Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 76203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76203 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
I slammed deep inside her, taking a moment to enjoy the sensation of her hot, tight walls, before the need to move overtook us both and I was fucking her—fast and deep, the sounds of our bodies crashing together filling the bathroom almost as fully as Runa’s moans.
There wasn’t time to try to beat our record—not with an impatient Denali one floor below—but she came twice around my cock before I settled deep and came hard enough for me to need to slap my hand into the shower wall when my legs went weak.
I slid out of her afterward, turning her, and sealing my lips to hers for a long couple of minutes.
“Any requests, aside from the coffee?” I asked as I quickly soaped up, then moved under the spray to rinse off.
“The makings for s’mores? There’s a great fire pit out back. That’s one childhood staple Denny hasn’t experienced yet.”
With my mental list, my phone for navigation—though with how flat this area was, I was pretty sure I could see the town from miles off—Denali and I set out to town to get supplies.
“Oh! Is that Runa’s little girl?” the cashier asked as soon as we secured a normal cart and a mini one for Denali, who shoved all three of her stuffed animals inside and moved into the store at my side.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised by that. Runa told me that Greg said her grandfather had been bragging about his great-granddaughter all over town. He might even have had some pictures to bring with him. But he couldn’t have had an updated one. Right?
So much about the private investigators or… whoever he hired just wasn’t making any sense to me.
But I hadn’t had much time alone with my thoughts to try to sort it out.
“Denali, right?” the woman with her perfectly curled crop of white hair asked, her blue eyes bright and warm in her wrinkled face.
Denali looked at me, taking a step closer, uncertain.
“It is,” I confirmed, not wanting to lie to people in such a small town.
“Oh, you are just the prettiest little girl,” the woman declared. “Reminds me so much of your mama when she was little. Is she here with you?” she asked, looking around.
“No. No, she hung back. She had a lot of… ruminating to do.”
The woman’s face went sad as she gave me a nod.
“Yeah, I’ll bet she does. Well, I won’t keep you from your shopping. But tell Runa we would love to see her in town when she’s feeling less tender.”
“I will. It’s nice to meet you…”
“Barb.”
“Barb. I’m York,” I told her.
“Daddy? Can I get one?” Denali asked, pointing toward—of all things—a cantaloupe.
“Sure, princess.”
Barb’s brow lifted at the title, and I couldn’t help but wonder if Runa’s grandfather had mentioned that I wasn’t in the picture.
The grocery store wasn’t busy, but we barely managed to go down a single aisle without someone stopping us to say hello, to offer their sympathies, to beg me to tell Runa they said hello.
It was just after we checked out, and I was shoving bags into the trunk while Denali was buckling herself and her stuffed animals in that my phone started to ring.
I got the trunk closed and answered as I brought the cart back to the rack.
It wasn’t Runa, like I’d been expecting.
Or Huck.
Not even Eddie, checking in on his favorite sous chef.
It was Arty.
“What’s up?” I asked as I made my way back to the car, pausing to take the call outside my door, not wanting Denali to overhear anything sensitive.
“They’re hitmen.”
“What? Who?”
“The men who attacked Runa in Georgia. And her apartment.”
“Yeah, I kind of figured that. What with the whole trying to murder her thing.”
“Yeah, but they weren’t always hitmen.”
“They were private investigators.”
There was a pause.
“Why have I been doing all this work if you already knew?”
“I just figured it out myself.”
“Well, they worked for Runa’s grandfather. Until something changed two years ago.”
“He died.”
“Right. But the job didn’t.”
“Arty, do you have any actual information for me? Names? Connections? Motivation?”
“Money. The motivation is money. A lot of it. Half a million each year deposited into their crypto accounts.”
That was a lot of money.
Enough for small men to do something as heinous as murder a single mom. And maybe her daughter.
“By who?”
“I don’t have any proof…”
“I don’t care.”
“Sonny Cast.”
“Who the fuck is Sonny Cast?”
“You haven’t met him yet? He runs the ranch.”
My fucking heart fell to my feet.
“I gotta go.”
I jumped into the car as I dialed Runa’s number and backed out of my spot.
“Daddy! Seatbelt!” Denali scolded from the backseat.
I pulled the belt as the call went to voicemail.
Fuck.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I dialed again and listened to the ring as my knuckles went white on the wheel.
I wanted to press the pedal to the floor.
I wanted to fly down the fucking road all the way back to the ranch.