Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
“Why do you want to kill him, Daddy?” Paige had her hands on her hips, staring up at her most annoying father. “He’s going to be my uncle. You told me I couldn’t kill family even when Ethan breaks my toys.”
“And that also means she shouldn’t kick me in the shins.” Bay seemed way too pleased with himself.
Paige looked up at him like he’d said something terrible. “Then how will you know if I like you or not?”
“I could ask,” Bay offered.
Rye chuckled and put a hand on Paige’s head. “Baby girl, your aunt is playing a joke on us. Your Aunt Brooke is a good girl. She doesn’t do this kind of thing. This is a practical joke and one your daddy and I probably deserve richly after all the pranks we pulled on her as a kid.”
Good girl. She’d been Bay and Shane’s good girl the night before, and it had felt fabulous.
“She’s pulling your daddy’s leg, and he’s taking the bait,” Rye explained with a certainty that rankled. “Brooke is concentrating on her career. She’s smart and would never cause a scandal.”
A scandal? Where was she? This was Bliss. Sleeping with two men at once was a tradition, not a freaking scandal.
They thought of her as some sexless work machine who smiled and never caused any trouble and never had a moment’s real heartache. They had never really seen her. Never knew who she was at her heart. She was in a box, and she was supposed to stay in it or it would be a scandal.
They had basically been her dads, and she’d never once rebelled.
And why was it a scandal that she had sexual needs? She wound an arm around Bay’s lean waist, the feel of warm skin bringing her some power. “Scandal? I’ll tell you what a scandal is, Rye. It’s getting fired from my job because I wouldn’t sleep with the boss after he stole my designs and coming home with my tail between my legs because I’m going to have wasted six years of school, and the only thing that made me feel slightly better happened on that table last night.” She nodded Max’s way. “Yes, that one, and I am not talking about sharing late-night pizza rolls. That was not the snack those boys enjoyed at that table. You know, Max, the one you were just sitting at.”
“Babe,” Bay breathed.
Max had gone pale. “But we bought that table so you could have a place to eat breakfast.”
She stepped away from Bay, eyeing her brother. “I thought you built this place so you had a sleeping station when you’re up late.”
Paige frowned at her fathers. “I thought we built this place because you said Auntie Brooke would need it one day ’cause she’s going to end up all alone and without a job ’cause fashion designer ain’t a real job and it’s all falling apart, but then you knew it would. Shouldn’t you have told Auntie Brooke? She seems real surprised.”
“Paige,” Rye said with a long-suffering sigh.
“Sorry,” Paige said with a wince. “I forgot. It’s because being a fashion designer isn’t a real job. It sure cost a lot though. That’s what Daddy says. I think it is a job. I don’t think these jeans made themselves. That’s what Mama says.”
“This is my spinster house.” How dare they? And how had they known?
“Babe, we should talk,” Bay said quietly. “Like away from your parents. I mean brothers.”
He’d been right the first time. It definitely felt like she was sitting in front of a set of dads who had way overstepped. “When did it go in? This house. How long has it been here?”
Rye actually looked a bit shaken at this point. “After Christmas.”
After she’d talked to Rachel about being lonely. After she’d told a couple of people around town how hard it was to feel like she wasn’t going anywhere. She might have mentioned to one of her friends that she was worried her boss didn’t like her and was keeping her from taking the lead on projects. She’d been a little drunk, talking to Lucy and River, who had great relationships and were doing well in the workplace. Lucy and River had it all together. River had the cutest dog, and Brooke wasn’t even allowed to have a cat because Ami was allergic. But then she was allergic to everything, including acting like a decent human being. She was pretty sure she’d told River and Lucy that, too.
Had her friends… Nope. She knew exactly who it was, or rather she could narrow it down to a group since she’d been sitting at the bar at Trio. Neither Lucy nor River would have gone to her brothers, but nothing in the world would have stopped Callie Hollister-Wright if she thought Brooke was in trouble.