Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 169013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 845(@200wpm)___ 676(@250wpm)___ 563(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 845(@200wpm)___ 676(@250wpm)___ 563(@300wpm)
He nodded vehemently.
I looked to Elena for approval before my foolish gaze went hunting around the room like I was looking for clues.
Where was his mom, anyway?
“He can have half a cup,” she said before she looked at Kai. “So you don’t get your belly full of juice too fast.”
“Kai’s bewwy is hungee.” He grabbed his chubby belly and squeezed it.
I choked over a laugh.
No doubt, this child had every person on the property wrapped around his finger.
I carried him into the kitchen, hooked on my hip, then pulled the bottle of apple juice from the fridge.
“Glasses are in the cabinet on the left,” Elena told me.
I found a plastic one with a lid for Kai, grabbed a glass one for me, filled his half full, then decided to do the same with mine.
“We match.” Kai bobbed his head, peeking up at me for affirmation.
My chest pulsed and spasmed. “I guess we do, don’t we?”
“Can you hold that?” I asked, handing him his cup.
“I am big.”
Sufficient answer, and I was mumbling, “You’re a big boy, aren’t you?” as I carried him into the little dining area.
I set my glass on the table, then went for his highchair. He suddenly scrambled up in my hold, wrapping one arm around my neck as he plastered himself against me.
“I sit wit Bwinwey.”
“Oh, no,” Elena cried. “Did you pick another new favorite?” She smacked her palm over her chest dramatically, acting like he’d delivered a mortal wound.
It must have been a familiar game because Kai giggled like mad before he hid his face in my neck. “No, Wena.”
She came dancing over, poking little love jabs into his sides. “Yes, Lena, yes, Lena!”
He howled with laughter, and I found myself swinging him away from her, getting swept up in their game.
Elena gasped. “Not you, too.”
I whirled all the way around, my hand on the back of Kai’s head like I was protecting him. “Well, I need someone to like me around here.”
It was purely playful and far too easy. Clearly, I should be working harder at keeping up my guard.
“Oh, I think it’s clear a few people around here like you plenty fine.” Meems claimed it just as the front door clattered open.
The sound of Silas tromping through the living room echoed through the space before he appeared in the archway.
A gallon of milk dangled from one hand, and he was still dressed in his Henley and cut, hair messier than normal from the frantic ride we had taken.
The man was so viciously beautiful it was unreal.
Dark and delicious and looking at me in a way that sent my pulse crashing through my woefully deprived body.
“And there he is,” Meems muttered under her breath.
Mmm…yeah…no.
None of us should be thinking such blasphemies.
Kai’s head popped up, and he held his cup toward Silas. “I got juiwse.”
It was the only thing that seemed to tear Silas’s attention from me, and all that fierce ferocity dissolved as he turned his attention to Kai. “What, you got juice? And here I went all the way over to the club to get you milk.”
Silas lifted it like proof.
Kai giggled more, again snuggling up against me, his little dimples peeking out on both cheeks. “I get mewk when I go nigh-night.”
“Ah, well, I guess it’s a good thing I went, then.”
Silas strode through, brushing my upper arm as he angled into the kitchen.
Chills lifted at the connection point, and the breath was heaving out of me without my permission.
Meems peeked my way.
So sly.
Whatever she was thinking was clearly a terrible, bad idea.
It wasn’t going to happen, but I guess no one could blame me for having a reaction.
I could only imagine he had it on ninety-nine percent of the population.
That commanding aura that made you look twice. In interest or fear, it didn’t really matter.
The man held the force of a blackened sun.
He placed the milk into the refrigerator and pulled out a beer.
“Before you go opening that, grab those potatoes from the stove and bring them to the table,” Meems instructed.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Clearly, she was not one of the ninety-nine percent.
Then she gestured at a chair. “Brinley, take a seat, love, and get yourself something to eat.”
I sat down with Kai still in my arms since it was apparent there was no chance he was letting go.
I didn’t mind so much.
Elena settled on the chair to my left.
Silas sauntered over with a big pot of mashed potatoes. He leaned over the side of me, really freaking close as he set them in the middle.
Was that on purpose?
Did he keep barely touching me to drive me out of my mind?
He took the seat to my right.
Meems settled next to Elena, leaving one chair open.
“Where is that scoundrel of a brother of yours?” Meems asked. Not so much with judgement but affection.
“Passed him on my way back,” Silas rumbled as he took a big heaping pile of mashed potatoes, but rather than filling his plate, he splatted it onto mine. “He was finishing up a task for me, then he’ll be here.”