Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68058 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68058 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“Would that be so bad?” Rhys asked.
Don’t look at him. I kept my gaze trained on Grant. “There are innocent people who would get hurt. You may not like what my father does, but I promise you it would be much worse under my cousin.” I explained what Aunt Van had told me about Franco’s ruthlessness.
“Then how do we stop him?” I was shocked the question had come from Rhys.
“Right now, we wait for X’s hacker to get back to us with more information.”
“And we up security around here,” Grant said. “I know how good X and his people are at digging up information, but no one is infallible. If Franco finds out you’re onto him, we need to be ready.”
“There’s more to this battle between you and your cousin, isn’t there?” Rogue asked.
I sighed. “His father was my father’s older brother. He died when Franco was a baby, and my father inherited his position as the heir to the family business. Franco’s mother has always maintained that Franco should have taken over the role when he came of age.”
Grant tilted his head, and I could practically see him working out the details in his mind.
“There’s more.” He raised his brows, obviously expecting me to elaborate.
“There is, but that’s all you need to know.” The personal vendetta between me and Franco only served to strengthen our hatred of each other, that and the fact that he didn’t believe in limits when it came to getting what he wanted.
Grant accepted that. “I want to know when you learn more from X.”
Rogue looked at me pointedly. “We all need to know.”
“Fine. I’ll tell him to loop us all in.”
“We’re here to help you. That’s what we were hired to do,” Rogue said.
“And we’re damn determined to keep every person and animal here safe.”
“I helped you with that before, didn’t I?”
“You did. And we owe you for that. You. Not your father.”
I nodded, acknowledging that it wasn’t easy for Grant to admit that.
Jacob served us macaroni and cheese he’d made earlier and had reheated and a salad. The conversation during lunch wasn’t exactly light, but we avoided the subject of my family and, thankfully, also any mention of the connection between me and Rhys. Grant wasn’t stupid, though, far from it, and he was used to detecting nuances in people’s behavior. He had to be to survive what he had in the marines. I was sure he suspected things had moved beyond flirting.
Avoiding Grant grew harder every day. Once Rhys and I stop pretending we weren’t going to keep fucking, we couldn’t keep our hands off each other. Every chance we had, we were going at it—in the barn, in the pasture, up against a tree in the woods. I didn’t care where we were. If I thought we had a few minutes of privacy, I needed to kiss Rhys, to feel how solid he was, to breathe in his scent, to make him remember that I could make him want like no one else could.
He was mine. I didn’t care what he thought. I wasn’t going to let him go. Except… sooner or later, I was going to have to return home. I might resent the hell out of my father, but I wasn’t going to let Franco take over the family. He’d signed his death warrant the day he’d decided to go up against my father. After he was gone, though… Did I really want to be my father’s heir? Wouldn’t it be better for everyone if Dario had that honor and I moved on?
It was late, later than Rhys should be up, knowing he was always in the barn before dawn. I’d just finished fucking the hell out of him while he was bent over the end of my bed and biting my pillow to keep from screaming loud enough the whole household would hear us. I wanted to ask him to stay the night in my bed, no matter how risky that was. If Grant hadn’t figured out what was going on yet, he wasn’t as smart as I thought he was.
We meant to be discreet, but neither of us had the self-control for that, not around each other. I could wait in the biting wind and rain for hours for a mark to move into position for the perfect shot, but I couldn’t see Rhys without touching him.
Rhys blew out a long breath. “Are you hungry?”
“I’m fucking starving.”
“Let’s clean up and go to the kitchen.”
“Don’t you need to get to sleep?” Why the hell had I said that? Eating together wasn’t as good as cuddling in bed, but at least I’d get more time with him.
“I do, but I seem to have mostly given up on sleep.”
“Dick is better.”
He snorted, but the smile on his face told me he knew it was true.