Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 37793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 189(@200wpm)___ 151(@250wpm)___ 126(@300wpm)
“He agreed he’d been preoccupied and promised to address the matter.”
He shook his head. “You traumatized the man.”
“I made him aware of his failings where his child was concerned.”
“Oh, that poor woman,” Thomasin sounded horrified.
“No,” Kurt told her. “There’s no way George didn’t let Mrs. Shelton know what was up.”
All eyes on me.
“I did let Mrs. Shelton know that I had spoken to her husband about her son’s behavior toward Dennis, then gave her the address of where he’d been when he and I had that conversation. She seemed appreciative and pledged to me that Dennis would have no further issues with Billy, as she was going to make some big changes that would benefit the two of them.”
“Just the two of them?” Thomasin asked.
“That’s what she said, yes.”
“So you didn’t threaten Mr. Shelton or, like, throw him on the ground?” Brad asked.
I squinted at him. “There is a time and place for violence.”
“No, I didn’t mean—”
“George isn’t some mindless brute,” Kurt snapped at his brother-in-law. “And I don’t like the implication that he—”
“It’s okay,” I said gently, turning him around to look at me. “I recall a time not all that long ago when you too thought I was a man far more prone to violence than talking.”
“I know. I’m so sorry about that, and if you would please forget that ever happened, I would be terribly appreciative.”
I chuckled and pulled him close to hug him. “I forgive you, since you just defended me.”
He clutched at me, then quickly undid the buttons on my suit jacket so he could get his arms around me underneath. “I need to speak to you in private.”
“No,” I almost whined. “I didn’t do anything. It was all—”
“Just for a moment. It’s nothing bad.”
I grunted, knowing that was a lie.
Letting him go, we both turned to Brad and Thomasin.
“I would have told you about it,” I confessed, “but it was so small a thing. The reason I got involved was because Toby went to the principal, which left Dennis no options to try and take care of it himself. He had some creative thoughts on the matter that included blackmail and hidden cameras, but when he said that he got tripped a couple of times and had a calculator stolen, along with his lunch card, I had to step in.”
“He never told me he had his lunch card taken,” Thomasin said. “And that calculator was—”
“Mrs. Shelton told me she’d put more money on his card to compensate for whatever was used, and sent Billy to school with both the card and the calculator the following day. Dennis reported back that he had both.”
“You have to let me fix this kind of stuff going forward,” Brad said, sounding both sad and exasperated.
I shrugged. “Be less busy, then. And for the record, I told Dennis to talk to you, and that’s when I got the info on the merger and the solar-system situation.”
“We’re horrible,” Thomasin groaned.
“No, you’re not. But if you’re not available, you can’t be mad at me for stepping in.”
“Or,” Kurt said gently, “perhaps it’s time to make a change and move to Chicago.”
They both stared at him.
“Brad’s family, even his mother, is busy too. I work from home, so the boys could come over after school unless they have activities, and George and I could be around more often.”
They were both still staring.
“Something to consider,” he concluded, taking hold of my hand and tugging. “Now I must have a word with my intended.”
“Why’re you mad?” I asked, planting my feet.
When he yanked to get me moving, instead of insisting he answer, I followed him.
I was surprised that he seemed to know where he was going, down one hall, taking quick lefts and rights, and then it got weird. It was like we were in a different part of the B&B, and the stairs were odd.
We went down five, came to a landing, walked across it, went up seven, and then there was a turn I would have missed if he hadn’t gone through first.
“What the hell?”
“This place was around during prohibition. Did you know that?”
“No, that wasn’t in the—shit,” I almost yelled, stumbling over a lip in the floor, going from polished hardwood to unfinished barnwood.
I was even more startled when he rounded on me and shoved me back against a door that closed not with a click, but with a thump, as though pushed back into place without a lock or a knob.
“What’s happening?” I asked, seeing him slip a loop of rope—what the hell?—over a hook. “What’re we—Kurt?”
But I got nothing else out before his lips met mine and his hands were yanking my shirt up, no longer neatly tucked as he went to work on my buttons.
I was going to ask about our wedding night. Didn’t he want to wait? But the way he was mauling my mouth, I was thinking that delaying was not at all on his mind, and once he had my shirt open, his hands sliding over my skin, it suddenly didn’t seem so important.