Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94513 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“Hungry? We’ve got a spread in the kitchen.”
I wasn’t hungry, but seeing his plate made my stomach growl. “Um, yeah. I should probably eat.”
“Come on,” he said with a nod and started back in the direction he had come from.
“Is Bane here?” I asked.
“No, he’s still out. Is everything okay?” He glanced back at me, looking concerned.
“I’m fine. I was just … well, I didn’t want to, uh … I mean, I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to come out of the room or not.” And I wasn’t up for being yelled at again.
Than stopped and stepped back, waving a hand for me to enter first. “You’re not confined to the bedroom. You can stay down here all you want. Go out to the pool and swim. Whatever you want. Don’t let Bane bully you. This was Crosby’s home too. He would have wanted you here.”
More information I hadn’t known about Crosby. Scanning the luxurious kitchen, I tried to imagine Crosby living here in this house. He’d not said he lived with his brother. When I’d imagined him at home, it wasn’t somewhere like this.
“Crosby lived here?” I asked.
“Yeah. You didn’t know that?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think I knew as much about him as I thought I did.”
“Bane; me; my older brother, Ransom; Oz, who is Bane’s best friend because no one else can put up with his mean ass; and his brother, Forge, all live here.”
I stared at him, wide-eyed. “Wow. That’s a lot of, uh, guys.”
He grinned. “Oz is with Bane, but Ransom and Forge are in the great room. I’ll introduce you once you get a plate.” He pointed to the long bar filled with trays of food. “The cheeseburgers are fucking awesome, the next tray is grilled chicken sandwiches, and then you have the obvious fried pickles, fries—oh, and those right there are deep-fried jalapeños, stuffed with cheese. They’ve got a kick, so if you don’t like spicy, I’d skip that. There is salad, but I have no idea why. Actually, the grilled chicken was a surprise too. That’s a buffalo chicken dip—another spicy alert—and the chips to go with it. Not sure what the celery sticks are all about. Another weird item we never order. But help yourself.”
I walked over and picked up one of the chicken sandwiches.
“What do you like to drink? Name it, and we will have it,” Than said to me.
“Milk?” I asked. I had been craving that a lot lately. Before pregnancy, I’d only had milk in my cereal.
He nodded. “Ice or no ice?”
Scrunching my nose, I looked at him. “Who puts ice in milk?”
He chuckled. “No ice. Got it.”
I took a few fried pickles, got some salad, then picked up several of the celery sticks. Than brought me a tall, frosted clear mug of milk.
He inspected my plate, then smirked. “I get the new additions now. It’s girl food. He’s an ornery bastard, but he’ll make sure you’re taken care of. Let’s go.”
He started for the door, and I followed behind him, realizing he had been talking about Bane. He’d ordered the healthier options for me? I found that hard to believe. But then the baby being Crosby’s must have had him thinking about its health. Not about me.
We drew closer to the voices, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to go in there.
“I don’t want to intrude and make everyone uncomfortable,” I told him.
He looked back at me over his shoulder. “Don’t judge the rest of us by Bane. He is one of a kind, I promise.”
That was a relief, but that wasn’t what I had been thinking. “Who will you tell them I am?”
“They know who you are. That’s been handled.”
There was some relief to that.
Taking a deep breath, I let it out before I walked in behind Than to the room.
“All right, guys, here she is,” Than said, and the two men on the sectional turned to look at me.
I already knew which one was which because Than’s brother was just a slightly older version of him. He had more facial hair, his eyes were hazel instead of blue, and his hair wasn’t as messy.
“That’s my brother, Ransom,” he told me.
Then, he pointed to the younger guy with almost-curly, dark blond hair, which was cut short on the sides with a little bit of length on top. His green eyes met mine, and the corner of his mouth lifted. He seemed friendlier. Ransom hadn’t been rude or anything, but there was a hard edge to him.
“And that’s Forge,” Than told me.
Forge glanced at me, then at Than. “I agree with you,” he said, then picked up his burger.
Who was he talking to? Agree with who?
Ransom cut his eyes to Forge, then back to me. “It definitely makes more sense now.”
Than groaned almost silently, then looked back at me. “Sorry. Ignore them. I promise all that shit was positive. Come sit down.”