Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 153946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 153946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
“Lazy?” Hot anger flared on Chick’s usually genial face.
“That’s what it’s called when a good writer phones in his scripts for a payday.”
“What’s it called when someone’s last documentary was praised by a reviewer for literally making them ‘vomit from sadness’?”
“Reality,” Kingston said flatly.
“Okay, that’s enough.” I held my free hand in the air, wishing for a whistle. “I’m calling it. Filming is over for today.”
“Hey Chick,” Rick called. “Dalton’s got his hands full of salvaged parts and puppies. Come help me haul these seats to my truck.”
I shot him a grateful look because, yeah, it was time to separate the high-maintenance creatives so we could actually finish this part of Jiminy’s transformation at some point today.
To give Chick his due, he didn’t hesitate to hop off the stool and lend a hand. He’d actually been a bigger help than I expected, and was pretty sturdy for a rich, West Coast leprechaun, picking up one of the seats with ease.
“What’s the idea with that?” I asked as Rick picked up the other.
“Lucy wants them for his man cave. Did you call dibs?”
“No, I did not.” I’d purchased and installed them myself, and they were supposed to be sold to help pay for the roll cage, but who gave a shit about anything? Not these fuckers.
“He said he’d pay fair market for them,” Rick added.
And now I was the fucker.
I’d been one all day and I knew it, but I couldn’t seem to care enough to stop. After that conversation with Morgan, I’d pretty much given up hope of keeping August until she’d handed me that bottle of truth water and agreed to share a bed with me every night, until and unless. But since then, I hadn’t seen her for longer than five minutes at a time, except when she was unconscious from exhaustion. She seemed happy whenever we did run into each other. Happy and busy.
She was doing yoga with Chick and Bernie. Working in the office at the icehouse or behind the bar. Writing stooped over her laptop for so long I felt compelled to give her back rubs in bed. The kind that led to sleep instead of sex.
I missed her and it was getting to me.
I pulled off my cap and blew out a hard breath, wiping my forearm across my sweaty forehead. “I need a break. I’m going across the street to grab a drink and cool off.”
“I’m with you,” Rick said.
Dalton raised a hand. “I second that emotion.”
“Perfect.” Chick nodded thoughtfully. “There’s something I wanted to show you all anyway. And a drink might help it go down easier.”
While they headed across the road to Hudson’s Icehouse, I went to my office to drop the pup off with her mother. Hopefully I could convince August to take her by the time she was officially weaned—I’d been bringing home pictures of the puppies, this runt in particular, and watching August fall in love with her.
“She looks like a Wanda.”
Another witch name. Why was I not surprised?
If she was anything like her dam, Wanda would be a quiet, sweet beauty, and August would have a puppy of her own for the first time. Whether she stayed here or not, I wasn’t sure how much longer Merlin would be around, and I didn’t like the idea of her being alone. Not if I could help it.
Kingston followed me into the office. “Care to share what crawled up your ass this afternoon? Other than August having fun without you, that is.”
Crouching by the huge dog crate that took up half the floor, I laid the pup with her dozing mother and latched the gate, then rounded on him.
“What crawled up my ass? I’ll give you a hint. He was named after the place his dad got laid for the first time, and he keeps interrupting my work to get me to talk about my feelings for the camera. That is, when he isn’t busy trying to pick a fight with August’s closest friend for no reason I can see.”
Kingston frowned. “Dad only says that to tick me off. And Chick was backseat directing. I’m not sure why he came today. Who wears white pants to gut a car?”
I laid a warning hand on his shoulder. “I’ll admit that was a choice, but so is what you’re doing. Enough, okay?” I lowered my voice. “You’re right. We haven’t seen much of each other and I was hoping she’d be here, but I’m glad she took the extra chance to train. We’ll catch up later.”
She said we’d make time. I needed to hold her to that.
“There, that wasn’t so hard, was it? All you had to do was use your words.”
I squeezed his shoulder. “Don’t push it, smartass.”
The icehouse was back to full staff and we got our beers within minutes of being seated. We’d managed to snag a round table big enough for five that was right underneath a fan, so I set my cap on the table and leaned back with a sigh, savoring the cool breeze.