Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69063 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69063 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Milena’s SUV was already in the parking lot, so we headed inside and found her in a corner booth at the back of the room.
My other sister, Milena, smiled from the other side of the booth as the two of us fell into place in front of her.
Our family had been back to normal now for years, and yet I still felt like I was riding on the edge, waiting for Maven to disappear again at any moment.
Moving to Dallas hadn’t been in question.
Once we’d realized that Maven was here, and she was kind of tied to this area due to her man’s family, all of us had packed up and moved.
Even our grandmother, Jessa Semyonov, had come.
Though, out of all of us, I think that Grams settled in the best.
She found a new elderly community apartment to move into, and she was having the time of her life.
Speaking of…
“Did you know that the retirement community does a ‘Buff Wednesday?’”
Maven blinked. “What’s a ‘Buff Wednesday?’”
Milena choked. “Please tell me it’s not what I think it is.”
“If you’re thinking it’s that they do Bingo in the buff, then you’d be correct.”
Maven’s peal of laughter had my heart fluttering.
Milena groaned. “That’s just awful.”
“I love her.” Maven wiped tears of hilarity from her eyes. “I have to go see her, but I think I might skip tomorrow since it’s Wednesday and all…” She paused. “I should send Auden. Do you think he’ll die of embarrassment?”
“I don’t think that Auden will have any issues. He is pretty hardy.” I laughed.
Auden was a police officer with Sunnyvale PD and had previously been with Dallas Police Department.
The man could handle just about anything, even our naked grandmother.
Movement at the bar caught my eye, and I glanced that way and froze.
“Wow, who is that?” I heard myself say.
The bar we were at was one of the only ones in Sunnyvale, which was where Maven now lived.
She’d been at a house in Dallas, but after she’d met her husband, she’d moved into his newly built home.
I’d assumed that since she’d had us meet her here, she might know some of the people, but Maven disappointed me by saying, “I have no clue. He’s definitely very debonair, though.”
That was the truth.
The man at the bar was tall and built.
He was wearing a pair of jeans that fit him like they were specifically made for him. They were worn out in all the right places—at the front pocket where it was evident he put his keys and even a Skoal ring on his back right pocket.
He had the finest ass I’d ever seen in my life.
He was standing with his back to us, one leg hitched up on the barstool in front of him, turned to talk to the man at his side. His tight black t-shirt left nothing to the imagination, and not in a conceited “look at me” way, but in a way you could tell he’d had the t-shirt for a long time, and had slightly grown out of it.
Not in a chubby way, but in a bulk kind of way.
Like the shirt was from years ago, and he’d gone from a young man to an older man.
And he was older, as the salt and pepper in his hair and his beard attested to.
I couldn’t see the color of his eyes, but what I could tell was they were light.
The blue light of the Amber Bach sign above the bar made them glow in an almost eerie way.
The man at his side said something to him that made him throw his head back and laugh.
Even his laugh was sexy.
“How’s work?” Maven asked me, rudely yanking me out of my ogling of the sexy older man at the bar.
I grinned. “Secret shopper for Dallas, Texas official.”
Five years ago, when I’d had no idea what I wanted to be, I’d thought…what the hell. I’d apply for the first job that I saw.
My brother somehow always made it impossible to work without having a bodyguard up my ass twenty-four-seven, so why not find a job that allowed me to do what I wanted without anyone telling me who could and couldn’t be around me all day, every day.
I wasn’t saying that I approved of Shasha’s overprotectiveness, but sometimes I decided to allow it.
And if he really pushed, I let his guard come along.
Today wasn’t one of those days, though.
I imagined that was likely due to the fact that I was at a bar five minutes away from twenty cops—half of which were now related to our sister.
“And the Amazon review thing?” Maven asked.
I smiled.
“Still going strong,” I admitted. “My new neighbor probably hates me because my door is always filled with packages and blocks half the hallway.”
“I’m sure the man has no issues with you getting packages,” Milena pointed out.
“Actually, you’d be wrong about that.” I snickered. “The apartments are questionable on whether they’re actually up to code or not.” I paused. “Don’t you dare tell our brother about that.” I pointed at the two women individually. “Anyway, so I heard him come home last night, and the light was out in the hallway as always. But when I came home last night, I’d left them all out in front of my door because I really, really had to pee. By the time I was heading back to the door, he’d come home…and promptly tripped on them. I heard him hit his door with a thud, then curse me out.”