Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 88290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
He was scowling when he turned back to George, who was grinning wickedly. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”
George scoffed. “Hannah has a thing. Now, please, if you would, tell us who called you.”
“Hold on,” he answered and walked out of the room.
George turned to me. “The hell?”
“And people say I’m a poor communicator.”
“No, you I get, probably because I’m used to Hannah. But I can’t follow him.”
I smiled and offered him something to eat to go with the Pellegrino he was having. I kept sparkling water only for him, as he was the only one who drank it.
“No, thank you, I ate before I came. Kurt fed me,” he said, smiling. Nice when someone smiled as they thought about their significant other.
Sam was gone for ten minutes. And though I knew from experience he could strip pretty fast, there was the suit to hang up, clothes to throw in the laundry bin, his gun to put in the safe, and his shoes to put onto the rack in our closet.
“Okay,” Sam said, walking back into the room in jeans and a T-shirt, carrying Dobby. He then put our Chihuahua down, who ran to the front door to look out one of the glass side panels—there was one on each side of the front door now—to make sure everything was fine and how he’d left it thirty minutes ago. He had to watch the whole neighborhood, so it was a full-time job. I had wanted decorative glass panels for years and was now, of course, regretting yet another life decision. “So I finally got most of the story about Owen Moss being kidnapped on Aaron’s watch in Bangkok.”
“Owen Moss?” George asked.
“Yeah. Apparently, you knew all about that.”
“Well, yes.”
“And you knew I was upset,” he said, turning to me. “How did you know?”
“Because I know you, and you banished Aaron from the family.”
“I didn’t banish him,” he grumbled.
“Oh no?”
“I just—made him persona non grata for a minute.”
“That’s so much better.”
“Not missing the sarcasm,” he affirmed.
“I should hope not.”
“So you what, just made it your business to fix everything?”
“As usual,” I told him. “Yes.”
He shook his head.
“Chief Deputy,” George said, getting up from the table and walking over to him. “Sir, the kidnapping of Owen Moss was on a scale that Aaron Sutter and his team were neither prepared for nor briefed on. When Hannah goes abroad, I never leave her side, and of course we would have extra team members to ensure that––”
“Yeah, no, I get it,” Sam admitted, giving him a quick pat on the arm. “I spoke with Jared Colter today and––”
“I worked with Colonel Colter and his team in Bangkok, and I was proud to offer the little assistance I could before I was called back to service.”
“He said you did quite a lot.”
“Working with those men was—really something. But truly, Mr. Moss was in a completely different situation than Hannah will ever find herself in unless she joins the CIA.”
“Please don’t put that in her head,” Sam groaned.
“No, sir,” George agreed with a grin, but then his face fell as he glanced toward the stairs. Since Sam looked the same, I turned to see what the issue was and discovered my daughter there, crossing the floor to the kitchen in… I wasn’t sure what.
George squinted at her, uncertain of what he was looking at.
Sam scowled, because yes, the dress did look like it was painted on her body.
I dredged my mind for what I’d been told weeks ago. “Oh yes, it’s a representation of summer, right?”
“Yes,” she told me, glaring at her father and George and smiling at me. “The green is the grass, and then, of course, there’s the flowers and––”
“Why is it sheer?” Sam asked her.
“It’s not sheer, it’s green.”
“It’s green that I can see through,” he corrected her.
“Can you move okay in that?” I asked the more important question, seeing that yes, it was hugging every curve. I wasn’t crazy about it, but she wasn’t a little girl anymore but a beautiful woman who took pride in her body. It was her right to wear whatever she wanted, and really, she was stunning, as usual.
“Yeah, it’s good,” she said, demonstrating by doing a little bit of the cabbage patch and the running man for me in quick succession.
“Okay, good. Since it goes to the floor, you wearing flats?”
“Oh heck yeah,” she told me, lifting her foot so I saw the emerald-green Tieks that had come in the mail a few days ago.
Once she and George were gone, I turned to look at my husband.
“Yes, you’ll be happy to know that I already called Aaron.”
“And?”
“He asked me if I would prefer to have crème brûlée or peach cobbler for dessert on Memorial Day.”
I grinned at him.
“He had no idea he wasn’t invited.”