Total pages in book: 13
Estimated words: 11713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 59(@200wpm)___ 47(@250wpm)___ 39(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 11713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 59(@200wpm)___ 47(@250wpm)___ 39(@300wpm)
Jo Carlile takes some time for herself, heading down to Belize. As she checks into her hotel, she runs into a man she knows through a friend, who makes her want more than she can have.
Kenan Matos, a falcon shifter, who works in a SAR group is home for some much needed time off. When he sees the one woman he wants more than anything, he turns his time into showing her that even if he is younger than her, it doesn't matter. Not to him and it shouldn't to her either. He is more than man enough to take care of her, for the rest of their lives.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Chapter 1
Miami
“I’m sorry, you’re fucking doing what? Going where? When is this?”
With an inaudible groan, Jo Carlile pushed her chair back with one sparkly stars and moon ankle sock, relying on her expertise to stay balanced and not crack open her skull on the cement floor of her home office. The air around her, cool, courtesy of the air conditioning flowing through the vents. Even so, she wanted to strip down to nothing and let the breeze hit her nakedness.
“Calm down, Selena. I wanted something different this year. Dianna is undercover right now and won’t be done before the holiday. You’re in Brazil. Emily is off in Africa with her man. I don’t want to spend a holiday alone here in Miami. That’s just pathetic.” She did her best to make it sound like a joke, how pathetic it would be but the grunt that met her ears told her it had fallen flat.
“Come to Brazil. You’re family.” The warmth and love flowed over the phone, allowing her, for a singular moment, to imagine they were in the same room. She and her best friend. It wasn’t to be.
But I’m not, not anymore. She blinked away some tears and sighed as she allowed herself to thump forward to the floor. Forcing cheer into her voice, she tried again.
“No, sweetie. I’m going to go off on a grand adventure. I’m heading to Belize and am going to play tourist and let some other schmuck other than myself do a tour. I’m going to go ziplining and find some hot man to shag.”
A grumble of serious irritation. “You can fucking zipline here. You know this.”
Yeah, she did. Rolling her shoulders, she slipped her feet into her four inch heels and stood. “I need to do this, Selena. Things are changing. We have to face that fact.”
“I don’t if I don’t want to.”
Walking across her floor, she flicked the light off, shrouding the office in darkness. Jo didn’t doubt that if they were face to face, Selena would have stomped her foot in pure stubbornness.
This time the smile didn’t have to be forced. “Sweetie, you do. Em is happy and I can’t see her coming back here. She and Dianna still haven’t completely mended their fences. Plus there’s something else going on with Dianna right now that she’s not telling me about.” She went to her kitchen and pulled out a pre prepared meal setting it on the forest green counter top. “No, before you ask, no clue yet but when I figure it out, I’ll let you know. Dianna is just being secretive and for her, that’s like the fucking Fort Knox being tighter on their security.”
“I worry.”
Putting the phone on speaker, she turned for a glass as she gazed at her forest green and soft white kitchen with hints of wine red. It always made her feel like she was in nature. She pulled out her shellacked pink and gold mug with ‘Boss Bitch’ done with onyx black writing. “For what? I’m good. I’m happy in almost every aspect of my life, I’m just needing a break from Miami.”
Slight shuffling. “And your family.”
She shrugged despite Selena being about seven hundred miles from her as the crow flew, not even bothering belabor that point because it was true. Jo took the lid off and slid it in the microwave, setting the timer and moving back to the large island that sometimes had all her friends around it, eating and laughing with her.
Jo had a huge family and while she loved them all, it also meant having a ton of people up in her business and in her life. They’d not been a fan of her heading to Brazil with her friends the first—and subsequent times she’d gone—they definitely weren’t going to be pleased when she called them from the airport that she was heading to Belize.
I’m not dumb enough to tell them before my ass is past security and at my gate. In fact I’ll probably simply wait until I’ve boarded and call them a few minutes before I have to put my phone in plane mode.
Yep, that was a far better plan. The microwave beeped.
Although, there was always a chance her mother would find a way to get past there to her. Five more days and she was gone for a month. A full thirty days of a brand new adventure. Was she saddened her besties couldn’t come? Of course. Would it stop her from going? Hell no.
“How long until you’re back?”
The low tone of her friend broke into her thoughts of how her mother wouldn’t hesitate to storm the airport. Hell, that woman would probably call in a bomb threat or say she was a danger simply to get her ass off the plane.
New plan. Call when she landed in Belize. She had a direct flight and wouldn’t need to call before she landed. Yes, much better.