Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 63970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 320(@200wpm)___ 256(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63970 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 320(@200wpm)___ 256(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
“I’ll have a bodyguard follow her. Better yet, let’s figure out exactly where she’s going.”
Kai’s shoulders relaxed. “Thank god. I’ve been worried. You can do it. Kori would kill me if I did it.”
“I’ll talk to Big Tag tomorrow.”
Kai stood and slapped him on the shoulder. “Excellent. I like having moneybags for a brother. And you’re a good shield. I’ll go tell Kori we’re heading home. We can stop for a beer at the sports bar and try to catch the end of the Stars game.”
“I thought you were going to the party.” He’d been ready to spend the evening alone.
“Well, my brother’s here and I should spend some time with him. Make sure he doesn’t get into trouble.”
He smiled, grabbed his bag, and followed his brother out.
Chapter Six
In which our hero and heroine meet in the light…and Julian Lodge is an asshole…
“You are not playing football.”
Sarah glanced up from where she sat, watching as Case and Mia Taggart started walking close. Heath Taggart was held in his father’s arms, a mop of blond curls around his face. He grinned and waved, utterly ignoring his parents’ arguments.
Case frowned his wife’s way. “It’s flag football.”
“And you got your ass kicked last week,” Mia replied. She stopped and looked down at Sarah. “Sarah, you’re a reasonable woman.”
She nodded. “Which is why I stay out of Taggart family arguments. I agree with everyone and see everyone’s point. Would you like a cookie?”
Mia grinned. “You are a smart woman. Okay, maybe I’m being too overly protective. Case was working at my brother’s company last week. We had a corporate spy who decided to run, and Case chased him and decided to do that thing where the bad guy is running down the stairs and the good guy thinks he’s a superhero and jumps over the railing.”
She winced because she could see how that probably had gone. “What did he break?”
Case rolled his eyes. “I didn’t break anything. I twisted my ankle a little.”
“It was the size of Heath’s head.” Mia sent her husband the look all women sent their men when they were being dumbasses. “I get that the swelling has gone down but it’s not even fully healed yet. Sarah, do you honestly believe this is a friendly game where no one gets hurt and everyone respects the physical limitations of the other players?”
Sarah felt her eyes go wide. “Oh, no. You see it starts out nice and then Big Tag and Julian start trash-talking, and it’s downhill from there. I’ve been to most of these. I remember the year when we had it out at the Barnes-Fleetwood Ranch and someone thought it would be funny to send a bull through the field. Except it was twenty of them. There was the year Jesse joined the company and someone tackled him—accidently, of course—and we had to use a tranquilizer dart on him. We have a tranq gun. Seriously, I’ve been taught how to use it. I am literally here to save lives. Faith Smith makes sure she’s here this weekend every year so we have a doctor on hand. Sorry, Case. That was never going to work. She’s met your brother.”
Case groaned. “Then she should know if I don’t play he’ll give me a set of pom-poms.”
“And I will shove them up his ass.” Mia winked Sarah’s way. “I’ll be back for those cookies.”
She watched them walk toward the tent the Taggarts had set up. Someone—likely Ian himself—had come out early and set up a huge tent and tables and chairs. There was a barbecue thing going. There was probably some technical name for it, but all that mattered was the sweet smell coming off it. Every now and then Alex McKay would open it and flip meat over with his tongs. Then Tag would say something and Alex would obviously threaten to shove his tongs up Tag’s butthole.
He got that a lot.
They were a big family and Tag was the obnoxious uncle who held everything and everyone together. She knew if she wanted to, she could walk right into that tent and be welcomed. She would be treated like family.
But she wasn’t really family. Besides, it was nice to be alone for a moment. It gave her time to think.
Sarah let her head fall back, sunlight warming her face as she thought about the night before. She was sitting on a large blanket, the white color making a gorgeous contrast to the velvety green grass that made up the park. Her dress was sunny yellow, also in vibrant contrast to the white.
I’m a Dom who thinks he knows what you need.
She’d thought about Sir all night long. She’d gone to the after party, listening carefully to each voice she heard to try to identify the man she’d spent hours talking to. There had been about ten Doms she hadn’t met or knew very little about. None of them had seemed like the man whose lap she’d sat on.