The End
Warner’s story is coming May 10th, 2021. Go here to join my newsletter and be notified of The Maverick’s release!
Next in the Hayden Family Series
Preorder The Maverick - Coming May 10th 2021
The Outlaw - September 2021
The Calamity - October 2021
Visit jennifermillikinwrites.com for more information on the Hayden Family series.
What to read next
If you liked brooding and loyal Wes, you’ll love Ethan Shepherd, Kate Masters, and Nick Hunter in The Day He Went Away.
An emotional story about finding love and moving on through impossible circumstances. Here’s a sneak peek…
CHAPTER ONE
KATE
His hands are on my hips. He squeezes, fingers digging into my skin, and I like it. I try to open my eyes but they won’t obey. I don’t know who’s making me feel this way, but I know I’m not scared. His five o’clock shadow gently scrapes my cheek as his face drags across mine. Just before his lips touch mine, his scent fills my nose.
I know who it is.
The scent of his skin is seared into my soul.
My best friend.
My Ethan.
The creak of metal brings me back to reality, and I shake off the images.
I swivel my chair and cross my ankles, pretending to listen to Belinda as she introduces her new client and the concepts she’s working on.
The conference room at work is not the place to relive that dream. The earth-shattering, mind-bending, rule breaking dream. My Ethan dream.
His hands. On me. Touching me in a whole new way.
“Kate, where are you with your new client?”
I look into the expectant eyes of my boss, Lynn, and the bright red lipstick that never seems to leave her lips.
I clear my throat, buying myself a few seconds. Rookie move.
“Kate and I are still in the planning phase of the Rodgers account.” Sarah, seated on my right, speaks up.
Ethan’s fingers digging into my skin…
Focus.
Lynn looks at Sarah and regards her with cool eyes. She flicks her eyes back to me. “But you’re taking the lead on Rodgers, right, Kate?”
I nod. “For the remainder of the morning I’ll concentrate on getting all the information as complete as possible and the releases perfected. I’m taking a half day today, and I'll be out until the twenty-seventh. Sarah will run with everything I’ve created. And I’ll be available for any questions or to help in any way, of course.”
Lynn sighs. Just a tiny, barely perceptible sigh, and I hope Sarah didn’t pick up on it. Sarah is capable of completing tasks without me. Besides, I’m going to make it foolproof. Everything will be so perfect that Sarah will have to work to make a mistake.
Lynn sets her sights on someone on the other side of the long, dark wood table, and I relax. My mind wanders back to Ethan’s lips…hands…
A totally different hand taps my knee.
Sarah’s giving me her irritated look.
“Thanks for saving me,” I mouth.
She scribbles on her notepad and slides it to me. Are you okay? That wasn’t like you.
I give her a thumbs up and turn my attention to Lynn. I can’t be caught daydreaming again. Totally unacceptable.
But that dream… For weeks I haven’t been able to get it out of my head. But I have to. Ethan will be here this afternoon.
There’s work to be done before I can head to the airport. Everything needs to be handled before I can take time off from Simone PR.
Ten days. With Ethan Shepherd.
My best friend.
And also the person who has been on my mind while I’m asleep.
How many times am I going to relive the dream when I'm awake?
I’m trying to pay attention to what Lynn’s saying, I really am, but… His scratchy face on my skin… I’m a goner. Might as well give in and let myself enjoy the daydream.
“Kate, seriously?”
Sarah stares down at me, hands on her hips. I look around. The room is empty. My cheeks warm.
“I’m sorry, my mind is elsewhere today.”
“That's clear. Want to tell me where?”
I bite my lip. I've hardly dared to tell myself where my mind has been. There’s no way I’m telling anybody else.
I rise from my seat and lead the way out of the now empty conference room. Sarah is on my heels.
“We have some work to do. Let’s get to it.” I throw the directive behind me.
I’m Kate Masters, and I’m back in control.
***
It’s funny how, when I think I’m in control, something happens to remind me how wrong I am. Not haha funny, but funny like of course you have no control over Ethan’s flight home. If I’d checked my phone before I ran out of work, I would’ve known his plane is late. But I was busy, pushing it to the final second before jumping from my seat and thundering to the elevator. There had been so much to accomplish before I left.
At work Sarah kept reminding me of the time. And asking why I’d been a space cadet in the morning meeting.
I know something’s up. Does it have to do with Ethan?
No, why would anything be up with Ethan?
Because you’re taking a lot of time off work to spend with him, and you’ve been weird for weeks. And extra weird today.
I took time off to spend with him last summer when he was home.
But you weren’t absent minded and forgetful and—
Weird?
Yes.
Everything is cool. Promise. I just need to get through all this work before I can leave.
Now I’m sitting in front of terminal four security at the airport with forty-five minutes to spare.
Forty-five minutes to think.
About Ethan.
About how Ethan and I have been best friends since we were five. Two decades.
And about my dream. And what it means.
I’ve never dreamed of Ethan before. Not like that, anyway.
Ethan has always been… Well, Ethan.
But now he’s not.
Now he’s Ethan.
And that terrifies me. It shakes the foundation of my life. I’ve spent a lot of time building the solid, stable floor I stand on. Having feelings for Ethan is like taking a sledgehammer to one of the wooden planks. I need Ethan the way I need air and water to live. Ethan’s unyielding, loyal friendship is my safe haven. He’s the only person I don’t try to be perfect for. Everyone else… They expect it. Perfection. And I don’t do disappointment.
But these feelings… They’ve consumed me. Infiltrated my heart and swallowed me whole.
And they’re already affecting my behavior. Last night he called from the airport in Germany, and I turned into a thirteen-year-old with a crush, stammering and sweating. When he asked what was wrong, I assured him I was great, just preoccupied with work. He believed me. I think.
What if I told him everything?
I know what would happen.
I sigh and glance at the time on my phone. Twenty more minutes until he arrives. I look up, survey the weaving security line, watch the TSA employees with their stiff shoulders, and look again at the stream of people exiting the concourses, fresh from their flight’s arrival. My fingers tap my knees. I need a change of scenery. These gray walls are driving me crazy. Or maybe it’s me and all this overthinking.