Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 140604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 703(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 703(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
“Speakeasys are private,” Garrett pointed out. “This place is not.”
It definitely wasn’t. It was crowded and rowdy, and where the hell was his sub? Not that she was his sub. His temporary sub, if she said yes.
She was making him crazy, and normally he would say that was a bad thing, but he felt more alive than he had in…ever.
Keane was a careful person. He learned not to expect much from the world, so he didn’t get excited about things.
He was excited about her. He spent the whole day trying to talk himself out of it since he knew it would end in heartache, but he couldn’t. He wanted this time with her, even if it was only a week.
“Well, at the time it was private. Not technically, but if Jack Barnes didn’t want you around, you did not get into The Barn,” the young woman announced. “Still to this day, there are people in Willow Fork who do not get the privilege of enjoying my dad’s homemade brews. They’re delicious. Or at least that’s what they tell me since I’m nineteen and not allowed to drink. Which is why I have to hostess. But one day I’ll manage this whole place. Long in the future.”
Keane stared at that photo. Jack and Sam. They looked younger in the photo but far more grim.
And then his gaze shifted to another photo. It was more recent since it included Abby and younger versions of Olivia and Josh and Grim. In the picture Olivia smiled brightly, her arms linked with her brothers. The other couple had two daughters smiling between them. The first picture was all about determination, ambition. The second was about joy.
Family.
Jack and Sam had somehow built a family, and they looked happy and whole and good together. He always worried if he got what he wanted—a family with Garrett—he would be putting their kids in a position where the world might reject them.
But the world rejected people for any number of reasons they couldn’t control. Was that a reason to not be here? Or a reason to build another world.
Wasn’t that what Olivia’s dads had done with The Barn? When the town rejected them, they built their own space, and now everyone flocked here. They built a home and a business and a place where they belonged.
Could he and Garrett do the same? Was Olivia the woman who could complete them?
“Thanks for the history lesson,” Garrett was in charm mode. He leaned over so he didn’t have to yell. Someone was singing their heart out in another part of the building, and the speakers seemed to be turned up to full blast. “So do you know where Olivia is? We know she’s here. We’re supposed to meet her but she didn’t tell us how big this place is.”
The young woman who was named Sarah, according to her name tag, gave them a bright smile. “I saw her earlier in the bar with some friends from out of town. You might check in there. It’s pretty full, but Mike might know where she is. He’s the bartender. I’m not supposed to go in there because I break a lot of things. Also, my dad thinks most men are perverts, so I’m supposed to stay away.”
Yeah, he wasn’t going to get into the bar business. Men were perverts. If he had a baby girl, he would make sure she was protected.
He had never once thought about having kids before. Maybe he could use a beer.
He thanked Sarah as she gestured toward the big bar at the end of the hall.
“You went green. You okay?” Garrett asked.
He could hear more clearly now. “I don’t know. I think I like this woman. I don’t know that I like how much I like her.”
Garrett stopped him and smiled. “That’s progress, man.”
“It feels like anxiety.”
“It means you’re letting yourself actually want something for once. I think it’s a good thing. I mean it would be if she wasn’t hiding from us. I’m not sure what she’s thinking.”
But Keane did. “She’s pushing limits. She’s allowing herself to be reckless for one of two reasons. Because she wants to let us know what she thinks of us without saying it.”
“I don’t believe that,” Garrett interrupted. “What’s the other reason?”
“Because she can.”
Garrett frowned. “Well, I don’t like that explanation either. She’s doing it because she doesn’t have to be careful with us. She knows damn well we’re not going to leave her or yell at her.”
“Well, I was planning on spanking her ass,” Keane admitted.
“Like that’s not exactly what she wants. Think about it. She feels out of control. Negotiating with her doesn’t fix that. It forces her to make choices, and she’s worried she’ll make the wrong one. She needs a nice long session to clear her head, and she can’t ask for one. So here we are,” Garrett said.