Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72647 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Her father started to hum.
“You missed your shot with her and now she’s with me, and I’m not letting her go,” Nate explained, and his arm tightened around her. “So if you don’t like your insides on the outside, you’ll heed the one and only warning I’m going to give you. Otherwise, you’ll be a science project for these kiddos.”
“Like anatomy?” Rani asked, her eyes wide.
When had she snuck up? Daisy gently disentangled herself and got to one knee. “The guys are just playing around, sweetie.”
Rani shook her head. “No, I think your boyfriend is having a come to Jesus with the other guys who want to be your boyfriend. That’s what my mom would call it. She’s going to think this is funny.”
Gabe reached out a hand to Nate. “Message received, man.”
Nate shook it. “Just respect my rights and we’ll be fine.”
Daisy picked up Rani, who was starting to yawn. It was almost eleven o’clock, and it was definitely time to start getting these kiddos to bed.
Her da was here, and he wasn’t looking at her like he was ashamed.
“You can listen in now, Da. He’s threatened them all with evisceration,” she said.
Her da frowned and brought his hands down. “I wanted to hear that part.”
Lucas let out a long sigh. “Well, it was very threatening.”
“What’s evisceration?” AJ asked.
Bri winced. “Sorry, he got away from me. I’ll go grab Devi and we’ll start bedtime rituals.”
“It means Daisy’s boyfriend is going to remove Lucas’s bowels,” Rani explained.
Daisy winced.
“I think he probably needs those,” AJ countered. “But it would also be cool.”
“Hey, I’m not the only one.” Lucas seemed to realize all the kids were now looking at him.
“My mom says you’re a walking venral disease,” Rand proclaimed. “What does that mean?”
Gabe snorted. “It’s venereal, and it’s accurate.”
“Dude, you could show some support.” Lucas sent his friend a “what the hell, man” look.
Hunter was chuckling. “Hey, Dais, hope I didn’t weird you out. I mostly came to watch them make idiots of themselves. Although you should know you look good, girl.”
“Do you want to keep your eyeballs in their sockets, boy?” Her da had his hands on his hips, righteous indignation on his face. “Nate might be okay with you looking at her, but I’m not.”
Nate grinned. “Which is why I’m okay with it.”
Men. Daisy sighed and turned to her charges. “Boys, it’s time for teeth brushing. If you’re good, I’ll let my da tell you a story about how he started a small land war in Africa once.”
Things were going to be okay. Daisy carried Rani through the hallway toward the nursery. The older boys had sleeping bags they would lay out in the playroom, but she still put Rani in the nursery. She told her it was so she could watch over the littles, but it was mostly because Rani would talk all night to the boys about insect invasions and how bread was yeast and it was also an animal so it might eat them from the inside.
Weird kid.
Sweet kid.
Rani laid her head on Daisy’s shoulder. The nursery was illuminated with night-lights, giving the place a glow.
Bri stood in the middle of the room. “I can’t find Devi.”
Daisy sighed and set Rani on her feet. “Hey, sweetie. You get into your PJs with Miss Bri and I’ll be back to read you a story.” She gave Rani a hug before turning back to Bri. “She’s probably sitting on the back step regretting all of her life decisions. She thinks if she’d gone into the Army instead of college she might be in a better place. That better place being closer to Zach. You know she feels like the odd one out in her family even though Aunt Erin was thrilled she went to college.”
“Talk to her,” Bri said, holding Rani’s hand. “I’ll get Rani ready and then make us all some tea. I’ll look around to see if I can feed the Aussies. They can eat.”
They definitely could, and she might need something heartier than tea because she felt like she and her da were about to have a long overdue conversation.
She started for the back door when her cell buzzed in her pocket.
She glanced over at the security system and sure enough, it was off.
But Devi would have turned it off to open the door and back on when she closed it. She would never have left the alarm off. Devi was good with random numbers.
What Devi wouldn’t have done was walked away from the door. She couldn’t see her sitting on the steps where she sometimes took a break. Devi wouldn’t have left that door unattended. Not ever. If she had to leave, she would have informed someone.
A chill went through her, and she backed up.
Something was wrong. She just knew it.
She raced back to the men she cared about most, eager to put this all in their hands.