Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 101840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
“Jett! We didn’t know you were coming. Get in here.”
I finished giving the dog a head scratch before moving toward him for a hug. But as soon as I saw they’d been playing Egyptian Ratscrew, I felt overwhelming emotion.
Loss. Loneliness. Familiarity and comfort. Fear. Grief. Want.
Utter and devastating heartbreak.
“Jett?” Mav said, standing up and frowning. “What’s…? Oh dear.”
They surrounded me just as I broke down, Beau on one side of me and Maverick on the other. I turned into Mav’s chest and tucked myself into his arms, feeling Beau move in behind me to make a hug sandwich.
I’d come by my incredible hugging genius honestly. I wished I’d been able to tell Locke that.
“Honey, whatever it is, we’re here. It’ll be okay,” Beau murmured.
I could see my brother out of the corner of my eye, his forehead creased with concern. Becca blinked and stood up, moving to reach through the group hug to scratch lightly into my hair, a gesture she’d always used to soothe me when I was upset.
“Glad you’re home, Jetty-boo. We missed you.”
I tried to keep my sobs silent as my breath heaved, and hot tears slid down my face and into Mav’s shirt.
“Maybe I should go,” Hunter said softly to Gabe.
“What? Fuck off, you’re family, too,” Gabe replied.
Beau moved away from the hug, gently shoving Mav and me toward the sofa. “You three go pick up the pizza we called in. Hunt, make sure they don’t kill each other on the way.”
Once they were gone, my dads sat on either side of me and waited for me to catch my breath. Beau had brought over a box of tissues, and Mav had whistled for Pepper to get over here and stop whining. Once she’d shoved her fat ass between us on the sofa and dropped her chin on my lap, she calmed down.
Mav’s calm presence had its usual effect on me. “You want to talk about it?”
“How’d you decide to leave California for Beau?” I asked, voice hoarse and nasally from crying.
I’d already heard this story plenty of times. Mav was a veterinarian. He’d been preparing to take over the San Francisco practice from my grandmother when he’d reconnected with Beau in South Carolina and fallen in love. Leaving an established practice hadn’t been easy.
My dads exchanged a knowing look.
“Easy,” Mav said at the same time Beau said, “Bribery.”
Mav put his palm on Beau’s face and pushed him back. I didn’t miss how gentle the touch was. They’d always been sweetly affectionate with each other. It made my teeth hurt.
Mav focused back on me. “I could decide to stay in California and be Beau-less, or I could move here. It really was that easy. It’s kind of like asking someone to choose between living in a shoebox with their heart or living in Rabbit Island without their heart. Rabbit Island isn’t worth living in if you’re not living.”
“A shoebox, babe? You suck at metaphors,” Beau muttered before turning me to face him. “Who’s the guy?”
I told them as much as I could without mentioning ESP, Paxis, global intrigue, or the whole sex-for-money thing. If I ever had a chance—even if it was a slim one—of building a future with Locke, that would remain our secret and ours alone.
“It’s hard to explain,” I continued. “But I can’t have him and my career at the same time.”
“Why not?” Beau asked, sounding angry enough to ride at dawn, guns blazing.
I stroked the silky-smooth fur of Pepper’s head with my thumb. The little dip where her noggin met her ear fit my thumb perfectly like it always had.
“I just can’t. Okay?”
Beau bent a knee up on the sofa so he could face me better. “If I had to choose between your dad and my business, it wouldn’t even be a question.”
Mav made a little sound of appreciation in his throat. Sometimes I hated these two and their perfect love.
“That’s easy for you to say after thirty years together!” I snapped. “Hindsight is twenty-twenty, Beau. I barely know this guy. He’s the head of a multibillion-dollar company. And he… he’s fucking straight, okay? I didn’t tell you that part, but of course he is. Or he claims he is, anyway.” I heaved a breath. “And he doesn’t do relationships.”
Beau snorted, but Mav reached over and poked him.
Then Mav moved to sit right behind Beau so I could see both of them at once. His arm came around Beau’s middle without thinking, pulling his partner close and leaning his chin on Beau’s shoulder. It was a position I’d seen a million times before, but the casual ease of it, the way they had such… blanket permission to touch each other without asking or worrying about what anyone thought… it gutted me.
Would I ever have that?
“Sweetheart,” Mav said patiently, “it doesn’t sound like your guy is actually straight. Not if there’s something between you. And just because he’s some kind of important businessman doesn’t mean he doesn’t want or deserve love.”