Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 29462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 118(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Callum
I’ve heard enough about the water in Silver Spoon Falls to know two things:
The people here don’t joke about it. And I need to stay away from it.
But the luck of the Irish clearly isn’t on my side.
Because I just got hired to protect the woman who bottles and sells it.
One look at Hope Byrne has me rethinking everything.
Starting with how soon I can make her mine.
Hope
Thanks to the water, people in this town have always been lucky in love.
Why shouldn’t others benefit too?
Giving them a little bit of hope makes me happy.
But someone is trying to destroy me and my business.
Hiring Callum Carmichael is my last chance to save it.
But I did not expect to fall for the grumpy giant.
Something about him makes my blood boil…and steam.
He’s determined to knock down my walls.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Chapter One
Callum
"Siri, remind me to kill my cousin next time I see him."
"Adding kill my cousin to your schedule," my watch chirps. "Would you like to set a date and time?"
"No." I shake my head. Jesus Christ. "Siri, delete killing my cousin from my schedule before his wife strangles him, and I end up suspect numero uno." Bella threatens to kill my cousin, Cormac Carmichael, at least fifteen times a day since they got married a year ago. I am not getting my big ass tangled up in the middle of it when his crazy ass finally sends her over the edge.
Cormac, known around Silver Spoon Falls as Giant, is feral. He's been that way his entire life. He's never met a type of hell he didn't like to raise. Marriage hasn't settled him down at all. He goes out of his way to rile Bella up just so he can settle her down again. Bella isn't exactly tame herself. She has him wrapped around her little finger. They love each other fiercely. But if he ever goes missing, real talk, it'll be because she strangled him for driving her up the wall. His overprotective ass is bound to do it one of these days.
I drag my cell out of my pocket and dial his number.
"What's up, Callum?" His voice booms down the line on the second ring. One thing Cormac isn't is quiet. He's got one volume. Loud. "Are you already lost?"
"No, I'm not lost," I growl. "I could pee across town."
He laughs. "Then why are you calling me already?"
"I'm calling to tell you that I'm never doing you another favor ever again, asshole. Every single time I do, I live long enough to regret it." He and Bella—who he calls Mischief—are out of town with his MC for Daytona Bike Week and then they're spending a few days in Panama City before heading home, so he asked me to babysit a new client for him. He left out some pertinent details, though.
Like the fact that our new client owns the damn magic shop downtown—and I don't mean the kind where men pull rabbits out of hats. I'm talking about the one where they sell love poems and healing crystals alongside water bottled at one of the natural springs here in town. She calls the place Hope Springs Eternal.
"Grizz said you just left the office ten minutes ago. How could you possibly already regret it?" Cormac laughs at me. "Your ass hasn't even been there long enough to regret it."
"Oh yeah?" I open my camera app and click a photo of the front of the new client's storefront before shooting it to him. And then I immediately hit the button on the display to swap to the front-facing camera. I snap another photo—this time of my middle finger—and send it too. "Check your texts."
"Mischief was right. You do need to get laid."
"Tell Bella to stop worrying about my sex life." I swear to God, every time I come to town, the two of them gang up on me, trying to figure out why I'm still single. Truth is, I'm starting to wonder myself. I always told myself I'd make time to date eventually. But eventually never seems to come. Cormac and I run Carmichael Security, the private security firm our dads started when they were in their twenties. We've got branches in Tennessee, Texas, California, and New York. It doesn't leave a lot of time for much else.
I did not sign up to spend the week steeped in the Silver Spoon Falls water, though. Everyone in town swears it's magical or something. I guess they think the town has always been prosperous and residents are lucky in love because of it. I've seen enough since I've been coming here to know to drink the shit sparingly.
"You told me she had a store downtown," I mutter to Cormac when he sees my pictures and roars with laughter. "You didn't tell me she's the one who bottles and sells the fucking water to tourists, you asshole."
"You didn't ask."
I growl a string of curses, which only makes him laugh again.
"Suck it up, buttercup," he says. "It's only a few days. Besides, the job is legit. I guess someone has taken issue with the fact that Hope recently started selling the water and various remedies and tinctures. They've broken into her home twice, and someone ran her off the road two days ago. Until Dillon finds out who's behind the attacks, she needs protection."
"Hope. Hope Springs Eternal." I chuckle despite myself, impressed by the double play on words she managed to slip in there. And then I glance out the windshield of my truck at the little brick shop again. Crystals and gemstones of every sort line the front window. The name of the shop is painted across the glass, with the word springs situated inside a rendering of a fountain. Water and hearts spew from the top of it. The place seems harmless enough.