Page 45 of When the Smoke Clears

“You had a boyfriend at—” I’ll deal with this later. “How are you? Your injuries.”

That’s when the front door opens and Alan walks in.

Chapter 15

Maci

SuttonopensmyJeepdoor and I jump, focused on the phone call from Stephanie. He smirks, gripping both sides of the door frame and looking me over without speaking.

“My injuries are healing as expected. Thanks for asking.” I manage to answer Stephanie, even though my mouth has gone dry.

He quirks a sexy eyebrow at me. I’m immediately ready for him to bury himself inside me. “We should be hearing from Ha—Mr. Campbell soon with a probate update. If I hear before you, I’ll let you know.”

“Very well. I’ll talk to you soon,” she says, her voice floating through the Jeep speaker, then disconnects before I can respond.

Sutton looks me over. He has yet to share whatever opinions he has about Stephanie. He may think it would bother me, but it won’t. People are entitled to their opinions, and I’m sure most feel strongly about her. I certainly do.

“How was the salon?” He extends his hand, and I accept it after unbuckling myself.

“We had a nice time. It was good to spend time with them.”

“Good.” He kisses the top of my head.

I wrap my arms around his torso as he winds his around me and buries his face in my hair. It’s hard to believe how different life looks after a few short weeks. If someone had told me six weeks ago that I’d be dating someone, moving in with them, and planning a future together, I would’ve laughed in their faces. Now, I can’t imagine my life without Sutton in it.

If they’d have told me I’d be facing charges for murder in self-defense, I would’ve assumed they were unhinged. Yet here we are.

“How’s your mom?” he asks softly.

I shake my head against his chest. “Difficult as usual. She wants to move into Nana’s temporarily.”

He doesn’t respond at first. “Does that mean she took your warning seriously?”

“Maybe? If she has a plan, she didn’t tell me much.” Tucked into Sutton’s arms feels like home. I don’t even care how dirty he is, or what he has on him.

“Are you going to go over there?”

I pull back to look at him. “To see Stephanie?”

“In general.”

Every step I take not to be a victim seems diminished by my fear of revisiting the site of my altercation with Colt.

“Maci…”

“Sutton.” My face remains composed. At least, I think it does.

He smiles softly. “Fine.” His lips brush against mine and I lean up to deepen the kiss, but he pulls back before I gain much purchase.

“I know you just got back, and if you’re tired it’s fine. But I think we need to get away for a bit.”

“Ok.” I assess him, trying to figure out what he has in mind.

“Our first date didn’t go exactly to plan.” He smiles softly when I scoff.

“You mean because my psycho one-night-stand slash mystery stepbrother interrupted us by being even more of a creep?”

His smile stretches into a grin. “Yeah. Something like that.”

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