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)
“The only reason I don’t invite you to the sporting events that I invite your husband to is I know you hate them and I’m doing you a favor.”
“Thank you.”
“But you like baseball, so we can go do that.”
“It’s a lie,” Aaron assured him. “I don’t. Not really. I like polo.”
Sam groaned.
“But again, thank you for not inviting me, and I will no longer worry that you’re not fond of me.”
“Good, because it’s stupid.”
“Yes. It’s Friday now, so are you partying tomorrow or Sunday?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Duncan and I shall be there. Any specific time?”
“Whenever you want.”
“Yes, Sam.”
Once he hung up, I turned and looked at my husband.
“What?” he asked as he drove, knowing I was staring even though he had to keep his eyes on the two-lane road as we headed for home. He was taking a shortcut out of town.
“You’re a nice man.”
He grunted.
“You are. You’ve never needed to be nice to Aaron.”
“Yes, I did,” he countered, pulling over near, but still a bit away from, a fruit-and-vegetable stand. Turning off the car, he took off his seat belt and then swiveled in his seat to face me. “You love him, my daughter loves him, my son has learned to love him, so he’s family. I never thought, all those years ago, when I was planning the best way to kill him, that we’d be friends.”
“Sam!”
He gave me a dismissive wave, got out of the car, walked around the front and then opened my door for me.
I looked down into his face. Sam's SUV is big.
“He’s a billionaire, and I got home from being gone, because I’m stupid, and there you were, in love with a nozzle.”
I tried so hard not to smile.
“I followed and plotted, and then one day fuckin’ Miguel Romero comes darting across the street to me and holds out his hand like we’re old friends.”
I had never heard this story and so stared at my husband.
“He said that he didn’t want to hurt me, which I thought was ridiculous at the time, but he went on to say that you and Aaron, that was not bedrock. That it wasn’t gonna last and was nearly out of juice. Not on his side, but on your side. He read it all over you.”
“Miguel did?”
He nodded.
“Also, off topic, you think Miguel could have hurt you?”
Quick scoff. “Once I became chief deputy, I read up on everyone I know, and Miguel Romero could kill me, like, ten different ways and then get rid of the body like I’d never existed.”
I reached for him, and he took me into his arms to put me on the ground. But I was not ready to be released, and so wrapped my legs around his hips. He was chuckling as he closed the door, one hand on my ass, and then locked it and wrapped a strong arm around my back.
“Don’t worry, I was not about to push Miguel then, or now. Though I think as we all age, our fuses get longer, our desire to tangle with others recedes, and basically, we mellow. That’s why Miguel is just about ready to let George take over the day-to-day with Aaron and sit in his cushy office.”
I held Sam tight. “So Miguel could see that I was not really into his boss.”
“Yep,” he rumbled into my ear. “He said it won’t be long, and he was right. I hated waiting, but killing Aaron Sutter would have hurt a lot of people, so I’m glad I held off.”
“Samuel Thomas Kage, you would not have hurt––”
“Killed,” he corrected me. “I was gonna kill him.”
“You would not have killed Aaron Sutter.”
“He was standing between me and my love, so the hell I wouldn’t.”
I pressed my face into the hollow between his neck and shoulder and first kissed him and then bit him.
“Oh, hey now, don’t get feisty or a mile down the road from here, you will be attacked in the back of my vehicle, which has, as you know, blackout windows.”
“How is that a threat?”
He chuckled and carried me to the stand and then set me down. I was surprised to see three young women and a young man, all the same ages as my kids, smiling at us.
“Hello,” I greeted them.
“I want this love,” the cute blonde girl said to me, pointing at both Sam and me. “I want it to find me right now.”
“Speak it into the universe, Heather,” a brown-haired girl with freckles and glasses told her. “You have to fill the space with your intentions.”
“Our daughter’s a witch too,” I told them, and all four gasped.
“She’s a good witch,” Sam said, starting to look at the corn.
“I want a man who’s obsessed with me too,” the adorable boy with red hair told us.
“I’m not obsessed with him,” Sam grumbled, but then turned and looked at the gorgeous Black girl who had her arms crossed, who had scoffed loudly. “Something to say?”