Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
He looked like he wanted to protest more, but he sank back into the seat and put his seatbelt on.
“Good boy.”
He scowled at me, and I chuckled as I put the car in gear.
I drove to the diner and pulled around back into an employees-only lot.
“So you just park wherever you feel like?” Liam rolled his eyes. “Or does your family own this place?”
“I do what I want, but this place is owned by a guy I knew in high school. I don’t want to go anywhere that my family owns right now.”
He frowned. “How much trouble are you in for what you did to save me?”
“I’m sure my father wants me sweating it, but it’ll all blow over. We’re here because I don’t want anyone else in the family watching me. If they see me with you, they’re going to know how I feel.”
Liam eyes widened. “What does that mean?”
“If you think hard enough, you’ll figure it out.” I opened my door and stood. I wasn’t ready to say any more. I was hardly ready to admit to myself that I was falling for him, that he really was mine and I wasn’t letting him go no matter the consequences.
Like I’d told him, I’d figure something out, but right now I would make sure he was at least fed and safe. What I really wanted to do was take him home, but I needed to think more carefully before I did that.
I watched him as he read over the menu, trying to decide what he wanted.
“I haven’t had this many choices in a long time.”
I was going to make sure he always had choices in the future. “Just order everything that sounds good.”
His grin made my heart flutter like a lovesick kid. “I don’t think that much food would fit on the table.”
“Then we’ll pull up another table.”
“That’s ridiculous. I can’t eat that much.”
I laid my hand over his. “Get whatever you want. I want to make you happy.”
“I guess I’ll get pancakes.”
That was nowhere near enough. “You need some protein to go with that. Get some bacon.”
“Okay.”
“And eggs. Do you like eggs?”
He rolled his eyes. “Yes. I pretty much like all breakfast food.”
“Then get the Jumbo Breakfast it has pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, and hash browns.”
He frowned. “That’s way more food than I can eat.”
“If you don’t finish it, you can take the rest of it home and have it tomorrow.”
“I can’t keep it at the storage unit.”
Dammit. He shouldn’t be living like that. “I’ll get you a cooler.”
Liam sighed. “All right. What are you getting?”
I wasn’t particularly hungry, and I really only wanted a coffee. I had too much on my mind to think about eating, but I knew I needed to get something or he would feel too bad about ordering so much food. “I’ll have a western omelet.”
He smiled. “Good choice.”
“I always make good choices.”
“I bet that’s not what your father would say.” For a moment Liam looked horrified, like he shouldn’t have said that, but as soon as I laughed, he laughed too. We were both trying to recover when a waitress approached our table.
“How can I help you gentlemen?”
I gestured for Liam to go first. He ordered his Jumbo Breakfast and a large orange juice. Once I’d asked for the omelet and coffee, our waitress hurried off to put in our order.
“You aren’t bothered by drinking coffee in the middle of the night?” Liam asked.
“If a guy like me can’t basically live on coffee and alcohol, he probably doesn’t belong in this job.”
He sniffed. “Isn’t everyone in your job a family member? Aren’t you born to it?”
“Not all of us,” I said thinking of the guy I had on duty watching Liam’s storage unit. “And for all we know, Vito and I aren’t really family.”
“Is that hard for you? I mean, of course it is, but have you had trouble getting other members of the family accept you?”
“At first, it wasn’t easy with those in high positions. Anyone less powerful was too scared of my father to say anything about his decisions, but Vito and I had to earn the respect of Lucien, the head of the family, and his brother and cousins. Once we did, we had no more trouble. Well, I didn’t. Vito, he’s another story.”
Liam smiled. “I like him.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You better not like him too much.”
He waved his hand at me. “Not like that. He’s funny and I feel comfortable around him.”
“You do know we’re supposed to be threatening.”
He nodded. “I’ve seen him threaten plenty of people.”
“People who tried to touch you?”
“It only took a day or so of him standing by the side of the stage the whole time I danced to give people the message that touching me is not allowed.”
I smiled, wishing I could sneak in anonymously and see my brother standing there defending my man when I wasn’t able to. I was so lucky to have him.