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)
“He can’t because I have a whole bunch of them…” She sat up. “Damn it. I had them in the office. At least I had the printouts and notes there. I’ve been putting off dealing with it because the wedding was pretty much all-consuming and honestly, I didn’t want to put that pressure on my dad.”
“He knows, right?” The idea that she hadn’t told Jack Barnes wasn’t one he wanted to entertain.
“He knows I’m worried about Gladen breaking the organic rules,” she explained. “I’ll go over it all with him when they get back home. But Garrett, it’s awfully convenient that my office burns down right before I make my case to Dad.”
“Yeah, I might have called Ruby and put her on Gladen, too,” he admitted. “I don’t like the timing either. I prioritized figuring out where he was the other night. Turns out he was hosting a party late into the night. He was seen on his ranch at 2:30 a.m., waving guests good-bye. He’s an hour south of Austin. There’s not a lot of chance he made it up here. According to Ruby, his security system shows no one leaving or entering the estate until eight a.m. the next day.”
“But he could have hired someone to do it,” Olivia reasoned.
“I have her looking into that, too. With the exception of Deputy Morgan, the sheriff’s office is fairly useless.” They did have an arson report, but it didn’t feel like they were working hard to figure out who did it. He’d gotten another round of kids running wild from the sheriff when he forced the issue.
“They always have been,” she admitted, and she was quiet for a moment as though thinking. “Is there something Keane needs to tell me?”
“Why would you say that?”
“It’s the way he looks at me sometimes. Like he wants to say something but he can’t.” She watched Garrett for a moment. “He can tell me anything. I’m hard to shock.”
This was the danger zone. Keane knew he needed to talk to her, but he was putting it off because the last few days had been incredible and he didn’t want to fuck it up if this was the only time they got with her. But the longer they were in her bed and working with her, the more a future with her seemed possible. So that talk needed to happen. “He does, but he has to be the one.”
“Is it about his past?” Olivia asked.
“Yes,” Garrett replied, feeling uncomfortable even telling her that much.
Her expression softened. “He’s afraid to tell me?”
Garrett didn’t respond, but he was sure she got the answer from his expression.
“Did he do it to survive?” Olivia asked.
Hope flared through him. He believed fully Olivia Barnes-Fleetwood wouldn’t allow the time Keane did to change her impression of him. Especially when she had the whole story. “Yes.”
She took a long breath and rested against him, relaxing. “Then he can tell me when it feels safe to.”
“Livie, I don’t want this to end,” he admitted in a whisper as though if he said it too loudly the wish would crack and break.
“I’ve been thinking about it, too. Maybe we can try dating. You’re here for a couple of weeks, but then you’ll be in Deer Run and I’m on the road a lot.”
“We can easily meet in Dallas while we figure it out, and honestly I could learn the business better if I traveled with you,” he offered. “And we’ve been talking about having Keane go to a couple of our partners and train them on his protocols.”
She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. “Well, that is something to think about. But you have to deal with my parents.”
“I’m good with parents.”
“Oh, I’m sure my mother and Papa will adore you.”
“And your dad?”
She turned her head up and gave him the sweetest smile. “Keep him away from your cars.”
Oh, didn’t he know that. “I have been living with the evidence of how your father handles his problems. I see it every day in his office. Did he cube Scott’s car?”
“He was thrilled when Scott quit. He practically threw a party. I overheard him telling my mother that he would have paid to send the fucker away so he never asked me to marry him. I thought he was showing maturity, so maybe you don’t have to worry.”
Jack Barnes was the kind of man who paid attention. Every employee was vetted. He should know about Keane’s past because they had disclosed it. His brother, Lucas, had run a thorough check. He was fine with giving Keane a chance to work, but he might feel differently when it came to dating his daughter.
But that was a bridge they would cross when the time came and not before. He didn’t want to sit around worrying. He wanted to be part of this family he found. “We’ll handle your dad. We’ll show him how good we are for you. Now, when is the massive ass showing up, and can we throw him away with the mountain of garbage from the teardown?”