Series: Webs We Weave Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 167
Estimated words: 162520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 813(@200wpm)___ 650(@250wpm)___ 542(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 813(@200wpm)___ 650(@250wpm)___ 542(@300wpm)
“She’s moving so fast, I can barely see her,” Oliver says. “Whoa. Whoa. She’s no match for me though. I’m gonna get her.” She shrieks into belly laughter before he’s even snatched her around the waist. He holds her upside down. Her pigtails flopping.
She’s grinning from ear to ear.
“Anyone seen Winnie?” He looks around, swinging her side to side. “Where’d she go?”
“I’m right here!”
“Oh my gosh. There she is. An upside-down creature.”
“Girl,” she corrects.
“A girl.” He gasps. “I’ve never heard of a girl before.”
“Mommy’s a girl.”
“That’s right.” He tickles her toes. “How clever you are.”
She giggles so happily.
I like looking over at Jake whenever Oliver is with his daughter. He wears this soft reverence in his eyes that even the best con artists would have trouble manufacturing.
Once Oliver sets her down, she tugs on his pant legs. He squats to her height. “Yes, baby?” She hugs him extra tight, then whispers in his ear. He holds her little hand and asks, “You know where it is?” She nods. “Okay, go find it. Hurry.”
Winter races down the aisle. We all keep one eye on her, even if we’re acting like we’re not.
Oliver goes to the checkout. “Another one bites the dust, apparently,” he says, plucking a coffee out of the tray. He hands it to Jake. “The van Hoffs just moved out of the Burkes’ house.”
I didn’t love oh-so-very-snooty Mrs. van Hoff, who had far too many “suggestions” to “improve” Victoria Country Club, so I’m not incredibly heartbroken. Still…“That’s the fifth family that’s moved in and out.”
“Cursed.” Rocky raises and lowers his brows.
“Bad energy, probably,” Oliver says, hanging an arm around Jake and sipping his own coffee. No one mentions the third family we ran out of Victoria. They made the van Hoffs look saintly.
Trevor washes down his pancakes with coffee before saying, “Tear it down.”
“It’s one of the historic homes,” Jake says. “It can’t be demolished.”
Rocky tips his head. “We could if it has a rotten foundation.”
“But it doesn’t.”
“Obviously.” Rocky blinks hard with widened eyes of annoyance. “We could say it did.”
“No,” Jake decrees.
Oliver grins over at him. “So honest. So pure.”
“Not a bad thing,” Jake replies. None of us disagree.
Jake and Oliver have this intense stare-down that ends with Jake clasping my brother’s jaw and stealing a strong kiss.
I smile, especially seeing Oliver grin against Jake’s lips. If anyone asks them what they are—which they inevitably do—the three will simply say they’re life partners.
She’s still Hailey Thornhall, and Jake was adamant that he didn’t want Winter to be a Koning or Waterford on paper. Despite the prestige of being a Koning, he’d rather not saddle her with a name related to a family that he never cared for.
They landed on Winter Thornhall. A name so fake sounding to me that I instantly fell in love the second Hailey said it.
Especially because it’s real.
Winter comes racing back with the little book, but instead of veering straight for Oliver, she skids to a stop in front of Trevor first. She hugs his legs, then he crouches down and feeds her a tiny piece of pancake.
“Mmmmm,” she says to him with a gleeful scrunched nose, then opens her mouth wide for another bite. I’m not sure who loves Seaside Griddle’s sweet potato pancakes more. Her or Trevor.
Rocky catches my attention as he leans too confidently, too coolly, too darkly against the checkout counter. Arms loosely crossed. He’s hot.
And perfectly unsuspecting prey.
I twirl my plastic stake like I’m Buffy as I stalk toward him. “You won’t see me coming,” I warn.
“Because my eyes aren’t right on you,” he says.
“You better watch out.”
“I’m terrified,” he deadpans.
I whirl around in a cool maneuver, about to stake him in the heart, but Rocky disarms me so quickly by seizing my wrist and spinning me around. Just as swiftly, he pulls my back against his chest and cages my arms against my breasts with his flexed biceps.
My pulse spikes in the best way, and I’m glad my back is to him because my grin is too fucking wide. I naturally rest my weight against my Rocky, and his arms stay wrapped so tightly around me.
His Phoebe.
Not letting go.
We end up staying in this protective, loving embrace while Winter licks her syrupy lips and returns to Hailey. She waits patiently for her mom to take her hand, then they sit on the floor together. Winter scoots between her mom’s legs as Hailey opens the little picture book the toddler found.
As soon as Hailey sees the book, she looks up at Oliver with raised brows, both of them pierced. Yes, she wears most of her piercings. “This one again?”
“Can’t knock a girl for loving spiders, Hailstorm.”
That makes us all smile in a way.
Winter already starts to sing, “The itsy bitsy…” She trails off, waiting for more of us to join in so she’s not all alone, and we collectively carry the tune of “The Itsy Bitsy Spider”—some more theatrically than others. Rocky is practically monotone.