Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
No chance would I hide while something so momentous was occurring in her life.
So, here I was, sitting in the front passenger seat of a shiny, very expensive red SUV that had been sitting in one of the bays of the detached garage at his house.
Kane in the driver’s seat beside me. Wearing jeans and a black tee that did far too good a job of showing off the strength that bristled underneath. The man slung back with a tattooed arm stretched out, one hand on the wheel and one of those ridiculously attractive grins playing all over his mouth as he glanced in the rearview mirror at Maci.
“Well, I think it’s going to be, too. They can’t wait to meet you.”
“Because they really wanna know your bestest friend?”
One of those smoldering glances was cast at me before it flicked up to the rearview mirror then back to the road. “That’s right, they do. My whole family is super close.”
“Well, me and my mommy and my auntie and my grammy and even my grampa Ted are like this!” Maci crossed all her little fingers together, twisting her wrist in an awkward gesture as she tried to demonstrate just how close we were.
My spirit moaned, though in it was a twining of sweetness, this affection for the little girl so stark.
“That close, huh?” Kane enthused, though I could feel the deep affection in his voice, too. The thickness as he came to a stop at a red light in the middle of town as we headed to River Tayte’s house.
A man I had been told wasn’t actually his brother but rather his friend, though Kane had said he considered every single person we’d meet today his family.
The only true blood relative he had here was the little girl in the back seat.
That weight pressed heavily on my chest.
We needed to tell her soon, but that confession seemed locked in my throat, waiting for the right time, all while I wasn’t sure there would ever be the right time.
But I could feel it stirring in Kane beside me.
His need to claim it.
To tell her what she really meant to him.
The light turned green, and he accelerated down Culberry, the main street that cut through Moonlit Ridge. We passed by the hotel where we’d been staying, then my stomach twisted as I caught a glimpse of the entrance of Twisted Moon Tavern, and that twisting devolved into a fist of greed when Kane peered over at me.
I swore I could see exactly what he was imagining in the depths of those magic eyes.
Me propped on his desk with his head between my thighs.
Thighs I was currently pressing together to try to quell the unbidden need he conjured in me.
I inhaled a shaky breath, prying my attention from his and turning it out the passenger window, praying he couldn’t read me the way I was sure I was reading him.
Completely useless considering the rough scrape of a chuckle he emitted.
The road curved to the left where it came to a T at a road called Vista View.
In an instant, awe tightened my chest.
It was definitely a view. So gorgeous you had to wonder how a place like this existed.
The large lake was set out in front of us, stretching far in either direction.
High mountains peaked at its backdrop, tips jutting into the bluest sky where they surrounded the lake on all sides. The sun was ablaze as it slowly sank toward them, its arms sending glittering rays tumbling across the placid surface of the water.
A dense forest hugged the water’s edge, homes and cabins tucked beneath their sanctuary.
“Look it, we found the lake again!” Maci screeched.
Low amusement rolled out of Kane as he made a right onto the road. “That lake is huge. You’re pretty much going to find it wherever you go in this town.”
Kane pointed through the windshield at a large building that sat on the far side of the lake.
“That right there is The Sanctuary, the motel Theo owns. He’s on the farthest northern side. But then Otto and Cash, who you haven’t met yet, have a view of the lake on those mountains way back there.”
He hooked his thumb toward the back window.
Maci squirmed in her car seat, frustrated she was pinned by the straps. “I can’t even see it.”
“That’s because it’s too big to see all at once unless we’re way up high on one of those mountains, but I’m thinking you and I should spend some time exploring all of it.”
“On a boat?!” Elation streamed out of her.
Kane chuckled with a nod. “If that’s the way you want to do it, we sure can.”
“I never been on a boat.”
“Sounds like we’re going to have to fix that then.”
One second later, Kane turned on his blinker and made another right into what appeared to be a secluded neighborhood.