Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 110550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
“He’s not going to touch you.” Sunny gripped my waist, pulling me in close. “Because I’m going to kill him.”
“Sunny,” I said, smile tugging at my lips. “You have to stop threatening to kill my ex. It’s getting harder to know when you’re kidding.”
“I’m not kidding.”
I pecked his mouth. “I don’t want him dead. But I do want the world to know the truth about him. I can clear my name once and for all, and Damien will know what it’s like to lose his reputation and the only job he ever loved. Who knows, maybe he’ll come out on the other side of this a better person.”
Sole bobbed his head. “We could do all of that or I could break into wherever he’s staying, hang him from the fan, and make it look like suicide.”
Chuckling, I picked up my baby and carried her to the door. “Run the water, baby. Laurel will have some Auntie time while we have a bath.”
“Completely serious on this fan thing, Angel. Just blink once for yes.”
My laugh floated through the hallway. It was crazy how much I loved that ridiculous man, so much that I finally understood what I had with Damien was like comparing a diamond to horseshit. What Sunny and I had was real, honest, passionate, and a little chaotic. I felt like I was falling without a parachute whenever I looked at him.
Damien and I were never like that. Sure, the sex was good, but that’s all it was. We didn’t have conversations long into the night—sharing the things we couldn’t talk about with anyone else. He didn’t let me see him at his best and worst, knowing he could because I’d love him through everything.
I never really knew Damien Stone, but when I was through with him, the whole world will.
LIAM
Kenzie and Laurel arrived to dinner right on time. The two were dressed in matching outfits—pink and blue dresses with laurels along the hem. Kenzie pulled Elizabeth’s identical dress out of her bag and my kid was out of commission for a full thirty minutes. First, she had to change, then I was required to take a billion pictures of her, her and Laurel, the three of them, and then I was allowed in the pictures after I found a blue suit in the same color. It took all of that time for me to finally tell Kenzie that we weren’t having dinner together.
“We’re not?” Her face fell. “Why?”
“We’re not having dinner together with the four of us.” I brought her fingers to my lips. “But we are having dinner just the two of us.”
“Oh?” she said, smile returning. “What did you have in mind?”
“It occurs to me that our relationship has progressed in many ways, but I’ve yet to take you on a real date. So, Fuller is waiting downstairs with dinner, toys, and a movie. She’ll put the girls to bed, and you and I will have the whole night together.”
“You had me at just the two of us.”
Together, we carried the girls downstairs to Sunny’s place. Of course Bethany had her own apartment, but she liked that to just be her space—which we respected. She made us her whole life since the day Mom introduced us to our new nanny. Least we could do was keep our mouths shut about the handsome, older gentlemen that frequently picked her up outside the Fairfield, and not ask when she developed a taste for the heavy metal we occasionally heard blasting from her place.
“There are my girls.” Fuller picked both Laurel and Elizabeth up, carrying them off to the table. “Bye, Liam, Mackenzie. Have a great time.”
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?” Kenzie asked as I gently tugged her out the door. “We can do it another night. Or wait and let me see if Sienna can babysit with you.”
“Mackenzie, I wrangled the Redgrave children while Liam was trying to break out of the house, Bane was destroying everything in sight, Genevieve was pulling my hair, and Sole was spitting up in it. If I can handle that, these angels are no problem. Now, you two have a good time and don’t come back before noon tomorrow morning.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said.
“We won’t be gone that long,” Kenzie protested.
“Yes, we will.” I was over the threshold and getting her there inch by inch.
“Okay, if you’re sure. Bye, Lizzie. Bye, Laurel. Mama loves you.”
“Da!”
I chuckled at that girl’s stubbornness. Kenzie was “Da” and would be until she decided otherwise.
Finally, we were out in the hall and the door swung shut. Kenzie turned her nose up at my amused expression. “Don’t give me that look. I can both want to go out and stay with my baby at the same time.”
I put my hands up in surrender. “You don’t have to tell me. For three months, I put considerable effort into how I could work out a situation where Lizzie could come to work with me.”