Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 101501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
“Skye, your boy, Jimmy G, is playing right now.”
I whipped my head around and bugged my eyes at Jake. It took him a moment to catch my drift, then his eyes shot to Logan with a smug smile.
“You a Niners fan?” Logan asked. I wished I’d left my hair down to cover my blush. I wasn’t a Niners fan, I was a Jimmy Garoppolo fan. That boy was smokin’ hot.
I nodded and kept stirring the pancake batter like my life depended on it.
“She has the hots for Garoppolo,” Jake threw out with a chuckle. “No self-respecting Montanan roots for anyone but the Seahawks.”
I stiffened and tried to lie my way out of the pickle I was in. “Not everyone likes the Seahawks.”
Logan set down the tongs he was using to flip the bacon and leaned his hip against the counter, crossing his arms at his chest. I glanced up and caught his lips twitching.
“What?”
“Name one player on the Niners besides Garoppolo?”
I dug deep, couldn’t come up with anyone, and blurted out, “Joe Montana,” to save face.
His lips twitched harder, then he threw back his head and laughed.
Jake shook his head and mumbled, “Wrong century.”
“Fine,” I sighed. “I have no idea.”
Logan moved until he was towering over me, so I had to tip my head way back to see his eyes. “So you like watching him play, huh? Is it because he throws a ball like a fucking football god or the fact his pants leave nothing to the imagination?”
“What ball?” I whispered.
Logan leaned down the fifty feet it took to reach my mouth, trapping me between both his arms on either side of my waist, and bit my bottom lip.
“That bacon isn’t gonna cook itself while you two make out,” Josh grumbled.
Logan ignored Josh. “You want, I’ll throw on a pair of football pants and we can get creative.”
My eyes glazed over at the mere thought of all that muscle squeezed into what amounted to leggings for men. “You would do that for me?” I whispered.
“If it keeps your eyes off of another man’s ass, then yeah.”
“You’re my hero.”
He stared at me for a long moment, his lips still twitching, then grunted, “You’re a nut.”
“Whatever.” I moved to the stove and grabbed a skillet, daydreaming about Logan in football pants. It was a great vision. Way better than Jimmy G.
So began our Sunday. Logan cooking mounds of bacon and me making pancakes, side by side at the stove. His phone kept vibrating with messages that he would read but not respond to. Logan had explained on the ride home what they’d found the night before at the funeral home. They assumed it was Justice Bear’s remains, but wouldn’t know until a DNA test was performed. Considering Justice had just died that morning, it was the logical conclusion, so I let it go. He seemed on edge, though. His warning I stick close until he solved Duke’s disappearance might have been reactionary to everything that had happened, it was hard to tell because even though I’d given him my heart, I still had a lot to learn about the man.
Once all the food was ready, we all settled at our pine table and dug in. Josh peppered Logan with questions about his time with Delta Force, which Logan politely stated, “We don’t talk, kid. Ever.” Instead of being offended, Logan seemed to up his street cred with my brother. Whatever had gone on between the two days before, when Logan had driven him to school, seemed to have left an impression if Josh’s, “Wicked cool,” was any indicator. For that alone, Logan would have my undying gratitude. Josh had been skating by before Logan came to town, now he was engaged and joking instead of fighting with Jake over every little thing. Happy to be at the table with us both. I couldn’t remember the last time our Sundays off hadn’t ended in a fight.
Seeing my brothers joke around and happy brought a sting to my eyes, so I leaned against Logan’s shoulder and watched them. Logan dipped his head to me and searched my face, so I smiled at him. He must have caught the moisture glittering in my eyes because his hand raised and wrapped around the back of my neck, squeezing once before whispering, “You okay?”
I nodded. “Haven’t been this happy since my father died.”
And I hadn’t. Our father’s death broke us a little, but we had persevered the best we could, living day-to-day until the next hurdle came our way. I was the mother who took care of my brothers. Jake was the protector who watched over us, and Josh was the lost soul who seemed to ramble through life on a road to nowhere. We’d been so caught up in surviving; we’d missed what was now glaringly apparent. We hadn’t been alone in the world. The town had been watching out for us the whole time. I just hadn’t noticed. Not until Chance pulled what he had, and the town circled their wagons to protect the three James orphans from the big bad wolf.