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)
I didn’t like his tone.
“Totally,” I said, catching Shanti’s eyes.
She gave me a nod that said she’d look after my tables, and I headed to the staff room.
“What’s up?” I asked when I got there.
“Brody has been keeping an eye on things. Dad boarded a plane to Cuba about an hour ago.”
“Well…that’s a choice,” I said for lack of anything else to say.
“They don’t extradite.”
“Oh.”
“Am I fucked in the head that I’m relieved all my family is safe?” And since his mother and siblings were involved with a drug cartel, he tacked on, “For now.”
“You’re not fucked in the head,” I replied. “You’re Knox. That’s who you are. You’re a good guy. And that’s how good guys think.”
It took a second before he said, “Yeah. A beautiful, together woman like you wouldn’t sit on a wrapped Christmas present for over a year if I wasn’t that guy.”
He was getting it.
“One thousand and one percent,” I confirmed. Then, so he wouldn’t forget, “Or sleep with his tee all that time too.”
“I fuckin’ love you.”
His voice was gruff.
“I fuckin’ love you too. And not only because you share morning dog bathroom duties. Or that you’re a master of the kiss mix.”
“The kiss mix?
“Dueler, dancer, and plunderer.”
Another second before he burst out laughing.
Excellent.
My job was done.
“See you in a couple hours,” he said, still laughing.
“You will,” I replied.
We hung up.
And I got back to work.
“Knox, I know we’re a thing,” I said.
“Yeah,” he bit off. “We’re a thing.”
“A lasting thing.”
He turned toward the Container Store bags piled in the corner that were the preliminaries to Harlow’s organization project, returned to me and scowled.
Mm-hmm.
Those bags pretty much cemented the word “lasting” in my statement.
It was now Saturday.
Jacob and Alexis were still on their honeymoon.
Raye and Jessie got inspired by their wedding and had shifted full bore into planning their own.
Byron had met the kids, and he’d been over twice that week to have dinner with Dream and her brood.
Dream had reported that these were her favorite nights, “Not to be selfish or anything, but it’s a lot easier putting them to bed when someone helps. But mostly, it’s super nice to have someone to talk to after they’re down, and that someone being an adult.”
I had no kids, but I could totally see that.
Onward with the update…
Brady had not made a move on Gemma.
Lan had also not made a move on Joey.
Liam further had made no moves on Shanti.
But Javi and Harlow and Willow and Gabe had moved onto the next phase of their relationships.
Not engagements.
Javi and Harlow got two kittens, and Willow and Gabe adopted a dog.
And I was discovering Knox’s and my own honeymoon was over, because we were fighting.
Get this.
About a vacation.
“I might as well go now, when I’m fine and I can enjoy it,” he stated. “But at work, I have to spend most of my time writing reports, sitting on my ass staring at screens and confirming intel on a fucking phone. If we leave when Jacob and Alexis get back, stay gone two weeks, I’ll be back to full duty when we return.”
“So this is your way to kill time while you completely recover?” I asked.
“Luna,” he said low.
Yeah, I knew that wasn’t his gig.
He wanted to go somewhere with a beach, drink rum punch and fuck listening to the waves crashing on a beach.
I wanted that too.
I just couldn’t afford it.
And thus, our fight.
“Knox, give me some time while you move in, then get a renter so your mortgage will be covered, we’ll be sharing expenses, and I can save up,” I suggested.
“Luna, there may be a time you make more than me. But in this time, I make more than you. I have the money to cover this. So what are you saying right now? That throughout our future, we’ll be going halves on everything? The house we buy. The kids we raise. The college funds we start.”
Damn.
He had a point.
“Are you ready to be in that spot now?” I asked.
“In the end, will I get nothing but you, a beach, a bed, and unadulterated time to get to know one another better in a variety of ways? Two weeks of nothing pressing on us but when we’re gonna rouse ourselves to eat? Yes. We’re in that spot now.”
Well…
“Okay, I gotta say, this feels weird,” I admitted.
And it did. I’d been depending on me and only me since I moved out of Mom and Dad’s house at nineteen.
He drew in a breath, came to me and pulled me in his arms.
“You’ve been on your own for a while,” he began.
“So have you,” I cut in.
“Can I talk?”
I shut up.
He fought smiling.
I decided it best to stay shutting up while he did.
Finally, he said, “We both have a lot of getting used to shit. We lost a year in between. We both just went through it with my family. Mace thinks this vacation is a great idea because he doesn’t really need a man at a desk or in the control room. He needs men in the field. This is the perfect time…for me…for a vacation. I want you with me. You can’t afford it. I can. I don’t give a fuck I’m paying for you. So I don’t know why you would.”