Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 83167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
“For me,” Axl put in, “it was the fact I was worried I wouldn’t get out of your house before you jumped on his dick.”
I couldn’t help but smile at him.
“I wasn’t even there for you,” Axl went on quietly. “He walked in, and suddenly, everything was gone, including me. You were all about him.”
“Axl told us that,” Auggie added. “Before Mag even met you.”
All the rest I knew.
But that last was news.
“We don’t trust people easy, Lottie,” Mag said. “But the people who might become a part of the lives of one of our own, that’s worse.”
“I’m sure sisters can be tough to crack,” Boone shared. “They might not show it, but brothers…”
Boone let that hang but I understood him.
They weren’t brothers of the blood, and blood was thicker than water, but doing what they did for a living, all having served before, the trust that had to build, the men those experiences had made them, what they had was stronger than steel.
“We’re here right now, for you, and we’ve known you two weeks,” Auggie reminded me. “The Morrison women are gonna love you, Lots. You got nothing to worry about.”
I felt Mo’s arm tight around me, holding me to the strength of his big body.
And I saw all Mo’s boys around me, giving me strength.
I’d fallen for Mo.
And along the way, I started falling for all of them too.
I looked at Mag.
“Evie for you. She’s a nerd. But she’s gonna sort your shit.”
Mag blinked.
I looked to Auggie.
“Pepper for you. Just trust me on her. Perfect.”
My attention went to Axl. “Hattie. You’ll flip your shit for her. And she totally won’t for you. You’ll have to work for it. But she’ll make it worth it.”
Axl tipped his head to the side, openly intrigued.
Finally, I turned to Boone.
As suspected from nuanced vibes I was getting from him, there was something guarded in his expression, and I wasn’t sure if it was me he didn’t want to see it, or the others.
So I went out on a limb he didn’t know was a limb.
“Ryn,” I stated. “Kathryn. She’ll be beyond your wildest dreams. Your wildest dreams, Boone.”
There was a flash of understanding that told me I’d guessed correctly, and I moved quickly in order not to allow the others to catch it.
I’d have that conversation with Boone later.
Alone.
I turned in Mo’s arm, looked up at him and said, “I just need to finish sorting my purse and get my shoe on, baby. Then I’m ready to roll.”
Mo looked down at me a beat.
Then he smiled.
Pep talk delivered, I was good to go.
Still smiling, Mo dipped way down to touch his lips to mine and let me go.
I sorted my purse, but it was Mo who crouched down to put on my shoe.
And with hugs and kisses on the top of my head from the guys while standing by Mo’s truck, and promises from Mag that the next time they came over, he’d bring beer, we were on our way.
* * * *
I was not surprised at Mo’s mom’s house.
He’d told me, in order to raise five children after his father ditched them without doing them the favor of actually ditching them, his mom worked hard to become a CPA. She’d semi-retired the year before, a partner in a big firm in town. She still worked VIP clients, two to three days a week, because if she didn’t, she’d go crazy seeing as she didn’t knit, paint, birdwatch (or the like).
She’d also downsized houses after Mo had entered the Army out of high school years ago.
So the brick Park Hill bungalow with the pergola over the front porch, brick path, thick, green lawn and tidy but not effusive landscaping that included black-eyed Susans in their final blooms was expected.
Sadly, by the time Mo parked behind a shiny Chevy Silverado, the pep talk had worn off.
This was the reason Mo turned to me and took my hand.
I gave him my gaze.
“The men hated Tammy,” he announced. “They hated the ones before her that they knew. And they didn’t hide it. Part of me was pissed at ’em. Those relationships weren’t working and the way the guys treated the woman in my life, it didn’t help.”
I didn’t like to think of how even one of them not liking me would feel.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to.
“But I gotta admit, they were right,” he went on. “I should have ended things. Lookin’ back, havin’ you, I see that now. But they already knew it. They knew I didn’t have what I deserved. Now I know, and they know I do. With that, do you think, the minute they meet you, Ma and my sisters won’t feel the same way?”
I loved what he was saying to me.
I loved that he found it in him to say it to me.