The Note by Natalie Wrye (the read aloud family .TXT) 📕

after we do the convincing. A promise that you’ll destroy that note.”

“Destroy the evidence that you robbed me?”

She lifts her tiny chin. “Yes.”

“Destroy the evidence that you slept in a generous man’s bed, took advantage of him.” My stare slants. “Deceived, lied and cheated for your own purposes?”

I watch her throat work with a swallow. She clears her throat. “Yes.”

“So, let me get this straight: You need me. To come with you. To buy back a watch by convincing a pawnshop owner to sell it for less than what it was sold? And then you want me to pretend like it never happened afterwards?”

She nods once, her eyes brimming with willful strength even now. “Yes.”

“Miss Somerset.” I start. “Sophia…” Her name is soury-sweet on my lips. “You’re a liar. Clearly crazy.” I cock a brow. “And a thief. And despite all of that…” I inhale deeply, blinking slowly as I stare at her as if for the first time. I exhale my doubt. “I’m still going to help you.”

Her eyes widen. “You will?”

“Of course.” I sit back. “Unless you give me another reason not to. Not that the little note you left wasn’t reason enough.”

She sighs, a breathy sound that makes me want to touch her lips. “Then it’s settled then. We’ll meet up later today?” She tilts her chin, waiting for my nod. “Head over to the pawnshop. Talk to the owner.”

“Sure.” I grin, the expression more sinister than nice. “I promise…” I roll the words around on my tongue, feeling their weight. “And unlike you, I know the meaning of that word. Unless, of course, you don’t trust me?”

My question hangs mid-air.

Sophia stares at me, not saying a single word, and it is as if the very air thickens around us, spinning into a web.

Caught—like two flies in a trap, the last woman in the world that I should trust looks at me, knowing there’s no way out.

Knowing, just as I do, that this arrangement will cause more questions than we can afford.

A dull heat warms the surface of my flushed skin as I stare at her once again. Still silent, she only blinks until her golden-green eyes slant, the spun web of silence finally getting the best of her.

She matches my stare with hers.

“Okay,” she answers at last. “I trust you.”

I take a steadying breath. “Then we’ll meet later today.”

“Before my shift.” She squirms in her seat. “I switched slots at The Alchemist.”

“I’d thought as much.” My eyes scan her lips, resisting the urge to go lower. “We can go before your shift starts. I’m nothing if not fair.”

But that’s not true. Not really, anyway.

I don’t have lots of qualities. Least of all, trust.

Especially in her.

But as she pushes her curtain of dark hair over her shoulder, shoving that lilac scent my way, I make a mental memo to make sure my dick remembers that little fact.

Chapter 12

SOPHIA

Tuesday morning

Shit! I’m late to meet up with Noah.

No surprise there.

I’m barely awake when my alarm clock starts ringing.

A sleepy sun stretches over the city outside my bedroom window, pulling at my eyelids, and I fight against the tug, wishing I could will my body to stay back asleep.

It doesn’t work.

After leaving Giani’s in the early morning hours with a face full of mozzarella and a stomach full of knots, I took the liberty of actually using my red vibrator when I arrived home.

I needed the frustration out of my body as soon as possible. But the glaring, undeniable, inconvenient problem was that when I tried to use my battery-operated boyfriend I could only see his face—only see Noah.

The biggest mistake I’d ever made was imprinted under my eyelids, and every time I put my “electronic boyfriend” to work, there he was.

Dark-haired and dark-mannered.

A gorgeous mistake in a suit.

But I push the man, the mistake and his suit to the back of my mind.

I sigh, turning over against my pillow, squeezing it to fight back against reality. The memory of staring into Noah Quinn’s navy-blue eyes is still in my brain when I open my own, my gaze shifting towards the blue-white light blinking from my blaring cell phone.

I grab the shrieking black square, finally realizing that the ringing is not from my alarm, but from an incoming call. I press on the center button to shut it up, answering even as sleep still blocks the air from my throat.

I cough.

“What?”

“Hmph. I see someone woke up on the wrong side of the vibrator this morning.” A feminine voice fills the air around me with a soft laugh. “And here I was, hoping I was doing you a favor. Figures.”

I sit up in bed, clearing the remaining cobwebs from my brain. “Mare, I’m sorry. It’s been a long night. The longest. You wouldn’t even believe…”

“Try me.” She laughs, the sound a twinkling note that has already claimed the hearts of TV viewers everywhere. “We’re shooting for the new spring season while I have a pimple on my face that practically talks. My family still hasn’t sorted out the details from my father’s estate, and his funeral was months ago. And, if that’s not bad enough, I haven’t started to think about planning the wedding…”

I frown. “Maybe it’s not the wedding planning that’s the pain. Maybe it’s the man you’re getting married to.”

She laughs. “I’m sure your brother would love to hear you say that. I got your text late last night. Sorry I’m just now responding.”

I glance at the clock. “It’s literally only five hours later.”

“In TV show-shooting time? That’s like two weeks. I just wanted to update you about that watch. The one you asked about.” I hear what sounds like paper on the other end of the line shuffle. My soon-to-be sister-in-law pauses. “I’m not so sure I’ve ever heard of a watch that fits that description.”

“Shit.” I swing my legs over the side of the bed, hustling to the bathroom. I slam the door behind me as if the sound will snap me out of