Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
“What are you doing?” Hack asked.
Standing suddenly from where she’d been searching through a lower cupboard, she whacked her head against the shelf.
“Ow! Ouch, ouch, ouch!”
“Shit! Greer!” Suddenly, he was in front of her. “Baby. Are you all right? Is your head hurting? Can you see okay? Anything blurry? Any nausea?”
“I’m okay. It was just a small bang. I’m fine.”
“You need to come sit down. Which is what you were supposed to be doing,” he said sternly, leading her back into the living room. “Right, baby. Let’s check you over, yeah?”
“She’s not your baby,” Cash said from the doorway.
She glanced up, blinking away her tears to see him glaring down at Hack.
Damn it. She didn’t think she could take any more tension. She had a headache, and she was tired and hungry. As well as emotional.
“You’re crying. Why is she crying?” Cash asked Hack. “What did you do? You need to leave and we’ll call a proper doctor.”
“I am a proper doctor. I have a stethoscope, so I must be a real doctor.” He winked at her as he opened his bag and brought the stethoscope out. “They don’t just give these away. And Tater Tot here is in tears because she hit her head. She wasn’t sitting, like I told her to.” He gave her a stern look.
Uh-oh. Was he going to punish her? Would he finally give her that spanking?
“She doesn’t have to do what you tell her. And what’s with all the nicknames?”
“Just trying them out for size,” Hack replied mildly. “Although I’m quite fond of Ladybug.”
“Why? Because I’m small?” she asked.
“Hmm. Something like that.” He had a faint smile on his face, and she went to question him further when Cash’s phone rang again.
He left with a frown on his face. Worry filled her.
“Hey, look at me,” Hack said.
She raised her gaze to look into his gorgeous, green eyes. “I missed you.”
Shit. Had she really said that?
“Good. Because I missed you too.”
“You did? What did you miss? Having to talk me out of a panic attack? The way I just blurt out everything I’m thinking? Getting woken up in the middle of the night from my nightmares? Or let me guess . . . it was having me climb you every time you wanted to leave me for more than five minutes.”
He ran his thumbs over her cheeks. “I missed all of it. Including your sweet smile and your sass. Have you been sleeping? You look exhausted.”
She was bone dead tired.
“Just a bit tired. Three young boys are a lot. I don’t know how Livvy and Aidan do it.”
“Poor baby. You’ve been through a lot today.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Saying goodbye to Sav and Livvy. Coming home and hurting yourself. Is this the first time you’ve seen Cash since he returned?”
“Yeah. It is. He’s different . . . I mean, I didn’t expect him to be the same. I just . . . I don’t know.” She shrugged sadly.
“I can’t imagine how you’re feeling. Here, let me check you over, and if you’re a good girl, you can choose something from my treasure chest.”
“I’ve got to go.” Cash walked in, looking harried.
Worry filled her. “Go where? You just got here. What’s going on? Is everything all right?”
“Yeah. Sorry,” he said distractedly. “I’ll call you.”
“But you need my number. Why don’t you come back later . . . stay with me while Aidan’s gone?”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” Cash couldn’t look at her.
Fear filled her. What if he walked out the door and never came back? Like last time?
Shit. Her heart was racing and she recognized that she was on the verge of a panic attack. She hadn’t thought she’d react like this. Yeah, it had been awful when Cash just disappeared. They’d thought he was dead. But she’d coped. She hadn’t felt like this.
But somehow, knowing that he’d been alive all this time . . . it made things worse. It made her fearful that it would happen all over again.
An epiphany hit her. Was this why she’d kept clinging to Hack the other day? Had she feared he’d walk away, never to be seen again?
“I think I have abandonment issues,” she muttered.
“Baby girl,” Hack said, watching her with worry.
“Shit. I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”
She was such an idiot sometimes. She slapped her uninjured hand down on her thigh.
Ouch. She forgot about the scrapes on her palm.
“Hey, stop that,” Hack said firmly, taking hold of her hand.
“What’s wrong?” Cash asked, moving toward her.
“Nothing. Everything’s fine.” He hadn’t heard what she’d said, had he?
But instead of looking at her with pity or worry, he was glaring at Hack. “Are you going to be all right with this guy?”
“What? Yes, of course. Hack would never harm me.”
“But you could stay if you’re so worried,” Hack added. “You know, you haven’t seen your sister in years. You could spend some time with her instead of rushing off.”