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Prologue
The leathery-skinned guardthe little white booth behind the elaborate black iron gates looked froain with far more scrutiny than I think the situation warranted His bushy grey and black brows furrowed as he spoke softly into the microphone strapped to the shoulder of his unifor, but it was in Spanish, and he was kind of creeping ated couy re a military base He was one hundred percent no-bullshit and obviously regardeddesert cactus lined gates
“I look different withupto appear harmless
Ignoringinside the booth and spoke into his lance I forced what I hoped was a sweet s to look shen I was inwardly fu wasn’t the best idea I’d had a couple hours to stew over the injustice of this situation during the drive from Phoenix to Sedona, and my already hot temper was at a slow boil
If there was one thing I hated, it was being taken advantage of
He slid the een us shut while still holding lass and yell at hih, but that probably wasn’t the best way to handle this situation My twenty-year-old silver Honda Civic—one year younger than aze darted to the dashboard I wondered, again, if taking a car with over two-hundred thousand reat idea Without looking away froave the sun-bleached dash a little pat,
Norreater Phoenix area, other than to go back home to Tucson, but desperate times called for desperate measures
Finally, theslid open again The unifor me my ID back with an impassive expression “Thank you for your patience, Ms Holtz If you’ll follow the drive up to theyou Just park out front”
I gave him a toothy smile with no warmth “Thanks”
As the ates sear and eased up the long, winding asphalt drive that led to ahill, doeous and well maintained, like celebrity homes you’d see on TV
I knew Jacob’s family had money, but not this kind of money
Growing up in wealth like this would certainly explain his ‘entitled little shit’ behavior
The nervous clench of my stomach increased I was sure that, if I touchedthey never were Nope, I was a curvy girl, about thirty pounds over ht’ as my doctor liked to put it, and soft all over It wasn’t that I was lazy and sat around eating crap all day I was pretty active and tried not to pig out too much, but my body held onto those extra thirty pounds likeseeht was distributed between my breasts and ass But my belly always had a pooch, no hs didn’t touch when I walked hen I was ten
The landscaping was beautiful, all done to co cactuses and flowering succulents brightening the red rock boulders surrounding the house Overhead, the clear sky burned an iht blue and I was thankful the weather seerees cooler here Back hoed for the days when I had nothing better to do than hang out in round pool
What I wouldn’t give for a dip right now—but, no, my moral compass de in on Saturday , like any sane person with et up at the butt crack of dawn and driveto sacrifice the one day I had to as for the trip, all because some punk ass little spoiled rich kid lied to me