Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 59000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
“Do you think it will make a difference?” Beth asked quietly to Ronan.
He grinned. “All the firepower of BAM and ABC claiming Evan as one of ours? Absolutely. I think the little fuckers will think twice about bullying anyone.”
“Ronan,” Bentley hissed. “We’re in a school, for heaven’s sake. With kids. Watch the language.”
“If my dad can do it, so can I,” he protested. “Besides, there’re no kids around.”
“Evan is here,” Beth pointed out dryly.
“Evan isn’t a kid. He’s family,” Ronan stated firmly. The rest of them nodded, and I saw Beth’s eyes fill with tears again.
Ronan leaned down, his voice quiet. “I’m taking Beth and Evan to lunch. Can I have her for the night? I called her boss, and he gave her the night off.”
“Absolutely. We’ll have a night together with Evan. You take care of her.”
He winked. “I plan to.”
Liam slipped his arm around my waist. “Any chance I can convince you to play hooky with me?”
“Already booked off.”
“That’s my girl.”
Evan was a different boy that night. He sat and talked to Liam for a while as I bathed Lucy. He’d eaten all his dinner, laughed and teased Lucy, and insisted on helping with dishes. He told me he’d received a lot of attention at school after lunch, as he dried the dishes.
“Not the bad kind this time,” he assured me.
“How do you feel about that?”
He shrugged. “I know who the real people are, Paige. The ones who liked me before this morning. I’m going to stick with them.”
“You’re a smart boy, Evan.”
He smiled. “Ronan told me it would happen, and he was right. I’d already figured that.”
We sat and watched Finding Nemo for the one-millionth time this week. Lucy was fixated on the little fish with the bad fin, and we went through bouts of watching it to excess. She insisted Liam had to see it since Ronan had watched it last night. Luckily, she fell asleep halfway through. Evan headed down the hall to do some homework, and I tucked Lucy into bed.
Liam was stretched out on the sofa when I got back, his feet hanging over the end. I smiled at him. “Tired?”
He held out his arms and tugged me on top of him. I settled on his chest, and he stroked up and down my back.
“I shouldn’t be,” he mused. “We had a good nap this afternoon.”
“After we finished your little lesson,” I muttered.
“I needed to figure out all the no-no places. Not my fault I kept forgetting. I needed to be sure.”
“Well, you made sure, all right. Twice.”
“Um, three times,” he corrected. “You sort of slipped right into that last one pretty fast.”
I slapped his chest. “You are no gentleman.”
“I cleaned up pretty good today.”
“Oh yeah,” I agreed. “You were so sexy in your suit.”
He looked pleased. “Oh yeah? You thought so?”
“How could I not? All the women were staring at you. You were so hot. You must know that.”
He shrugged. “I’m okay. But I like to know my woman thinks I’m hot.”
“I do. Smoking hot.”
He shut his eyes. “Stop.”
But he was smiling.
Chapter Eleven
Liam
Saturday, I picked up Paige and Lucy around three. I hadn’t seen Paige since I’d kissed her goodbye Friday morning before dawn had broken. I hated driving away and I hated not seeing her, but it had been a crazy day since I had pushed so much to the side all week. I had meetings late into the evening, and when I had called her, I could hear the exhaustion in her voice. It amazed me how much I missed her. How quickly she’d become vital to me. Her voice and her smile made my day. Touching her, feeling her mouth underneath mine, was addictive.
I was glad when she agreed to come out to Port Albany and get ready for the dinner here. Ava was excited, and she and Gracie had all sorts of plans for Lucy. Lucy was looking forward to seeing them, as well as Gracie’s daughter. She was quite fascinated with Kylie and even brought her a gift of one of her favorite stuffed toys.
“Momma says it’s good to share,” she informed me when she showed it to me.
“It is,” I agreed, ruffling her hair. “You are a great kid, Munchkin.”
She huffed. “I knowed that.”
I held back my grin.
Paige looked nervous when I picked her up, and I knew tonight was making her anxious. I took her hand in mine as we drove down the highway. “Tonight will be fun. Mom and Dad are looking forward to having you there. Bentley and Emmy will be there. So will Mad Dog and Dee. We have a whole table, so it’ll be great.”
“I’ve never been to one this fancy.”
I shrugged. “They really are all the same. Lots of people, probably a bland catered meal, free bar, which means people will overindulge. A silent auction and lots of posturing.” I winked. “Am I selling it?”