Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 28523 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 143(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28523 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 143(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
She raised an eyebrow, but her blue pools were bright with heat and curiosity. I almost grinned when she shifted in her seat, uncrossing and recrossing her legs. Hmm, it seemed my possessiveness turned my girl on. That certainly boded well for us.
“Well, um…”
“Faith!” I almost banged a fist on the table in frustration when we were interrupted yet again.
But my anger receded when I spotted Faith’s sister, Grace, waving to her as she made her way to our table. “Hudson practically kicked me out,” she said, rolling her eyes, but her smile gave away her true happiness. “He said I needed girl time. Sorry, I’m late.”
“No problem,” Faith murmured as she stood to hug her sister. “I was just passing the time by visiting with—”
“You’re the fireman!” Grace interrupted with a giant smile. “I didn’t really get a chance to thank you for your help at the wedding.”
I waved off her gratitude. “It was my job. But I’m glad there wasn’t an actual fire.” More than she knew because it would have put Faith in danger.
“I’m Grace, Faith’s sister,” she said, sticking her hand out.
“Rush,” I replied, shaking her hand. “The fireman.”
Faith giggled, and my lips immediately curled up into a smile.
Grace’s gaze bounced back and forth between Faith and me a few times, then she grinned mischievously. “You know, Faith here is turning eighteen next month. On the fifth.”
I gave her the appropriate raise of my brow as if to say, “Oh? I didn’t know.”
Her eyes narrowed for a moment, and I had a feeling she was aware that I’d already known the date of Faith’s birthday. But she didn’t dig into it, and I had to wonder. Did I have an ally in my girl’s sister?
Grace’s expression transformed into bright excitement. “You should come. You know, as a thank you.”
Faith sucked in a breath too fast and choked on it, coughing and wheezing. “I’m s-sure Rush has…better…things t-to d-do.”
“I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be that day,” I corrected.
“Fantastic!” Grace chirped. “Give me your number, and I’ll text you the information.” Her tone was sly and confirmed what I suspected. Grace was giving me the opportunity I needed to claim Faith. And it seemed she assumed I already knew everything about the event, which was correct. When I thought about it, though, I wasn’t all that shocked. I’d heard about her husband and how possessive he was of her. And she was Jonah Carrington’s daughter. Grace was familiar with my kind because she’d grown up around them. Not just her father but her uncles and even some of her cousins.
Having her in my corner would be extremely helpful. I rattled off my number, and she plugged it into her phone. My text alert went off, but then Faith’s cell dinged, and I smirked, knowing Grace had sent my information to Faith as well.
“Thanks,” I said, thrilled with how this visit had turned out.
“You bet! Well, we’ll see you later.”
Faith waved, and I lifted my chin in farewell. As they turned, Grace leaned back and whispered, “You better not hurt my sister because there is nowhere you can hide that my dad won’t find you. And you can be sure that no one will ever find your body.” She didn’t wait for my reaction before trotting off to catch up with Faith.
It would have been comical if it weren’t the truth.
I was a few feet down the sidewalk from the coffee house when my phone rang. A small part of me hoped that Faith was calling, but it wasn’t a realistic scenario, mostly because she was currently busy with her sister.
However, the caller ID announced that it was Cano, the CEO of one of my foundations, Worlds Together. The charity’s vision was to boost economies by building up communities and providing jobs in the process, as well as continued training.
“Please tell me you’re calling to say that Baros has finally backed off,” I grunted when I put in my ear phones and answered the call. Dekel Baros owned a big chunk of land that split right down the middle of an area we were developing in Greece. We’d been fighting the asshole for months to get him to sell. But he was a greedy son of a bitch and wanted us to pay at least four times what the land was worth. And the motherfucker was threatening to make people pay a fee to cross his land. These people were living in poverty. No one could afford to work on one side and live on the other, or to be forced to cross the land to grocery shop, etc. So we either had to build pretty much double what we were planning or get Baros to go away.
“I wanted to call you and hopefully give you an update before you saw it on the news,” Cano responded, ignoring my question.