Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68459 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
I walked past what I knew to be Gable’s door and started to knock on Quincy’s door. It opened before I could get my knuckles to the wood.
“You’re here,” he breathed.
I smiled shyly at him, taking in the rumpled clothes that I’d seen him in yesterday.
He looked worn out.
And sexy as hell.
I wondered if he was wearing underwear under his clothing.
“What,” he said as he stepped back and allowed me into his apartment, “is that?”
I grinned and held out the large bakery box.
I was halfway through a brownie with powdered sugar dusted over the top of it.
“This?” I asked, pointing at the box.
“Yeah,” he jerked his head to the hand where the wedding cake sampler box was.
“This,” I said as I pointed, “is our dinner.”
“What is it?” he asked as he peered inside.
“A wedding cake sampler box,” I answered around a bite full of brownie. “I went to this new place after I grabbed a box of tampons from Walgreens around the corner. It’s called Pie Hard. One of her signature ‘things’ is a wedding cake sampler box. She said that they’re very popular right now, and it was one of her suggestions. So I grabbed it. It has seventeen different icings, twenty-four different types of cake, and the cutest little spoons.”
“How about we order in,” he suggested. “And maybe get you some real food instead of just sugar? Then when we’re done eating, we can let that digest for a few hours, then we can dig into your wedding sampler box.” He paused. “Gable saw you today with that and accused me of not telling him that we were getting married.”
I snickered. “I didn’t intend to get it, to be truthful. But apparently these are all the rage right now. Inspired, I got one.”
He took the box from my hands and placed it gently on the coffee table, then went about pulling out every single takeout menu there was in his drawer next to the trash can and showed them to me. “Which one?”
I thought about what sounded the best, then told him my honest answer. “If it’s all the same to you, I just want to keep eating this.”
I held up what was left of my brownie, then pointed at the cake.
His eyes warmed, and he dropped them all on the counter before coming my way.
“You on your period, darlin’?” he asked.
I nearly rolled my eyes. “What gave it away?”
His lips tipped up at one corner before he said, “I have two sisters. Had. Shit. Anyway, I know that they like their sweets when it’s that time of the month.
I leaned into him, stealing his warmth.
“Yes, I’m on my period. All I want to do is collapse onto your couch, steal the blanket off your bed, roll myself into it and veg in front of the TV before we go to bed.”
He sifted his long fingers through my hair before saying, “Done.”
So that was what we did.
We sat there, watched mindless TV, and I had the time of my life.
I had no clue it would be so freakin’ great to just… be.
And the cake.
Oh my God, the cake.
Hours later, after the last bite was finished, I felt like a full tick ready to pop.
“Chocolate with caramel for your groom’s cake,” I teased.
He chuckled, patting my distended belly gently before saying, “And vanilla with buttercream for the wedding cake.”
I felt a burst of pleasure at his words.
If only…
I didn’t get much sleep last night, but I did get a few solid hours of anxiety in.
—T-shirt
QUINCY
My phone rang, and I groaned.
Peeling my eyes open, I glared at it on my night table.
“Answer it already,” the woman pressed to my side urged. “Before it wakes me up.”
I snorted. “You’re already awake.”
“I’m not,” she disagreed.
I rolled my eyes and reached for my phone.
I had a solid six and a half hours in. Honestly, that was pretty good for me.
That didn’t mean I wasn’t still tired as fuck, though.
“Hello?” I answered, getting myself tangled up in the cord.
“Hey, it’s me,” Devin Shaw, my contact in New Hampshire in charge of finding Alana El Dorado, said. “I have some news.”
There was a long pause and then I said, “Okay.”
“I thought maybe you might guess.” He chuckled. “This is about to blow another of your cases wide open.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I got Alana in here, and she was telling me all about herself.” She paused. “Did you know she used to be a resident of Dallas, Texas?”
I tried to widen my eyes to get the sleep out of them, but it was proving hard.
My mind was wide awake, though.
“No, I didn’t,” I admitted. “Alana was an afterthought. I didn’t do much research into her. Why?”
“Well, one, we just found a hit on a case you’re working. A train versus pedestrian one,” Devin murmured. “Two, we only had that because she offered up her DNA, then gave us two confessions. One from a few weeks ago when she was down in Dallas watching Taite’s show, and another from years ago. One involving a train and one of her best friends.”