Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 103033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103033 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
I panted around Daddy’s fingers, and I shuddered and shuddered.
“Jesus fuckin’ Christ, Gael…” He blew out a breath and squeezed me to him. “Holy fuck. Now I regret making plans for the day.”
Ewww, plans.
We should totally stay here for hours and hours.
Let me repeat. Ewww, plans.
I couldn’t help but be a little nervous when we parked outside of a huge hangar, the place Colt had built his business with two others. MadCo Sec was written in big white letters across the black background of the hangar, and the property stood out among the nearby agricultural businesses with their silos and fields.
On the other side of those metal doors were Colt Carter and his Air Force friends.
Hopefully, I’d get over most of my shyness soon. I wanted to be social and have a bunch of friends—and I felt meeting Santiago would be a big help. It went without saying I became braver when he held my hand, but at the same time, it was a little bit like cheating. I had to do the work. I had to reach out to people.
“It’s not as cold today, is it?” Santiago glanced up at the overcast sky. “Spring shouldn’t be too long now.”
I scrunched my nose. It was plenty cold to me. “Your definition of not cold needs some work, Daddy.”
He cracked a smile at me and squeezed my hand. “I love hearing you call me that.”
Ugh, don’t make me horny again.
I was so sore.
He opened the door, and we were met by loud voices coming from inside.
Oh wow. I’d stupidly not expected the place to look like a hangar inside—I didn’t know why—but that was exactly what it was. The vaulted sides were made up of two stories of offices in glass, though I couldn’t see through it, so I could only assume they were offices. The rest was wide open, from the painted concrete floor to the high ceiling where fans and big lamps hung.
They had a café area in the back, and an actual basketball hoop—oh my goodness! Kit was here! He was sitting in the circular front-desk type thing. I hadn’t seen him because he was being crowded by Colt and some other people, and it looked like they were eating something.
“That’s a winner.” The man who spoke—I recognized him. It had to be Ty. He was a member at House Mclean too.
“I don’t know.” Colt was hesitating. “Luke’s gonna want the meringue one.”
“He told you to pick three,” Kit said in a reminding tone.
Oh, it was cake. As two guys left the area, I saw the setup of at least ten pieces of cake on the desk.
“I guess we picked the right day to visit,” Santiago said.
All attention shifted to us, and Kit lit up.
“Gael! And Santiago! Um. Holding hands!”
Cue traitorous blush!
Not to mention the biggest case of butterflies.
“Would ya look at that.” Colt grinned lazily and stuck his plastic spoon into his mouth. “Kit, go get us some coffee—maybe soda for the kid. I think Santiago takes his with milk.”
“Yes, Sir! I know what Gael likes. Can he come with me?” Kit asked.
I glanced up at Santiago for permission.
“In a moment,” he said, kissing the top of my head. He released my hand. “I kinda need you here for the first part.”
Oh, okay. No problem. Kit and I could catch up later.
Ty let out a whistle and summoned the remaining three employees, and he told them to meet up with him in the lab. Whatever that meant. What did they have a lab for? Or perhaps it was something else in the security business.
Kit scurried off to the dining area, and Santiago and Colt shook hands.
“What brings you guys by?” Colt asked.
Santiago placed a hand at the top of my head. “This one, as you know, has an ex who can’t let go.”
Mm-hmm, he’d told both Colt and Dean about Caleb—but I couldn’t exactly be annoyed. Dean had been there yesterday when Santiago had found the letter, and Colt apparently had what we needed for my detective Daddy’s next step of the plan.
Colt inclined his head and glanced at me quickly. He wasn’t wearing his Sadist cape at work, so I didn’t get frazzled. He was concerned, if anything.
“Come on, let’s go to one of the conference rooms.” Colt nodded at the glass-encased offices behind him. “Has the fucker reached out?”
“Yeah, yesterday,” Santiago responded. “Well, we found a letter yesterday, but it could’ve been delivered anywhere between Tuesday and Sunday.”
I should probably check my mailbox more often.
As we were shown into a room with a long table inside, Santiago filled Colt in on the details, and he shared his suspicion that Caleb enjoyed making me scared—like it was a game to him. So now, Santiago wanted to throw out some bait.
“I’m listenin’,” Colt said.
I sat down next to Santiago, and Colt got seated at the head of the table with a notepad and a pen.