Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 67553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
But, surprising the hell out of me, the first thing I saw when I walked out of the bathroom was Shasha on my couch, covered in my ghost dog lap blanket I’d gotten from Target in October, watching a soccer match on television.
It was loud, too, so I’m unsure how I hadn’t heard it before.
My face flushed when I saw him there, and I wondered if I could toss my body down the garbage shoot in the hall and die on impact.
“Do you like football?” he asked curiously.
I was so surprised by his question that I didn’t think to curb my tongue.
“Uh, that’s not football. It’s soccer,” I pointed out.
“It’s football everywhere else but here, and when you have friends and family that refer to it as football and football only, you kind of adopt their language.” He paused, glancing over his shoulder at me, taking me in. “Everything come out all right?”
I opened my mouth and closed it, gasping in shock.
He’d gone there.
He’d really just gone there.
“Uh, yeah.” I hesitated. “Just great.”
He winked at me, then patted the couch. “Does that happen often?”
I reluctantly took up a seat next to him, but not completely going into his body because I was still stunned.
He pulled me into him, threw his arm around my shoulder, and I did a face dive into his hard abs.
If I had to die, this would be the best way to go.
“Does it happen often?” he repeated.
I sighed and closed my eyes, giving in. “Every time I eat dairy.”
“I felt like Chinese would be a good bet since it wasn’t cheesy, but didn’t think about the eggs,” he admitted.
“Eggs, milk, cream, butter…shit. Any dairy, really. And there’s no rhyme or reason to it. Some stuff I can stomach just fine. Others, not so much.” I sighed. “I literally had this same thing last week with no consequences. So I think that the world just wanted me to be embarrassed as fuck.”
“There’s nothing, absolutely nothing, to be embarrassed about,” he pointed out. “And I don’t want you to think you ever have to hide any part of you from me. Even the ones you deem embarrassing.”
I sighed, settling into his heat.
“I don’t feel like you’re real, Shasha.”
“I’m real, Kisa. I’m real.”
I fell asleep to his words replaying in my brain.
I’m real, Kisa. I’m real.
I need to let it go? I’ll actually take it to the grave, thanks.
—Shasha’s secret thoughts
SHASHA
Meeting the family was not what I expected.
I fully expected the brothers—Ryler, Bronc, Holden, and Tibbs—to immediately dismiss me on general principle.
I was dangerous, and they knew it.
Why else would a man need a fully armored house?
I walked up the front steps of the old, worn-down farmhouse and into chaos.
The moment Brecken walked inside, we were assaulted by two huge sheepdogs.
They went absolutely nuts upon Brecken entering and assaulted her with kisses the moment she bent down to offer them her attention.
I watched as she soaked it all in and didn’t realize we had an audience until a throat cleared, causing me to look up.
I blinked when I saw all four brothers standing there, arms crossed, staring at me from only five feet away.
Had I really been that unobservant?
That was the kind of shit that got you dead.
“What are you doing here?” the eldest, Ryler, asked.
“He’s here with me, doofus.” Brecken rolled her eyes. “Which you know. Don’t be rude.”
“We told you to stay away from him,” Holden pointed out.
“And since when have I ever listened to anything that you say?” She snorted. “Come on, Shasha. I want you to meet the two more rational people in my family.”
I grinned then and followed her into the kitchen, surprised to see so much food all over the counters.
It was like Thanksgiving in the middle of January.
Jesus, there was so much food there was no way that they’d ever get through it all.
“If you’re wondering about the food,” McCoy, Brecken’s sister, said. “It’s because we skip Thanksgiving and Christmas meals and cook the second to last weekend in January because everything is on sale. It’s something we’ve done since before all of us were born, because everything is cheaper after the holidays.”
I nodded. “That makes sense.”
She held out her hand to me, and I took it, shaking it lightly before letting it go.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said simply.
“You, too.” She smiled, her eyes that she shared with her sister pivoting to take in Brecken. “He’s cute.”
“I know,” she sighed dreamily.
I, for fucking real, had a blush hit my cheeks.
Jesus, what the hell was that?
“Y’all disgust me,” Tibbs said as he came into the room. Then, almost as if the words had been dragged out of the pit of his soul, he asked, “Do you need help or anything?”
“No.” McCoy grinned, taking pity on him. “JJ and I are already done. All you need to do is find yourself a drink and sit down. We’ll be finished with everything in a few minutes.”