Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 19542 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 98(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19542 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 98(@200wpm)___ 78(@250wpm)___ 65(@300wpm)
“Thank you,” I turned around in his arms, brushing my face against the swell of his muscular chest. He smells so good it comforts me.
“No need to thank me, baby girl.” I bring my lips up to his jaw, skimming my lips along his strong face.
The buzzing around us reminds me that it’s not quite safe, especially for Axel. “We should probably get out of here.”
“You’re right.” He looks around, peering over my head, snarling, “Who would do this?”
“Whoever has been messing with my supply shipments as well,” I mutter.
He fists my hair into a ponytail, tugging it back. “What? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Um…why would I have told you?”
He kisses me, nipping on my bottom one. “From now on, all your problems are mine. But this doesn’t make sense. I was here right before the storm, and nothing was knocked over.”
“You were here last night?”
“Yes, I came to find you, and when I didn’t see any lights, I went into town.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, baby girl. You weren’t answering your phone, and I had to know you were safe.” I throw my arms around him, and he picks me up, hooking my legs around his waist. “Let’s get in the truck and to safety. We’ll call in some professionals to investigate the scene and figure out who broke into this place.”
Chapter Seven
Axel
I took a dozen pictures on my phone as we moved away from the debris. “You shouldn’t even be near this place, Axel.” I made out some faint tire impressions. They’re massive, but with the rain, it looks like they’ve been covered up. Hopefully, it will dry out and leave some healthy prints.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m not letting the bastard that did this get away with it.” I want to smash someone’s head in. I can’t believe that they could destroy her property like this in the middle of a storm and kill dozens of bees as if it was nothing. They will pay dearly for it, and I’ll make sure they will.
As soon as I snapped the last of the photos, I walked to the truck and helped Honey inside. “Let’s call the sheriff and go from there.”
I called, but the emergency number was busy. Many of the roads were flooded and trees were down in some areas, but the mess wasn’t as terrible as it could have been. Hell, when I first hunted down Honey, I knew the town was going to take a long while to rebuild, so I know I’m probably on my own when it comes to this situation, but I refuse to let this person come after Honey and her family legacy.
“I’m calling your jackass brother.”
“No, don’t do that. He’s busy and I don’t want to bother him about my problems.” She’s always been independent long before her brother returned from serving our country. Now that my baby girl could use a hand, she doesn’t know how to ask for help, but Honey has me for everything she ever needs now.
“Honey, it’s not just because you’re his sister. He’s the fucking mayor, and it’s his job to at least give me some avenues.” Honestly, I’m just using that as an excuse. He’s got no more clout than anyone else. We need law enforcement for this, but he is her brother and will probably be as pissed as me since it belonged to his parents as well.
With the town in disarray and a lot to clean up, there was no way the police were going to jump on this. Hell, the sixty-year-old sheriff just lost a good part of his house and some of his crew who ushered their families to safety.
Brooks doesn’t answer on the first call, but just as I’m about to redial, he calls back. “What’s going on? Is Honey safe?”
“Yes, she’s fine, but we have a problem.”
“I told you I was going to fucking kill you,” he snarls, venom dripping in his words. If I was a weaker man, I’d be petrified, but I’m not. Plus, it helps that I’ve done nothing to hurt my beautiful and sweet Honey.
As a boss myself, I give him the tone I’d dish out to my riled-up employees who need a nut check. “Calm down, Mayor. That’s not why I’m calling you, jackass. It’s quite important. Someone destroyed the Honey’s Bee Farm.
“What?”
“We came to check on the property, and it was bulldozed.” I can’t say that for sure, but given the tire tracks near her property, some heavy equipment would have to have been brought in to do that kind of damage.
“You know it could have been a microburst. We did have a tropical storm and it’s a lot of open area that is ripe for wind.” The motherfucker thinks I’m dumb, like I haven’t made millions in construction. I built an empire on wood, steel, and brick.