Page 59 of In Spades

She only had one of the three buttons fastened. Even though I couldn’t see them, I knew just how full her tits were. The image of Kristin walking into Jokers wearing Daisy Dukes and that white spaghetti strap tank top was burned into my mind. Every time I jerked off, it was to the thought of her in those damn shorts. That skin-tight shirt that showed off her stomach. That glittering piercing in her navel.

“I’ll see you soon,” I said.

I left her on that promise, giving her a nod and turning toward the elevator. It took everything in me to drag my boots down the slick tile hall.

But I would see her soon. She just didn’t know it yet.

I arrived at Melissa Jacobsen’s apartment complex in Morehead City at precisely quarter ‘till five. It was a nice place. Builder landscaping and fresh mulch pointed to it being a recent development. I spotted Kristin’s car in the lot and parked a row away, just in case she looked outside.

Maddie had messaged me earlier in the afternoon to confirm my plans. I doubled-checked her text for the correct apartment number and couldn’t help but laugh. In the text, she had also mentioned that Chase and Steve ran a background check on me and were satisfied.

I kind of like that they tried.

I’m sure that made for an excellent little scavenger hunt.

My public records were bare bones. I’d never even had a speeding ticket. I obscured my investments through layers of shell corporations. My finances stayed on the up-and-up with the IRS, but I valued my privacy. Hell, my neighbors thought I was just some weirdo who rarely left the house and had a nice truck parked in the driveway. That didn’t bother me, though.

It was all by design.

After leaving the inn that morning, I drove the forty minutes back to New Bern and brushed the dust off my place. For a bachelor, I did a damn good job of keeping up with the housework. Then again, I lived alone and didn’t make much of a mess.

I picked up some groceries on my way back to Morehead and popped them in the cooler I kept in the bed of my truck. Kristin was planning on a night of drinks and dancing with her girls, but Hannah Jane suggested she might want something a little more low-key with me.

Fine by me. I wasn’t the wild type, anyway.

I smoothed down my light-blue button up as I approached Melissa’s building. Stuffing my phone in the back pocket of my jeans, I started up the steps. The second my Ariats hit the top of the landing, I heard a cacophony of voices coming from apartment 3B.

The doormat read Sleeping Nurse—Ring the Doorbell if You Dare.

I swallowed my nerves and knocked. The voices fell silent, except for Kristin’s confused questioning. A flurry of movement followed. Finally, the door swung open.

The sight of Kristin in a pale-yellow sundress nearly knocked me on my ass. Tiny straps dipped into a V that tied in a knot between her breasts. A sliver of skin peeked out beneath them. The hem swished around the middle of her thighs, leaving her legs exposed. A pair of strappy brown sandals wrapped around her ankles.

She wore a thin silver necklace and a pair of simple earrings. Her hair was down. The dark brown layers swooped around her shoulders.

Every time I saw her at the inn, she wasn’t wearing anything more than mascara and chapstick. Tonight, her already beautiful skin was radiant, and the smoky eyeshadow and glossy lips had her looking like a sex kitten.

I thanked my lucky stars that I had a photographic memory, because this was a moment I never wanted to forget.

“Hey, Sunshine,” I said, grinning at the sight of my girl.

“Y-You—” Kristin stammered.

Maddie, Hannah Jane, Melissa, Bridget, and Erica piled in the doorway behind her.

“He cleans up nice,” Mel said with a grin, elbowing Kristin.

Having her friends’ approval was a welcomed stroke to my ego. Especially because Kristin hadn’t indicated her willingness to actually leave with me.

Kristin looked at her friends, read their faces, and realized that they were all in on it. She narrowed her eyes in on Hannah Jane. “There’s no girls’ night tonight, is there?”

Hannah shook her head. “Nope! I’m about to go pick up Zoey and Kylie from Chase, and you’re going out with this tall drink of water.”

Kristin paled. With her lips pursed and eyes shut, she steeled herself.

I was curious about who Zoey and Kylie were. My mind went back to the hypothesis that Kristin was a single mom. It would explain a lot.

Bridget stuffed an overnight bag in Kristin’s hands, and she nearly toppled over. Her hands gripped the straps, knuckles turning white.

---