Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 101501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
“Water girl?”
“Mmhmm. Way better than a cheerleader. We got to be around the players all the time.”
A twinge of jealousy bit him in the ass, but he shook it off. Those players were long gone, and she belonged to him now. In every way a woman could.
“So tell me about Duke,” she finally asked, keeping her head turned forward. “I take it from your silence, he hasn’t been found.”
He opened his coat again and pulled her back against his chest. “I haven’t spoken with Ty in hours. Duke could be home right now.”
Groans erupted due to a missed tackle which allowed Twin Bridges’ running back to sprint for thirty yards before they caught him, but Skylar had turned her head and was taking his measure instead of watching.
“But you don’t believe that, do you?”
He didn’t answer, which was all the confirmation she needed. Skylar leaned her head back on his shoulder and turned her face into his neck. He could feel her shudder against his chest, so he wrapped her up tighter. This was the reason he hadn’t wanted to tell her yet. He wanted Skylar to have this time watching her brother play before she was weighed down with another worry.
“Don’t lose hope,” he mumbled in her ear. “If anyone can survive being stranded in this weather, it’s someone like Duke.”
Skylar stiffened in his arms, so he pulled back to look at her. She was starring off to the right. He followed the direction she was looking and found Chance Bear standing off to the side. He was looking up into the stands right at them.
Logan turned back to Skylar and took her chin in his hand. “Ignore him. I won’t let him take your home.”
Her eyes softened and she reached up and cupped his cheek. “It’s been handled already. Kenzie is loaning me the money until I can secure financing.”
Logan’s brows shot up and he turned his attention to Kenzie. “You are?”
She shrugged like it was no big deal, but he could see a slight flush of color rise up her neck.
“She is,” Skylar answered, “and Matt called today and said he’d found a bank up in Billings that will loan me half in the next forty-five days, so I can pay her back what we don’t earn at the carnival. We’ve already beat Chance, and he doesn’t even know it yet.”
Kenzie leaned forward in her seat next to them and winked at Skylar. “Family takes care of family.”
Whistles blew on the field and play stopped after an incomplete pass. Logan turned back to study Chance Bear, remembering Duke’s advice. He hadn’t taken his eyes off Skylar. Even from that distance, Logan could tell the man was strung tight. Like he was holding on by a thread. Kids passed in front of him, the game played mere feet away, but his attention never wavered from Skylar. The hair on the back of his neck began to rise as he watched Bear. It took him a moment, but he recognized the look. He’d seen it before in the desert. ISIS fanatics and homegrown terrorists all had it. A single-minded obsession that couldn’t be deterred for love or money.
Logan rose to his feet, taking Skylar with him, then turned and planted her on the bench. “I’m gonna check on Max,” he lied.
Skylar watched him for a second then her attention shot to Chance. When she opened her mouth to argue, he leaned down and took her lips with his to silence her, mumbling, “I’ll be back,” against hers. When he turned to leave, Chance was watching him instead of Skylar. He held Chance’s stare all the way down the bleachers and across the snow-covered ground until he was in front of the man. He knew Bear was early thirties, but his heritage was kind to him. He could have passed for early twenties in the right clothes. Scanning Chance from head to toe, Logan noticed a tick in his jaw, a tremor in his hand. The man was holding on to his anger by a loose thread.
Logan was taller than Skylar’s half brother. Enough of a height advantage that he used it to look down on the man. They held each other’s hard stare for a moment longer then Logan spoke. “You need to back off your sister and brothers.”
A sneer of distaste crossed Chance’s face and his focus shot over Logan’s shoulder toward Skylar. “I have no siblings.”
Logan stepped to the left to block his view. “Then you need to back off my woman and her brothers or you’ll deal with me.”
Chance’s eyes turned icy and half-crazed before he answered. “Greater men than you have tried to beat me.” He scanned Logan from head to toe. “They failed, just like you will.”
When Chance tried to push past, Logan stopped him with a hand to Chance’s arm. “A great man shows compassion to those weaker than him.” Bear pivoted in response and tried to take Logan down, but Logan countered his weight and wrapped his arm around Chance’s neck to subdue him. “Not here,” Logan growled.