Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 28874 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 144(@200wpm)___ 115(@250wpm)___ 96(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28874 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 144(@200wpm)___ 115(@250wpm)___ 96(@300wpm)
“What is cocky?” My eyes drop to his crotch, making him chuckle.
“It means to have an ego. To boast too much.”
“Oh.” Then I know a lot of cocky men. “But don’t you have a reason to be?” He only shrugs.
I could imagine what would happen if one of the men from the compound had Garrett's size and the same skill set. They’d be terrorists.
Not Garrett, though. When he told me about his mom this morning, I could see his soft spot for women. She might be gone, but Garrett still holds respect for her. He wouldn’t do anything that would let her down, even if she’d never know about it. Men from my life don't respect women at all. You'd think maybe their moms or wives, but no. We're merely property to them.
I wish I could thank his mom for giving me this man. It would have been nice to grow up with a mom like her. She sounded wonderful. Life had dealt her some crap, but she always pushed on for her kids. When my mother had a rough day, she took it out on us. I grew up living in fear of her instead of being loved by her.
Garrett steps off the porch and places the drone on the ground. The snow is still coming down heavily, but not as much as last night. He comes back over to me, takes the pad to turn it on, then pulls out a controller.
“You hold the screen for us.” I take it back from him as the drone starts to rise from off the ground. I watch it in awe. Garrett flies it around for a bit, then lets me give it a try.
“This is so cool.” I didn’t even know things like this existed. I’m not sure how long we’re outside, but Garrett brings the drone back down before leading us back inside.
"We can have more fun with it later. I think you’ll enjoy it more when there isn’t a storm out. You can see a lot more.”
“You’re really good at it. Not sure how someone could be better.” Garrett sets everything down on the table in front of the fireplace.
“We can fly them inside buildings and through tight spaces all while taking out targets at the same time.”
“It can take people out?” Garrett starts to pull at my gloves to take them off for me. I love how he’s always trying to take care of me. I’ve never had someone besides Libby do that for me.
“Not this one, but yeah, some can fire shots.”
“You really have lived a wild life.”
“Wild?” He barks a laugh. “Never thought of it that way.”
“You have only given me small pieces, and it sounds wild to me. I can't fathom what you haven't shared with me." Garrett helps me out of my boots then starts to shed his own gear.
I really want him to open up to me. I want him to understand that I will not pass judgment on him. The same way he didn’t when I told him my story. I have faith that whatever Garrett has done, he did it on the side of what was right. He’s that kind of man.
“I suppose that life is really all I know. I joined up when I was eighteen. My brother and I moved fast up the ranks. We worked damn good together. He and I don’t even need to speak and we’re on the same page. It got us on a special unit.”
“A special unit?” I’m not exactly sure what that means.
“Top secret,” Garrett explains as he toes off his boots. "We carried out missions that were hidden from public knowledge. Direct orders from the president.”
“Holy crap.” Garret’s eyes search my face. “Not a bad holy crap, actually kind of cool.”
“It wasn’t always cool. It could get messy, and there were a couple of times when we were pretty sure we weren't coming back. If not for how well Ace and I were together, we wouldn’t have.”
I step closer to him. “So, you’re like some war hero?”
He gives me one of those shrugs of his. “You won’t see our names on any lists for medals or missions. We were ghosts.” I don’t think that bothers Garrett. He doesn’t have an ego that needs stroking. Pretty sure he knows who he is and what he is capable of. I wonder if he knows how much it draws me to him. He has a strong force around him. It’s alluring.
“But you don’t do those things anymore?” Gosh, it would be hard to watch him walk out the door and not be sure he’d ever come back. The thought alone has my stomach sinking.
“No, Ace and I both retired. We did private work for a bit, but when one job went sideways, I left that behind too. My brother still takes jobs. He occasionally tries to talk me into coming.”