Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 110278 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 551(@200wpm)___ 441(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110278 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 551(@200wpm)___ 441(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
“It’s already been taken care of. You have met the Jennings, right? Mom heard your family was coming into town and took it upon herself to wrangle all of us, food included, to where we only need to figure out if I’m grilling or smoking the meat,” I tell her.
“Sounds good to me. I don’t care what we eat, so I’ll leave that up to you.” I hear the crunching of tires coming up the driveway. Legend’s bark sounds from the backyard as he hurries into the living room, running and barking a million miles a minute. That’s the project I worked on yesterday—he has a collar that lets him come and go in the backyard as he pleases with the doggie door to go with it. In case Kellie and I are stuck at work, he can at least do his business and come inside when he’s ready. The downside is training him to not go swimming unless we’re around. That dog has already come in soaking wet more than once since it’s been installed. All we could do was laugh and clean him up, but I know we’ll have to come up with a game plan sooner than later.
“Come on, let’s go meet them in the driveway.” She pulls on my hand, and I do as she requests. I’d follow this woman to the ends of the earth.
We all head outside. Her uncle barely has the car in park before her aunt is out running toward Kellie, who is doing the same thing, I rock back on my heels laughing. When her uncle climbs out of the vehicle, Legend and I make our way to him.
“Hi, you must be Mr. Bennett. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” I hold my hand out to him. He grabs mine and squeezes down on it. I don’t flinch, knowing what this is. He’s sizing me up, seeing how much I can take. I’m ready for it. In fact, I’m not leaving. “That’s enough, Howie,” his wife says as she walks over to us. She pulls me in for a hug. Something tells me this is who they are—him a no-bullshit kind of man and her a woman who’s used to breaking things up. It makes me smile. Kellie gives her uncle a hug and then wraps her arms around my waist.
“It’s nice to meet you too,” he responds. His eyes are full of warmth when he sees Kellie with me. I nod my head. “Why don’t we make our way inside, get you settled in, and we can eat a late lunch?” I offer.
“Sounds good. Honey, doesn’t that sound good?” Ro nudges his shoulder, getting him to relax further.
“Yeah, it does. As long as it’s none of that fancy-pantsy food,” he gruffs. This guy, he’s going to be a tough nut to crack.
When he raises his arm to wrap around his wife, I see his tattoo, almost an exact replica of what I have tattooed on my upper chest. He gives me a look telling me he doesn’t understand why I’m looking.
“Oh, didn’t you know, Uncle Howie? Bridger is a former Army Ranger,” she tuts proudly. Damn, this woman, she’s full of surprises.
“Can’t say that I did. He’ll have to tell me more about it.” He loosens up his tight facial expression, and it looks like this won’t be such a shit show after all.
EPILOGUE
KELLIE
Two Years Later
“Can you believe this?” Bridger says while holding our daughter, Sadie, in one arm—she’s now a year old—and me in his other arm. He doesn’t know the news I’m about to foist upon him. We’re about to have two in diapers under the age of three. I’m secretly hoping for a boy. One who looks just like his father. Sadie is my spitting image, and Bridger doesn’t seem to mind one bit.
“I can’t, but I have to say, I’m loving every minute of it. I don’t know how we’re able to balance it all. How are we going to do it with two babies?” I blurt out.
“What do you mean? When we have another one? We’ll do it the same way we have been this entire time.” There are perks to working for Nighthawk and marrying one of the co-owners to boot. I’ve cut down on my hours by only working in the office three days a week, but the three days I’m there, we set up a pack and play in Bridger’s office, and Little Bit runs the show. Not to mention it won’t be long before Slade and Taylor’s baby makes an appearance too.
“I mean when we have another baby in eight or so months.” I give up the pretense. He wasn’t getting my way of confessing.
“Really?” His hand comes around and holds my stomach, where our child is growing. The awe in his voice has me looking up into his eyes, praying that our next child has his. I wasn’t kidding when I said Sadie was my spitting image—she is me through and through, from her hair to her eyes.