Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 139088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 695(@200wpm)___ 556(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 139088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 695(@200wpm)___ 556(@250wpm)___ 464(@300wpm)
“If that’s what she wants, honey, you gotta let her go,” he said gently.
Yeah.
I knew it.
Jacques and I collapsed back in the seat.
Or I did.
Jacques turned around in my lap so he could watch Knox eat and be prepared to leap down if he dropped something.
“Although your clan is known to some of the girls, they don’t know anything that’s happening down in Tucson,” I told him.
“Not surprised. Crew and Poe will pay for it. But they’re too lazy to search for new horizons and drive up to Phoenix looking for it.”
Euw.
“That’s good to know,” I mumbled.
He sucked back some malt before he asked, “That all?”
“It’s been a slow winter.”
He smiled then returned to attacking his tots.
“Can we read in bed together tonight?” I requested.
He returned his attention to me. “Come again?”
“It’s a fantasy I had when we were together before. You read. I read. I had visions of us being all chill, cuddled in bed together, reading. We can do it before or after nighttime sex, but I want us to give that a go. See how it feels.”
“We can do that, beautiful,” he said softly.
I smiled at him.
His phone on the coffee table clattered.
He picked it up, shoved some tots in his mouth and checked his texts.
Then his body changed.
It went still, but it was more. I could tell he was alert, but there was an edge to it. Emotion. A ton of it. And not good emotion.
“Honey?” I called.
He slid his thumbs over the screen, tossed the phone to the coffee table and looked at me.
“Gypsy told Alexeyev, Alexeyev told Titus, Titus told Mace. She had a message for me.”
“What’s that?” I whispered.
“‘We’ll always love you, but you’re released.’”
Oh fuck.
I put Jacques down, got up and went to him.
Running a hand up and down his back, I got close. “That’s what you wanted, right?”
“She’s disappearing.”
I nodded my head.
“I hope he keeps her safe, wherever they go.”
His phone clattered again.
He grabbed it.
Since I could read Mace’s text from where I sat, I read it.
You okay with this?
Mace was a good guy.
Good, Knox sent. Then, Really. It’s what I wanted. It’s done. I’m relieved.
He put his phone down again and picked up his malt.
I kept rubbing his back and sticking close.
“Reading in bed with my woman,” he murmured. “Normal people shit.”
“Yes.”
“Gypsy and Rocco probably don’t read in bed together.”
“No,” I said sadly.
His cell went again.
He nabbed it again.
And it was Mace again.
You have an army of brothers.
Totally a good guy.
Knox sat with that, and he did it for a very long time.
I kept rubbing his back while he did.
Finally, his thumbs moved.
I know, Knox replied. Appreciate you.
The three dots came up immediately, and then, You need anything, I’m here.
Knox dropped a thumbs up on that and put his phone down.
He then dropped a tot on the floor, purposefully.
Jacques snarfed it up.
“He’s right, you know. You have a huge-ass family,” I said.
Knox turned his head to me, leaned in, pressed a kiss on my lips and went back to his dinner.
That meant my message was received.
I stuck close to my guy as he finished eating.
He cleaned up after himself.
We got ready for bed, got into bed, Jacques jumped up with us, and Knox curled me close, holding his iPad in his free hand while I balanced my Kindle on his ribcage.
We didn’t have sex after.
Because, I learned, sometimes you just need your man, your dog, your bed and a book.
But more, sometimes that was what he needed.
And it felt like everything giving it to him.
TWENTY-FIVE
OUT OF THIS WORLD
My alarm went off, serenading us with a piece from the score of Gladiator.
Knox kissed my shoulder, moved the hair off my neck and kissed that, I thought he was starting something, but in my ear, he said, “My turn,” and he slid out of bed.
He told the alarm to stop, then I heard him get dressed, use the bathroom, and the front door open and close, all of this before I fell into a snooze.
I came out of the snooze when the mattress depressed, and a warm hand came to rest on my hip.
I opened my eyes and looked up.
“You tired?” Knox asked quietly.
I shook my head and pushed up to a forearm. “Just fell into a snooze.”
“It’s been busy. We’ll have a lazy Sunday,” he said.
“We can’t have a lazy Sunday. You’re on the rental return crew, and I’m on the flower dismantling and disseminating to nursing homes crew. Then we have to go to Mom and Dad’s for lunch.”
“Right. Then we’ll both put in for vacation time on Monday. Think of where you want to go.”
“You just had a medical leave of absence,” I reminded him.
“Another reason it’s good to have great bosses. They understand the difference between medical leave and a vacation,” Knox replied.
Yeah, Tito and Tex would understand that too.