Snow Job by Tara Wyatt (best large ereader .txt) 📗

with the worst of both seasons making an appearance. Normally, on a Saturday night like this she’d be with Sebastian, preferably naked. But he had his big competition with Chase this weekend, and she had work to catch up on, so they’d reluctantly agreed to spend the weekend apart. It was their first in the month since that first weekend they’d spent together when he’d rescued her and then swept her off her feet with amazing sex and open vulnerability.

And so she’d spent the day trying to keep herself busy with work, but after a few hours her focus had petered out completely because all she could think about was how much she missed him and how much she was looking forward to seeing him next weekend. Everything in her world just felt so much better when she was with him. Everything felt so right.

She was in love with him. She knew that beyond a shadow of a doubt. They hadn’t said the words yet, but she had a feeling they would soon. They’d already talked about him moving back to the city in April, when ski season ended, so they could be closer together. Her lease on her apartment with Willa wasn’t up until August, but maybe then she and Sebastian could look for a place together. He still didn’t know what he wanted to do, but with all of the progress he’d made, she was confident he’d figure it out.

Icy pellets bounced off of the window, drawing her attention away from the TV and the Grey’s Anatomy marathon she was indulging in with Willa. Then she glanced down at her phone, waiting for Sebastian’s text to let her know he’d made it safely back to Blizzard Ridge. She hoped the weather was better in Vermont than it was here. She hated the idea of him driving on icy roads in the dark.

A knock sounded on the door and Kayla and Willa looked at each other.

“Delivery,” said a man’s voice from the other side. “I have flowers for Kayla Bristowe.”

Willa let out a tiny little squeal of excitement. “Your first weekend apart and he sent you flowers! That’s so sweet!” She tossed the blanket aside and bounded off the couch, rushing to the door and pulling it open before Kayla could wonder why the doorman hadn’t buzzed them about a delivery.

Suddenly, the door flew all the way open, hitting the wall with a bang. Willa went stumbling back, giving Kayla a view of two men standing in her doorway with grim expressions on their faces. She froze, panic pinning her in place, making her limbs feel like they were made of concrete.

This was a home invasion, and it was targeted given that they knew her name.

The first man was tall and thin, in his mid-forties and bald with a graying goatee. His appearance was completely ordinary—except for the gun clutched in his hand. The other man was younger and smaller, with light brown hair, a beaky nose, and a nasty sneer pulling his thin lip up.

With shaking hands, Kayla scrambled for her phone, lying somewhere under the blanket Willa had disturbed when she’d gotten up from the couch, but the bald man immediately trained his gun on her as his partner closed the door.

“Do not call the police. Do not scream. Do not do anything to draw attention. Or I’ll shoot you both, right between the fucking eyes. You got me?”

Kayla nodded, her fear morphing into sheer terror. Her heart raced at record speed, making her feel dizzy.

The younger man waved his gun at Willa. “You. On the couch beside her.”

Willa moved across the apartment with jerky, stuttering movements, her face ghostly white. She sank down beside Kayla and they immediately reached for each other, huddling close.

“We’re looking for Sebastian Prescott, and a little birdie told us that you know where he is,” said the bald man, his tone easy and casual as though he were talking about the weather. “You’re his girlfriend, right?”

Kayla sucked in a raspy breath, trying not to hyperventilate. Her lungs felt tight, her mind swimming. She tried to figure out a way she could survive this and protect Sebastian. “He’s…he doesn’t live here. He’s not here.”

“Where is he?”

“He’s out of state. He’s not here.” Her pulse thrashed in her ears, making it hard to hear anything.

The younger man moved forward. “Listen. We don’t want to hurt you. We only want to know where he is. He owes our boss a lot of money and we’re just trying to collect.”

“How much money?” she asked, her voice shaking.

“About two hundred and fifty grand, give or take ten thousand,” said the bald man, sounding bored. “Why? Are you going to pay your boyfriend’s debt?”

She fought against another wave of dizziness, just trying to breathe. To think. “I don’t have that kind of money.”

The young guy smirked, looking around their apartment. “Didn’t think so. So just tell us where he is and it’ll be like we were never here.”

Kayla’s mind spun as she tried to figure out what to do, how she could keep everyone safe. “I don’t know. The last time I saw him was here in the city and he broke up with me.” Tears, fueled entirely by fear, sprang to her eyes and she blinked, forcing them to fall. “I don’t know where he is now.” She looked up, meeting the young man’s eyes. “Please, you have to believe me.”

He smiled at her and then slapped her across the face so hard her ears rang and her jaw screamed. “Don’t lie to me, you conniving little bitch. Our intel says you’re his girlfriend and that you went out of town to see him last weekend. Where?” When she didn’t answer right away, he lunged forward and grabbed her hair. “Tell us where the fuck Sebastian Prescott is!”

“I don’t know,” she ground out through clenched teeth, hot tears streaming down her face from the pain of the slap, from the fear of what was about