Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Now she knew why. He’d been here spending time with his bestie. His lying, sneaky, asshole of a bestie.
“You’re an asshole.” It was all the welcome Alfi Dauterre was going to get from her.
Alfi grinned, his eyes a bit on the cloudy side. “Yeah, but I’m also a charmer. It’s how I get through life, lovie. And I’m quite an attentive lover.”
She frowned Brody’s way. It looked like they’d been doing more than sitting around talking. “You had to get him drunk?”
Brody shrugged. “He’s impossible when he’s sober. Actually, now that I think about it, he’s spent most of his adult life drunk. A lot of our adolescence, too. Not a lot to do in Wanga Woo.”
Alfi slapped the table and held up his now empty glass. “To Wanga Woo. Damn but I miss that piece of shit town.”
“Did you get anything out of him?” Steph asked. She’d been with Kai for hours, patiently looking through European news sites, trying to find out if one was missing a reporter. They’d gotten someone named Penelope Knight to call around and see if she could find out any information from the big media outlets in Europe. And Liam had come to the office and set up a video meeting with Tennessee Smith, the former CIA agent who now worked odd jobs for several agencies, including McKay-Taggart. She’d met Ten and his wife, Faith, whom she’d worked with on occasion. Faith Smith was a doctor who’d worked on various charities over the years, several in Africa. It was a small world. Ten was trying to find the name of any Dutch mercenary groups working in the region.
And Brody had spent the afternoon watching Alfi get his drink on.
“I actually found out quite a lot,” Brody replied, bringing her out of her dark thoughts. “I found out Alfi here kept the secret about Nate’s birth because he fancies himself in love with you.”
She had to shake her head. “What?”
“Totally in love, luv,” Alfi affirmed with a brilliant smile. “Marry me. You don’t want that big bastard. He takes up all the space. Can you imagine what doing his laundry is going to do to you for the rest of your life? I’m much more reasonably sized, and honestly I don’t change clothes all that often.”
What the hell? “That is not a point in your favor.” She turned back to Brody, who looked so deliciously large and muscular that she really was trying to think of a way to get his arms around her without having to ask for it. If she didn’t ask for it, then she wasn’t leading him on. She was simply taking what he offered. It had been a long day and she wanted nothing more than to sink into him, to let him take over and take care of her. But she had to remember that she was alone and she had to maintain control. “And don’t play innocent here, Brody. Alfi didn’t keep the secret from you. It wasn’t a secret at all. A secret is something no one talks about. I told you on several occasions that I was pregnant. Alfi isn’t the reason you didn’t know about Nate. You are.”
Alfi nodded. “There. What the girl said. Another reason to marry me. I answer my mobile. Well, when I’ve paid the bill and it’s on, I answer it. Mostly.”
Brody sent his friend a look that should have had him running scared. Maybe it would have if the man could move. “You stay out of this.” He looked down at her. “Yes, that part was my fault. I was stubborn and selfish. I figured out a lot about myself sitting here and talking to Alfi this afternoon. I didn’t run away from you because I was trying to protect you. I did it to protect myself.”
She shook her head. She couldn’t deal with this right now. The last thing she wanted from him was a well-rehearsed speech meant to get her to forget that he hadn’t wanted her before she’d shown up with his spawn. “Doesn’t matter. That’s all in the past.”
“Doesn’t feel like it is,” he said, suspicion plain in his voice.
Alfi was shaking his head. “Women are like elephants, Brody. They never forget. One misstep and you’ll get hounded with it for the rest of your life. Like that little thing in Melbourne. You remember her. One mistake and she broke my heart.”
“You slept with her sister,” Brody shot back.
Alfi put a hand to his heart. “They looked a lot alike in the dark. Her mum did, too. Glad she didn’t find out about that until we were gone. Good times, mate. Such good times.”
Brody’s hands came up. “I had nothing to do with that. I was in town to see my aunt and my mum thought it would be smart to take that arsehole with me. I spent all my time taking my elderly Aunt Rose to various bingo parlors.”