Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 121728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
“I’m not hungry,” Val mumbled as the horses chased each other around the table.
Time to step in. “You’re not leaving the table until you do and you don’t want to be late for school.”
“Daddy—”
He shook his head. “Nope.”
“But—”
“Nope. Horses down, spoon up. Now. Sloane already asked you to eat twice. If you don’t eat your oatmeal and drink your juice, you won’t see those horses again until you’re fifteen.”
“But Daddy!” she screeched.
He lifted a single eyebrow.
She pouted and threw the horses across the kitchen in a tantrum.
Sloane immediately went to retrieve them but he snaked out a hand and stopped her before she could. “No. She’ll pick them up herself after she finishes all of her oatmeal and all of her juice.”
Val huffed. “I don’t want oatmeal.”
“You asked for oatmeal.”
“I don’t want it now.” Val crossed her arms over her chest, her pout becoming even more exaggerated.
“Well, I hate to break it to you, kid, this isn’t a twenty-four-hour diner. Sloane made what you asked for and it would be rude not to eat it.”
She frowned. “What’s rude?”
“How you’re acting.”
“But I want an Eggo.”
“You can have that tomorrow morning.”
She slammed her hand on the table. “I want it now.”
He took a long sip of his coffee before he lost his shit, then carefully placed the mug on the counter behind him. “I don’t negotiate with terrorists.”
Sloane turned away when a squeak escaped her due to smothering her laughter while Val scrunched up her face. “What’s that mean?”
“It means, eat your oatmeal now. You still need to get ready for school and the clock is ticking. Tick tock, Valee Girl.”
“I don’t like you,” she grumbled, finally picking up her spoon.
“I’ll remember that later when you ask me to read you The Most Magnificent Thing.” For the hundredth time.
With her spoon fisted in her hand, Val’s mouth gaped open and she whispered, “That’s my favorite, Daddy.”
No shit. That was why he brought out the big guns. “I know.”
His eyes met Sloane’s as Val dug into her oatmeal. “It’s cold,” she complained after the first bite.
Sloane surged forward to grab her bowl. “I’ll warm it up for you.” She shot a smile at Decker that Val couldn’t see as she headed to the microwave.
“And I’m going to shower and start writing a statement for work. See, Val? We all have to do things we don’t like. But we do it to get it over with so we can get on with our day and doing things we do like.” Like fucking the woman messing with the microwave.
He grabbed his mug and headed over to the table. Stopping behind Val, he put his hand on her forehead to slide her hair out of the way and tip her head back. Then he leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Love you, pumpkin. Thank you for cooperating.”
“Love you, too, Daddy.”
Jesus. If that didn’t get him right in the fucking heart. He straightened and saw Sloane watching them with a sheen in her eyes. She stacked both hands over her heart in an unspoken message.
He tipped his head in answer and went to take a shower.
After Decker finished straightening up Val’s bathroom—since it had looked like a cyclone hit it—he went out, added chemicals to adjust the pH balance in the hot tub and then headed back inside.
Now that his work was done, it was time for play. At least until he had to leave for his “other job” at Pizza Town.
He did not look forward to another night of delivering a highly addictive drug that ruined lives and families.
He needed that assignment to be over soon. The guilt he had to swallow every time he handed that shit over to the person answering the door before driving away was beginning to become unbearable.
Now that he got PC for the Uniontown clubhouse along with multiple well-documented meth buys out of Pizza Town, if it wasn’t for him still looking for Sadie, he’d tell Crew straight up that he was done.
But, unfortunately, until Sloane’s sister was found, he had to stick it out.
He headed into the narrow home office to see her sitting at the desk, her laptop open and her cell phone to her ear. She now wore a dressy blouse over her leggings, had her contacts in and her hair neatly done.
He was about to undo all of that.
As soon as she saw him, she lifted a finger indicating for him to give her a minute as she finished up a phone call.
Instead of waiting where he stood, he squeezed in behind her, clamped an arm under her breasts and pressed his face into her neck. His thumb strummed lazily back and forth over a peaked nipple, making it hard for her to concentrate on the conversation in her ear.
“Yes… Yes…”
He pretended the affirmations to whoever was on the other end of the phone was encouragement for to him to continue licking, nipping and sucking at her neck.