Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 154595 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154595 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
“Maeve, spill,” Cat said sharply. Most of the time, Cat was full of fun and good humor. Sure, she was a bit reckless. But when she cared about someone, she cared with everything in her. And she loved Maeve.
“Fine. This guy might have grabbed me. But I took care of it.”
“How?” Alejandro asked. “And what was he doing grabbing you? Did you have your knife on you?”
“Ahh . . .”
“What about your stun gun?”
“Umm . . .”
“Pepper spray?” Alejandro’s face was growing more and more thunderous.
“I can’t carry all of that stuff everywhere.”
Before she’d left to go traveling around, her friend Sampson had fixed her up with a protection kit. It contained a pocket knife, stun gun, pepper spray, a personal alarm, and weirdly, a throwing star.
When the heck would she ever use a throwing star?
“Don’t give me that,” Alejandro scolded. “You could have taken just one.”
Okay, yes. But she didn’t think she could ever use any of those on someone.
“How did you take care of it?” Cat asked suspiciously.
“My awesome ninja skills, of course.”
Both of them just stared at her.
“I could have those. I could be taking MMA classes, you know.”
“You know being a ninja and MMA are two different things, right?” Cat asked with a small grin.
“Pfft, don’t you go being all logical with me.” Maeve pointed at her warningly, but her own smile broke through. “And of course I do, I binge-watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with you, didn’t I?”
“I love Donatello.”
Alejandro shot Cat a look, which was likely why Cat said it. As a distraction to get him off Maeve’s back.
“Don’t think I don’t know what the two of you are doing,” he grumbled. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared straight at Maeve. “You need to be here.”
“Alejandro,” she said with a sigh. “I can’t move in with you guys.”
“And why not?” he asked. “You would be protected. Taken care of. You should be with us.”
“You know I love you guys, and I appreciate what you did for me. I owe you—”
“You don’t owe us anything, does she, Alejandro?” Cat asked.
Alejandro looked like he wanted to argue. But Cat turned to glare at him.
Alejandro nodded. “You do not owe us. You are our family.”
“We take care of our own,” Cat said.
She knew that was Alejandro’s motto. He took care of those who belonged to him.
“You know I love you both. But I’m fine. I’m happy doing my own thing.”
“Including being accosted by strange men,” Alejandro said disapprovingly.
“I wasn’t accosted. I was grabbed. And then this guy came to help me.”
“What guy? Who is it?” Cat asked.
“No one interesting.”
“Maeve . . . you know you’re hopeless at lying,” Cat told her.
“I’m getting better. I’ve been practicing in the mirror.”
Alejandro muttered something under his breath, shaking his head. “Do you know who attacked you? Do you have a description?”
“Ahh, no, it was pretty dark.”
“What about this other guy?” Cat asked. “The one that helped you? Does he have a name? Do you have his number?”
“No, I don’t have his number. I’m sure I’ll never see him again.” And she didn’t want to give either of them Gray’s name. The last thing she needed was Alejandro turning up to question him.
Alejandro studied her, then slowly nodded. “If you do see him again, you will text me his details and I will look into him.”
“Sure thing.” She saluted him.
Luckily, he looked amused rather than annoyed. “I will leave you for your girl talk. Maeve, call if you need me.”
“Will do. Thanks.”
Cat chatted away about what she’d been up to as she moved. Where was she going? “ . . . and then I saw this dress that I—” Cat stopped mid-sentence, her face growing serious. “The door’s closed and we’re on our own. Spill.”
She raised her eyebrows. “On our own? What do you mean?”
Cat huffed a sigh. “Alejandro gave me a new bodyguard after my last, um, incident. And he’s always around. The man never gives me any space. I swear, I wasn’t exaggerating when I said that I can’t even pee on my own. I need to find him someone to turn some of that attention on.”
“What? Someone for Alejandro?”
“What? No! He’s mine.” A possessive glint entered Cat’s eyes, her face growing slightly maniacal. Yep, Cat would kill anyone who tried to take Alejandro from her. “No, I was talking about finding someone for my new bodyguard.” Cat looked at her contemplatively. “Maeve . . .”
“No. Nope. Don’t even start trying to matchmake. I don’t need someone in my life.”
Except maybe a tattooed, grumpy, yet strangely protective guy.
No. Nope.
Silly Maeve.
“But, Maeve, he’s a Daddy Dom. He’d be perfect for you.”
“Really? Why would he be so perfect for me?”
“Well, um, because then you’d come live with me and we could be sisters.”
“We’re sisters in every way that counts.”