Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 107352 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107352 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
When I turned my head, he was right there, smiling at me. “You are very good for my ego, but you know I’m here in a protective capacity, so taking off a night to follow you home and put you over the back of your couch is not something I can do.”
His smile was all carnal heat. “Then how about you invite me into that room of yours, and we can—”
“Mr. Kinney, is it?” Luke snapped, there suddenly, standing on the other side of the table, staring down at him. “You passed me a packet when you came in, so perhaps you’d like to go over it with me?”
“Oh yes, of course,” he agreed, then pivoted back to me. “I would like to speak to you before I go.”
“I’m cooking,” I told him with a smile. “I’m not goin’ anywhere. In fact, you should stay and have—”
“I’m sure Mr. Kinney has plans on a Friday night,” Luke stated, clipping his words. “You wouldn’t want him changing things up for us.”
“Oh, I would love to have dinner,” he murmured, grinning at me. “And dessert.”
The man was a flirt, and I enjoyed the attention. Not to mention he was very pretty. Maybe leaving the house and spending the night at a motel was not such a horrible idea. After what Doyle said earlier about the grand jury, the chances that the Duchesne family was in danger had gone from small to microscopic. I could spare an evening out. However, leaving Luke alone with a house full of kids was just plain mean. But that didn’t mean that Saturday night was out of the question.
“Luke, may I speak to you, please?” Shelly asked, appearing at his side and slipping her arm through his.
“Yes, but first, I need to speak to Mr. Kinney in my office. I’ll be back shortly.”
When Weston got up, he made sure to put his hand on my shoulder and lean on me a moment before following Luke out of the room.
Shelly took a seat in the chair across from me.
“How are you feeling?” I asked her.
Quick nod from her. “So much better. Thank you for being so kind that day.”
“Of course.”
She took a breath. “I actually came by to tell Luke that the visitation for my mother starts at seven, and the funeral is tomorrow morning.”
“Oh, I’m sure he’ll want to change and—”
“No,” she rushed out, reaching across the table for my hand.
I took it quickly in mine.
“I may have been out of it, but I promise you, I’m not insane.”
“I never thought for a moment you—”
“Because you are a very nice man,’’ she said, chuckling. “I mean, this family, they hit the lottery with you.”
“No, Shelly. I don’t think you understand what I’m doing here or—”
“I do. You’re a fixer, and my goodness, you certainly are.”
“I—”
“It would be better for me if Luke and the kids didn’t come to either the visitation or the funeral tomorrow. And I doubt he was even considering bringing the kids to either, but because he has a good heart, he was probably going to show up for me, but my mother has no friends still with us, so it’s going to be a very small gathering.”
I remained silent, waiting.
“I’m so embarrassed,” she said under her breath.
“No, you shouldn’t be. You were going through a terrible time and—”
“Not that,” she murmured, taking a breath. “Believing everything Caitlyn said.”
“Oh.”
“I talked to Ronnie and Kara, and really, she used us all. She had us covering up the affair, and she had me believing it would all be all right because Luke wanted me to take her place.” She shook her head. “I always watch those shows about women who get swindled in romance scams and they give all their money away to people who are catfishing them.”
“What has that got to do with you?”
“Basically, I fell for the same thing. Caitlyn dangled her handsome, funny, caring husband in front of me, and I went for it hook, line, and sinker.”
“Yeah, but—”
“The worst part is she actually thought Luke was so weak, he would simply reach for me because I was here and he didn’t want to be alone. How little she must have thought of him. Because even I know Luke is absolutely protective of his children. He only asked me to look in on them because he had no choice. All the people he knows, his crew, were all with him. I was a last resort until you showed up on your white horse. He must be so terribly grateful you’ve been here.”
Which, now that I was thinking about it, was probably where his hesitancy around my leaving came from. It was gratitude. I would need to clear that up.
“So I wanted to tell him I’d rather he not show up, and then when I get back, perhaps I’ll be ready to talk to him about everything.” She was quiet a moment. “Or perhaps that’s not a conversation we ever need to have. I mean honestly, what would that do for either of us?”