Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 64910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
That’s when my chest warmed.
“Thanks, baby,” I whispered quietly.
“Damn, I forgot that you couldn’t deal with people touching your food.” Shine looked down at the roll in his hand. “I’m an ass. I’m sorry.”
I felt something warm and sweet start flittering through my chest.
Another crack in the wall of my heart repaired itself at Bram’s brother’s words.
“I’m getting better.” I shrugged, looking at Shine. “Six months ago, I wouldn’t have even considered eating here, let alone eating a piece of bread.”
Shine’s head tilted. “Explain to me what we can do to make things easier when we have family get-togethers. I’d like to make sure we make things better. So that you’ll come and actually enjoy yourself.”
So that was how we spent our next thirty minutes as we ate our dinner. I explained things about myself to someone besides Bram. And Shine listened as if his life depended on it.
And I knew that he actually cared.
In the end, after my explanation, I knew that from now on, Shine would be different with me.
Once he knew what’d happened, because I’d all but blurted it out to him and Iris, he’d become sympathetic to my plight. And horrified that I had a brother that was disgusting.
“Let’s talk about other things,” Bram suggested. “Like how we’re going to find the dude that’s fucking with my wife.”
“I can get down with that.” Wake dropped into a seat at the end of the table, fitting right in with the two Crow boys.
And so we did.
Over dinner, we discussed how we were going to find him. What we would do differently, how the new security system would work for our house, and other things that pertained to the person we knew nothing about.
In the end, it was a hurry up and wait scenario. Until the man struck again, we wouldn’t be able to do a thing.
CHAPTER 24
I like my men how I like my coffee. Sliding off the roof of my car as I drive away.
-Dory’s secret thoughts
DORY
So shit got weird over the next few months.
One, I got as big as a house, and got bigger every damn day.
I was now on month eight and a half of my pregnancy, officially thirty-six weeks pregnant, and counting.
Two, after Shine’s invite down to Florida, the Crow family was down every weekend. As in, there wasn’t a single day that our guest bedroom wasn’t utilized since.
First it was Shine, then it was Haggard and Sophia. Followed by Easton and Banger, Tide and Coreline, Price and Sabrina, Bram’s parents, Derringer and Reedy. Will and Cannel came last with their kids. And then the brother brigade started all over again.
Jeremiah and Gracelynn had sent their condolences on their inability to come down due to their bakery’s business, but they’d sent cupcakes in their stead. And let me tell you something, I’d gained damn near thirty pounds in those few weeks. So, I wasn’t sure how much I liked his apologies.
Though, Bram always said that I looked more and more beautiful with each day that passed.
Though we both knew damn well he was lying, that my ass was definitely growing, and the stretch marks were becoming rather unsightly, I chose to take his lies and bask in the glory of being pregnant.
What was really weird, however, was the uptick in my stalker’s appearances.
With each week that passed since his defiling of my car, he’d gotten bolder.
He’d started to make even more advancements in how he fucked with us.
One week, he’d come on our bedroom window.
The next, he was sending me nudes.
And no matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t find him.
He was a ghost, and Bram was getting to the point where he was becoming obsessed with my protection. He was even considering taking time off of work so he could help me.
Wake was spending more time with us, exhausting all of his avenues, too.
But it was like the man that was doing all of these things was skilled in the art of being invisible.
The one and only time we’d gotten close to catching him in the act, he’d gotten away and become even more careful.
Which was now why I had a guard following me around twenty-four seven, except to the bathroom in my own place of business.
That was the only way that Bram could physically go to work and get stuff done with any peace of mind.
And since I loved him, and loved our baby, and knew that this was the best way to keep me safe, I’d allowed the guard.
Hell, Bram and I had even gone to the sheriff at this point, though a fat lot of good it’d done.
Which led to now.
It was the weekend, and as far as I knew, there wasn’t a single brother, uncle, or parent coming down this weekend.
And Bram and I were beyond excited.
Because, not that I didn’t love that his family was trying with me, I was seriously in need of a weekend with my husband.