Fate's Dark Shadows: A stand-alone age gap small-town romance by Abby Knox

Author:Abby Knox [Knox, Abby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Author Abby Knox, LLC
Published: 2021-10-19T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Maya

Meeting all these people after work is just what I needed.

We’ve all gathered at the mayor’s residence, a quaint Victorian house on Main Street, for dinner. Ruby is slightly tipsy from Juniper’s homemade wine.

Izzy and Danny have brought homemade spaghetti and meatballs.

Rex isn’t contributing a lot, but mostly hovering over Juniper and offering a growly comment about needing to get to bed early tonight.

Judging by the way those two are looking at each other, I’d guess he’s not talking about sleep. My palms sweat at the thought of it. I bet he’s rough.

What am I saying? I’m not even attracted to that man.

I have to get sex off the brain, is what I have to do.

Izzy and Danny have a whole vibe of their own going on. The two of them are their own snark fest.

I’m thankful that fellow single women Billie, Ruby, and councilwoman Becky are here, or I’d feel uncomfortable with all the sexual energy in the room.

After Ruby and Izzy are about three glasses of wine in, there’s a knock on the door.

“I’ll get it,” Juniper says, but just as she rises, Rex jumps in between her and the door.

“Babe,” she says gently. “No one is coming to our house to make you react that way. Remember? Jimmy Earl’s still in jail.”

That seems like a story. I bite my lip and wait, glancing around the room. Juniper leans over the table to tell me the short version while Rex answers the door.

“My ex-brother-in-law followed me all the from Nebraska and tried to kidnap me, and he’s right now awaiting sentencing for the murder of my abusive ex-husband. It’s a whole thing.”

“Nebraska?”

She nods her head. “Car broke down, and Rex put me up without even asking. I guess you could say it was an instant connection.”

My eyes wide, I nod and feel grateful inside to know that Juniper isn’t from here originally, either. I also note the similarities. Fate seems to be full of men who don’t let their women out of their sight once they clap their eyes on someone they like.

And whose frame fills the doorway just now? Doyle. Of course. Casting a silhouette of his large shoulders, he wears a cable knit sweater that hugs his frame so well it’s a crime against my preference to stay hydrated.

I suck in my breath, shocked at how my insides dance a jig now that he’s here.

The specter of him never leaves me. I examine my emotions, careful not to show what my body feels.

I can’t see his eyes against the setting sun behind him, but I don’t need to. I can feel them on me.

I notice how everyone in Fate has adapted to this strange behavior from this man. When someone unexpected whom you know shows up to your front door unannounced, the usual response would be, “Doyle! Hello! Come in!”

But there’s none of that. Not from a single one of this lot.

Everyone falls silent instead. But it’s not a strange, awkward silence like someone has walked in on a room of people talking behind his back.

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