Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 54968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
“Don’t fight it,” Celeste counseled without provocation. “I can see the wheels going a million kilometers an hour in your mind. It’s okay just to enjoy having Kestrel in your life. I can’t imagine how things would be for me without Hawking.”
Taking a deep breath, Zara exhaled and pushed away all her hovering fears. Maybe, for once, she could take someone at their word.
"Little girl!” Kestrel wrapped his arms around Zara, hugging her as he lifted her from her feet.
“Daddy!” she protested and then clapped her hand over her mouth as she looked around.
“No one cares, Little Swan. Well, the guys that haven’t found their Little girls are jealous, but they aren’t judging you for being Little,” Kestrel assured her.
Zara nodded and looked back again at everyone. Sadie sat on her Daddy’s lap, talking between kisses. Magnus was at his computer now that his workout was finished. Celeste rested against Hawking, who leaned against the wall. He rubbed her back as his Little relaxed against him. Phoenix and Caesar were getting the table ready for everyone’s dinner. It looked like a big family.
She looked back at Kestrel. He had lines around his eyes that he didn’t usually have. “You look tired.”
“I am tired. I had a bunch of flights together without the usual break because of some scheduling issues. I was just glad to get to have dinner with you,” he explained.
“What do you do on a flight?” she asked.
“You’ll have to come with me when we have a space.”
“Is that allowed?” Then, shaking her head, she added, “It’s probably not safe.”
“Dinner time,” Phoenix announced from behind.
He’d obviously heard part of their discussion because he asked, “Why couldn’t you take all the Littles up? Sadie could create a special time for you.”
“Oh, I don’t want to make you have to work more,” Zara said quickly.
“That’s not a problem. I love flying. The difficulty will be keeping you unnoticed and safe,” Kestrel shared. “Let’s have dinner, and the team will try to figure out how to make that happen.”
She allowed Kestrel to guide her to the table and sat next to him. As everyone settled in their spots, Kestrel leaned over to say, “Just so you know, we all talk about something as we help ourselves to the main course.”
“What?” she asked, totally confused.
“You’ll see.”
“Magnus, you start,” Rocco suggested.
“Damn speaking spoon,” Magnus muttered as he lifted the ladle from the large container of potato soup. “I searched for any threats or rumbles on the web today. There was nothing specific but some chatter got my attention. I’ll continue to follow up. The weather is also ramping up, so we need to make sure the resort is ready for a big storm, possibly at the end of the week.”
He handed the spoon to Phoenix. The large man said, “The resort didn’t have a weather emergency plan. My crews will start weather-proofing the resort slowly so that everything stays open until the last moment. Guests will want to enjoy all the amenities.”
Sadie stood to make it easier to dip soup from the container. When she hesitated, Rocco moved to help her. Grinning, Sadie picked up her smaller metal spoon to take her turn.
“Thanks, Daddy. Everything is going well on the guests’ side of the resort. We’re about two-thirds full, which is spectacular. Most are here with reservations, but we always have a few families that show up, hoping we have space. Today, we had three men come in separately. That was a bit strange, but from what I see, they’re vacationing.”
Zara felt Kestrel tense next to her. “What were they doing?” he asked.
“One went to the pool. Another walked the grounds. There was one in your helicopter today,” Sadie shared. “I’ll let you know if I see anything concerning. Oh, and Mark tracked me down to see if I’d seen Zara. He was concerned about her. I told him she was enjoying her new job.”
“He was very nice to me while I worked in the laundry room,” Zara commented. Mark had been interesting. He’d never looked at her as anything other than average.
“He must miss you working so hard,” Kestrel added.
When Sadie held the spoon out to Rocco, he accepted it with a smile and a “Thank you, Cookie. Guess it’s my turn.” Taking a moment, Rocco ladled himself some soup before adding, “Nothing exciting is happening on the bluff side. I think I had one of those single men today in a rock-climbing class. When he saw we weren’t going very high on the bluff, he wanted to know when the advanced class was. He wants to get a view of the area from above. Magnus, can you do a bit of digging into these guys?”
“Got them tagged as they arrived,” Magnus confirmed.
“Do you think they’re after me somehow?” Zara blurted. “Sorry. I don’t have the spoon, but I can’t wait to ask.”