Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 130673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 523(@250wpm)___ 436(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130673 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 523(@250wpm)___ 436(@300wpm)
His tone slapped the spirit out of her, and I watched her recoil. My blood zinged through my veins. In that moment, I knew I was capable of physically assaulting him for how he was treating my daughter.
Tucker turned back to me on the bench where we’d taken our lunch. “I was saying, if I were to send him a propo—”
“If you were to send him a proposal,” I started taciturnly, my voice frighteningly cold, “he’d use it to wipe his ass. Like me—and like Rhyland, Cal, and anyone who ever got to know you—he loathes you. Let me be clear once again about what this is. It’s about the one mutual thing we have in common.” I didn’t dare utter her name. As it was, she was busy using a fry to draw something in the mountain of ketchup on her tray. “You’ll get nothing else from it other than a relationship with that person. I don’t want you. Row doesn’t want to work with you. It is solely about her.”
Tucker’s face clouded with rage. I could tell his pride had taken a hit, and even though I didn’t particularly care, that same uneasiness, the sense of danger looming in the air, washed over me.
“Understood,” he clipped out. “How about we take it back to your place? I don’t think I’m the best version of myself when I’m overheated.”
What was he—a fucking sponge cake? Nonetheless, I happened to notice Grav’s cheeks were flushed under her sunscreen too, and it was almost time for her afternoon nap.
“You can’t stay more than half an hour,” I warned. “It’s almost her naptime.”
“Fine.”
We loaded ourselves into Jimmy and made our way back to the apartment. I was a ball of anxiety when I opened the door and invited him in. It felt too much like letting the devil into my den. For his part, Tucker tried to ask Gravity about her toys and stuffies. He shot me a disapproving glance when she introduced Mr. Mushroom to him. I watched them hawkishly, every muscle in my body ready to pounce in case he made a wrong move.
Tucker was on the carpet next to Gravity, doing a puzzle with her, when he shot his head up to eye me. “Where’s your boyfriend?”
“Fiancé,” I corrected. “And at work.”
“Mommy doesn’t have a boyfriend!” Gravity announced, leaning on her palms to grab a faraway piece of her My Little Pony puzzle. “She says boys are bad. But she lets Uncle Rhyrand babysit me, because he is okay for a fuckboy.” Pause. “What’s a fuckboy, Mommy?”
Oh. My. God.
Gravity had obviously been doing some intense eavesdropping on my conversations with Cal and Kieran when I thought she was asleep. It was time to reevaluate her naps altogether.
“I said fun boy.” I cleared my throat. “Rhyland is a fun boy. Because he likes to do fun things, right?”
“He is!”
Tucker twisted his entire body toward me, lifting his right eyebrow. “You’re not really engaged,” he said matter-of-factly.
“Of course I am,” I snapped. “She doesn—”
“My parents sniffed around with their old Staindrop friends.” He cut me off. “Your mom had no idea what they were talking about. She said you and Rhyland are just neighbors. I can’t believe she was right.”
I clamped my mouth shut. I really didn’t want Tucker to sit on this kind of ammo against me. “The engagement is…complicated,” I said vaguely. “But we are dating for real. We just haven’t said anything yet, because my brother would kill us.”
This wasn’t technically a lie.
Tucker stood up from the carpet, seemingly forgetting he was in the middle of bonding with his child, and walked over to me. I got up on my feet, refusing to cower in front of him.
“I knew it wasn’t over.” He flashed me a chilling smile, moving his hand to touch my face.
My hand shot out to block him, every instinct telling me to push him away, when I heard a key turning in my door, and it was flung open.
“Honey, I’m home.”
RHYLAND
Maybe it was my destiny to walk into situations where other men were trying to seduce Cosmos.
She and Tucker were standing there in the living room, with Gravity at their feet doing a puzzle.
Only I knew better than to think Dylan actually wanted him here.
“Tucker,” I greeted with a devil-may-care smirk, letting the door slam shut behind me for the full effect. “I didn’t realize you were in the mood for hospital food.”
“Why would you say that?” he sneered.
“You’re standing too close to my fiancée for my liking.”
He stepped back. Gravity shot up and ran toward me, and I picked her up midrun, tossing her in the air.
“Uncle Rhyrand!”
“Little stinker,” I greeted back.
She giggled, and I didn’t know why, but I wanted to rub it in his fucking face. So I hoisted her up on my shoulders and walked toward the kitchen. Her head nearly scraped the ceiling I was so tall. She shot her little hands up, laughing uncontrollably.