Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69352 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69352 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
“Oh?” Milena turned to stare at me, the two of them giving me very different appraisals. “I think he’s mighty sexy, though. He has all these abs underneath that shirt, and he has the stamina of a racehorse. And the co—”
I placed my hand over her mouth and said, “Don’t you dare.”
Her hand came to my wrist, and she pulled pitifully hard.
I gave her the play and dropped my hand from her mouth. But she curled my hand underneath her chin and said to my granddad, “You can sit by me as we have breakfast.”
“I’ve already eaten,” Granddad said. “But I guess it wouldn’t be too much of a hardship to sit there for a few minutes. That’s all I can spare, though. Tiny and Big Head want to head to Whataburger to sit after this. We have a pretty good routine.”
I rolled my eyes, causing Auden to chuckle and say, “Pop, when will you turn into an old man like that?”
Auden’s ‘Pop’ chuckled as he held the door open for us.
We all went inside and were greeted by a very full house.
Luckily, it looked like the Carter family was finished and were cleaning up and heading out.
They all offered chin lifts, but didn’t stay to talk, leaving the entire place breathing a collective sigh of relief once they were gone.
The Carters were good people, but they were cops after all.
Cops were such Debbie Downers.
“Coastguard.”
I looked up to find Etienne, one of the members of Gator Bait MC, standing there with his hand out.
I took it with a grin and said, “Etienne. What are you doing in Dallas?”
“Poker Run for Easter,” he said.
“Ahh.” I nodded. “I actually heard about that.”
“You’re not doing it?” he asked. “There’s a big to-do going on in Mansfield.”
“Not this time,” I said as I curled my hand around the back of Milena’s thigh and pulled her closer to me when Etienne’s club brother, Bain, came closer.
His eyes weren’t exactly on Milena in a way that I thought he was finding her attractive, but in a calculating way.
I grumbled something under my breath, causing Bain to look at me.
He didn’t look apologetic in the least as he said, “Coastie.”
My club name was Coastguard, but sometimes it was too long to say in a satisfying way, so lots of times it got shortened to Coastie.
Normally I wouldn’t care, but Bain had just sized my woman up, and I wasn’t feeling all nice and tingly about that.
“I don’t know if you remember me,” Bain said, ignoring me. “But one time I came into your sister’s bakery. About two years or so ago. And you were there helping. You gave my daughter a cheese Danish when she fell and busted her lip.”
Milena’s head tilted sideways a bit before saying, “The one that bled all over the floor and it looked like a murder scene?”
“That’s the one.” Bain laughed.
I let up on Milena’s thigh, but instead of pulling away, she leaned into me more.
“The cops came in because a dad was complaining about the noise, and I threw a freakin’ fit.” Milena snickered. “How’s she doing?”
“Growing like a weed,” he said, his eyes flicking to me.
He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to. I read the look in his eyes.
If I ever hurt her, he’d kick my ass.
But he needn’t have worried.
Milena had a long line of male protectors that would kick my ass if I fucked this up.
“Come sit with us and catch up,” Etienne said. “Webber, how ya doing? Your ol’ lady still doing good?”
“My ol’ lady isn’t my ol’ lady anymore,” Webber grumbled as he took the seat next to Etienne.
I waited until everyone was seated, even my grandfather, before I turned Milena to face me. “You okay with eating with them?”
She raised her hand and smoothed my beard down before saying, “As long as you don’t leave me there alone, I’m perfectly fine.”
I pulled her to me and stared directly into her eyes when I said, “I’d have to be dragged away dead before I left you.”
Other girls: I’m a delicate little flower.
Me: I’m the claw end of a hammer.
—Text from Milena to Cutter
MILENA
Married life was a lot like single life.
Well, more accurately, being married wasn’t nearly as bad as I always thought it would be.
Not that my brother and sisters didn’t have great relationships. They did.
Moreso, it was because I always thought it was a bit suffocating.
Having someone constantly know where I was, what I was doing, and asking when I would be home sounded awful.
But being married to Cutter wasn’t like that.
Not at all.
He cleaned up after himself. He made coffee in the morning before I left for work—which was about an hour earlier than him, but he always, always followed me in then went to his place to pick up his work trailer and hang for a bit to watch the sunrise.