Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 75240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 251(@300wpm)
“My parents were awesome parents, until we lost my sister,” he looked out the window, keeping his eyes straight ahead as he spoke. “I honestly don’t know what happened with them since then. They’re scared to lose their only other child because of his dangerous job, and then you show up, and you’re the only one I want to stay with after they’ve had the scare of their lives. You have to cut them some slack.”
I closed my eyes in defeat.
“And they’ll come around. I swear to you. They’ll come around. And I have a secret weapon.” He turned his face to mine, a grin a mile wide splitting his face.
“What’s that?” I waited.
“Elise.”
I smiled then.
Yeah, Elise was a good ice breaker. She was so stinkin’ cute that it would be hard to deny her.
“Don’t you think that’ll be too hard on them?” I asked worriedly.
He shook his head.
“They miss my niece,” he admitted. “But that doesn’t mean they don’t have room in their heart for more baby kisses. And I’ll prove it to you tomorrow. Trust me.”
I nodded once.
“You’re the boss.”
His grin morphed into a leer.
“I like it when you say my name like that.”
I got out of the car laughing, and continued to enjoy myself for the rest of the night.
***
“Hello,” I held out my hand.
The man that’d just raced Bowe took my hand.
“It’s nice to finally meet you,” he said, his deep voice making my arms break out in goosebumps.
I smiled politely. “Bowe’s obviously been telling you a lot more about me than me about you.”
The man, Jack, grinned. “Is that so?”
Bowe snorted.
“Jack had a background check ran on you,” Bowe said. “He’s trying to find out everything he can about Troy and that includes looking into your background.”
That last part he added before I could lose my shit.
I immediately backed down, and Jack’s smile—which had previously been small—widened at the indignation that had crossed over my face.
“So what did you learn?” I snapped.
Jack’s amused smile fled.
“That you’ve had a hard life and that Troy made it harder.” Jack’s eyes were penetrating. “I’m not going to let him dig those claws in any deeper, darlin’. I’m going to find something on him and whoever’s working to help him get out of his shit. And when I do, Troy’s going down.”
And for some reason, I one hundred percent believed him.
I knew he’d follow through on his word, and I couldn’t say I was sorry that Jack was going to do it any way he thought he needed to. Even if he accidentally hurt Troy in the process.
I looked down at my hands that were twisting together with nerves.
“I’m nervous,” I admitted. “I’m scared. And I’m honestly worried that all this is going to come back to bite me in the ass.”
Something beeped on the loud speaker, and I took my eyes away from my hands to glance at the crowd around me.
The Lonestar Speedway had recently been revamped.
I’d never been to it before it’d been revamped, but the ‘improved’ speedway was quite scary, so I was sure the previous version of the speedway was likely terrifying.
Jack’s big body crowded me, and I looked up to see him grabbing a hold of his wife’s hand, moving even closer to me.
“The race is about to start,” he indicated the asphalt area down below.
“What do they race?” I asked as I walked on one side of Jack, and Winter walked on the other.
“Some race for pink slips,” Jack started.
I held my hand up. “What do you mean? Pink slips?”
“Titles. Sometimes they race and the winner gets the loser’s car title.” he explained.
I nodded for him to continue.
“Others, like Bowe, are just racing for bragging rights. He doesn’t want to lose his car if he doesn’t win; most drivers don’t.” Jack pointed to a couple of seats that were near the top.
I sat down, and Winter pushed past her husband to sit directly next to me, leaving him the seat on the end.
I smiled at her and looked forward, wondering how I’d made a new friend so fast.
I hadn’t even tried!
But Winter was easy to like.
The moment Bowe knew we’d hit it off—which was over a freakin’ package of M&M’s—he left me with Jack, who wasn’t racing until much later in the night, and headed to his car.
His car which had magically appeared. I suspected my brother had a lot to do with that, though.
Not that he’d told me he was going to be here.
“Your brother has twins?” Winter asked, leaning her head against her husband’s shoulder as she did.
I nodded my head. “Yes. They have another child who’s nearly three, too. They’re quite busy.”
Winter snorted.
“I’m sure they are. One at a time is hard enough. I couldn’t imagine two,” she admitted.
Jack grumbled something that I couldn’t quite hear, but Winter did, and laughed.