Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68481 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68481 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
“Why?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.
“Adam had a best friend in boot camp. His name was Doucet. Doucet went all the way through bootcamp with him, only to have him have a heart issue that forced him into retirement before they could even deploy. Doucet went on to join the police department while Adam went on to do his thing in the Air Force. Last year, Doucet died while on shift working a police call. He was hit by a tractor-trailer while on the side of the road.” She paused. “And ever since, Adam has done everything he could to help support fallen officers like Doucet.”
That made my heart hurt.
“That’s sad,” I said. “And you think you’ll get something out of this auction?”
She gave me a smile that lit up her face. “I know I will. With the SWAT team calendar doing so good? This will just be huge, I know it.”
She saw the indecision on my face.
“It’ll probably piss off your father,” she teased.
I laughed then.
“Anything that will drive my father nuts I’m down for.”
Her eyes looked so hopeful that I couldn’t say no.
I just couldn’t.
Fuck.
“Fine,” I sighed. “Saturday? What time?”
“Nine?” she asked hopefully.
I winced. “Make it ten, and I’ll do it.” I paused. “Only if you have donuts.”
“No good donuts are going to be left at ten,” she said.
I shrugged. “Then go get them early, and just have them there.”
Chapter 2
I don’t know what you’re fixing. But mine just broke.
-Text from Derek to Adam
Adam
“This is the worst idea that I’ve ever had,” I grumbled to myself as I put the stand down on my bike and swung off.
There were two other cars in Derek’s driveway, Avery’s, and a sweet as fuck Chevy Chevelle that looked to be in mint condition.
I bet that it sounded like a dream.
And handled like one, too.
I shoved my keys into my pocket and wondered for the eighth time what in the hell I was doing.
Doucet.
I was doing this for Doucet.
I did a lot of damn things for Doucet, though.
Shit.
Even stranger photoshoots.
Growing a pair, I knocked on the door of my fellow SWAT officer’s house and waited.
Nobody answered.
I knocked again, and the door was yanked open by a frazzled looking Avery.
She had what looked to be spit up in her hair.
“Hey!” She smiled, looking relieved to see me standing there. “Would you mind holding her?”
Before I could say yes or no, there was a baby shoved into my arms, and she looked very unhappy with her new predicament.
But before I could say or do anything to the child, Derek pulled into his driveway and bailed out of the truck, motor still running.
“Oh, where’s her shit?” Derek asked, looking as if he was frazzled himself.
Before I could answer, Avery was opening the door again, shoving a bag my way, and then walking away.
“Don’t come back before four o’clock, Derek!” she called.
Derek gave me a roll of his eyes. “Don’t ever get married, man.”
“I heard that!” Avery called.
“She put silk sheets on the bed for you.” Derek’s eyes gleamed. “I can’t wait to try them out later.”
“You won’t be trying anything out if you don’t leave!” Avery came back, eyes narrowed.
Derek pulled her to him, hit her with a kiss, took the baby and the bag from my arms, and was gone before I could so much as get a word in edgewise.
“I put silk sheets on the bed for you,” she said, “and Amelia.”
Amelia.
I liked that name.
Not many people were named that.
But…
“Silk sheets?” I asked, sounding just as worried as I felt.
She gestured for me to follow her inside.
“Amelia is outside on the phone,” she said as she walked through the living room, kitchen, and then into the back bedroom.
I came to a stop at the bed that was sitting in the middle of the room.
“Umm,” I said. “You redecorated?”
I lived just down the road in the same subdivision as the rest of them.
I’d been to Derek’s house multiple times over the last year that I’d been on the SWAT team, and never once had I seen this bed.
Or their room so empty.
“I had all the furniture moved into the other room,” she said as she pointed to the room next door. “And I bought a new bed, specifically for this.”
“You bought a new bed,” I said slowly. “Why?”
She shrugged. “Our bed was kind of boring, and I wanted it to be big, ornate, and badass. Plus, this one’s pretty. Now we have an awesome bed to use after we do this photoshoot.”
I looked at the bed.
She was right about it being big and ornate.
It was one of those massive ones. It stretched all the way to the ceiling and had gauzy curtains hanging from the poles that ran around the top. The poles at the bottom of the bed were made of what looked to be lions or something, and they definitely looked like they could withstand some… movement.