Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 72856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
I grinned.
“I know what the big red trucks are,” I teased back.
Tai cleared his throat.
“This man right here,” he pointed to a man with dark brown, nearly black hair that hung beautifully around his face, highlighting his chiseled cheekbones and dark brown eyes. “Is Bowe, our resident chef for all things Italian.”
I blinked, surprised at how beautiful the man was.
He was serious eye candy.
Not that Drew wasn’t, but Bowe was captivating.
“Nice to meet you,” Bowe said in a deep voice that practically had goosebumps breaking out across my skin.
“Lord have mercy,” my mother tried to whisper under her breath.
She didn’t accomplish what she’d tried to do because Bowe smiled like he’d heard exactly what she’d said.
“This is our chief, Allen Shepherd, and his wife, Linnie,” he said, pointing to an older woman that was hanging back in the doorway.
“And these two buggers are Fatbaby and PD,” he said.
“Fatbaby and PD?” I asked, a smile in my voice.
“They call me Paula Deen, PD for short,” the tall one said.
He was tall, too. At least six and a half feet, if not more.
He’d had to crouch when he came through the doorway.
“Ahh,” I said. “Gotcha. Does that mean you cook well?”
He grinned unabashedly. “I get by.”
The one called ‘Fatbaby’ snorted. “He’s being humble. He can cook like a motherfuc…err…like Paula Deen.”
I giggled. “Gotcha.”
“And don’t ask about Fatbaby. It’s not a pretty story,” he said, a somberness now tinting his voice.
I could sense a sore subject when I heard one, so I decided to turn my attention back to the man I was most excited about being there.
Tai.
He came closer once I looked back at him, and Colt practically flew out of my arms in his haste to get at Tai.
Tai grinned and held out his hands, Colt weakly fell into his arms, and Tai picked him up as if he weighed nothing more than air.
He expertly cradled Colt into his arms, pulling him to his chest like he’d done it a half million times before, and I fell deeper.
“My brother’s going to try to stop by tonight to meet you,” he said, looking in Colt’s direction, but directing his words toward me.
I nodded, but at my mom and not towards Tai.
She’d started squeezing my shoulder around the time that Tai had cradled Colt to his chest, and I brought my hand up to hers.
Yes, I felt it, too.
My mother always said to tell the true quality of a man, just give him a baby.
Depending on how he held that baby determined if he was relationship material.
And needless to say, my mother definitely could tell that Tai was a keeper.
“Tai,” I said. “This is my mother, Judith. Mom, this is Tai.”
Tai smiled and held out his hand to my mom, which my mom took, being careful not to jostle Colt as she shook.
“It’s very nice to meet you, Tai,” she said cordially. “It’s nice to meet all of you. Are y’all supposed to be working right now? We aren’t taking you away from anything are we?”
PD and Fatbaby took up seats on Colt’s hospital bed while the other three took up posts along the short window ledge that doubled as a window seat.
“We’re being covered by the other truck for about an hour. We can’t stay long because it’s too hard on the other crew to be running one ambulance for much longer than that,” Chief Shepherd said. “But we do this about once a week so others can go on grocery runs, do scheduled maintenance on the trucks or do some school visits.”
“Ahhh,” my mother said.
Linnie leaned her head against her husband’s shoulder.
“This is about all the excitement Allen here gets now that he’s been relegated to desk duty, per doctor’s orders,” Linnie explained. “So he’s more lenient with the amount of time each crew spends out and about because it gets him away from his desk and his mountain of paperwork, as he calls it.”
I got up and pointed towards the chair.
“Have a seat,” I said. “I need to go get this washed,” I said, indicating to the bottle.
Tai sat, but I saw it was somewhat reluctantly. He didn’t want me to give up my seat for him.
Well, too bad.
As I went into the bathroom and studied my haggard appearance, I wondered if he saw anything special in me other than a desperate mother.
I stared at the messy blonde ponytail that rode on the top of my head and had been for about a week now.
I studied my makeup-less face and the freckles that dusted my nose
Did he find freckles attractive?
I secretly hoped so.
Because I got butterflies when Tai’s dark eyes locked on mine.
And when he spoke? Shivers danced down my spine.
Chapter 4
According to the Kraft Macaroni & Cheese box, I eat enough to be considered a family of four.
-Mia’s secret thoughts