Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 88456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
“I’m going to go see my family,” she says, putting her hand to her stomach, so I know she’s nervous.
“Do you want me to come with you?” I ask, and she shakes her head.
“Me, I know they won’t harm.” She gets on her tippy-toes and puts her hands on my shoulders. “You, it’s a toss-up.” She walks away from me, and I snatch her wrist in my hand, pulling her to me. “What the—”
“Kiss,” I demand, bending and kissing her lips softly. “Now you can go.”
“One of these days…” She pretends to be irritated as she walks away from us, mumbling something I think has to do with me and my death.
I watch her as she walks through the lobby to the back of the hotel. “I thought I was crazy getting involved with Grace,” Caine says, and I look back at him as he shakes his head, “but Zoey?” His face fills with a grimace. “The whole family is like big and beefy.” He motions to his arm, exaggerating the muscles.
I chuckle, trying not to let it get to me. “Your in-laws have guns. And not just like one or two.”
He nods. “Yeah, but, like, it’s one shot, and I’m a goner.” He laughs. “For you, it’s drawn out. If one gets tired, they tap out, and another one comes to kick your ass.”
I move into the lobby, going to the desk and giving the woman my name. Of course the whole hotel is booked out for the family. “Like, seriously, what the fuck are you thinking?” Caine asks when she hands me the keys to my room.
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” I answer him honestly. “All I knew is we were sitting down and she looked more beautiful than anyone I’ve ever seen in my life. All I could think was I want to make her mine.”
“So you ask her to date you. Jesus, you don’t marry her.” He shakes his head. “That makes more sense than ‘Hey, let’s get married.’”
“I was in the moment.” I shrug, and I’m about to say something else when I look over and see Stone and Christopher coming my way. “Oh, fuck,” I mumble, “here we go.”
“I’m going to be very fucking pissed at you if you make me fight on my family vacation,” Caine hisses as they get closer. Stone’s face is full of fury, while Christopher looks like he’s trying not to burst out laughing.
“There you are,” Stone says, then looks around. “Where the hell is my sister?”
“She went that way.” Caine points to the right. “She just left. If you hurry, you might catch up to her.”
“You’re really married?” Stone asks, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Yup,” I answer, trying not to be rude but also trying to tell him I’m no pushover.
“What the fuck?” he seethes.
“It was spur of the moment.” I look at him and then Christopher.
“I wasn’t invited either,” Caine adds, pointing at himself. “I think they wanted it intimate.”
“They wanted it intimate?” Christopher laughs at Caine’s words. “They weren’t even dating.”
“Well, we’re married.” I hold up my hand. “I’m sorry we did it without telling anyone, but…” I smile when I think about that night. “I won’t be sorry I married her.” He just stares at me. “I will say, best fucking thing I did in my whole life, hands down.” I slap Caine’s shoulder. “Now, if you guys will excuse me, I’m going to go find my wife.”
“You mean my sister,” Stone grumbles, and it’s then Christopher just bursts out laughing.
“I’m sorry, dude, I tried to keep from laughing.” He slaps Stone’s shoulder. “I was ready to pounce, but you sounded like Uncle Matthew right then.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Stone growls. “This isn’t finished,” he tells me, and I look over my shoulder.
“I hope when you have the chance, and you think about you and Ryleigh”—I turn to look at him—“and how if you had the chance to make her yours permanently, would you have taken the chance for her to change her mind or would you have married her on sight and not cared about anything else but her?” He doesn’t say anything. “That’s what I thought. And between us, you can be pissed at me about all of this but just don’t take it out on Zoey. You want to be pissed and take out your frustration, I’m more than happy for you to take it out on me. Whatever you want to dish, I’ll take it.” I stare into his eyes. “But you treat her like you always have.”
“She’s my sister, you know that?” Stone reminds me.
I nod at his statement. “Yeah, she is.” I smirk before the smile washes off my face, and he sees I’m not playing with this. “I will take her far away from here if anyone makes her fucking sad.” My voice is tight. “Because now that’s my job, to keep her happy and safe.” I see him watch me. “Since, you know, she’s my wife.”