Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
She shook her head. “Don’t you dare. That’s our family in there, but I wanted a couple of minutes where it’s just us.”
Us had been him and Charlie, and now that one word meant something more. Us meant two sweet girls who would likely drive their father utterly mad.
He reached for her with his free hand. He always wanted the connection with her. “Think you’ll ever want more?”
Charlie’s eyes widened. “Eventually, yes. I thought I would have to fight you on it.”
He shook his head. “No. I get it. I think I thought if we had kids, I would have to share you and I do, but I also thought somewhere in the back of my head that I wouldn’t be me anymore. I’m just a different me. I like this me, Charlie. Best thing I ever did was to open that door and welcome you home.”
Her jaw dropped. “You are such a liar, Ian Taggart. You gave me hell.”
Sometimes it was good to be him. “Not how I remember it.” He was good with his revisionist history. When she started to argue with him, he hushed her. “You’ll wake the babies.”
The gorgeous gleam in her eyes promised retribution. And he would take it. He would take everything he could get from her and give her back all of himself.
He held her hand and rocked while inside his family waited.
A man couldn’t ask for anything more.
3
Adam Tells All
Adam Tells all takes place between Master No and Just One Taste.
Ian moved through the office, his mind on one thought and one thought only. It was the most important thought in his brain. He had to concentrate, had to focus because if he didn’t, he lost out and the world would flip. This was the most important truth in the world.
There was only one lemon tart left.
He should have picked it up earlier, but he’d been a dumbass. He was going to buy that damn mini fridge he’d had his eye on. That way he could hide the treats Macon Miles sent up to McKay-Taggart.
There were technically three Miles brothers. Some douchebag twit, Adam, and the Pie Maker. Douchebag Twit and Adam had been false starts in the Miles DNA chain. Sure Adam had his uses, but the dude didn’t provide him with pie. All Adam provided was sarcasm, and he had enough of that in his daily life. Macon was the prize. He was the man who could take something as humble as the simple lemon and turn it into a symphony for the taste buds.
Thinking about the Miles brothers made his brain go to the honest to god truth. To the real place his every thought went to. He’d lost his brother. He’d failed and now there were three Taggarts where once there had been four.
He stopped in the middle of the hall, the truth once again nearly sending him to his knees. It had been weeks since they’d lost Theo and every time it hit him like a fucking freight train from nowhere. His first impulse was to go to his knees and howl out his pain.
His daughters wouldn’t know their uncle. They wouldn’t have his unique presence in their life. He wouldn’t know his brother as fully as he should have.
Erin had lost her love, her should-have-been husband.
It was on him. He’d been in charge. He’d overridden Ten, who thought Erin should have been second. He’d put Theo there because he’d played to his instincts. He’d let logic go in favor of affection. He’d wanted Theo to get what he’d longed for, and it had cost Theo his life.
His youngest brother.
“Ian!”
That shout saved him from hitting his knees and screaming.
He looked up and felt his eyes widen as Adam strode down the hall, his left arm pointing Ian’s way.
Thank god. Something else to focus on.
“I figured it out, you son of a bitch!” Adam had the most triumphant look in his eyes.
He let out a long breath and silently blessed Adam’s cantankerous nature. “Figured out what?”
Adam stopped, his eyes softening for a moment as though he knew what Ian was thinking. As if Adam knew about the war going on inside his head.
“Don’t,” Ian warned. He couldn’t take a moment’s sympathy. “Don’t you fucking dare. Finish what you started.”
Adam pointed a finger his way. “Oh, brother, I’m not doing this in private. Break room. Right now.”
He shot Adam the finger, but he was fairly certain Adam understood that he’d saved him from a moment’s weakness.
He couldn’t cry. That was only for Charlie. She got his softest self, that place no one else could touch.
“Oh. I’m coming, you bastard.” He followed Adam. He might as well have thanked the fucker.
His brothers always knew what he needed.
He hit the break room with a smile on his face. Adam had done his job as the resident drama king. Everyone had gathered.