Total pages in book: 248
Estimated words: 236036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1180(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 787(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236036 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1180(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 787(@300wpm)
Oh god.
Was this it? Was this her turning point? Was this town and the people in it going to send her running back to Connecticut and her asshole father?
Maybe she should call one of her brothers. Have them put some money into her account so she could fix her car.
Please let everything be inside it in the morning.
Jeb’s phone rang as he was headed out the door to get to work. He frowned as he saw that it was Tex.
“I’m just headed to work,” Jeb said.
“Hello to you too,” Tex replied easily.
“What do you want?” Jeb asked.
“You’re only going to work now? That’s late.”
“I had to get Wyatt off to school. Had to walk him to the bus to make sure he got on.”
“Ahh, still having trouble finding a new nanny?” Tex asked.
“The last one ran off in tears,” Jeb muttered. “And the agency said they wouldn’t send anymore until Wyatt could behave himself better. I even offered to pay double!”
“What was it? Spider in the shoe? Snake in the bed?”
“Worse. Rat in the shower,” Jeb said with a grimace.
Tex burst into laughter. “Oh god. That’s truly awful. Can’t blame her for running after that.”
But Jeb did blame her. It wasn’t that bad. Just a small rat. And she’d acted like it was going to eat her.
In hindsight, perhaps she hadn’t been the best fit for their family. But he’d been desperate.
And maybe you shouldn’t choose a nanny based on desperation.
“Why are you calling, Tex?” he snapped.
“Wow. Can’t a man call to chat with the guy he considers a brother?”
“Get on with it,” Jeb said. “Some of us have things to do.”
“Hey, I’m already at work, asshole. Going through the paperwork for your issue.”
“My issue? What do you mean, my issue?” Jeb frowned.
“I mean the girl that you messaged me about yesterday.”
“Oh, you mean the one that you didn’t bother to come and deal with? Instead you sent that idiot, Happy.”
“I was busy dealing with real issues and Happy isn’t an idiot. He’s just . . . overly enthusiastic.”
That was one way to put it. Another was that he was an incompetent idiot. Which was Jeb’s preferred way to describe him.
“Well, what about the girl?” Jeb asked, sick of this conversation. He was already behind in his work and he didn’t have time for this.
Why would Tex be calling about her? As soon as Jeb had left the playground, he’d put Casey out of his mind.
That’s not quite true, though, is it?
No, because all evening Wyatt had kept talking about her, asking him if she would be all right and what she was doing.
Things Jeb couldn’t answer. And didn’t want to. Because she wasn’t his problem, and he hadn’t done anything wrong.
“I’m sure she’s long gone out of town and I have better things to do than talk about her. So if that’s all, I’ll—”
“Actually, that’s not all,” Tex interrupted firmly. “She happens to be sitting in a cell in my jail.”
Jeb froze for a moment at those words. “In jail?”
“Yes. In jail. A young girl in her mid-twenties sat in my jail all night and I’d like to know why you messaged me about her in the first place.”
Tex’s voice was firm and slightly annoyed.
“I thought she was on drugs and hanging around a playground, annoying children.”
“You have proof that she was on drugs?”
“No, of course not,” Jeb said, irritated. “Why the hell did Happy arrest her? He must have his reasons. Why call me?”
“So, no proof, then. What was she doing that was so bad that you messaged me?”
Jeb ran his hand over his face. “I don’t know. She was acting strange. Being irrational. She gave Wyatt candy.”
“And you just stood there and let her?”
“I wasn’t there.”
“Right, who was with Wyatt so I can talk to them?” Tex said.
“No one. He left me at the diner and headed to the playground to go on his favorite swing.”
“Wyatt was there alone?” Tex asked without any judgment in his voice.
But Jeb heard it.
“Yes, I found him quickly. But she was there, giving him candy and talking to him. It wasn’t right.”
“Or maybe she stayed there because a child turned up on his own and she didn’t want to leave him alone.”
“She was on his swing and wouldn’t get off,” Jeb argued.
“Right. Sure.”
“Look, maybe she wasn’t on drugs and perhaps I shouldn’t have texted you. But she was a strange woman hanging around a playground and I thought Happy was just moving her on, not arresting her.”
“He did,” Tex said. “Until he found her later that evening while on patrol. Sleeping in her car.”
That wasn’t concern he felt.
It wasn’t.
Once upon a time, he would have been worried about her. He’d always been protective over women. It was the way that he’d been raised. A part of who he was.
Prior to things going wrong with Elise, he’d loved taking care of her. Being her Dom. Before Elise had started to find him to be too much. Too controlling and domineering.