Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Deep down in that tough little body, she was a good kid. And right then, she was a missing one.
Hmm.
From the way the hallway was illuminated, it seemed like the light in the kitchen might be on. That had to be where she was. In the time since we’d started our post-dinner adventures, she hadn’t missed a single one. We could check the kitchen and then knock on her door to see if she was okay. That sounded like a good plan to me.
With Duncan Donut still in my arms, we headed in that direction first.
Half the lights were on, I realized soon afterward. I hadn’t been able to hear voices while we’d been making our way over, and if Duncan had, he didn’t give me a sign, but I wasn’t totally shocked to find Henri with a hip against the counter beside the range. Leaning against his leg was Agnes. Henri’s gaze was already on the doorway when Duncan and I walked in.
And just like I’d told myself every other time I’d been in his vicinity over the last few weeks, I did it again: Keep it together, Nina.
I hadn’t seen Henri much since our trip to the airport. When I had, it’d been in the mornings during breakfast on his days off, and a couple of times I’d seen him at a distance when Duncan and I went for walks. He’d sensed me and waved, but I could tell he’d been busy and hadn’t wanted to bother him. Unfortunately, that had been all the time we’d spent together.
I wasn’t going to say it hurt my feelings, he was a busy man, but… in my truck, he’d said we were friends. He’d even joked with me. I didn’t want to second-guess it. In my heart, I knew Henri wasn’t the kind of person to say something he didn’t mean. He was too serious, too polite, too used to having to say what he felt because there was no other choice when everyone around him at the ranch had a BS meter, but… it would’ve been nice to see him more.
Now though, Henri was out of that body-fitting uniform, and in black sweatpants and a dark gray T- shirt that said LOBO COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT in faded black letters.
At least they weren’t light gray sweatpants, I thought with a silent prayer of gratitude to the universe.
If I’d thought that I’d get used to the impact his face and body had on me, I would’ve been wrong. If anything, he got more attractive every time I saw him, and I’d been trying my best to wrap those thoughts up tighter than my ponytails.
“Hi,” I greeted him as Duncan wiggled in my arms, the universal sign to let him down.
I did, and the puppies ran toward one another like they hadn’t eaten dinner together. Or been within twenty feet of each other in the nursery for most of the day. Two tails—one dark and very fluffy, and the other light and slightly less puffy—wagged.
“Hey,” Henri finally said.
“I told you to marry him because he could use someone like you in his life,” Matti had told me on the phone a couple of weeks ago, after he’d purposely ignored my texts regarding the comment he’d dropped on me outside of the airline terminal.
“That makes no sense,” I’d argued, sitting on the step leading up to my trailer. I had wanted to keep an eye out on who was around so my chances of being overheard were smaller.
“I always make sense.”
We were both silent for a minute before we’d laughed.
“When he’s not at work, he’s still at work. He’s always fucking working. I’m not exaggerating. I don’t think he’s ever taken a real vacation. The times I’ve seen him in Denver were because he took days off to handle ranch shit because he only does business with people he meets in person. He has no chill. Think of it like this, Nina, he’s the principal, and you’re summer vacation,” he’d explained. “I think he’d be good for you too. He’d be loyal. He works hard…. I know he’d take care of you.”
He'd take care of me. That had done something interesting to my insides. The point was, it had been a long conversation, and one I couldn’t get out of my head weeks later.
I could feel eyes following me as I circled the island and went for the fridge, opening the freezer and pulling out a few different popsicles. I’d found some naturally sweetened, organic popsicles at the grocery store in Lobo Springs that the kids liked. Agnes came over first, and I smiled as I crouched to offer her a choice.
I held out the popsicles, and the mini wolf nudged the one in the middle. I looked at Henri as I got up. His facial hair had grown in a little, and a light scruff covered his throat, jaw, and upper lip, making him look like the borderline mountain man I’d met when we’d first gotten here. “Want one?”