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)
Would she be here when Hope’s baby came? When Nell’s? Whatever happened she would fly home for Rachel’s due date and stay in her spinster house and she and Paige could have sleepovers and take care of the younger boys while her brother’s bonded with the new baby.
Of course that would be hard to do if she had Bay and Shane with her. Or would it? It would only be weird if Paige kept taking out their shins. It was a nice place, if crowded, but they all fit on the bed, and that was the important part.
Stella poured coffee into Brooke’s cup. “Well, Miranda is a sweetie, but those boys are a handful. I heard Hope’s having a boy. There’s going to be a whole pack of them on the G running wild.”
She turned and started to pour some into Mark’s cup, but before she could, he put a hand over it.
“I’ll take a seven-pump vanilla soy with twelve scoops of matcha green tea latte, and make sure it’s exactly 180 degrees,” Mark ordered. “Not a hundred and seventy-nine. Not a hundred and eighty-one.”
Stella sighed and looked Brooke’s way.
Brooke yawned. “Stella, this is my former boss. You know, the one who stole my designs and fired me, but not before asking for a blow job.”
Stella’s brows rose in surprise. “Any particular reason you’re sitting here with him?”
Brooke shrugged. “Curiosity.”
“Ah,” Stella said. “He can fuck himself then. I’ll get you the usual. You let me know if you want to graduate your membership to a real one, baby girl. You know I’m always ready.”
Brooke gave her a thumbs-up.
“What did that woman mean about membership?” Mark watched warily as Stella walked away.
“Oh, just a woman’s club.” She didn’t mention that Stella was talking about her membership in the I Shot a Son of a Bitch Club. Not that she’d actually like blown a dude who deserved it away, but she had hit one with a water gun when she was eight because he was complaining that The Trading Post was terrible and Marie should be fired. So Brooke tried to take him out, and then she’d been made a provisional member of the club. Mostly because Marie thought it was cute and Teeny thought she needed to learn gun safety.
Mark didn’t need to know that charming story from her childhood.
“Well, she was rude and so were you,” Mark complained. “You know some things should be kept private. Also, I thought you signed an NDA.”
“I would have to have been offered compensation to sign an NDA,” she pointed out. “I can say whatever I like. Tell all of my truths to anyone who would like to know. Now why am I here?”
Mark frowned. “You know I have some truths of my own. Do these people know how your brothers live?”
She managed to not emit an entirely unladylike snort. She leaned over. Caleb Burke was sitting at the counter with a plate of bacon and eggs in front of him. “Hey, Doc. Did you know my brothers are married to the same woman?”
Caleb’s head turned and he frowned her way. “Of course I do. Who do you think did their vasectomies? Not in time to spare the world another of Max’s spawn, though. I’m pretty sure those two quiet boys in the middle are Rye’s, but Paige is pure Max.”
He went right back to his breakfast.
“No one cares here.” Brooke was finding it kind of satisfying to see this man so out of his element.
“I’m sure no one who matters cares,” Mark replied. “We’re in the middle of nowhere and some random man doesn’t care. I assure you there are people who will. She’s going to get my order wrong, isn’t she?”
Oh, Stella would have already forgotten he existed. “You won’t be getting any orders here. Stella hates you.”
“Who is Stella?” Mark asked, glancing around.
“She owns the café, and her husband owns a company called Talbot Industries,” she explained.
“Any relation to Stefan Talbot? The painter? I thought he was the heir to Talbot Industries.” Mark always did know who the rich and powerful people of the world were.
“She’s his stepmom. Now Stef is actually married to one woman.”
“Jennifer Talbot. She did the series of watercolors that took the New York art world by storm. That’s his stepmother? What was his father thinking?”
“Uhm, that he loved her. Also, the guy at the counter who doesn’t matter is Dr. Caleb Burke, but he goes by his mother’s maiden name. Sommerville is his real last name. The Chicago Sommervilles. His brother is a sitting senator. Oh, and he’s married to a woman named Holly and has a partner who’s a former Russian mobster. Now Alexei is fully reformed and has a deep belief in nonviolence, but I bet he would be willing to take a trip down memory lane if you want to insult his wife and partner.”