Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Damn. And the banging bod. He couldn’t help it. That woman was one of those under-the-radar-hot types he couldn’t resist, and it didn’t hurt that she smelled like vanilla and cinnamon the couple of times he’d been in an elevator with her. But he shouldn’t think that when her kiddo was standing right in front of him with ridiculously wide eyes that reminded him of an anime character. A scared one.
Luckily the big-ass gun he was carrying was hidden behind the door. “Hey, can I help you?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I’m Lou and I live next door and my mom’s not home and I’m pretty sure someone followed me home from school. You’re like a bodyguard, right? My mom said she didn’t think you were a cop, but she thought she heard you worked in security, right?”
And then he had the fourth possibility. Strange preteen girl who walked right into his apartment.
The gun, in this case, could only be used on him.
Lou from next door kept talking even as she moved farther in. “So that means you’re some kind of bodyguard, right? I told her I thought you were military. Like an Army guy. But she said you wouldn’t live here if you were in the Army. You would live on a base. So then I said maybe you were with the CIA because I read a book about spies and they sometimes recruit from the military and they can live anywhere, but my mom said you probably weren’t smart enough to be a spy because anyone who looked like you probably didn’t have to be smart.” Lou turned and frowned. “What does that mean?”
Boomer managed to ease the safety back on and slide the gun into the pocket of his athletic pants. It was comforting to know he could still make an impression on the ladies. Unfortunately, it was the same one he normally made. He was good looking and muscley and had not a brain in his head. He had one. It worked a little differently, but what he’d found was women liked smarts.
At least all the women he was attracted to.
“Where is your mom?” Boomer kept the door open because he might not have the highest IQ in the world, but he was blessed with an abundance of street smarts, and it wasn’t good to have a preteen girl he was not related to in his apartment. Not in any way.
Lou swung the backpack off her shoulder and looked up at Sheba, who was delicately moving across the bar to check out the newcomer. “You have a pretty cat.”
He had a lot of animals, and he could suddenly see the headlines. Man Uses Animals to Lure in Underaged Victims.
“Her name is Sheba.” MaeBe stepped out of the kitchen, Sprinkles still in her arms, but she was quiet now as though she’d figured out the adorable moppet of a girl wasn’t a threat. Sprinkles was cool around kids. Well, most of them. “And this is Sprinkles. Are you okay with dogs? There’s another one around here somewhere. He looks scary, but he’s a sweetheart.”
MaeBe saved the day again. He wasn’t alone with a vulnerable female. Everyone loved MaeBe. Except Julia Ennis, but she had her reasons, though Boomer could have told her MaeBe hadn’t stolen her boyfriend. Everyone had thought Julia was dead. But then she was alive and then Kyle was dead.
Was Kyle dead? He didn’t think so, but he couldn’t be sure. But Julia was definitely alive.
Sometimes he got confused.
“I like dogs.” Lou proved she also knew how to deal with dogs because she held her hand up palm down for Sprinkles to sniff. “I know a lot about dogs. Did you know that a dog’s sense of smell is forty times better than ours? And dogs can sniff and breathe at the same time. And some dogs are really fast. Like they could beat a cheetah in a race.”
So she was a smarty pants. He could appreciate that, but they needed to get down to business. It was good that MaeBe was here, but it was still dicey to have a girl he didn’t know hanging out at his place. “Where is your mom, Lou? Is that a nickname?”
“It’s short for Louisa, which was my great-grandma’s name. I never met her, but my dad insisted I be named after her because that’s what his mom wanted. I don’t think he cared what my mom wanted. My mom would have named me Emily. After Emily Dickinson. I don’t think my great-grandma was named after Louisa May Alcott, but I tell people she was because Little Women is my jam. Louisa is kind of old, but I like Lou more,” Lou said, her words rapid fire and not completely making sense. “And my mom is at work.”
That part did make sense. Mom was at work and didn’t know her baby girl was hanging with the ex-military dude next door.