Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 64571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
“Sloppy seconds,” he mutters, shaking his head. “Your friend has a death wish. Sasha can be a real bitch, I’ve heard.” Now it’s my turn to smile. Good luck with that.
“Teddy’s fearless. Unless there is a spider.” The eggs sizzle. “So you know Sasha is a bitch?” I ask.
“I’ve overheard it, but she’s all smiles when I’m around her.” He shrugs.
“Because she’s in love with you!” I hiss too loudly. “I can’t stand her.”
Tristan cocks his head to the side to glance my way. “Has she been mean to you?”
“Yes! Always making remarks about what I’m eating. Hinting that you two are a thing.” I fold my arms over my chest, getting pissed about it all over again, even if they were never anything. In her mind, she thinks they are, and that’s too much for me.
“All right, I’ll handle it.” He goes back to cooking. I’m about to start up again, but I see the slight tic in his jaw. Oh, he’s pissed. I smirk. Sasha has it coming. She’s a mean girl.
Plus, I can’t get too mad about how he handled her in the past, now that I’m understanding the situation more. A lot of things when it comes to romance and such fly right over his head. It’s kind of cute, but it still might make me stabby.
I swing my legs, watching him work. My head’s clearer now. Last night’s emergency supply champagne finally burned off. All that did was make yesterday come back to me. I understand now. Fully, completely, with sober clarity.
“Gardening,” I say.
Tristan’s shoulders tense. Just barely, but I catch it. “What?”
I swing my legs casually. “Yesterday. When you were with Killian.” I watch his face carefully. “You weren’t actually planning to prune roses. I think you were pruning something that’s far more bloody.”
We both know what I’m talking about. I was drunk, not blind.
He takes the pan off the stove before leaning against the counter across from me. “So you know what we were up to.”
“I saw the blood on your shirt.” Does he forget I helped wash it off him? I highly doubt that, but maybe my blow job was that mind-blowing. “Tristan. I’m not stupid.” I lean forward, elbows on my knees. “I just didn’t bring it up because... well, two men were chasing Teddy and me down.”
His jaw tightens. He doesn’t deny it.
“Who were they?” I ask. “And don’t say ‘nothing to worry about.’ I was in that alley. I saw them watching us.”
He exhales, slow and controlled. “I don’t know yet.”
“But you’re finding out.”
“Yes.”
“I have another question, because while being nosy in your stalker command center, I was thinking,” I say, settling back against the cabinets. “I was sure it was either about you or Killian. Why would anyone be after Teddy or me? But now I’m not so sure. Tell me it’s not about me.” He opens his mouth to respond. “Do not lie to me.”
“Lily—”
“Does it have to do with you stealing my DNA test?” Yeah, I saw that in there too.
“Let me figure it out first.”
“You know, on a day-to-day basis I won’t be hurt if you keep things from me to protect me or whatever. We all know I put on a tough shell.”
“But you’re a sweetheart,” Tristan fills in. “That sometimes gives me heartburn.”
I snort a laugh. “I’m being serious. Don’t make me laugh.” Plus, I know he handles a lot of things. Not only his own business deals in tech, but for the government too. Things I could never begin to understand.
“Guess I’ve been hanging out with you and Teddy too much.”
“We’re comic relief, not you, Tristan. Not your place.”
“Got it.” The kitchen falls quiet.
“If I knew I was in danger or Teddy was, we never would have taken off yesterday. Keeping me in the dark doesn’t always protect me.”
“It’s a lot,” he tells me. “It could change a lot of things.” I nod, glancing away from him.
“Did you take the DNA test because of whomever my mother is or because of my dad?”
“Both.”
“Is she dead?” I debated trying to find her, but it was because I was feeling alone. It wasn’t a real longing. It was me being in a bad headspace missing Tristan and the only home I knew since my father passed.
“I believe so.”
“How’d she die?”
“I believe in a fire.”
I cringe; it sounds painful. “So then the test is about my dad.” I glance down at my lap, wringing my fingers together. I could have easily moved on from the conversation, but I have to face whatever it is.
“Lily—”
“It’s okay,” I tell him, but he’s already there, stepping between my legs. “I’m not about to cry over it; I’m just thinking about him, and it makes me miss him,” I say. “He’s my dad.”
“He is your dad. I think he saw you and knew you were meant to be his.”