LITMIR.BIZ

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not a wedding gift. She’d sent all those back after she’d thrown the ring in Eric’s face.

      She needed to stop thinking about Eric. He’d already ruined her life once.

      There was no room for him—especially not tonight.

      To drown out the incessant chatter in her head, Caitlyn deepened their kiss. Brodie groaned and nudged her thighs apart with his knee, nesting his lower body into hers. When she felt his arousal, thick and hard against her, she grabbed his backside and pulled him even closer, just to make sure there was no doubt about exactly how okay she was with their closeness.

      His murmured answer was muddled and unintelligible against her lips; he seemed to understand. His intention was clear in the way he smoothed his hand up her bare leg. When his fingers reached her upper thigh and he deftly eased her out of her panties, his actions told her everything she needed to know.

      When they were naked and ready, she held on tight as he unleashed himself up on her body.

      Later, when they lay spent and sated in each other’s arms, she wasn’t sure if hours or days had passed. It was as if they’d been lifted out of space and time into a world where only the two of them existed.

      But no... It couldn’t have been days because it was still dark outside, and she had to go home before the sun came up. She was staying with her parents while she was here. They’d send out the National Guard if she didn’t come home. She snuggled into the warmth of him for one more luxurious moment, breathing in the scent of him...of them...before she gently wriggled out from under his protective arm.

      He stirred. “Where are you going?”

      “I have to go home.”

      “Chicago? Tonight? Don’t do that. Stay with me. Some of the best meteors happen just before dawn.”

      It was already late, but she could see her mother’s face if she came in doing the walk of shame, with the sun on her back. Caitlyn may have been twenty-nine years old and living on her own since she’d gone off to college, but when she came home to visit the folks, she was twelve years old again.

      “No, I’m sorry. I really do have to go.”

      As she straightened her clothes and smoothed her hair into place, she watched Brodie lying there, propped up on one elbow, watching her. He really was a beautiful man. That face...and that body. Oh, what he could do with that body. It was one of the best experiences she’d ever had. Not that she’d had that many. She’d certainly never done this before. Brodie the Brit had been nothing short of amazing. It was a shame that she’d never see him again. What had started out to be an evening of obligation had turned into a night she would never forget.

      Never forget and definitely not regret.

      “Will you walk me to my car?” she asked.

      “Of course.” Once he’d righted himself and brushed off the dirt from his jacket, they were walking arm in arm back to the parking lot.

      “I’m sorry about your coat,” she said.

      “Don’t give it a second thought. In fact, I might just have it framed and hang it on my wall to remember tonight.”

      The temperature had dropped a good ten degrees, and by the time they made it back around to the lot, most of the cars were gone. The courtesy golf carts and their drivers were nowhere to be found. It was that late.

      As she fumbled in her purse for her keys, she checked her phone for the time.

      Three forty-five in the morning.

      Irrational panic ceased her. She should’ve been home hours ago.

      She didn’t want to ruin everything with awkward goodbyes, but she had to get out of there.

      “Brodie the Brit,” she said. They were standing maybe five inches apart. “This has been such a wonderful evening. Look, if you’re ever in Chicago...”

      She realized how that sounded, a shot of needy with a chaser of desperate.

      “Goodbye, Brodie.”

      She kissed him one last time before she drove off.

      When she did, she forced herself to not watch his fading image in her rearview mirror. Or to think about how tonight was not only her first one-night stand, it was also probably the best sex she’d ever had in her life.

      The faster she drove, the louder doubt rattled behind her like a string of tin cans tied to a wedding car.

      She was never going to see him again. She didn’t even know his last name.

      It was best that way.

      Wasn’t it?

Chapter Two

      May

      Couldn’t anything be simple? Caitlyn Moore silently lamented.

      Just once?

      Apparently not, she affirmed as she listened to Jason Hallowell, head electrical engineer for Moore Entertainment, drone on about the problem.

      “If Clark Ball leaves early, we will not get the work done in time to pass the electrical inspection. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you, ma’am, that this will be the second time we’ve failed it.”

      No. He didn’t need to remind her. The reality was an albatross, constantly following her. They were racing against the clock, and if they failed the inspection again, it would probably mean that they’d have to delay the Memorial Day soft opening of Moore Entertainment’s newest theme park, Cowboy Country USA.

      Caitlyn would rather eat dirt than delay the opening. She had to prove to her father that she was capable. She could pull this off despite his doubts and worries.

      Even more important than proving herself, this was the one thing she could do to help her father get well. He’d suffered a massive heart attack earlier in the week, and he was under strict doctors’ orders to avoid stress so that his body could heal. Caitlyn had dropped everything and flown into Lubbock from Chicago the moment she’d gotten word that he was ill. But she soon realized that sitting at his bedside wringing her hands wasn’t helping anyone. That’s when she decided the proactive approach would be to take a hold of the reins at Cowboy Country and make sure that the park opened as planned.

      When her father heard of the plan, he’d balked and blustered—even through the tubes and the admonitions of nurses who sedated him when he wouldn’t calm down. So Caitlyn did what any loving daughter would do. She told her dad that she loved him, but she wasn’t coming back to see him until he promised that he could remain calm.

      “Dad, I’m your best chance for making this project successful,” she’d said.

      “Well, that’s not very good news,” he’d said. “You’re a beautiful girl, and I’m sure you’re good at all that animal research you do, but Caitlyn, this is the real world.”

      “Dad, I’m not a girl. I’m twenty-nine years old, and I’m more than capable of handling this. I mean, everything is in place. The park is practically ready to open its doors. I can do this. You have to trust me.”

      By that time the sedative was kicking in. Through heavy eyes that were threatening to close, he said, “We’ll see. Make sure you keep the appointment with Hayes Consulting. They can help you. They’re expensive and hard to land an appointment with. So whatever you do, keep that appointment. Janie will tell you when it is. And listen to this Hayes guy, Caitlyn. He knows what he’s talking about.”

      With that, he drifted off to sleep. Her mother had smiled at her through watery eyes. Validation that she was doing the right thing, the only thing in her power that would allow her to take some of the pressure off her father so that he could focus on healing.

      Little did she know what she was actually getting herself into.

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