Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 719(@200wpm)___ 575(@250wpm)___ 479(@300wpm)
I swept a flustered hand back at Hailey’s door.
“Oh, I doubt it was just. It sounded like a whole lot of something to me.”
A penciled-in brow arched toward the ceiling as she sent me a challenge, daring me to deny it.
Well, shit, this woman wasn’t about to tiptoe. She was just laying it out.
Blowing out a sigh, I shook my head like it could break up the disorder and changed paths. I headed into the kitchen where she’d been hiding out.
The woman was stealthier than a panther.
I leaned back against the island, chewing at the inside of my cheek, wondering what the hell was protocol in this sort of situation. It wasn’t like Hailey was a child, but I also didn’t want to come around here showing disrespect.
“I don’t think you were supposed to hear that,” I settled on.
She took a sip of her coffee. “Probably not, but I think the whole town might have heard.”
How was I supposed to respond?
Sorry, Lolly, it couldn’t be helped. Not when your granddaughter was blowing my mind.
She laughed at my discomfort, playfulness edging her features as she studied me where I itched. “I’m not here to judge. I’ve been trying to get my granddaughter to step out and have a little fun myself.”
Then her gaze narrowed. “And while I’m all about it, I am not sure fun is really in her makeup, and I feel I may have been pushing her in a direction she isn’t ready for, though it’s clear you are well-versed in the act.”
There was no missing the implication. What she was pushing at.
I was a player, good for a fuck, and Hailey was so much more than that.
Possession bound me at the thought. Regret crushing down because this felt different for the first time in my life. The connection I had with Hailey.
I had no idea how to hang onto it, but God knew, I was going to try.
“I have no intention of hurting your granddaughter.”
“No?” Speculation lifted her brow, the woman searching me like she could see right through to my secrets. To every wrong I’d ever committed. To every lie I’d ever told.
“No.”
She hesitated, calculating, gauging whether I was being honest or not. Deciding if she could trust me.
She seemed to come to a conclusion, and every bit of the impishness she normally wore vanished.
Her voice dropped lower than the stillness that echoed around us. “She needs a man who isn’t going to be afraid of standing for her and her daughter. Someone who’s not a coward. Someone who can support her when he finds out—”
Whatever warning she was giving me cut off when a flurry of energy suddenly banged down the hall.
Maddie came running out, her hair a wild mess of warm blonde ringlets and that little bunny she carried with her everywhere hugged to her chest.
“Good morning, my Lolly and my favorite Mr. Cody! Are you makin’ breakfast? I am the hungriest and so is my Princess Verona!”
In unease, I shifted to look back at Lolly, to demand to know what she was talking about.
My hate for that bastard Pruitt had grown so fierce I thought I would choke on it. The truth that this was more than getting rid of a scorned ex.
The fucker was dangerous, but I’d already known that. Had felt it. Knew this was going to be a fight.
The graveness Lolly had been wearing had shifted, and she was smiling wide as she stood from the table.
“How did I know you were going to be hungry so early in the morning?” she asked as Maddie came barreling into the kitchen.
Maddie beamed. “Because you know all the important things about me, Lolly, and you love me with all your whole heart, right?”
My chest tightened in a damned fist.
Caught in the affection that bulged in the room. The devotion that banged against the walls, a gonging that claimed.
Warily, I watched the two of them, unsure where I stood, but somehow knowing I couldn’t move.
Lolly ran a tender hand through the little girl’s hair. “That’s right. With my whole heart. And that heart says we’d better get you fed, hadn’t we?”
“And don’t forget my Princess Verona!” Maddie held the stuffed bunny out in front of her, flopping it around.
“Never,” Lolly told her.
The old lady started to shuffle into the kitchen, but I pushed from the island. “You sit. I’ll handle breakfast.”
Surprise expanded her eyes, shrewdness lighting her expression, with this knowing as she reached out and curled her hand around my bicep. “Ah, I think that I might have been right about you.”
“That he’s the strongest, most tallest man with the biggest muscles in the whole wide world?” Maddie piped in from the side.
“That’s right, Maddie…” Her gaze twinkled. “He might just be strong enough.”
Disquiet gusted.
A sense coming in from the recesses of my mind, from the instincts seeded in my spirit.