Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 132657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
“I don’t want to be a cop.” She sighed. “I like investigating. I know it sounds dumb, but I like catching cheating assholes and making things easier for people to get out of a bad situation. I like finding people who’ve been lost. But I do need to recognize when I’m over my head and need to call in law enforcement. I worry my clients will get left behind.”
“What happened to the girl in LA?” her mom asked. “I know you came home and didn’t go back.”
“Jensen got her out,” Harlow replied. “It took him a week. I was planning on finding a way back in but he worked more quickly than I healed. I’m pretty sure he burned those bridges for me, but I would have tried.”
Her mom nodded like she’d expected that answer. “So he was worried about you.”
“He nearly got me killed,” she pointed out.
“Do you believe he thought that would happen? Or did he panic and do what he could to get you out?”
Her mom was being way too reasonable. “He could have asked me to leave. We could have had a discussion.”
Her mom snorted. “Yeah, because that would have gone so well. Look, I am not defending him. He hurt you, and at some point in time your dad is going to figure out who he is and he’ll lose his shit. But I can also understand wanting to protect the person you love and not quite knowing how to do it. Sometimes the men we love don’t know how to communicate, which is when it’s helpful to have a more reasonable twin hanging around. Or a friend.”
Her mother was not suggesting… “Niall lied to me. He was literally sent by Jensen to spy on me.”
“To spy or to watch out for you?”
She wasn’t doing this. “Spy.”
Her mom shrugged. “There’s more than one way to look at things, and I say that because I watched how both of those men looked at you. And you wouldn’t be so upset if you didn’t care about them both. How long have you been seeing Niall?”
“A couple of days, but I’ll be honest I was attracted to him the minute I met him. It was only being burned by his best friend that kept me away. But Mom, he doesn’t want me. He hasn’t slept with me, and I offered. He was there to make sure I didn’t sleep with anyone else.”
“Okay, if that’s true then they’re both assholes and you should walk away,” her mother mused. “But you should make sure because if it’s not, then you have two men who care about you. One who seems reasonable and easy to communicate with and the other who brings out a passionate side of you. Most people can make one or the other work, but have you considered the fact that you might need both?”
“No, Mom. I have not considered sleeping with the two men who betrayed me,” she shot back.
The door came open and Charlotte Taggart poked her head in. “Sweetie, I think your dad is about to explode and maybe take those guys of yours with him.”
She gave Charlotte a thumbs-up. “Tell Ian I’ll help clean his office and I know some places to hide the bodies.”
Her mom sighed. “We’ll be right there.”
“Yeah, I’m also going to warn you that Ruby called in and she’s found a hit on the Dark Web on you and Jensen, so Jack was right,” Charlotte said. “Jensen’s cover is blown and you’re both in danger. Your dad is already talking about moving you home and putting a detail on you.”
Shit. She started down the hallway, hoping she wasn’t about to get kidnapped by her own parents.
* * * *
Harlow had the weirdest family ever. From the playboy undercover fed, to the big blond definitely ex-Special Forces guy who mostly laughed at everything, to the twin dads, one of whom was like a really pissed-off Sherlock Holmes, these dudes ran the gamut of interesting.
Niall liked it. He wanted in. He could be the quiet one who sat in the back with the twin who wasn’t raging and eat chips and drink beer and watch the whole show.
Not that he had an in since Harlow wouldn’t look at him. Now she was gone and he and Jensen were sitting here wondering where she went and if she was coming back.
“She’s already got one arrest,” Harlow’s dad was saying.
“One?” Big Blond Guy waved that off. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been chucked in jail. The security business is not for the faint of heart, Dawson.”
Niall moved to sit beside Jensen, who gave him a deadly look and then turned away.
“Come on. Do you think you can take this crew on alone?” Niall asked quietly.
“I wasn’t going to let her get arrested,” Jack was arguing. “Why do you think I dealt with the cops? Who I hope are not on Hamilton’s payroll or it’s going to be a shame to the ladies everywhere that I’m about to die.”