Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 87284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
“Do you think he has any regrets?” The question came from Reese, and it took me a second to remember the previous topic.
“Who, Kit?” Macklin chuckled. “Not at all. He flirted with me last night when we texted. He and Corey are crushing pretty hard on each other too. He’s just making sure everything’s all right.”
Fucking hell, we could not discuss Corey here. Maybe I was forgettable to Ty, but he’d for sure remember my cousin. Corey and Marina had been best friends.
Shay cleared his throat. “I get the impression they’ll stick to a few play partners if or when they go that route again. Kinda like Tate and Kingsley.”
“Definitely,” Macklin agreed. “They’ll have some arrangement with Greer and his family, no doubt. They have a lot in common. But if I can be a fly on the wall when Sloan succumbs to Colt’s savagery…? My fucking God, I’ll never ask for anything again.”
I smirked and kissed his jaw.
“I think we all wanna be a fly on that wall.” Shay scratched his elbow and lifted his brows. “I would’ve loved to have been a fly on the wall when you went nuts at the party, but nobody cared to wake us up.”
Reese frowned. “Yeah, that was fuckin’ rude.”
I grinned lazily and stretched my arms over my head. “You’re a funny lot. I’m just sitting here wondering who all these people are.”
“You and me both,” Ty chuckled. “I’ve heard all the names, and I obviously know Colt and his little squad, but…”
“You met Sloan and Corey at the munch after the fire,” Macklin said.
Shit.
So Corey did know.
Realization dawned on Ty, and he nodded. “That’s right. Corey came up to me. Sweet boy. He went to school with my daughter.”
Change the subject, change the subject, change the subject!
“I think the food’s done,” I blurted out.
“Finally,” River muttered. But the word had barely left his mouth before three men joined us on the porch. Jet, the bird, reminded us that men sucked, and he stayed indoors. Then a beat later, Ty rose from his seat with his eyes glued to his phone.
“Sorry, kids. You enjoy your snack. I’m gonna go help a neighbor with a python intruder.”
“I’m a little offended, buddy. You leave as soon as we arrive.” One of the newcomers was in a joking mood. He had a distinct Texan drawl.
“Wait, just like that?” Macklin asked, surprised. “Are you on call or something?”
“Somethin’ like that.” Ty smirked a little and dipped an imaginary hat. “I’ll be back soon. I think you’ll live, Colt.”
“Don’t you need help?” Reese asked with his mouth full of patty melt. “Take Lane. I’m not ready to be someone’s toilet, but he might be.”
Thanks.
I grinned at the flat stare Shay sent Reese. River found that funny too.
Then I saw Ty tilting his head at me. “You’re welcome to join if you’d like.”
Fuck me. I should decline. The last thing I needed was Ty figuring out who I was, so distance seemed the safest. But goddammit, I was here to see the Burmese python in the wild. I wanted to contribute to the ecosystem so badly.
I just… I couldn’t refuse.
“I can’t say no to that.” I bussed a kiss to Mack’s cheek before I climbed off his lap.
“That boat better have a couch, because you’re sleeping on it,” he told me.
I laughed and hurried inside to put on a tee and dig out my new shoes. They resembled sneakers but were allegedly perfect for trekking in wetlands. If Mack didn’t wanna share a bed with me tonight—which I knew he did—then so be it. The excitement that rushed around me all of a sudden took precedence.
I loved kink. I loved kink. But this…? Being here, being given the chance to see the Everglades wilderness… I had no words. I’d dreamed of this for so long.
I’d contemplated vacationing here many times, but I just didn’t enjoy traveling alone. And I had zero friends who were into reptiles the way I was. Not even Corey, who was obsessed with amphibians.
Wanting to make a good impression for future hunts, I got ready in seconds and grabbed my pocket-sized first aid kit on the way out the door. Ty was loading up a duffel bag into the back of the golf cart, so that was a thing here.
“You ever caught a wild snake before?” he asked, all business.
No snake jokes, then.
“Once, Sir. Then plenty of mistreated pets that idiots kept in their yards,” I replied.
“Idiots is a good word,” he muttered. “Hop in.”
Ty had put on a tee as well, and I couldn’t help but smile to myself. Black and simple, all-caps white letters reading “FUCK IGUANAS.”
He was a Florida local, for sure.
“I like your T-shirt.” I got seated on the passenger’s side, and then he backed out of the driveway.
He smiled a little but offered no verbal response. Instead, he stayed on the last topic. “So you’ve worked with pet rescues or…?”