Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70115 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70115 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Bronte crossed her arms. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting attention. Or being afraid things will change if he takes the job on again.”
Not change. Go back to the way they were.
Solomon had changed. Their relationship had changed. But what if it was temporary? What if they were together because Solomon didn’t have something else pulling on his focus? What if Vacation Younger, as he called himself, disappeared completely when Chief Finn got his badge back?
Because he would get his badge back. There was no doubt in his mind.
Solomon would go to that meeting, look into the faces of everyone who was relying on him to save the day, and he wouldn’t be able to say no. It wasn’t his nature to turn his back on anyone in need. This entire year had been an anomaly, and everyone but Solomon knew it. His time with Hugo might have been an anomaly too.
Solomon was his one. The mate to his soul. Wayne’s always knew, his mother had assured them for as long as he could remember. A family gift that went back generations, if you believed the stories.
It was more like a curse, if you asked her children.
Bronte believed it, though at forty-one, she’d given up hope that her soul mate was in the right hemisphere years ago. She’d thrown herself into her work, into taking care of her family, swearing that was enough for her.
Even Emerson, stubborn pragmatist that his brother had always been, had known from the beginning that his ex wasn’t his match. But her pregnancy with their oldest son had taken the decision out of his hands, and he’d done his best to make it work until she’d left him for another man.
Hugo knew Solomon was it for him. He’d avoided facing it, but that was the reason he’d hung around waiting for so damn long the first time.
It was the reason he couldn’t go back to what they had before. Scraps wouldn’t be enough, not when he’d been given a taste of how it could be. How they could be together.
He would rather lose him now than stay and watch as it got stripped away, bit by bit.
“Hugo.” Bronte wrapped her arms around him, making him realize that he wasn’t alone. “Whatever you’re thinking, you need to stop it now. I don’t like that look in your eyes.”
He forced himself to smile, squeezing her affectionately. “Are you sure? Because I was thinking we need to save some of that goop Austen tried out tonight for our enemies. Forget punching, slap some of that on your leprechaun the next time he drops his pants and he’ll never bother you again.” He patted his face. “Seriously, I still can’t feel my cheek.”
He wondered if it would work on a breaking heart.
Chapter Nine
Solomon wasn’t sure how he ended up at the family bar with no family member in sight, but after the last few days he needed a drink, and he’d rather not spend his evening drinking alone. There was sad, and then there was pathetic.
Hugo had canceled their plans. Again.
He’d been apologetic. Kind. But after the fourth night in a row, it was starting to look like a pattern to Solomon. Like Hugo was pulling away from him, and for the life of him he didn’t know why.
You’ve been too needy.
Had he? Hugo seemed to like the attention. The nightly phone calls, the private dinners, all the lost time they’d been making up for. He’d never given any sign that it was too much.
He glanced at the phone he’d set on the bar. Nothing. No suggestive texts. No missed messages. No sexy dimple selfie to add to his growing collection. No clue of any kind. Just absence.
We’ll see how it goes. No pressure. No promises.
Solomon had a problem with that. He wanted the promises, damn it, and he had from day one. He didn’t want to wing it or go with the fucking flow. He wanted family schedule juggling and rushed breakfasts and the whole damn ball of wax.
Hell, maybe he had been moving too fast for Hugo. But it wasn’t as if anyone had drawn him a relationship diagram. He was flying blind here, with only his family’s recent history of whirlwind romances to judge a relationship on.
But it felt right. He’d never experienced anything like it. It was more than sex. It was waking up every day knowing it meant something. Going to sleep with a smile. Something inside him had opened up and let him believe for the first time that he could have this. That he could share his life. Love and be loved.
He’d been so sure of where they were headed that he’d laid out his requirements to the beleaguered mayor and several city officials after agreeing to the meeting last week.
“Before you offer me anything, you need to know that I’m gay and currently involved in a serious relationship with a man who also used to work in my precinct. He’s a nurse now, so there’s no conflict of interest, but considering the publicity my family name has generated in the past, and the interest reporters are paying to your current situation, you can guarantee it will come up if we decide to go in that direction.”