Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 40942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
He’d tracked her down, threatened the guy she was talking to, then picked her up and carried her out of the bar.
All without a ‘hello’.
What. The. Heck?
“Uh, Stafford?” she asked.
“Yes?” he said as he walked into the parking lot.
“Are you feeling all right?” she asked.
“You know, for the first time in a long time, everything feels very, very right.”
Huh.
“Hey! Where are you going with her? Stafford! Put her down!”
Witches and wizards.
That was Kiesha.
“I’m taking her home,” Stafford replied. “Where she’s meant to be.” They came to a sudden stop.
Urgh, she wasn’t sure about this mode of transport. The blood was rushing to her head and her stomach was queasy.
“Kiesha, get out of my way,” Stafford ordered.
“No. Put my new friend down. Do it or I’m going to have to find my Taser.”
A Taser?
“Um, Kiesha, I don’t think a Taser is necessary,” she said nervously. Kiesha did know that he had a hold of Blakely, right? If she Tasered Stafford, he’d likely drop her.
And Blakely really didn’t want to be dropped from this height.
Plus, she didn’t actually want him to get Tasered. That sounded like it would hurt.
“It is if he doesn’t drop you,” Kiesha replied.
“Kiesha, why did you run out like that without me?”
Oh, thank goodness. Harry was here. The voice of reason.
“Because Stafford is trying to kidnap Blakely!” Kiesha cried. “Didn’t you see him pick her up and carry her out of The Wishing Well? He threatened to cut Aiden’s hand off! So I rushed out after them and told him to put her down and he’s refusing. I’m going to go get my Taser.”
Well, he didn’t quite threaten to cut Aiden’s hand off.
She waited for Harry to talk Kiesha down.
“What? You’re Stafford?” Harry asked.
“I am,” Stafford replied coolly. “Both of you need to get out of my way.”
“No, you need to put Blakely down before I let Kiesha go find her Taser,” Harry told him in a low voice.
He . . . what? She’d expected Harry to de-escalate this! Not encourage Kiesha and her Tasering.
“Yes! See! You’re acting crazy, Stafford. Do you want Ed coming out here next?” Kiesha asked.
“I don’t care who comes out next,” Stafford snarled. “Blakely is coming home with me. She is not going back into that bar to get pawed by some asshole.”
“I wasn’t getting pawed!” she protested.
“And Aiden isn’t an asshole. He’s a physiotherapist,” Kiesha explained.
“What does that have to do with him being an asshole?” Stafford asked. “He can be both.”
“He’s not one!” Kiesha said. “He was getting on really well with Blakely, and you ruined it with your caveman routine. You’re her boss, not her boyfriend.”
“Actually, I’m both.”
There was shocked silence from everyone. Even from Stafford himself, it seemed.
Her boyfriend? What was he talking about? He wasn’t her boyfriend.
“How can you be her boyfriend?” Kiesha demanded. “She came here for Daddy Speed Dating. She never said that you were her boyfriend. Doesn’t make sense.”
“Perhaps we should hear from Blakely,” Harry said.
Oh, now he was the voice of reason.
“Stafford, put me down,” she demanded. She really was feeling queasy.
“No. And this has nothing to do with the two of you,” Stafford told them. “Get out of my way. I’m taking Blakely home.”
“Blakely?” Harry asked. “Is that what you want?”
“Um, well, I . . . actually, what I’d really like is to be put on my feet before I vomit.”
Stafford immediately drew her over his shoulder and set her down. The blood rushed out of her head and made her feel dizzy. She swayed and Stafford grabbed her hips.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were feeling ill?” he demanded. “Do you still feel like you’re going to vomit? You didn’t take a drink from anyone in there, did you?”
Huh?
“Well, just from Noah.”
“Noah wouldn’t spike her drink,” Harry said firmly. “I think she’s just ill from you holding her upside down. Is that right, Blakely?”
“Yes, that’s right.” She was still lightheaded, but she wasn’t sure if that’s because she was being held over Stafford’s shoulder or because of what he’d just said. “Boyfriend?”
“Is he your boyfriend, Blakely?” Kiesha asked as she eyed Stafford with suspicion. “Because you really should have said something before I tried to matchmake you with half the town.”
“Half the town?” Stafford yelled. “How many people touched you?”
“No one was touching me!” she told him. What the heck did he think she was doing in there?
“That asshole was.” Stafford glared down at her.
“I told you, he’s a physiotherapist,” Kiesha said.
“He can be both,” Stafford pointed out. “How many men did you introduce my girl to?”
“I’m not your girl, though,” she said, starting to get angry and more and more confused. What was going on here? Why was he calling her his girlfriend?
This made no sense.
“You are my girl.”
Blakely raised her hands into the air. “Says who?”
“Me.”
“And I don’t get a say?” She went up onto her tiptoes to attempt to get into his face.