Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 78799 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78799 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
I grumble as he turns off the television, but I don’t look at him. “Are we sure she’s been given a proper background check? I’d like to run my own. I mean, do you really want some random person who may or may not have passed medical school caring for your pregnant wife?”
Kade sighs as he shakes his head. “I’m not doing this again with you.”
“Doing what?”
He shakes his head as he checks his watch. “We’ve been over this. She’s more than qualified and I trust her with my wife’s life. That should tell you everything you need to know.” He gives me a hard look and I ignore it. “I’m not sending her away, X. Lula is here to stay.” When I don’t say anything else he lets out a long sigh. “I can show you how to make pancakes. Vaughn showed me and it seems to impress Collins.”
“Okay,” I agree as I follow him into his kitchen area.
“Tell me why you’re so desperate that I send her away, yet you want to impress her.” I open my mouth to deny it and he cuts me off. “Don’t tell me you decided you’re tired of your personal chef creating all your meals and you want to starve to death?”
“No.” I make notes on my phone of the ingredients he’s getting out of the cupboard and setting next to the bowl. “Maybe I just don’t like Vaughn being better at something than me.”
“Vaughn is better at a lot of shit than the both of us.” He raises an eyebrow and I don’t correct him.
“I don’t like that she misses him.” I hate how the words feel on my tongue.
“They became friends when you all but glared at her every second of every day. What else was she supposed to do with her time here?”
“Keep to herself.” I look around as if that’s the logical answer. “This is paradise. Is it so hard just to be alone and be happy?”
“For some people it is.” He chops strawberries and I make another note in my phone. “Like you, for instance.”
“Me? I’m perfectly content to be alone.”
“And yet here you are.” He cocks his head to the side and I ignore him.
“You know what I mean.”
“I know that she is a good person that is stuck on this island because I pay her an ungodly amount of money to stay. What other options does she have if she wants to make this place her home?”
“Her home?” My brows furrow at the thought.
“Have you not thought about the fact that even after the baby is born she may decide to stay, that I’ll pay her enough to keep her here?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think I got that far.”
I’ve thought about hardly anything else but her since Lula came to the island. I don’t know why the idea of her making this island her home never occurred to me. I was so busy going between not letting her go and packing her bags for her, I never really stopped to think about what this all must be like from her perspective.
I’m suspicious as fuck of anyone who comes in contact with my family, but what if she has a family of her own and she’s giving them up to stay here because of the money? What kind of situation was she in before that caused her to pick up everything and leave?
“Are you getting all this?” Kade asks as he pours the batter.
“Ugh, yeah.” I make a few more notes and try not to let my thoughts distract me, but I can’t help but wonder what she’s doing now. If she’s happy here or if she’s just sticking this out because of the paycheck.
“When I met Collins, I didn’t know my own name.” Kade has his back to me as he flips the pancakes. “She made me forget everything I knew all at once and I didn’t know which way was up. It was confusing, and if I was more like you, then maybe that might have made me angry.”
I take in his words and though I don’t want to admit that he’s right, he’s definitely hitting the mark.
“I know you, Xander, and your reaction to change is to keep a cautious distance. I think your reaction to what you’re feeling for Doctor Lula right now is exactly what I would predict it to be.”
“I never said I felt anything for her.”
He looks over his shoulder as he puts the pancakes on the plate. “I would ask you if I look stupid but we both know I’m the handsome one in the family.” I shake my head as he places strawberries on the stack of pancakes and pushes the plate to me. “Try them.”
I cut a wedge and take a bite. They’re pretty damn wonderful but I would never give him that much credit. “Passable,” I say around a mouthful as I go in for another bite.