Free Reaction Time by Alannah Lynne Page A

Nikki closed her eyes and dropped her head into her hands, which helped muffle her voice when she screamed, “It’s not Friday yet, dammit! I can only handle one lunatic at a time!”
    Her hands fell from her face as Adam’s fingers tipped up her chin. “Nikki, sweetheart, talk to me. I’m assuming she’s your mother?”
    It was all too much. One problem she could deal with. Two, of this emotional magnitude, she snapped. Straight armed, fists clenched at her side she spat out, “I’m not your sweetheart. And I’m sure as hell not gonna be another one of your playthings. Leave me alone, Adam.”
    She turned and stalked off to the golf cart carrying her mother, leaving a stunned Adam standing there alone. After speaking with the driver, she climbed onto the empty backseat and took the short trip back to her motor home.
    As soon as the cart slowed, and without a word to her mother, she jumped off and stormed to her motor home. Only to stop short when she saw an envelope attached to the door, having the same typeface and appearance as the previous threatening letters. She ripped the letter off the door, stomped into her motor home and went straight to her bedroom. Slamming the door behind her, she grabbed her cell and dialed Nate’s number.
    “This better be damned important.”
    “I got another letter.”
    “Shit. What’s it say?”
    “I don’t know. I haven’t opened it. But that’s not really my biggest problem. I can’t handle Adam and Mama by myself.”
    She heard a muffled curse. “Mama’s here now? I thought she wasn’t coming in until tomorrow night.”
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    “Yeah, me too, but guess what? She’s here. Get your ass dressed, you’re coming with us to dinner.”
    Amber squealed in the background, there were a few more muffled curses then, click .
    She snapped her phone shut, flopped face down on the bed and did something she hadn’t done in nearly three years. She cried. Gut-wrenching sobs until her face was swollen, her nose was stopped up to the point she couldn’t breathe and there wasn’t a tear left in her body.

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    Alannah Lynne

Chapter Eight
    Nikki kicked at the sheets wrapped around her legs like she was shaking loose a Chihuahua that had latched on to an ankle. Finally freeing herself from the tangled mess, she flipped onto her back and forced herself to stare at the ceiling fan. Keeping her attention locked on the blades as they went around and around and around kept her from looking at the clock…again.
    Her body knew she needed sleep. Her body wanted sleep. Well, actually her body wanted more of what Adam had to give. But with Mama tucked away in the guest bedroom and Adam on the couch, that wasn’t going to happen.
    The cool air from the ceiling fan wafted across her body, causing her nipples to pucker and press into the front of her cotton tank top. They were sensitive—especially the left one, which had received the majority of Adam’s attention the night before—and she ran her hands across them in an effort to massage away the pulsing ache.
    What a ridiculous idea. Touching herself did nothing to assuage the thrumming in her breasts and thoughts of Adam only intensified the ache settling around her heart. And while she lay in bed aching, Adam was camped out on the couch mere feet away. But he might as well be a million miles away for all the good it did. Despite her best efforts to ignore his presence, her mind insisted on rehashing every painful detail of the roller coaster day.
    From the second she’d cracked her eyes open the day had been for shit.
    She woke up every morning alone, but this morning she’d felt lonely. She’d never spent the entire night with a man but she’d liked having Adam in her bed. Several times during the night she’d awakened to find his arms wrapped around her. Protective.
    Possessive. And it had been comforting and gratifying.
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