Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 33887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 169(@200wpm)___ 136(@250wpm)___ 113(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 169(@200wpm)___ 136(@250wpm)___ 113(@300wpm)
“Canoodling in a corner, of course.”
They turned in the direction of a familiar voice and saw Dru standing there, smiling brightly at them, her flame-red hair in an updo, her column gown stunning.
“I hate to break this up,” she continued, “but we’re sitting, and I need all the help I can get to break the tension, because Roland is here, and Nora is annoyed, but Dad is super pissed.”
Roland was Nora’s ex-husband, and it hadn’t been lost on any of them, particularly Jamie, that he’d been sniffing around Nora for months now.
“Interesting,” Elsa said under her breath.
“I wish Dad would just go there and put a stop to this,” Dru groused. “He’s being supremely aggravating.”
Hale and Elsa exchanged a glance at that, because of all of the crew, Dru was the only one they didn’t know if Nora had her blessing, and it simply wasn’t right to ask a daughter who lost her mother if she was okay with her dad having another woman in his life. Even Elsa couldn’t figure out how to wring that info from her.
But they had the answer to that now.
“Anyway!” Dru cried brightly. “See you in there.” She made to take off but turned back and said, “Oh, and thanks for that huge bid on the necklace, Elz. Wow! Amazing! And it’ll look stunning on you.”
Only then did she spirit away.
Hale tucked his woman’s hand in his elbow and drew them out of the alcove, asking, “How large was your bid on that?”
“Don’t ask, just pray for a cure.”
Her answer meant, when they walked into the ballroom where the dinner had been set up, all his tension was gone.
And Hale was laughing.
Hard.
CHAPTER 9
THRIVING
Hale
The next night, they’d assumed their customary after-dinner places when he and Elsa went to Tom and Mika’s for dinner.
As had become customary, Tom and Hale were in armchairs at the back of the long living room. Mika and Elsa were also in their usual places when he and his woman came for dinner. They were cackling with each other on a couch at the front.
However, this time, he wouldn’t have to pour Elsa in the car due to her level of inebriation because the women weren’t downing after-dinner cocktails like it was an event in the Olympics and they were in training. And Mika, being her usual awesome, wasn’t imbibing because Elsa couldn’t.
Tom started it.
“You seem better.”
He tore his focus off his fiancée and looked to Tom.
“It’s a relief to know what it is,” he shared. “I sat down with Heath today.” (Heath was his head of security.) “And I told him where my head was at. He wasn’t surprised. And he assured me, since I told them the news, they’d already begun preparatory planning and training, whatever that means for them. I didn’t ask. He didn’t offer the info. We were both good with that. But it made me feel a little better. He also told me he wanted another person on our security team, and whoever has the baby with them has two people on them. He then strongly advised that we keep this up until the kid is at least fifteen or sixteen, if we’re all together or she’s with one of us, two guards. But definitely, once the baby is old enough to go out and do stuff herself, she has her own bodyguard, something he didn’t need to tell me. That was a given.”
“She?” Tom asked.
Hale felt his lips quirk. “I’m manifesting.”
Tom chuckled.
“She hasn’t admitted it, but Elsa is manifesting something else, and I think she has the upper hand,” Hale remarked.
“Sadly for you both, genetics have the upper hand,” Tom reminded him.
Hale shrugged good-naturedly and took a sip of his bourbon.
“I’m pleased you’re tackling the things you need to tackle,” Tom said. “It lends a sense of control.”
“Mm,” Hale murmured in agreement.
“I’m sad to say, the concern doesn’t ever go away.”
Hale’s mellow mood fled.
“You get used to it,” Tom added. “But it doesn’t go away.”
“Brilliant,” Hale groused.
“Hale.” Tom said his name in a way that Hale’s focus on him intensified. “A lot is happening in your life. Your business. Your mission. Falling in love. Being engaged. Having a baby. Genny with Duncan. Me with Mika. New family members. Chloe finding Judge. Your dad.”
Hale drew in a breath and held it.
And Tom carried on.
“I remind you of all of this because it’s important to have done so when I say what I’m going to say next. This being, that concern never going away isn’t about stalkers and photographers. It’s about being a parent.”
Hale let the breath out in a whoosh.
Tom kept speaking.
“I can understand that didn’t occur to you, and why, the reason for that something I just explained. But even if you weren’t you, and Elsa wasn’t Elsa, you’d be worried about everything under the sun, and finding some way to protect your child from it.”