Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 63763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63763 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Bex looked over my shoulder toward her father, and the reluctant acceptance in Raines’s face answered the question she hadn’t asked. He had spent his career believing the department existed to put help between vulnerable people and whoever wanted to hurt them, only to discover someone might have turned his own systems into a weapon. If the Black Crowns getting involved meant saving more lives, he wasn’t gonna stand in our way.
Bex crossed to him and wrapped both arms around his waist, giving him the same warmth she offered to anyone she found in need of comfort.
Raines held her for a moment before pressing a kiss to the top of her head and looking at me over the blond knot in her hair. “You boys going to interfere with my case?”
“Judge will keep the lanes separate.” I didn’t promise the Black Crowns would limit themselves to whatever punishment a courtroom could deliver, and Raines knew better than to ask for a lie. “You’ll get clean evidence. What happens outside your case stays outside it.”
His mouth flattened, but he gave a nod before releasing Bex and checking the time. “We should get some sleep. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I’m staying.”
Bex turned toward me, surprise widening her eyes before warmth began spreading through them. Raines’s expression hardened for an entirely different reason, but he glanced toward the dark windows and reconsidered whatever argument had started forming. He knew the men outside were capable, but I could see that he was coming to understand that no one in Sable Canyon would protect his daughter the way I would.
“Couch pulls out into a bed,” he finally offered.
“Have work to do.” I lifted the laptop slightly before carrying it toward the dining table positioned beside the bottom of the stairs.
Raines looked from the table to me, then at Bex, who was trying to hide a small smile behind her hand.
She started toward the staircase, pausing beside my chair with one hand resting lightly on the back. “You need anything? Food? A blanket?”
“You asleep.”
She shook her head with a small smile. “I don’t believe that was one of the available options.”
“Doesn’t change my answer.” I caught her wrist before she could move away and let my thumb pass once over the pulse beneath her skin. “Go to bed, baby. You need rest.”
The contact colored her cheeks, but she didn’t pull free. “Good night.”
“Lock your door.”
She opened her mouth to argue, took one look at my face, and apparently decided the disagreement was useless. “Bossy.”
“Get used to it.”
The smile she carried upstairs stayed with me long after her bedroom door closed. Raines remained in the kitchen for another ten minutes, drinking the last of his coffee and studying me as though he could determine my intentions by watching long enough. He eventually told me the alarm code I already knew from securing the panel, warned me that his gun was within reach, and went upstairs after I reminded him mine was closer.
The house settled around me, but I never mistook quiet for safety. I worked through the audit records while exterior camera tiles ran across the second screen, tracking every movement by my brothers, passing vehicles, and animals shifting along the tree line. My awareness remained divided between the digital trail and the staircase beside me, where my woman slept one flight above my head.
Bex came downstairs shortly after two in the morning wearing soft sleep shorts and an oversized white shirt that fell off one shoulder. Her bare legs caught the low light from the dining room, and my cock hardened.
She paused on the last step when she caught me staring, and the awareness that moved across her face had nothing to do with fear. Her nipples tightened beneath the thin cotton, visible enough to make my fingers clench against the laptop while she crossed toward the kitchen. I watched her fill a glass at the sink, then return to the dining room doorway instead of heading upstairs.
“You’re still at the table.”
“Yeah.”
Bex glanced toward the living room, where a long couch and two oversized chairs sat empty beneath the dark windows. “You know there are several perfectly comfortable places to sit in there.”
“None of them is between you and the front door.”
Her gaze returned to mine, and the glass stopped halfway to her mouth. The teasing warmth in her expression softened into something deeper while she looked from me to the entrance beyond my shoulder, understanding that I hadn’t chosen the hard dining chair by accident. The entire property was connected to my security network, but I had still put my body on the line anyone would have to cross before reaching her.
“You think someone could get through all the men outside?” The slight breathlessness in her voice told me the practical answer mattered less than the reason behind it.