Page 45 of Texas Kissing

I started to wonder if, if I was very careful, I could actually make this work.

Well, if there was even a chance...I was going to give it a damn good try.

That afternoon, I headed to my doctor’s office. She had no problem writing me a prescription for the pill and I popped the first one in the parking lot. I’d only just finished my period so I was—I squirmed inside—good to go.

I hadn’t had that sensation in years: the feeling ofplanning sex.I’d forgotten how good it felt. My next stop was the nail salon. If I was going to do this, I was going to do it properly.

“Toes, too?” asked the nail technician. “A pedicure?”

Money was the one thing in my life that wasn’t a problem. The work was well paid and my living expenses were virtually zero. Cash just built up in my bank account because I didn’t have anything to spend it on...until now. “Sure,” I told her.

She was like a shark sensing blood. “A leg wax? Bikini wax?”

I went to sayno...and then nodded my head, instead. “Go nuts,” I told her. She ran to get help. I stumbled out of the salon over three hours later, my purse much lighter and various parts of me tender.

Finally, I hit the mall and bought a little denim skirt that would show off my—laughably pale—legs and a shirt I could tie beneath my boobs. I had to look at it for a long time in the changing room mirror before I decided and, even then, I wasn’t sure about showing off so much of me. But I’d been wearing blouses and jeans for two years. I needed something appropriate for dating.

I figured that, with enough attention to detail, Icould control the relationship and manage its risks just like I did with my business. The pill? That was just a different kind of Taser.

I hadn’t realized that relationships are a hell of a lot more complicated.

37

Antonio

I’d spenta fruitless week searching New York. Tessa’s old college classmates, the few boyfriends she’d had...all the same people I’d questioned two years ago. And it had gone just the same as before.

I hated the little bitch. I’d wasted the best years of my life driving her to fucking band practice when I should have been doing real work for the family. Now, finally, she was gone. But just when I was making a name for myself I’d been pulled back to running around after her again.

When I found her, she was going to fucking pay.

There were precious few possibilities left, though. Her parents were dead and she’d been an only child. There was only one surviving relative and she was in a goddamn nursing home. I was almost certain that she would be a dead end, too.

“I’m here to see Abigail Oates,” I told the receptionist. “I’m her nephew.” I wasn’t even related to Tessa, Erico or the rest of the family, but I looked asif I could be.

She handed me the visitor’s book and, just as I’d expected, there were no entries on the preceding pages for Tessa’s grandmother. Just to be sure, I said, “I’m the only one who’s stopped in? My cousin hasn’t been by?”

The receptionist shook her head. “Nope. Mrs. Oates never gets any visitors.”

I sighed. A four hour fucking flight for nothing. I headed for the door.

“Wait—aren’t you visiting?” asked the receptionist.

“I changed my mind.”

I kicked open the door to the parking lot, which drew an angry shout from the receptionist. I was halfway to my rental car when I stopped.

Tessa pissed me off. Always had. Partially because of how I had to follow her around as if she was a fucking princess, partially because of how close she was to Erico—closer than I knew I’d ever get. She was family and I wasn’t. Hell, she’d tried to leave and he’dstilltaken her back in. If it had been my call, I would have killed her along with her prissy friend.

But however much I hated her, I had to admit she was smart. It takes brains to disappear completely, like she’d done.

I turned around and marched back into the care home.

“What now?” asked the receptionist glaring. “And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t kick our—“

I held up a photo of Tessa. “Has this woman been here?” I demanded.

She balked, then lifted her chin and folded her arms defiantly. “We don’t give out information on visitors,” she sniffed.