Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
And my hair? That was piled on the top of my head in the messiest bun I’d ever accomplished.
I was, quite literally, a hot mess.
As I walked a tendril of my hair fell out of my bun and brushed the back of my neck. I’d just reached up to try to tuck it back into place when I reached the group of men who were huddled around the desk, talking about whatever case they were working on.
None of them were Quincy’s brothers, so I stayed back several feet and said, “Quincy?”
I couldn’t see anything but his shoulder and jaw, but at the sound of my voice, he leaned over so he could see between two men.
And the grin that split his face.
Oh, man.
I’d remember that grin for the rest of my life.
“Hollis.” He stood up from his desk, dropped the pen he had in his hand, and skirted the men who were now openly staring at me to come my way.
The moment he was in reach, his arms went around me, then I was off my feet.
His mouth was on mine moments later, and I groaned.
Jeez, this man was potent.
Just a kiss and the press of his body against mine, and I was ready to openly have sex with him in a room full of police officers.
He pulled back so he could stare into my eyes, then said, “I’m glad you’re here.”
The worry that maybe he wasn’t feeling the same way as I was completely dissipated in that moment.
“I brought cookies, and met your dad at the door, and he said to gather your brothers and head to his office,” I said, my hands moving up to play in his hair at his nape.
He closed his eyes and leaned into my touch for a few long seconds, allowing me to study his tired face.
“You need a nap,” I mused.
“I need people to stop murdering people and then maybe a full night’s sleep,” he muttered tiredly.
Then he started walking toward the door of his father’s office without putting me down.
“I need to find your brothers,” I said as I started to laugh.
He paused, then turned so that he could look behind him.
“Hey, Greg? Will you go find one of my brothers and send him this way?” Quincy called out.
“Sure,” obviously Greg answered. “I think I saw one of them in the break room.”
“Put her down and let her come eat,” his dad said the moment we breached the office. “And stop all the public display of affection, or I’m going to have to watch everyone do it.”
Quincy allowed me to slip down the length of his body, his eyes looking down into mine, before he said, “No can do, Dad. I haven’t seen her for a couple of hours, and I missed her.”
My heart.
It was bursting.
“Well, then at least try to keep your hands off her ass in the middle of the station,” he said.
“Yeah, that’s a hard no for me, too.” Quincy winked. “Let’s eat.”
It was as he was walking me out an hour later, so full of tacos and cookies that I had to unbutton my jean shorts, that I found the courage to tell him about my insecurities, and then Kinny’s bet.
He curled a strand of hair behind my ear as I talked, then smiled at me softly.
“You and I are the real deal, darlin’,” he admitted. “The feelings I have for you aren’t something I’ve ever experienced before, and I have a feeling it’s more apt to be the love of a lifetime my dad has with my mom, than a short romance that’ll fizzle out after a couple of months.”
I sucked in a deep breath, then said, “I think I’m in love with you, Quincy Carter.”
His eyes twinkled as he twisted us, pressing my back to the wall of the police station, and said, “That’s good, Hollis Aue. Because I’m drowning in my feelings for you.”
My husband is the best. He hates all the people I hate.
—Hollis to Germaine
HOLLIS
A few years later
“Hey, babe!” Quincy called from the back bedroom area. “Can you help me find my gun?”
His gun.
His gun?
“How do you misplace your gun?” I called out, my book dropping onto my stomach as I stared in annoyance at the hallway in which I’d just heard him from.
“Very, very carefully,” Quincy replied back. “Please?”
Sighing, I rocked my way out of the couch that I’d just collapsed on, then stood up.
My knees, ankles, and shins ached.
I walked through the house I’d helped design with Quincy after he told me he loved me.
A few months after that day at the police station where I laid it all out, he’d asked me to help him design the rest of his house with him. And, once that house was finished, he asked me to marry him in the kitchen I’d painstakingly helped him decorate.