Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 145091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145091 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
“Of course, his friend would say that.”
“In this I am honest,” Kyle replied. “Drake and I were friends, still are, though there are reasons we’re not comfortable with each other anymore.”
Taylor didn’t want the well of sympathy that hit her. Friendship was hard for Drake. She remembered how easily they’d clicked when they were kids and how that had seemed like such a miraculous thing. And then she hadn’t seen him for years and they’d clicked again.
Was Kim right? Was she mourning the loss of potential she’d seen in Drake? The loss of the life she could have had? She didn’t want to think she was so shallow, but she couldn’t fix the problem if she wasn’t willing to face it.
“How was he this afternoon?” Kim asked. “Is he still trying to get you kicked off? Or did he listen to his dick brain?”
Such a weird world she found herself in. She kind of liked it. The last eighteen months of her life she’d been isolated, and when she did have interactions with other people they were serious. “No. He treated me professionally this afternoon.”
She’d missed those moments when they’d watched Kyle’s parents arrive and had fun with the drama. She’d enjoyed being so close to him, being able to lean back and feel him against her. There had been a deep sweetness to those moments that scared the hell out of her.
“And he made moon eyes at her.” Kyle’s eyes went wide and he fluttered his lashes. “He acted like a twelve-year-old girl with a crush.”
“When I was a twelve-year-old girl with a crush I would punch people,” Kim countered.
“Okay, he acted like a simpering girl and not a badass girl. Can we please acknowledge that prepubescent girls with crushes run a whole spectrum of behavior and Drake’s was the girliest girl of them all?” Kyle corrected. “Hey, Mom, Uncle Ian. I was just telling Taylor that Drake likes her and if he passes her a note during the classified meeting she should check yes, she likes him, too.”
“I think the afternoon conference went well,” Ian said. “Way better than the morning one. Well, everyone except Tucker’s kids, but I can’t blame them. They have Tucker’s DNA and are being raised as free-range kids. Now I see why Charlie thought that was a bad idea. I’m pretty sure I saw the boy trying to ride a goat, and Violet thought the St. Andrew’s Cross needed glitter. Not sure Sandra’s seen that yet.”
Grace’s head shook. “Those children were perfectly well behaved.” Her gorgeous face frowned. “Which is more than I can say for mine.”
Kyle’s hands came up. “Hey, I don’t know what David did, but I had nothing to do with it.”
“Yes, David is the problem,” Grace replied.
“Oh, are they about to go at it again?” Drake was suddenly behind her, his voice a warm caress at her ear.
Kim tilted her head slightly, acknowledging the man behind Taylor. “I think so. They got interrupted by the conference thing. I heard Kyle ran the minute Brad gave him the slightest work excuse. And by heard, I mean saw because I’m using this whole thing as a way to practice my spy skills.”
“David? Seriously? You think your sweet, never-done-anything-wrong-in-his-life professor brother is the problem here?” Grace asked, rounding on her son and managing to not spill a drop of her champagne.
“In his life?” Kyle’s eyes had gone wide. “Oh, how you forget our childhood.”
“Excellent.” Drake’s reply came with a sexy chuckle, and she felt a hand on her arm. “I would love to listen to any good gossip you hear.”
Kyle and his mom were arguing about something Kyle called the Great Root Beer Flood Incident, but Taylor turned to Drake. He was excellent at keeping her on her toes. It was time to start jarring him, too.
“I heard some gossip about you and Big Tag’s dick brain,” she announced under her breath.
She expected Drake to get upset. Most men did when she called them on their shit. Instead Drake’s lips curled up in what seemed like a genuinely joyful expression, and he winked at Kim. “Your spy skills are still excellent, Solo.”
Kim tipped her glass his way. “I’m glad you approve.”
“And I hope she explained that Big Tag uses his dick as a metaphor,” Drake explained. “He’s kind of the Yoda of relationship stuff for our group, but instead of making me levitate and use a light saber, I have to survive him talking about his junk in incredibly explicit ways. But his advice almost always works.”
Kim nodded. “He strangely is excellent at the romance advice. He’s even stopped gagging when he uses the word love. I think the old guy is softening up.”
“Well, parts of him at least,” Drake agreed.
“Mom, I’m sorry I didn’t call. I was busy trying to save Deke and Maddie,” Kyle said, a deeply righteous tone to his voice. “I was working. I couldn’t stop the op to call my mom. And don’t tell me I should have texted. You never respect the text. I text, you call, and then the bad guy gets to listen in on me explaining I’m working.”