Total pages in book: 174
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
Another riot of laughter echoed, and I shot upright when I realized those voices were coming from outside.
I tossed off my covers, shucking the sleep off as I jumped from bed and flew out the bedroom door and into the main room.
From where I stood, I could see the children’s door sat wide open.
They were well aware they were supposed to wake me up if I slept later than them, clear instructions given that they were not to bother Cash, though he was always locked behind that secreted door at the end of the hall before any of us woke up, anyway.
They weren’t supposed to be having their wild way by themselves in Cash’s house. It was bad enough during the day when I was supervising. The last thing I needed was them bringing it down as I slept away the morning.
It was already hard enough on Cash, having them under his roof.
I knew that.
Could feel that.
And I didn’t want them scaring him off.
Not when he’d…agreed.
I nearly tripped over my feet when I remembered what had happened last night.
He agreed.
This brusque, harsh, cranky man had agreed to marry me.
After he confessed to being involved in unsavory things. Things I was probably a fool for shoving aside.
I couldn’t contemplate it right then. I needed to focus on the issue at hand.
My kids had gone outside by themselves, and it could be dangerous out there.
Bears and snakes and rushing rivers.
Or something far more dangerous.
Ethan.
My throat thickened as I was nearly sucked back into the dream.
I would have been afraid except I was able to differentiate each of their voices, and now I was just upset they hadn’t listened.
I stormed toward the big doors that opened to the back porch, wondering exactly what type of punishment would work the best to make them understand that they were given these rules for their safety.
I came up to the glass then stalled out with my hand on the handle when I saw Cash was out there with them.
On his knees as he measured something along the end of the wooden porch. Wearing jeans and a white tee and a cap on his head.
Sweat glistened on his tattooed flesh, and his muscles worked beneath the fabric that covered his butt and back.
My mind spiraled back to that first night. When I’d seen him mostly bare.
Every hard, packed inch of him vibrating with that strength the same as it did right then.
Why did he have to be so gorgeous?
But it was more than that.
It was simply because it was him.
The one who’d had my heart since I was a teenager. A teenager with stars in her eyes every time she looked at him.
Apparently, that one tedious little detail hadn’t disappeared with age.
Because I was swamped in a whisk of lightheadedness.
Everything airy and light except for my heart that felt like a brick wall had toppled on me, crushing my chest.
I didn’t have time to stand there and swoon.
Colin was right beside him, crouched low as he tried to inspect whatever it was that Cash was doing. All up in his business and no question in the way.
Pieces of my son’s hair stuck up all over the place, and he was dressed in mismatched clothes and Addy’s far too big pink flip-flops on his feet, as if he’d rolled out of bed and immediately come running out here.
Eva spun a circle in her nightgown as she tried to reach for a butterfly that flitted overhead, and Addy was on the opposite side of the porch trying to reach over the railing to pick a flower from a bush.
I finally gathered myself enough to pull open the sliding door.
The riot of voices amplified the second I did.
“Well, how are you gonna do that?” Colin asked, his words rushed and garbled. “It seems like it’s gotta be a lot of work. Do you like work? Do you even got a job?”
“Over here, butterfwy!” Eva sang over the top of Colin as she twirled. “You gotta come here so you can be my favorite pet except for my doggie Duke!”
Duke ran a circle around her, barking every step and wagging his tail.
“You should leave it alone because you might hurt its wings, Eva. You don’t want to do that, do you? Come and pick a flower with me because we have to surprise Mom,” Addy suggested, my sweet little caretaker.
“No way, I needs it. It’s a pretty pet but not as good as my Duke.” Duke barked like he agreed. “Wook, I got a butterfwy on my jammies, which means we match and it’s my best friend!”
“You gotta cut some wood for it?” Colin kept on at Cash, who I could see was overwhelmed. “Do you think I could cut it for you? I think I can do a saw really good because I’m gettin’ some strong muscles because I’m already five. Did you know that, Mr. Cash?”