Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Not that she loved the plan. Dating kind of sucked. Her best date so far had been with a guy who’d bet he could take her virginity in high school.
“The thing about a good trap is you walk into it and you’re stuck before you can think to walk back out,” Kala explained. “An excellent trap feels like home.”
“Okay, that does not make me feel better.”
Kala considered her for a moment. “What would? Turning back time and not having today happen?”
“Maybe. I don’t know.” Did she want to not know? Maybe. The problem was she was fairly certain they would be spectacular in bed together. Or he was just really good and she would disappoint him.
“Well, that’s not happening, sister. So do I go and tell my cousin he’s shit out of luck and he’s going to have to move back into his old room? I’m pretty sure Aunt Erin turned it into a home gym. He could probably sleep on the treadmill. Or he could sleep on Lucas and Seth’s couch and wave at all the women who come in and out. Hopefully he doesn’t catch a contact STI. My cousins are kind of gross.”
“They aren’t going to have the security he needs.” Yes, that was what she should be thinking about. The op wasn’t over until they figured out why someone thought TJ had a connection to an arms dealer. His mom had already had to kill one dude. Lucas and Seth were often distracted by their own manwhoriness.
Ian and Charlotte had a baby at home right now. Their youngest, Travis, was finishing up law school and needed help because he was a single dad. She shouldn’t put a baby in harm’s way.
They had excellent security at their home. No one would know by looking at it, but there was a beyond state-of-the-art security system in the smallish four bedroom.
When she thought about it, staying close to TJ was the only way to do her job.
“He should stay with us. We can protect him.”
Kala snorted. “Yeah. We can protect the delicate Green Beret.”
There was something Kala wasn’t taking into consideration. “Well, I had to do it today, didn’t I?”
“You keep up that level of sass and this could be fun.” She yawned. “And Lou?”
“Yeah?”
“I’ll back off. A little. I love you, too. And I might vomit a lot, but if you did get involved with TJ and did the whole happily married with kids thing, I would be a great fun auntie.” With that Kala yawned and closed her eyes again. “If my dad comes by, throw something at him. That old dog needs some sensitivity training.”
She was asleep in moments, and Lou was left watching the night outside and wondering if she knew what she was doing in any way at all.
* * * *
If his uncle swatted him with a newspaper, he was going to get pissed. Luckily the man passed him by and then used it on Kala, proving he had a death wish.
“My brother is such an asshole. I have no idea how those kids haven’t murdered him yet.” His father sat back in the lounge chair. “I mean after he got these company jets, did we really need him?”
“You love the bastard,” his mom murmured. She was looking over files. “They do, too. Although him doing it to Seth on stage was over the line.”
His cousin Seth was a singer/songwriter—not what his Uncle Ian had expected. But like a good dad, his uncle often attended his son’s performances. TJ had been there the time Seth had been experimenting with using a synthesizer and yes, it had been terrible, but he wasn’t sure anything was so bad that his uncle had to go on stage, hit him with a rolled-up newspaper—something his uncle would never, ever use on a dog—tell him he was a bad musician and take the aforementioned awful synthesizer off stage with him.
Seth really should stick with guitars.
There were times he was so glad he was Theo Taggart’s kid. Of all the Tags, his dad was the best.
“So when we get back, are you okay staying in Devi’s room?” his mom asked. “When she comes back from New York, I’ll shift some stuff around.”
“I’m staying with Lou.” Not that he’d actually asked Lou. Technically he was staying with his cousins in the weird room they called an office on the most uncomfortable sofa bed in the history of time. His sister’s room was perfectly comfortable, but it lacked an essential element. Lou.
She was already pulling away, and he couldn’t let that happen. He was going to be exactly who she thought he was. Funny. Nice. Helpful around the house. Right up until the moment he got a hand on her and then ooops, he wasn’t sleeping on the sofa anymore.
His mom looked slightly surprised. “I thought she would distance when she obviously avoided sitting next to you.”