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)
That felt like danger.
Gabe could be protective over the people he considered family, and they’d been like brother and sister growing up. He could be giving them “the talk.” The one where he threatened grievous bodily, emotional, and financial harm to anyone who dared to break her heart.
The relationship was fragile. They could totally get scared off.
Could they?
Miranda seemed to understand the thoughts going through Olivia’s brain. “It’s not a bad thing. He’s not doing that alpha male, don’t-hurt-the-women-in-my-family thing. He likes them. I happen to know Gabe thinks Keane is an excellent Dom. He was talking to someone about how happy he was you finally found a real top who can handle you.”
She didn’t like the sound of that. Handle her? Except Keane really did handle her beautifully. He seemed to know when she needed control and when she wanted him to take it. He was the kind of man who sat back until he was needed but then nothing would stop him.
He was the kind of man she could trust.
“Let Gabe get close to them. He could use the friends. You know he’s been standoffish since Pax left.”
Olivia sighed. Paxton Cruz. He and Gabe had been best friends in high school. They went to college together. While they’d been private, there was no question that they were intimate. Pax had been Gabe’s sub. He was a switch who topped whatever woman they were sharing but bottomed when it came to Gabe. Everyone expected them to select a woman and settle down.
Instead, Pax had disappeared, leaving Gabe a note telling him not to contact him ever again.
It was around that time Gabe declared he wouldn’t be joining his father’s company and disappeared for a while. When he came back, he had a passion for carpentry. Building The Hideout, the club the younger people established, had done him a world of good.
Gabe never talked about Pax anymore. He’d had a couple of subs over the years, always with a male switch. Those changed regularly, too. While the relationships were physically intense, Olivia knew his heart was never engaged.
Though his eyes often shifted to Gigi. Gigi, who had been close to Pax, too. Gigi, who Gabe never asked to play but deeply vetted every man she came in contact with.
Gabe, who kind of looked like he was going to murder the guy Gigi was currently dancing with.
He was a dog with… She was going to say two bones, but she wasn’t sure Gabe had a bone at all. He was obviously crazy about Gigi, but he wouldn’t approach her for anything but friendship. Then he got all possessive.
The last thing she needed was another bar fight. She’d gotten a bunch of texts from Lola’s friends calling her a whore and slut and all the names women use when they want to tear each other down. She ignored them all, but she didn’t want more drama. Not that type.
Now she could use a hot scene where her men were invading her poor fishing village and she only had one thing to barter with for protection. Her virginal body.
“You like them.” Miranda took a sip of her own drink. It wasn’t a question.
Still, Olivia felt like she should answer. “I do, but this is exactly what I was trying to avoid. I don’t want ties.”
“Yeah, you do,” Miranda countered. “You’re afraid of them because the couple of times you’ve tried before it went wrong. But that’s kind of the thing. You try until you get it right, and you can’t possibly know if it’s right until you spend lots of time together. Livie, they’re wonderful. Keane knows what he’s doing when it comes to running a ranch. You should think about this. Josh wants to come and help with the business side. Your dad is going to need a foreman.”
Like she hadn’t thought about that. With their dad thinking of going to part time, Josh wanted to start taking over some of the duties of running the cooperative. They talked about the fact that it would mean Olivia could take her foot off the gas and have a little more of a life. But the problem was the foreman job. While her papa was the foreman on record, Josh did most of the work, and her fathers needed someone they could trust.
Keane was perfect. He’d already passed all the vetting. The hands seemed to love him, and he had innovative ideas that worked.
Garrett could do his job anywhere. Most of the time when they had important legal meetings they went into Dallas. He could be home before they went to bed. Together.
But she had tried this before. “I thought Scott was perfect.”
Miranda chuckled. “No, you didn’t. You have forgotten. You questioned him all the time. You used to sit around making pros and cons charts.”