Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
“Yeah? What about?”
“Ava got a perplexing text.”
I shove my phone into Dave’s face. “Does this ring a bell to you?”
He stares at it for a moment. “Darth Morgen.”
“Who the fuck is that?” Brock asks.
“He’s not in the Star Wars Legends universe, but I suppose he could be a character in some fan universe.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Fan fiction. Sometimes fan universes go viral, but this doesn’t ring a bell to me.”
“So it’s not a Star Wars reference?” I ask.
Dave shakes his head. “Not that I know of. But the name could easily be in some fan universe I don’t know about. Disney ruined Star Wars, by the way.”
“Oh my God.” Brock rolls his eyes. “You never miss a chance to bring that up, you big nerd.”
“Hey, I don’t remember being alone in the line when the Snow Creek Cinema was showing the revamped version of The Empire Strikes Back.”
“For the life of me,” I say, “I do not see how you two are so popular with the ladies.”
“Easy,” Dave drawls. “We don’t talk about this shit with them.”
“Unless we find out they’re fans as well,” Brock adds.
“So you haven’t enthralled Rory with your tales of the Star Wars universe?” I ask.
“Negative.” Brock grabs his beer right as Brendan places it on the bar and takes a sip.
“Here you go, Ava.” Brendan smiles as he hands me my second pink squirrel.
Brendan is incredibly good-looking—and maybe it’s because he doesn’t look anything like a Steel. Most of the Steels have dark hair and dark eyes, although Dave and I are exceptions with blue eyes.
The only blonds in our family are Dale, Donny, and Henry—none of whom have any actual Steel blood. They’re all adopted members of the family.
Brendan? He’s not dark or blond.
He’s a redhead, but not an orangey redhead. It’s more like a dark-strawberry blond or light auburn, and he wears it long like my cousin Dale does.
Right now it’s pulled back in a low ponytail, his signature look. His complexion is fair but not overly so. He never looks pale. Just like fine porcelain.
Which is not something I ever thought I’d say about a man. But the guy has a peaches-and-cream complexion, though he’s not feminine in any way. He’s tall, broad-shouldered, with an incredible sculpted jawline and a straight Grecian nose.
Despite his hair being on the lighter side, his eyebrows and eyelashes are darker brown.
He’s way too old for me though. He went to high school with my cousin Dale, so he’s eleven years my senior.
Besides, I’m not really looking for a relationship. I date every now and then, but I’m so young. I have so many goals for my business that I want to accomplish. I keep hearing that if you work your butt off in your twenties, it’s smooth sailing for the rest of your life.
Of course, it could be smooth sailing for me regardless, with my Steel trust fund and all.
That’s not to say that my cousins don’t work for their success. They do. They all work incredibly hard. Brock works with his dad, Jonah, on the beef ranch. Dale works with my father, Ryan Steel, at the winery. In fact, he’s taken it over now that my dad retired as master winemaker.
Donny went to law school, got himself a partnership track at a Denver firm, but then came home to Snow Creek at the request of his mother, my aunt Jade. Now he’s the city attorney here in town.
My cousin Brad, Brock’s brother, along with Dave’s brother, Henry, run the Steel Foundation, which is the charitable arm of our company.
Diana, Dale and Donny’s sister, is now in Denver for an architect internship.
That leaves only the youngest Steels—also known as the awesome foursome. They include my cousin Brianna Steel, my sister, Gina, and Uncle Bryce and Aunt Marj’s twins, Angie and Sage Simpson. They’re all seniors in college.
We may each have trust funds, but we all learned the value of hard work living on a ranch.
When I was a little girl, Dad used to take me out into the vineyards with him. I think he was hoping I would learn his love of wine, but it’s not really my thing. It doesn’t seem to be Gina’s either. Thank goodness for Dale, though. He was Dad’s right-hand man even then, when Gina and I were just kids.
Dale was an adult by the time I was seven years old.
Which means Brendan Murphy was also an adult.
Not that the age thing bothers me. It really doesn’t. I just know he would never look at me that way.
Like I said, I’m not looking for a date anyway.
But if I were…
I’d be hard-pressed to find someone better looking, nicer, and more personable than Brendan Murphy.
Dave and Brock are still discussing the Star Wars universe, so I interrupt them.
“Hello?” I wave my phone in front of their faces. “I don’t think this is a Star Wars reference. So what does this text mean?”