Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 60081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
“Should we get out of here?” Drew asks, amusement in his voice.
I smile up at him. “We should. But let me give Fred and Perry my number first. I’m going to join them for biker brunch next Sunday. It’s like Princess Pancakes except with bikers and mimosas.”
“You can come too, handsome,” Perry says, batting his eyelashes at Drew as I take Fred’s offered phone and punch in my digits. “As long as you wear leather. Call me crazy, but I think you’d look great in a pair of skintight black pants.”
Drew laughs. “Thanks, but I usually spend Sunday mornings in my pajamas with my daughter.”
“Bring her along. The more the merrier,” Fred enthuses with a red-cheeked grin, proving he’s the happiest drunk around. He leans in, putting his arm around my shoulders and adding in his too-loud whisper, “Ride him like a Harley on a perfect spring day with the wind in your hair, sweetheart. Do it for me and all the people who have crushed on McGuire men throughout the years. And for America. Consider it your goddamned patriotic duty.”
Perry rolls his eyes as he moves Fred’s drink to the middle of the table. “Okay, drunky. Let’s get you some water and cheese fries. I think we need to soak up a little of that alcohol before we have any more whiskey.”
“Oooo, cheese fries,” Fred says, his big blue eyes lighting up. “I love cheat day! And cheese!” He puts his arm around Perry, pressing a sloppy kiss to his partner’s cheek that makes the other man laugh. “And you, babe. You’re the fucking best. Bjorn can suck a pickled egg.”
As they head for the bar to order, I turn back to Drew. “Shall we? And you can share your favorite drunk foods on the way back to my place?”
“Pizza,” he says without hesitation as he takes my hand and leads me through the crowd toward the door. “And latkes with sour cream from the diner on Third Street. And cheesy scrambled eggs with extra buttery toast, just like Sarah Beth likes them.”
I arch a brow. “So, you did have a wild phase.”
“I did,” he says with a wink. “But now I keep my wild side under wraps. It only comes out to play on weekends with beautiful redheads.”
I smile and squeeze his hand, waiting until we step out into the cold air to whisper in a voice for his ears only, “That’s good, but just FYI, this redhead also enjoys orgasms on Tuesdays. And Thursdays. And any other night her boss wants her to stay for dinner and do bad things to him after his daughter is tucked in for the night.”
“You mean your boyfriend,” he corrects. “After six o’clock, I’m not your boss anymore.”
Boyfriend! He wants to be my boyfriend!
Never has the word made me so giddy.
“I mean, unless you feel it’s too soon to be exclusive,” he adds, the hint of nervousness in his voice making the butterflies in my stomach go wild.
I tighten my grip on his hand and stop at the corner of the building, needing his eyes on me when I say, “It’s not too soon.”
“No?” he asks, pulling me closer in the red light from the glowing cowboy atop the bar.
“Nope. Not even close.” I lean into his strong chest. “I would be honored and thrilled to be your girlfriend.”
We kiss and it’s even better than the kiss inside. Every time I touch this man, every time I feel his hands on me, it’s better than the last. My fresh start hit a speed bump there for a while, but now things are working out better than I ever dreamed they would. I’m making cool new friends, love my job taking care of Sarah Beth, and have the best, most adorable, sexiest boss in the world, who I’m pretty sure I’m also already madly in love with.
And now he’s my boyfriend!
It’s like a fairy tale with only good fairies in it.
So, basically, I should have known it was all about to go to shit.
I really should have.
Chapter Eighteen
DREW
The second I saw my mother’s car in the driveway, I should have pulled over and called her to see what was going on. Mom is the queen of showing up unannounced and it rarely means there’s a problem with Sarah Beth or anything else. I could have called her, made sure everything was okay, and waited in the car down the street for her to leave—no risk of her scaring Tatum away, no uncomfortable questions about what I’m doing with the nanny after hours, no confusing my daughter.
But there’s a reason they say hindsight is twenty-twenty.
Instead, I swing into the drive and park beside Mom’s car, worried my daughter is sick or hurt. I only realize my mistake when Sarah Beth comes bouncing out of the back seat with her stuffed dog in her arms.