Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
The cops had found the spot where the shooter had likely stood, but they couldn’t determine much. The spot was a hiker paradise. There had been too many footprints to make any kind of guess.
“I’ll talk to them. Maybe we should send one of the new guys, too.” He’d recently set up a close-cover bodyguard unit within McKay-Taggart. His operatives were almost all family men, and that didn’t seem to go well with twenty-four seven close cover. “Do you find any of the new bodyguards annoying? Because I want to set someone annoying on this guy. Jesse and Si will be too nice. Hey, maybe Chelsea can do some of that rat bastard stuff she used to do to me.”
Like putting him on a no-fly list and subjecting him to body cavity searches every time he flew. It had been a complete dick move and one he respected. He didn’t fuck with his sister-in-law much anymore. She was mean and he could understand that.
Charlie could be mean, too, but when she was he would spank her sweet ass and show her who was boss. Well, she was boss and he damn well knew it, but in the bedroom there was no question who topped who.
God, he wanted to top her. Lately, he was too worried to. He looked at that big belly of hers and worried things were going to change again.
“Stop.”
Alex’s words had Ian looking up. “What?”
“You’ve got your ‘worried dad’ face on.”
Ian frowned. “I do not have one of those.”
“You do,” Alex countered. “It’s a little like your ‘I’m going to murder someone’ face but slightly less happy. You’re going to be fine.”
He hated this. Hated all this touchy-feely shit. Still… Alex was kind of his go-to guy. If he couldn’t talk to Alex, he couldn’t talk to anyone. “I have no idea how to raise girls. Why couldn’t they have had penises? I know what to do with a boy. Shove ’em out in the backyard and let them free range for a few years. They’ll build their own cabins and become self-sufficient. I don’t think I can do that with girls. Speaking of complaints. Why two? One I could maybe handle, but it’s going to be a freaking girl gang at my house. Do you think they’re pulling a fast one on dear old Dad? Maybe they’re hiding their penises and laughing their asses off in utero.”
Alex laughed, the sound lightening the mood. “This has been a fun nine months for me, brother. I can’t wait for the rest because there are no penises and that gang of girls is going to be so much fun for me to watch when they get to be teens.”
Ian shuddered. He didn’t want to think about teens.
Alex leaned forward, that sensitive “I’m about to give you words of wisdom because I watched a lot of Oprah in my time” look on his face. “You’re going to be fine, Ian. I know you think because your dad walked out that you won’t know what to do, but Sean would disagree. Sean would tell you you’ve already been a great dad. There’s only one rule.”
“Don’t kill the children. Charlie already made me promise.” He didn’t like the fact that Alex was right. Or that the idea of Sean thinking he was going to be good at the father thing made him a little soft on the inside.
Alex rolled his eyes. “God, you’re a pain in the ass.”
“What?” He wanted to know. “What’s the one rule?”
“Be there,” Alex said. “And let me tell you, Ian Taggart’s got that one down. So relax. You’re going to be a pro at this in no time. And I think you’re going to look good in the pink sling Eve bought you.”
“Oh, that was so not Eve, asshole.” The baby shower had been a revelation. So much fucking pink.
Alex gave him a shit-eating grin. “I laughed the whole time I was buying it. I tried to find a place that would bedazzle the fucker, but Eve wouldn’t let me.”
Ian stood. “You know what, I’m going to make that shit manly. You think I won’t wear a pink sling? I will rock that motherfucker.”
“If anyone can, it’s you,” Alex conceded. He grabbed his laptop. Alex would deal with setting up the project files and all the administrative stuff that came with a new case. He’d backed off of active duty since he and Eve had adopted a baby boy named Cooper.
Who would one day likely turn that innocent gaze of his on Ian’s daughters.
“You tell your boy to keep his hands to himself.”
Alex groaned. “Oh god. I hadn’t even thought about that. You’re going to be that dad. You know the one who thinks his girls are perfect angels and all the boys around them are the devil? Can we wait until they’re born before you accuse Coop of trying something with them?”