Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 73192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
“No, I’m not,” Arden said as he walked to the porch and leaned over the steps to pick up the little girl, tucking her close to his chest.
I watched the move.
“Doesn’t seem like that from where I’m standing,” I pointed out.
Arden swallowed.
“I don’t have the money to pay the fines,” he said, looking down at his daughter. “And my daughter has medical bills that are piling up.”
I didn’t see where he was going with this.
“I was just supposed to look the other way.”
And that’s when I understood.
“He paid your fines,” I guessed.
Arden nodded once. “Yeah.”
“In exchange for what?” I asked carefully, trying to contain my anger.
“It was stupid. I honestly didn’t think it’d work, or I would’ve never done it,” he admitted. “I reported hydrilla taking over the lake in front of my house. He said he just wanted to talk…”
That’s when I knew that the man had been fucked over just like I was sure many others had in Dusty’s reign of terror.
That didn’t make it right, though.
“You need to come to the station,” I ordered.
Arden looked down at the little girl in his arms.
“I don’t have anyone to watch her,” he admitted.
I gestured toward his house. “Go get her things. We can watch her until you find someone to come get her.”
That was when Arden knew that he’d be arrested.
I could see the lines of strain around his mouth lessen.
“It’s been killing me,” he murmured, looking down at his girl. “I would’ve eventually caved.”
Maybe, maybe not.
That wasn’t for me to decide anymore.
This man had done wrong and he needed to know that.
Some mistakes you just had to pay penance for before you could be forgiven.
Chapter 20
It’s not illegal if it’s for a Klondike Bar.
Reagan
I groaned and fell onto Tyler’s bed, my head hitting the mattress so hard that a corner of the sheet flew up in my exuberance and covered my face.
“I’m never moving again,” I whined.
Tyler chuckled from the bathroom. “Autumn’s hell on wheels.”
She and the little girl that Tyler had brought home with him for a couple of hours, Jessica, had played like wild animals. Running this way and that, splashing in a small kiddy pool that Alana had set up for them. It’d been like babies gone wild.
“I didn’t realize that kids were so much work,” I admitted. “When Janie’s and Kayla’s kids get too rowdy, I just hand them back and go home. I’m not sure how I’d do at motherhood.”
Tyler came into the room then.
I couldn’t see him, but I could feel his wild energy wrap around me like a velvet glove.
“You’d be a good mother,” he rasped, one hand running up the length of my exposed thigh. “It’s harder when they’re not your own I’m told. When they’re ours, I’m sure that you’ll like them more.”
I whipped the sheet off my head and stared at him in amazement. “Did you just say ‘when they’re ours’?”
His grin was wide.
“Yeah,” he admitted. “Realized today seeing Jessica that I wanted babies with you.”
He crawled up the bed over my body until he was on his fists hovering over me.
“I want a lot more than just babies with you, though,” he admitted. “I want you to love me forever. I want you to move into my place and then I want us to look for a new place that’ll fit us along with our growing family. And I want you to marry me.”
I blinked. “Did you just propose?”
He shifted all his weight to one fist, then brought the other hand up to curl around my jaw. “Not yet…but I just wanted to warn you that it was coming. Because I don’t see this leading anywhere else but there.”
I swallowed. “Why not now?”
He hovered down until he was inches away from my lips. “Because I want to ask your father for your hand in marriage and make sure he doesn’t hate me too much before I do it.”
I snorted. “My dad loves you.”
And he did.
“We’ll find out tomorrow.”
Then he shifted his weight so that he was between my thighs.
I’d never been happier in my life that the house had emptied of its occupants.
The little girl Tyler had brought home had been picked up by her grandmother. Tyler’s family had left and Groot was locked out of our bedroom because of his habit of crawling into bed with us at night if we didn’t.
Because the next thirty-eight minutes was spent with Tyler giving my lungs a workout—along with other parts of my anatomy.
Chapter 21
I hate people, but I hate saying that I hate people. It makes me sound mean when I’m really a nice person. It’s just that I hate people.
Reagan
“What the fuck, Way?” I was so confused. “What the fuck is up with the black mug? And, just sayin’, I’m not a mother. You don’t need to get me a present. Hence the word ‘mother’ in Mother’s Day.”