Blown Away: A Small Town Military Romance (The Moore Brothers Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

down in the driver’s seat with a dejected sigh and deposited Lulu on the seat beside her. All she knew was that the ocean was somewhere to her left, so using this as a chance to learn more about Bliss, she took off in that general direction. Twisting and turning through the streets only solidified the fact that this is where she wanted to be. The shops were quaint and well cared for, the streets were clean and actually drivable. Julz even saw a woman wave to a friend on her way out of a bookstore and stop for a conversation. As if that would ever happen on the streets of New York!
    Before too long, she found the beach and a place to park. Humming to herself, she grabbed a blanket and some food, clipped Lulu’s leash to her collar, and started off trudging through the sand. She only made it a few steps before she stopped and took off her sandals because she was slipping and sliding all over the place in them. Wind rustled in her hair and warm sand tickled in between her toes. So what if she was homeless? At least she was here.
    Right?
    Of course.
    No doubt about it.
    So what if she’d never really done anything without planning it out to the fullest before? So what if she was going to have to sleep in her car? She was free from Michael. She was about to build a life near the ocean, something she’d always wanted. And she was pretty damn smart and resourceful. So, maybe things looked bad right now, but that only meant they’d have to get better from here.
    Right?
    She spread her blanket on the ground and sat down, opened some of the snack food she’d grabbed from the car, and she couldn’t keep herself from grinning as she let her gaze focus out on the spot where the sky kissed the water. It felt like after years of being a round peg in the square hole that was New York City, she was finally in the place she belonged. Which was silly and irresponsible and totally based on nothing other than instinct since she’d been in Bliss for all of half an hour and hadn’t met a single person, yet.
    Well, other than Ian Moore.
    “Except I’m not supposed to be thinking about Ian, right Lulu?” Lulu just stared at the bag of chips in Juliet’s hands and licked her lips. “Even if he is totally lick worthy.”
    Julz smiled and shared a few chips with Lulu. Then she settled back on her hands and watched the sunset flare across the sky, a triumph of red and gold that faded into pinks and finally purples. As light succumbed to darkness, Julz considered calling her mom with the prepaid phone she’d bought at Walmart somewhere along the way.
    Just as quickly as she had the idea, she put it out of her mind. Her mom wouldn’t even notice she was gone, at least not for a few more days and her dad didn’t deserve a call. Besides, she didn’t want to connect to her past at all right now. Things felt shiny and new and safe and … hers . She wasn’t ready to share it or explain it, especially when she didn’t have a place to call home.
    Except Willow, her best friend since forever, was probably starting to really worry about her. As the only person who knew the truth about Juliet’s relationship with the Tech Lord CEO (non-disclosure clause be damned!), Willow would probably assume Michael had finally gone insane and killed her or something.
    But if Michael had figured out Julz was missing—and he was sure to have figured that out by now—Willow would be the first person he’d go to. Hell, he’d probably even tap her phone.  Luckily, when you’ve had a friend for a lifetime, you develop a few secret codes. Juliet flipped open her prepaid phone and typed out a series of texts. First, she just sent *67 twice. Then she sent her new number one digit at a time. It was a variation of a code they’d developed a long time ago when they tended to get themselves stuck at parties and didn’t want parents to see caller IDs.
    Figure that out, Michael Phillips.
    Juliet waited for Willow to find a phone. It shouldn’t take too long,