Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 91461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“Of course,” George replied, shaking his hand.
Anne turned to him, but George was much too fast, stepping free of our little cluster of concern before Finn’s mother could even lift her arms to try and hug him. I’d noticed that about him, and had noted it even more at his wedding. The man was really not much of a hugger.
He put up with Hannah hanging on him, flinging herself at him, and leaning until he wrapped her in his arms. Ian Doyle, Sam’s deputy director, he’d stepped into and soaked up the contact, eyes closed, the contentment there for a moment to trust enough to let down his guard. It was really something to witness. He did the same with his mentor, Christopher Mancuso. It was evident that both men were dear to him. And of course, Kurt was clutched to his heart, and I saw him take several breaths to keep himself, I suspected, from crying. There could be no doubt that George Hunt was madly in love with his husband.
Everyone else there, if they got a hug, they got a very quick, nearly violent, guy clench. George wanted to convey that he cared, but he wasn’t comfortable, and that was quite evident. I had wanted to see him interact with Miguel Romero, his boss, who he would be taking over for at Sutter in the next couple of years, but Miguel had to miss the wedding because he had to walk one of his daughters down the aisle. I thought that was a great reason.
George was in motion, already striding toward the stairs, but Hannah caught him before he could get the door open. As we all watched, she slipped her hands under the suit jacket, gently took hold of his sides, and stared up at him like she always did, with hearts in her eyes.
“I really hate him,” Jake muttered.
“You shouldn’t,” Harper scolded him. “He saved us all from being murdered that one time, as you recall.”
“Yeah, but,” Jake grumbled, waving at his girlfriend and her bodyguard. “She loves him so much, it’s crazy.”
“He saved you from being killed?” Eammon asked Jake.
“Yeah,” he said, like it pained him. “But she’s so attached to him.”
“Which is fine,” Kola said with a chuckle that I loved hearing. “Because he’s married and in love with his husband, and thinks of her as his little sister, and she loves you––”
“And your great heart,” Harper chimed in, smiling at his friend.
“And your great heart,” Kola agreed, “so I never wanna hear this again, because at this point, it’s ridiculous. If you have any doubt of her feelings for you, you’re insane.”
Jake looked at Kola.
“He’s right,” Wick asserted, turning Jake’s attention to him. “Hannah is amazing. Most importantly, she’s crazy smart. I can’t stress to you what a big deal that is. But she’s also funny, sarcastic, beautiful—I mean, look at her—she’s going to run a huge international Fortune 500 company one of these days after she gets her master’s degree––”
“Hannah’s getting her master’s?” I asked Kola.
He nodded. “Yeah. She thinks she should, no matter what Uncle Aaron says. So she applied to the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago, because, like me, she’s not moving away from you guys.”
“Did she get in?” Sam asked him.
“Of course she got in. She’s Aaron Sutter’s goddaughter.”
Sam turned to me. “When did that actually become a thing, because I seem to recall asking Dane and Aja to take care of our kids if anything happened to us.”
“We did. It’s more assumed at this point.”
“Well, it opens doors and all that, I get it, I just don’t want Aja and Dane to be confused.”
“They’re not,” I assured him.
He grinned at me. “You’ve had that talk with them.”
“Of course I’ve had that talk with them,” I said, scowling at him.
“May I finish about Hannah now?” Wick asked irritably.
“Yes, dear, excuse us. I’m sorry,” I soothed him.
He smiled at me and then turned back to Jake. “Did I mention that she could actually be Batman if she wanted?”
“I know, I know,” Jake grumbled. “I can’t help it. I mean, c’mon, what can she possibly see in me?”
“Your heart, dumbass,” Kola told him.
“Oh my gosh, Kola, is that new?” Hannah asked as she returned, leaning into Jake as he put an arm around her. “What a beautiful ring.”
“That was actually my father’s,” Eammon told her. “He gave it directly to Finn, bypassing me and the other boys.”
“Finn was his favorite, that’s why,” Anne told us. “When Finny was born, he had just moved in with us, and Grady and Caden were older, running around, getting into mischief, and I found myself a bit frantic.”
I enjoyed hearing her speak; she had a lovely husky voice.
Eammon chuckled.
She scowled at her husband, and we all laughed, even Kola. “Fine, I was very frantic, and so I would leave Finn quite a bit in the hands of his grandfather.”