Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91622 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91622 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Ever the distanced observer, Cole watched from across the room. His very presence in her small condo unnerved her, but she wasn’t about to deal with him before she let her brothers know how unwelcome their meddling was.
The strain of yelling took a lot out of her, pulling at the muscles in her arms and the stitches, and she couldn’t prevent the groan that escaped.
“That’s it. You two heard her. You’ve done enough here, and Erin needs to rest.” Cole stepped up, his tone brooking no argument as he faced down her siblings.
Most men in Erin’s life lived in healthy respect and awe of her large, bossy cop brothers. Not Cole Sanders. When he faced them down, he dominated his space. Erin knew she’d be exchanging one set of overprotective males for another one, but at this point, she felt more comfortable handling Cole. He was right. She just wanted her brothers to give her some space for a while.
Mike rose to his full height, and Erin still felt Cole’s presence loom larger.
“Look, just because you knocked up my sister doesn’t give you the right to boss her—or us—around.”
“What the hell?” Sam asked, obviously getting the memo about Erin’s pregnancy for the first time.
“Thanks a lot,” Erin muttered.
Cole clenched his jaw. “One, watch how you talk to or about your sister, got it? Two, I’m just backing her up since she told you to go away, and you refuse to listen, and three, I’m here to protect her. If that means against you two, so be it.” Cole folded his arms across his chest.
Silence echoed around the room in waves as Cole’s words sank in. Erin knew her brothers, and if she didn’t do something, she’d have a brawl in her kitchen. She exhaled hard. “Let’s take a breather and talk again tonight or tomorrow, okay? I’ll go through my cases myself, and you two go back to work.”
“You’re pregnant?” Sam asked, his mind still obviously reeling from the news. “By him?”
Erin nodded. “Yes. And that’s a discussion for another time. I’ll talk to you about everything. I promise. Just give me . . . us . . . some space now.”
Sam straightened his shoulders, his body language obstinate. But when he turned to face her, he reached for her hand. “You’ll always be the sister I protect, but I get it. I’ll back off for now. But we will talk.”
“Yes. And thank you.” She kissed his cheek, then turned to her older brother. “Mike?”
“Yeah,” he muttered, clearly unhappy.
Erin would call Cara later and warn her she’d need to soothe her brother, the beast. “Thank you too,” she said to Mike.
She finally got them out the door and turned to Cole. “Well, they’re gone.”
“Yep.”
“So what happens next?” she asked, wondering just what he thought guarding her entailed.
“If you go out, I go with you.”
She nodded. “And if I stay in and watch television?”
“I do that too.”
Short and to the point, she thought. “Uh-huh. And . . . you leave at bedtime and return in the morning before I go to work?”
Cole narrowed his gaze. “I thought we went over this at the hospital. I’m staying here. With you.”
“And I thought once I got settled, you’d calm down and realize I can be alone. I’ll respect the notion that when I’m out, I need protection until we figure out who took the shot, but here?” She swept her free arm around the condo. “I’m perfectly safe.”
“The alarm system looks pretty standard,” he said with a scowl.
Erin shrugged. “It does its job. It’ll dial Central Station if someone breaks in. If the condo and its alarm were good enough for Cara when she lived here, it’s good enough for me.”
His frown deepened. “I’m staying.”
From the determined set of his jaw, she decided not to argue. “Then let’s see what I’ve got for lunch,” she muttered, pulling open the refrigerator.
Cole came up behind her, his body heat warm, his masculine scent drifting toward her. She didn’t know why he had such a potent effect on her, but just his nearness aroused her, despite the pain she was in. And arousal and desire for this man were what had gotten her pregnant to begin with. So why wasn’t a complete one-eighty in her life enough to dampen her need?
He peered over her shoulder at the contents of the fridge. “That’s it?” He sounded alarmed.
She took in the Greek yogurt, orange juice, eggs, skim milk, and fruit. Oh, and the multiple bags of Oreos she’d been craving when she wasn’t nauseous. She preferred the cookies hard, cold, and crunchy. “What’s wrong?”
“There’s no substantial food in there, that’s what. No wonder you were ready to pass out and starving,” he muttered.
She blinked. “Uh, that was morning sickness,” she informed him.
He cocked an eyebrow. “Maybe.”
Stubborn man. “Fine. Go fill up a shopping cart to your heart’s content.”