Harlequin Romantic Suspense April 2021 by Karen Whiddon (good e books to read txt) 📗

own desires to get married, have a family and move into her forever home. It also had her thinking about Richard. Only minutes before he was shot, she had promised to see him when she was ready to finance another house. Now he was gone. That fact reminded her of how no one was promised tomorrow.

“What do you think so far, sis?” Erica asked.

Connie gave a half-hearted shrug. “Well, considering we’re still standing in the foyer, I haven’t formed an opinion yet.”

Erica side-eyed her and shook her head. “Always a smart-ass.”

Angela chuckled and proceeded to show them around.

Connie followed them past the formal living room and down the hall, taking in the travertine floors along the way. As they strolled through the main level, she skimmed the home’s fact sheet. The three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom home was fifteen hundred square feet and thirteen years old.

“The kitchen is outdated, and I don’t like how small this island is,” Erica said, scanning the tight space with a critical eye. Like Connie, Erica enjoyed cooking. A large kitchen with updated appliances was a must.

“Since this is well under your budget,” the real-estate agent said, “you’ll still have money left over to make changes to the kitchen and other parts of the house.”

“That’s true, but I really wanted to just move in and not have to deal with renovations,” Erica said. She stood in front of the sliding patio door before the agent opened it.

They roamed through the rest of the home, which was a nice size and had large bedrooms—a good selling feature. Had it not been for the mostly concrete backyard and the old appliances, Erica probably would’ve put in an offer. Instead, she told Angela that she’d have to think about it, but wanted to see a few more places.

Two houses later, Connie was ready to call it quits and get some dinner. Once they were back in the car, Erica stared out the window at the last home.

“I really liked that one, but I want Nakia to have a yard with grass.”

“Well, if you like it that much, you can have the backyard redone. Get rid of the gravel and add grass, especially if that’s the only thing giving you pause.”

Connie gave the house one last look before pulling away from the curb. She and Erica discussed their likes and dislikes of all three homes. The last one had checked off most of the must-haves on Erica’s list.

“We’ve seen some nice options this past month,” Connie said, dividing her attention between her sister and the road. “Do you think part of your hesitation to choose one is because you’re not ready to buy?”

Erica dropped her head against the headrest and stared straight ahead. “I thought about that, and I’m not sure. Maybe. I know it’s time to move on and focus on building a life for me and Nakia, but...”

“But you miss Kevin.”

“I do. I still think about him every day, but thinking of him doesn’t hurt as much as it used to. I think my hesitation is more about the fact that buying a house is a big financial commitment. This time I’m doing it by myself, and it’s scary.”

“Tell me about it. I had wanted to buy a house for years, but the LA housing market was out of my price range no matter how much money I made. So making the move here, I couldn’t wait to purchase my first home. It wasn’t until the closing, when I had to sign my name fifty million times, that I started getting nervous.”

“Oh, God. I forgot about that part.” Erica shook her head. “It was like signing your life away.”

“I know, right? But if you know you can afford it, and you believe that you’re ready to make the leap, I say go for it. Life is too short to be second-guessing everything because of fear.”

Connie might’ve been saying the words to her sister, but she knew she needed to take her own advice. She was famous for overthinking everything, and there had been too many times she let fear dictate her actions, like with Trace. Sure, she was hesitant to get involved with someone at the company, because if the relationship went south, working together would be awkward. But regarding Trace, it was more than that. She was actually afraid of opening her heart to another man and then getting hurt. Ultimately, fear was the main reason she was insisting that they just be friends.

“You haven’t said much about the bank robbery. How are you doing?”

“I’m okay. I didn’t sleep much last night, but hopefully I’ll do better tonight.”

“You would’ve slept great if you had let a certain cutie-pie bodyguard spend the night. Maybe you would’ve even had a repeat of the infamous one-night stand.”

“Oh, good grief. Give it a rest. I shouldn’t have told you about that night, and how do you know he’s cute? I never told you what he looked like.”

“Just a feeling I have and the dreamy expression you wear whenever you talk about him. You try and play down your attraction, but you’re not fooling anyone but yourself. You like Trace. Really like him.”

Those tingles Connie usually experienced when his name was mentioned were back. There was no way she was telling her sister about how nightly fantasies of him had been interrupting her sleep lately. The previous evening had been the only time in weeks that he hadn’t starred in her dreams.

Instead, gunshots and screams like she’d heard at the bank had given her nightmares. After waking in a cold sweat at five o’clock that morning, Connie had given up on rest.

“I know your issues when it comes to trusting men, but maybe give Trace a chance. You said yourself that he’s like no other man you’ve known.”

He wasn’t. She’d had her share of short-term relationships, ending them for one reason or another. It wasn’t until recently, when Trinity had called her out on her love-’em-and-leave-’em behavior, that Connie had taken stock of her