His strong jaw was covered with stubble, accentuating the lines of his mouth. A mouth that was surprisingly soft, especially when it grazed over her skin. Her nipples pebbled under her thin t-shirt. Damn her traitorous body. It’d been almost seven months since he’d ghosted, it should have gotten the message by now and forgottenhim.
“I asked first.” She set her gun on the high shelf above the coat hooks and grabbed the zip-up hoodie hanging by the door, zipping it half wayup.
“Why are you answering the door with a gun?” heasked.
“Because this isn’t the greatest neighborhood and some asshole was pounding on my door.” The neighborhood sucked. It wasn’t the greatest when Sarah bought the small two-bedroom house and it had only gotten worse in the last five years. She was pretty sure her neighbor two doors down was dealing. As long as he wasn’t cooking, and he kept it to his doorstep, she was willing to overlook it. But Kimber and Kaden were going to her parents the minute the school year wasover.
“Why are you here?” She enunciated the question this time. She needed a quick answer so she could work on forgetting Christopher fucking Nolton.Again.
“I’m looking for SarahReed.”
Her shoulders sagged, and she rubbed her hand over her eyes. “She’s nothere.”
“When will she beback?”
She glanced over her shoulder. Sprocket sat in the opening of the short hall that led to the two small bedrooms at the back of the house. She let out a low woof and lay down, resting her head on her paws. She sensed Denise’s stress, but was doing what she’d beentold.
Denise stepped out of the house and pulled the door shut behind her, leaving it cracked. Chris moved back on the small concretepad.
“She’s not coming back. She’s in the hospital with terminalcancer.”
Light dawned in his eyes. “Shit. She’s your cousin.” Chris ran his hands over his hair. It had grown long and now curled around his ears and jawline. If it weren’t for the stubble and dark circles under his eyes, he’d look boyishly charming. Things she should not benoticing.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “What is thisabout?”
He looked at the ground and took a deep breath before raising his head. “Her ex-husband was released from prison. He’s skippedparole.”
She dropped her arms. “What the fuck? He’s not supposed to be out for another five years. Atleast.”
His face pinched, like he had sucked on something sour. “He made a good impression with the parole board. Got out early. I need to know why her ex has been callingher.”
“What? He hasn’t been callingher.”
“Denise, he’s been contacting her. We traced the calls to thisresidence.”
Anger threatened to strangle her. “I guaran-damn-tee you, she hasn’t had any contact with that fuckwad in almost tenyears.”
“Aunt Denny? What’s going on?” Kaden stood in the now open doorway behindthem.
She took a deep breath and schooled her features. “Hey, buddy. What are youdoing?”
“I heard talking.” He pointed at Chris accusingly. “Who’she?”
“Just a friend,” she said. She brushed his hair back from his forehead. “Why don’t you go back inside? I’ll be there in a few minutes and we can read beforedinner.”
“Is Mom okay?” His voice broke at the end and his eyes becameglassy.
“She’s fine. We’re still going to go see her Friday afterschool.”
Kaden stared at Chris, eyeing him from top to bottom. He looked between them and asked, “Is this about the man that’s beencalling?”
She blinked and only by sheer will kept her voice even. “Why do you think this is about a mancalling?”
Kaden looked back at Chris. “I heard him say someone was callingmom.”
Denise glanced at Chris, trying to gauge his reaction. He stared intently at Kaden, but didn’t ask any questions. “Has someone been calling for yourmom?”
“Yes. He said he’s our dad, but Mom said he was dead. He keeps asking where she is and when he can talk toher.”
