Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 156146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 781(@200wpm)___ 625(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 781(@200wpm)___ 625(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
“None of this is explaining a scowl,” he noted.
“Any kid that signs up gets to go hiking, Judge. Mi and I have to select one woman a quarter, only four a year, out of hundreds of applicants. I think it would be easier and less painful to flay myself alive than whittle each quarter’s applications down to one.”
That was when he put his arms around her and murmured, “Rough, baby.”
“Torture,” she mumbled.
Christ, she was something.
“Can I help?” he offered.
She wasn’t focusing on him, her mind was on applications, but at his offer, she did that, and said, all breathy, “What a nice thing to say.”
“Babe, I’m in the business, so I like to think I know a thing or two. And it isn’t as close to my heart as it is yours. I might be able to be more objective.”
“You’d do that?”
He kept his arms around her even as he shrugged.
She melted into him, tipping her head back in invitation.
“We still need to talk about your office,” he announced.
Her brows shot together. “Why?”
“You said that LA wasn’t a thing, but this office says you’re serious.”
“Of course I’m serious.” There was a slight snap to that, and he got that, because what he said didn’t sound good.
“Serious about expansion,” he clarified.
“Oh, right, well…yes.” She tipped her head to the side. “Is that an issue?”
“No, just that…”
He didn’t finish.
She squeezed him with her arms.
And when he still didn’t say anything, she pressed by saying his name, “Judge.”
He moved his arms so he could wrap his fingers around either side of her neck.
“Okay, Coco, the thing is, it’s awesome as fuck, what you created. It’s very you, it’s very cool. I’m hella impressed. And I think we both get this is something, what we have. We’re exclusive. It got real fast, and we were both down with that. But you need to know, I want a family.”
“So do I.”
He stared down at her.
“Having a business doesn’t preclude having children, Judge,” she said, a little snap to that too. “My mother had one of the most enviable careers in Hollywood, and she had three, she never quit working, and she was a very hands-on mom.”
“I…that’s great. Great news, honey.”
She was glaring at him, but abruptly, that glare shifted.
And she whispered, not soft, or sweet, but pissed.
“What did those women do to you?”
Shit.
“Nothing,” he lied. “I’m just glad we’re on the same page with that.”
“Judge.”
That time, his name was a warning.
So he gave it to her.
“The last one, Meg, said she wanted kids, and maybe she does. But she led me to believe she wanted them sooner, not later. She wanted them later. I want them sooner.”
“Of course. You don’t want to be ninety and raising children,” she scoffed. “And she can’t be, unless some miracle of science elongates a woman’s reproductive years exponentially. Which I hope and pray does not happen, because I want children, but I’m also living for the day I don’t have to bother with the cramps and cravings and mood swings of having a period.”
Judge was staring again.
So her eyes got squinty.
“I see this hurt you,” she bit out.
“I’m way over her, Chloe,” he assured.
“I know that, Judge. Still. You do not lie about that to the man in your life. Things happen. Opportunities arise. Minds are changed. But I sense she lied so she could keep you when she knew, if she told the truth, she wouldn’t keep you.”
After they were over, and he thought about it, he’d sensed that too.
“Yeah,” he grunted.
Her cheeks started to pinken.
“Tame the cat, baby, she’s gone,” he told her. “The reason I was quiet after you said what you said is because I assume you want to start early too.”
“Yes,” she stated shortly. “When I’m forty I want to be teaching my daughters the importance of facials then leaving them with a babysitter to have date nights with my husband, not changing diapers.”
He came in right when she finished speaking. “So we click on that too and it means a fuckuva lot to me.”
“This means you’re happy?”
“No. It means I’m super fucking happy.”
“So again, why aren’t you kissing me?” she demanded.
He grinned.
Slow.
Then he glanced over her shoulder at her desk.
“Judge.”
Another warning.
“We’ll be quiet,” he whispered.
“Judge.”
That wasn’t a warning.
It was breathy.
“You gonna lock the door, or am I?” he asked.
She licked her lower lip.
Judge didn’t mess about with locking the door.
Then he went back and kissed her.
A lot.
And he did that all over.
Chapter 24
The Settling
Judge
One month later…
The men sat by the fire under the night sky.
Judge, Rix, Duncan and Tom.
And Judge did it thinking he never got used to how many more stars there were in the sky when light pollution didn’t drown them out.
He did it also thinking how he wanted to extend Kids and Trails to include overnight camping trips so the kids could see this. He wanted to show them the wonder of it and how the human footprint didn’t just affect the earth, but also the heavens.