Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 160684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160684 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 803(@200wpm)___ 643(@250wpm)___ 536(@300wpm)
Steele led down the path toward a huge, black truck.
“Where’s Raul?” she asked.
“Day off,” Steele replied.
“What?”
Steele’s lips twitched. “We give him days off, you know. He’s not in servitude to us or anything.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean. I just . . . I’ve ever seen you drive yourself before. Or this vehicle.”
He just shrugged.
Grady moved ahead of them and opened the back door. Before she could even figure out how she was going to get up into the cab of the truck without making an idiot of herself, Steele wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her into the air, settling her into the seat.
She squealed and turned back to glare at him. “You could’ve warned me.”
“Seatbelt,” was all he replied.
Jeez.
“I was going to do up my seatbelt,” she muttered. “I don’t have a death wish.”
He froze and stared down at her.
Shit. She wished she hadn’t said that. She bit her lip, looking away. Gently, he grabbed her chin and twisted her head back around.
“Baby, we’d never risk you. Never. Not by driving recklessly. Not by acting stupidly. Never.”
She looked from him to Grady, who was already in the front passenger seat but had turned to look at her.
“I think I told you that’s how Joe died. Brooks’ dad and my best friend.”
“You did,” Steele said gently, brushing her hair off her face. “And that’s how you injured your back.”
“Yeah,” she whispered. “The thing is, Joe, he . . . he would have . . . he likely would have survived if he’d been wearing his seatbelt. But he . . . um, well, I guess he thought he was invincible. No one is invincible.”
“No, baby. No one is.” Steele cupped her cheek. “I’m really sorry that happened to you.”
“I survived. I wasn’t sure I’d walk again. But I did it. I got custody of Brooks. Joe’s will was clear. He had full custody and he didn’t have any family, so Brooks became mine. His mother’s family has never had anything to do with him.” Should she mention the call from the lawyer? No, she hadn’t heard anything more from him. “We survived. We did it. But without Joe . . . it was hard.”
“You loved him?” Grady asked.
“Yeah. I loved him.” She didn’t try to deny it or justify it by saying he was her best friend. She just laid it out there.
Both men stared at her for a long moment. Then something sweet happened. Something so sweet that she knew she’d savor it for a long time.
Steele leaned in and pressed his lips to her forehead. Nothing else. Just that soft touch before he drew back and shut the door, walking around to the driver’s door.
She let out a shuddering breath before an even sweeter thing happened as she did her seatbelt up.
Gardy reached back and squeezed her leg. “Sorry about your best friend, Twinkletoes.”
“Me too.”
They were silent as they drove and she knew it was her fault. She’d ruined things by getting too real.
People don’t want to know your problems, Effie.
Be a good girl. Be happy. Smile.
“So? Where are we going?” she asked with a smile. “It’s a nice day, isn’t it?”
They stared at each other.
“Baby, it’s gray and cold as fuck,” Steele replied.
“Um, yes. But at least it’s not raining or snowing, right? It can always be worse. This is a really nice truck. You take excellent care of it.”
There wasn’t even any dust. Or trash. Yikes, when she’d owned a car, that thing had been trashed.
“Gets us from point a to b,” Steele said.
“Ah, right. So, what do you guys like to do on your days off?”
“You mean besides kidnapping our assistant?” Grady asked.
She stilled. “Um.”
Grady turned to her. “Joking.”
“You know how to do that?” she asked before she thought better of it.
“What?” Grady asked.
“Joke?”
His eyes widened as he stared at her.
“Forget I said that. Sorry, it was rude.”
All of a sudden, Steele’s laughter filled the cab of the truck. Grady glared at him. Crap, she needed a change of subject. But only one thing popped into her head.
“So, I, um, never did thank you for taking me home last night and putting me to bed. And, uh, Brooks said you had someone watching over the apartment all night? That’s, uh, really sweet of you guys, but totally unnecessary.”
They were silent and she saw them glance at one another. They did that a lot. Had these silent conversations.
“First, we’re going to have a talk over lunch,” Steele told her. “And part of that chat is going to be about you disobeying us and working longer hours than you are allowed to.”
Allowed to?
Dear. Lord.
“Part of that chat is also going to be about your protection and how that’s going to play out,” he added.
“What do you mean, how it’s going to play out?” she asked.
“It means that things might need to change a bit,” Grady said. “We don’t like your neighborhood or your apartment. We’ve made some safety changes, but if you insist on staying there, we need to make more.”