Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 133849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 535(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
“I’ll check into this for you, Josh, and you know I’ll keep the dads out of it,” Harlow replied, her tone softer. “I’m happy for you, you know.”
She was still heartbroken, but Harlow was tough, and she knew how to love her friends. “I know. Thank you, cousin.”
There wasn’t blood between them, but they’d grown up together in a way that felt as close as family.
“I’ll get back to you when I know something, and Josh, be careful,” she said and the line went dead.
His heart ached for Harlow, but he couldn’t even consider the idea the woman who’d curled up on Grim’s lap had ever done something seriously criminal. She wasn’t on the run from the cops. It was something else. Something traumatic.
He closed the trunk and moved around to the passenger side of the car. There was one place he hadn’t checked. The glove compartment. It was normally where car guides went to die, but sometimes a person shoved things there they didn’t want others to find.
He flipped it down and sure enough, there was an old driver’s manual along with a couple of parking tickets. Not from Willow Fork. There was one from Denver dated two years before, and another from a place called Papillon a few months ago.
So she wasn’t the best parker in the world. He could work on that.
But hadn’t she said she lived in Chicago until a few weeks ago?
He closed the glove box and pocketed the key, which he would slip into her purse when he got back to the house.
He slid his cell in his pocket and considered the fact that Nic was going to be pissed if she ever found out. He was willing to risk it. What he wasn’t willing to risk was losing her. He couldn’t protect her if he didn’t know what she was involved in, and he didn’t trust her not to run if he pressed her too hard.
The crap with Grim’s brothers was another story altogether. It was annoyance, but it would bug Grim.
It might be nice to take some of this tension out on John and Peter. But it would have to wait.
All he knew was no one was going to fuck with his family, and Grim and Nic were at the center of the family he wanted to create.
He would protect them from everything. Even themselves.
Chapter Nine
Grim stood over Nicole, brushing back her hair. “It’s just a meal. They aren’t scary. I promise.”
“I don’t know that it’s appropriate for me to meet your parents. And I’m not dressed for it. I’m dressed like I’m going out to breakfast with hopes of being asked to stay to work for the lunch rush.” She looked adorable in her jeans and shirt, her hair now pulled back in a ponytail. She looked young and sweet, and now that he knew how well her ass took an anal plug, she was even more beautiful than she’d been before.
He was in a romantic mood. Though he was afraid Josh was going to fuck everything up. He’d understood Josh wasn’t merely running into town to grab some beer. They’d talked briefly today about visiting the auto shop to see what was up with her car. They’d discussed trying to fix the car themselves and hoping they could still convince her to hang around with them or at least let them come with her to Austin for a while.
And they’d talked about quietly sabotaging her efforts to get her car fixed. Not a fair thing to do, but he didn’t believe she really had a job.
He’d been thinking about it all afternoon. Nic was her own person and had every right to make her own decisions, and he and Josh were being what Livie liked to call alpha holes.
But damn it, he wasn’t going to let her go when he genuinely believed he was good for her. She’d fallen asleep wrapped in his ropes and clung to him. She’d kissed him like he was everything she wanted.
“I think you look beautiful,” he said, lowering his head to hers and breathing her in. She smelled like his soap, and it did something for him.
Her hands came up to run along his neck. “Thank you but I’m still not sure I should walk into your parents’ house looking like this. Rich people have expectations.”
Now they were getting somewhere. Josh had mentioned she’d gone stiff when she’d realized how wealthy his family was. “They’re not like that. I assure you Sam will be in jeans and a T-shirt, and Jack will either be in the same or a Western shirt. They don’t dress for dinner. We always have Sunday dinner all together, and Josh and I want you to get to know our family.”
“But I won’t be here for long. I have to go to Austin.”