Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 48446 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 242(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48446 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 242(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
“’Course.” He sucked in a breath. “Everybody in.”
The house was huge—8400 square feet, five bedrooms, four bathrooms—and looking like it belonged on the edge of the ocean, not the end of the street. I always thought beach house when I was there, from how light and airy it felt inside. But though it was huge, the views of the city out of the enormous windows, along with the masculine quality of the house, never failed to make me feel welcome. As much as it made no sense, as much as I could never stay—there was no need for cowboys in San Francisco—it felt like home every time I walked through the front door. It smelled good too. Between the leather furniture and polished wooden floors, I felt the calm sink into me.
I put Micah down on the couch and smiled at all three boys. “Y’all, I have to shower, but you get the machine there warmed up, and I’ll be back out to sit with ya. Your uncle said he’d cook, so we all need to thank him.”
Tristan and Pip did, with Micah looking over at him.
“Thanks, guys.” Cyrus smiled at them, then looked at Micah. “And I heard you, okay?”
Micah nodded, then looked back up at me.
“Be right back,” I told him, then grabbed my pack.
I walked down the short hall to Cyrus’s bedroom, put the pack on the floor, then shed my clothes on my way to the shower. Under the hot spray minutes later, I heard the snick of the door and turned my head and smiled at my host. “You can’t come in. Go make breakfast for them boys.”
“Jesus, Weber.” He scowled, looking me over. “You’re skin and bones.”
I glared. “I don’t think so.” I turned so he could see my chest. “If you put your hands on me, you’d see. I’m all muscle.”
“You’re six three. You should weigh at least a hundred and ninety to two hundred pounds. What do you weigh now, one seventy?”
“I have no idea.”
“Well, you need to eat, a lot. And…come here.”
I opened the shower door so he could touch me. He winced at the fresh bruises I was sporting—the new scar running down my ribs on the left side, and the healing gash that was now soft pink skin bisecting my right pectoral.
He shivered.
“Bull almost had me,” I teased, waggling my eyebrows.
“You think it’s funny?”
From the stricken look on his face, I was guessing not. “Cy…”
“Shut up.”
I didn’t know whether to go back to soaping my body or just continue to stand there.
“God, look at you,” he groaned.
“Not pretty enough to fuck, huh?” I grunted. “Freckles and moles and pasty skin don’t do it for you no more?”
His eyes lifted to mine. “You’re such an idiot. Don’t you know I love all your freckles, and your body is beautiful and powerful and… I just want to be under you right now.”
“Well, unfortunately”—I grinned—“we’re gonna have to wait on that, darlin’.”
His sigh was loud and deep like he just didn’t know what to do with me.
“I, um, don’t have nothin’ clean to wear. I don’t suppose you have—”
“I have the sweats I bought the last time you were here and the long-sleeved T-shirts you like to sleep in.”
“You didn’t throw them out?”
“I couldn’t.”
“I’m glad.” I smiled at him. “Now close the door ’cause I’m freezin’, and go find out what the hell is wrong with your sister.”
But he didn’t move.
“You all right?”
“You cut your hair.”
I chopped it off ages ago and now made sure to keep it short. “It’s too much trouble to take care of long hair on the road.”
“It looks darker.”
“Still just plain old red. Like it’s always been.”
“Nothing plain about you,” he said, leaning forward.
I met him halfway, the kiss soft but firm, sucking his bottom lip into my mouth for just a moment.
“I love that you kissed me in front of the kids,” he told me.
“’Course.”
“’Course,” he repeated, then turned and left me. Sometimes the man was just so odd.
When I got out, my pack was empty, the clothes all gone, and my wallet was on the nightstand on what was my side of the bed, closest to the door, whenever I was here. I found sweats, thick, heavy crew socks, and a long-sleeved T-shirt on the bed waiting for me. After I dried myself off, I pulled it all on and returned to the kitchen.
“Weber!” Pip yelled, flying at me full speed and leaping.
I plucked him easily from the air, tucked him against my chest, and carried him to the bar on the side of the kitchen that overlooked the great room. The other two boys were already sitting on the tall leather-backed stools, eating with their mother, as Cyrus flipped pancakes.
“You gonna eat?” I asked Pip.
He nodded fast, and I put him down beside Micah.
“How is it?” I asked Micah.