Page 220 of The Billion Heirs Boxed Set
She’s quiet for a moment. “Avery, what are you doing?”
“You know why I’m here,” I tell her. “You’re a smart woman. You know what I’m looking for. If you find what I need, overnight it to me at the hotel. The sooner the better.”
“And how am I supposed to snoop through your son’s things when he’s home on suspension?”
I sigh. “I don’t know. I suppose I could just have him do a cheek swab, but he’ll ask why, and I made a promise to him long ago never to lie to him.”
“Except you haven’t kept that promise. You told him his father was dead.”
“That’s the one thing I lied about,” I say. “And he was dead to me, Mom.”
He was, for many years.
And now he’s not. He’s alive. Alive and big and strong and gorgeous and the amazing kisser he always was. It was… God. At first, I was surprised. But I shouldn’t have been. Chance was always a little dominant, a little possessive, and he liked to kiss me, to touch me, to show me I belonged to him whenever we were together.
I loved it, the feeling of knowing I was his.
The recent kiss? The same. I felt like he was claiming me all over again. Hot and fierce. Demanding. Chance takes, but also gives. I crave—
“Avery…”
I practically fan myself remembering, which makes me cranky, because I shouldn’t like what he did. I shouldn’t want more. Need more.
“Just get the hair. Do it now, and make some excuse to go out and overnight it to me. There’s still time for me to get it by morning.”
“I’ll try. But sweetheart, I need to talk to you about something. When you have some time.”
“Is it urgent?”
A moment passes. Then, “No.”
I’m too focused on this case, on Chance, on getting the hell away from those kisses to hear anything else right now. “Then it has to wait. Get the hair, and then please take care of my son until I’m home.”
10
CHANCE
I should forget Avery. Just push her out of my mind and move on with my life. That has never worked. Not one fucking time in all these years. Now, she mentioned a letter.
A letter.
I can’t get past it because I have no idea what she’s talking about. I toss. Turn. Stare at the ceiling. Get up for the usual chores and make coffee.
Miles and Austin shuffle into the kitchen and grab mugs to fill with caffeine.
I stare as the coffee maker drips, drips, drips…
That’s it. Right there. I can’t take another second of not knowing. Of having Avery in town and not being near her. I need answers. I need them now.
I turn, cut across the kitchen. “You two are on your own this morning.”
“Where the hell are you going?” Austin calls.
“To get the truth.” I snag my hat off the hook by the mudroom.
The answer doesn’t satisfy them and they keep at it, but I ignore everything they ask and head to my truck in the garage.
I drive into town, having no real memory of doing so, and pull up in front of the motel on the south side of town. It’s the only one in Bayfield, so it’s easy to know where Avery’s staying.
