Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 102394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102394 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 410(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
“Do you ever miss being a cop?” I asked him.
Wes looked up at the sky. “All the time.”
“Do you want to talk about what led you to working for my father?”
He slipped his hands in his pockets. “Not right now, no.”
“Okay,” I murmured.
I knew it had to be pretty damn bad for Wes to have ended up working for Dad. I didn’t envy anyone who had to deal with his wrath—myself included.
“But I will say this,” Wes suddenly added. “You don’t get too many moments like this one being a cop. So I have to take the good with the bad when it comes to this gig, you know?”
“I hear you.” I shielded my eyes from the sun as I looked up at him. “You’re good at what you do, Wes. I know I haven’t made it easy on you. I was very resistant to the idea of you in the beginning. But I’ve had more pleasant moments than bad ones with you.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” He smiled.
“You should.”
“And if I may compliment you for a moment, Juliette…”
“Please do…”
“You’re handling this whole thing as well as can be expected. I know it can’t be easy having a guard twenty-four-seven.”
“Well…it’s not easy. But…I’m glad it’s you,” I told him.
After a moment, he said quietly, “I’m glad it’s me, too.”
Why am I getting butterflies right now? Foolish.
We sat down on the sand and almost immediately, seagulls swarmed us. The next thing I knew, one of the birds had snatched my shoe and flown off with it.
“Oh my God! My shoe!”
Wes cackled. “Here I was thinking I could protect you from anything. But that right there was as covert an operation as I’ve ever seen.”
I cracked up, too. It sucked to lose a shoe, but it would always make for a good story. And it felt really good to laugh.
When it was time to walk back to the car, Wes carried me across the lot, since it skeeved me out to walk on the pavement with my bare foot. I felt light as a feather in his arms and wouldn’t have minded if the walk had lasted a bit longer.
I was so relaxed on the ride home that I nearly fell asleep. It had turned out to be a wonderful evening, thanks to Wes.
When he came around to let me out of the car, I hopped on one foot to the door. We cracked up all over again at the ridiculousness of it.
But our laughter came to an abrupt end as the lights of an approaching car registered.
Wes placed his arm around me protectively before shielding me. A window rolled down, and Wes reached for his gun.
Then we realized who it was.
“Where have you two been, and where the hell is your shoe?” my father bellowed.
CHAPTER 8
* * *
Wes
What the fuck?
The pulse in my neck throbbed as I sat in the car, listening to Vince and Juliette scream at each other inside the house. I’d never been a fan of Vince Ginocassi, but hearing that asshole bark at his daughter like she worked for him sent fire coursing through my veins. Who talks to their kid like that? It took every ounce of my self-control not to storm in there and break up their argument. But a glance in my rearview at the two goons sitting in the car behind me reminded me why I wasn’t making a move. Across the street was a second SUV parked with two more men—four guys in total. Vince usually traveled with just one bodyguard, so something must’ve happened if he needed this much security.
After another tense ten minutes, Juliette’s front door finally whipped open. Vince stomped down the porch steps and headed straight to my car, sliding into the passenger seat without asking.
“Are you even capable of not thinking with your dick around my daughter?” he roared.
Heat rushed to my face as I fought to maintain my composure. “I’ve been nothing but professional around Juliette.”
“Didn’t look very professional from where I was sitting when you two pulled up,” he scoffed. “Looked like you were having a good ol’ time.”
My jaw flexed. “What’s going on? I know you didn’t come all the way out to California to make sure I wasn’t smiling around Juliette. If you didn’t trust me, I wouldn’t be sitting here.”
Vince stared at me before he spoke again. He was trying to intimidate me, but I wasn’t going to kiss his feet, no matter who the hell he was. “Things have gotten hot,” he said. “Boiling.”
“You told me this morning that Altieri and his men had left town, and I didn’t need to keep Juliette locked up in the house anymore.”
“That was fucking this morning!” he bellowed. “Tonight, things are different.”
“What happened?”
His eyes narrowed. “What are you, writing a fucking book?”
I clenched my teeth, rather than my fists, but I was about two seconds away from punching this asshole in the face. “I can’t do my job unless I know what I’m looking out for.”