle of red wine, and I
can tell from his face he’s disappointed. I got it for ten bucks from the local
liquor store—hardly the quality he’s used to. But he pours it into glasses
anyway.
I
pull my phone out of my purse and see there are three missed calls from an
unfamiliar number and a voicemail message. “Hang on,” I say to him. “Let me
just check this message.”
I put
the phone to my ear and immediately hear a familiar voice: it’s Detective
Bateman. Why is Detective Bateman calling me? My stomach does a flip.
“Hi, Ms. Nelson… er, Brooke? Listen,
I’m calling because that hair sample was a match for Ms. Lancaster. Like I told
you, this isn’t a hundred percent, but… well, it’s very suspicious. We tried to
contact Hunter T. Stone for questioning, but we’re unable to reach him. So I’m
calling to see if you had any other contact information or if… well, I wanted
to make sure you’re all right. Please give me a call as soon as you can.”
The
phone nearly slips out of my hand. I look up at Hunter, holding the two glasses
of wine, a smile on his face.
The
hair sample was a match for Ms. Lancaster.
Oh
God.
I’ve
got to get him out of here.
Aaaah, I’m so excited for tomorrow! This has been a fun ride. Thanks for yet another amazing story!
ReplyDeleteThank so much for reading!
DeleteI preordered the book already. I can't wait to read it. Could you just tell me where I need to continue reading in the book? What chapter?!
ReplyDeleteHave you been reading the Tom chapters? If so, you can start with Chapter 27. HOWEVER, I did leave out several scenes from the beginning that will be in the book version.
DeleteIf you haven't read the Tom chapters, I would recommend starting from the beginning. The story will be much, much cooler if you read those chapters too.
I can't wait - I also preordered the book...
DeleteOkay. Thank you. From the beginning it is then.
DeleteYes, I promise it will be worth it.
DeleteOh no! Run Brooke!!
ReplyDeleteTc
Don't worry, it's a happy ending!
DeleteNever thought that I would say thank God, it's Monday tomorrow but I can't wait to read on!! :)
ReplyDeleteI think that I'm as obsessed with Jamie as Brooke is with Hunter!
Thank you for another wonderful story!
Thanks! Let me know what you think when you finish!
DeleteOk this is so not my usual genre but I am totally into this story and just pre-ordered. You are a marketing genius leaving us with that cliffhanger!! I’d have bought it anyway - I’ve bought and loved all your books. Can’t wait for tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteI know this story wasn't as popular as my last so I had to do what I could ;)
DeleteWorth it! It’s awesome so far. I’m making myself start from the beginning!
DeleteThanks!
DeleteAhh, not sure if I can justify the expense at the moment, but I am hooked! Hoping it might become free at some point, if I'm lucky!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear the $2.99 is out of your budget :( It probably won't be free at any point on Amazon because I only do freebies with books that are in a series and I'm not planning that for this book. In all honesty, I was considering increasing the price to $3.99 because it's longer than my other books.
DeleteHello. It's me. The one who loves Tom and Jamie and Hunter.
ReplyDeleteYou asked me to tell you what I thought after I read your book. No spoilers but you wrote it EXACTLY like I hoped it would turn out :) :) :)
Of course my thoughts were not that clearly defined, you being the author not me, but it just fits my thoughts perfectly.
But I am so glad I didn't comment here before I read the book or THAT would have really been a spoiler..hahaha
Thanks. Brilliant
So glad it lived up to your expectations!! If you do have time, I would greatly appreciate a review on Amazon!
DeleteLovely place to stop your story! ;) Thanks for the heads-up.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteI bought and read it, including the Tom chapters for the first time - just great! Very unexpected twists for me, but exciting! It’s a great book, even though I love things a bit devyier normally. Your writing is so amazing, as is your writing pace. Can’t wait for the next and am a bit jealous of all the stories you seem to have in you. Lucky us, you take the time to write them down!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm going to post something new next week, something I haven't fully fleshed out.
DeleteAlso, would love a review on Amazon if you have the time! It helps so much!