Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92636 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Cara leaned on the banister. “Case closed, huh?”
“Appears that way.”
“What about Rex?” Cara hadn’t seen him or heard about him since his near arrest. “Did he go back to Vegas?”
“He checked out of the hotel he was staying in after Mike made sure he knew his presence wouldn’t be tolerated anywhere in Serendipity.”
Cara exhaled slowly, surprised Mike had a one-on-one confrontation with his father. “At least he had closure,” she said, knowing how much Mike needed that to move forward in his life.
“Do you want some advice?” Sam asked.
Cara shrugged, knowing she couldn’t stop him. “Go for it.”
Sam met her gaze, his expression sincere and full of compassion. “Stop caring about him.”
Cara shook her head and laughed. “Do you think I haven’t tried?” she asked, storming up the stairs so she could shower. And then do her least favorite thing in the world: shopping.
Could her life get any more exciting than this?
* * *
The walls were closing in and this damned apartment didn’t feel a thing like home. Mike’s small place over Joe’s was more welcoming, and that was because he had more waiting for him when he walked outside than he had in New York City. A week had gone by and he hadn’t put out feelers at his old station or with the feds because he wasn’t ready to think about remaining in Manhattan.
But just a short week ago, he hadn’t been able to think about settling in Serendipity either. So he’d turned to his same MO and done what he did best.
He ran away.
Mike hadn’t been able to look himself in the mirror since. He hadn’t answered his brother’s or sister’s calls. He’d come back here for breathing space and thinking time, but it hadn’t taken long for him to wonder why the hell he had thought he needed either one.
Everything he wanted had been staring him in the face in Serendipity. A woman who understood him, accepted him, completed him in a way he’d never believed possible. He missed Cara, her smile, her laugh, and most of all, he missed the way she called out his full name when he was deep inside her. Hell, he even missed the dingy office at the station and how he could hear Cara’s laugh when his door was left open. But every time he thought about going back, he remembered her face when she realized his suitcase was open and half-packed in his apartment.
Destroyed.
That was the only word he could think of. He’d destroyed—not her, Cara was too strong to let him defeat her—but he’d trashed whatever faith she’d had in him. And though he’d given her no reason and even discouraged it, she’d believed in him enough to invest her heart.
What had he done? He’d thrown that gift away.
His cell rang, and he glanced down. For the first time all week, he answered a call from home. “Hey, Sam.”
“I’m on my way up the stairs to your apartment. Open the damned door and let me in. We need to talk.”
Mike heard his brother’s voice in the hall and opened his door as Sam finished his sentence. “Come on in,” Mike muttered.
Sam walked inside and looked Mike over. “Thank God you look like shit too.”
Mike drew his shoulders back, Sam’s words hitting him hard. “Cara’s in bad shape?”
“What do you think, asshole?”
His heart hurt at that, and he expelled a long breath. “I deserved that.”
“You’re lucky I don’t haul off and hit you.” Sam headed to his brother’s fridge and pulled out a soda. “Are you that damned selfish that you couldn’t see what you had? Or are you that stupid that you really don’t want her?”
Mike sat on the couch and leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling. “I fucked up. I’m not going to go into all the crap in my past, or why I did it. Suffice it to say that everything was coming at me at once, and when I left, I thought I needed time and space to think.”
Sam flung himself into the nearest chair. “And now that you’ve had it?”
He shook his head, disgusted. “I know how badly I screwed up. Everything I want is what I left behind.”
“Then why are we sitting here?” Sam patted the arm of the chair.
He leaned forward and met his brother’s gaze. “Because Cara made it clear that with my actions, she can trust me to keep my word, at least when it comes to leaving.”
“So you’ve got some work to do. Since when are you afraid of hard work?”
He was afraid of many things, but work wasn’t one of them. “Never. But I’ve done nothing but prove to her that I don’t want commitment. Why the hell would she believe I feel differently now?” He studied his younger brother’s serious expression, wondering what words of wisdom Sam could possibly offer.