Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 102719 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102719 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 342(@300wpm)
Tuck’s gaze burns a hole in the side of my head. I glance up at the sky. Stars are clouded over tonight. A sign from the universe I need to stop thinking about Lu fucking Wade already.
“You’re telling me your horny, angsty, eighteen-year-old self broke up with the gorgeous rich girl because y’all, and I quote, ‘came from different worlds’?”
I search his eyes. One of the things I love most about Tuck is his ability to sniff out bullshit. Guy’s got the nose of a bloodhound when it comes to the truth.
Also makes him a huge pain in the ass sometimes.
“Doesn’t matter anymore. Happened a lifetime ago.”
“That’s all you’re gonna give me?”
I look at him. “That’s all you need. I’m fine.”
“Good. ’Cause I don’t need to tell you I can’t have you getting all weird on me during Labor Day weekend, right? I know you’re technically out of the office, and we got it handled. But if shit hits the fan—”
“I’m not being weird.” I look at the Gibbes’s house across the marina. My heart lurches when I think I see a door open. Close. I squint to get a better look, leaning perilously over Dolly’s railing. “Besides, we’re supposed to have all our deckhands back tomorrow. You should probably get going. Your mama—”
“Took Katie to Georgetown for the night to see my sister.”
“How is Jen?”
“She’s all right. I wish she’d move her ass to Bald Head already. I don’t think she’s been happy for a while where she is now.”
I squint harder at the shadows that dance along the water’s edge on the far side of the marina. Is that someone on the sidewalk? Abel, maybe, going for a run? He lives right around the corner.
Or it’s someone from the Gibbes’s house.
Yep, that’s definitely a person on the sidewalk. No huge, shirtless grump in sight, though. The person is walking quickly, sticking to the shadows. Heading toward Stede’s, my restaurant.
“Nice.” My gaze is glued to the figure. “But on your night off from parenting, you’re bugging me? You deserve better company than that. Go find a friend.”
“I got plenty of friends.”
I absently reach down to pet Tom’s head, my fingers meeting with a knot on his ear. He needs to be groomed. “Of the female variety.”
“As I said, I got plenty of friends. But it’s you, my friend who not only commits felonies but admits it, that I’m worried about.”
I swing my head to look at Tuck. “I can’t be the only felon you know.”
“Not by a long shot. But you’re the only felon who also happens to be my boss. And my baby’s godfather.”
“I told you Katie deserved better.”
“She’s four. She’s thrilled by the fact you live on a boat and give her ice cream for lunch. You got the godparent thing down.”
“But the life thing—”
“You have that down too.” He glances around my boat. “Goes without saying. I just don’t understand what’s got you so off-kilter if you and this chick broke up when y’all were barely out of high school. That was a hundred years ago.”
“It was a hundred years ago.” But today, holding that girl in my arms, it felt like yesterday.
I look back out over the marina. The figure—she’s got legs for days.
Legs I’d know anywhere.
My stomach seizes. I straighten and curl my hand into a fist. What the fuck is she doing walking in the dark alone? Bald Head is about as safe a place as they come in terms of crime, but still. She could step on a snake. Trip on a root and fall in the water.
Did today’s impromptu meet-and-greet fuck with her head too?
Good reason for her to be running toward the island’s only bar alone.
Or maybe she just wants a drink. An escape from her family.
Whatever her reason, I should make sure she gets there safely, right?
“I gotta go.” Turning, I whistle for Tom to follow me and head for the cabin. I may own Stede’s, but even I can’t show up to a restaurant without a shirt on.
But Tuck grabs my arm and looks me square in the eye. “I can’t do my job if you’re not telling me the whole story.”
“I’m good.”
“I’m worried.”
“Don’t be. We’ll make it work without the extra guys—”
“I’m worried about you, jackass.”
“I need to do this.” I keep my voice low. “Just—gimme tonight. I promise I’ll have my head screwed on straight tomorrow, all right?”
He glances over his shoulder at the figure moving closer. “Didn’t you just say you didn’t need to see her again?”
“I did. But it’s dark, and I . . .”
I know I’m being an idiot, but my curiosity is getting the better of me.
He looks at me for another beat before he drops my arm. “Be good, you hear?”
“I’m always good.”
Except when Lu is involved.
Then, I behave very, very badly.