Total pages in book: 188
Estimated words: 185811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 929(@200wpm)___ 743(@250wpm)___ 619(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 185811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 929(@200wpm)___ 743(@250wpm)___ 619(@300wpm)
But he did it.
“I know,” I told him.
“You won me over in about a minute,” Mag told me something I knew at the time, and was happy about at the time, but being reminded of it in this time made me feel a whole lot better.
He wasn’t done.
“It was you bein’ pissed Mo’s dad is a dick. It was hearing about you takin’ on Tammy. It was you bein’ hilarious. It was knowin’ we were gonna have a beautiful woman among us who was also one of the guys. But most of all, it was the way you were with Mo. First time at our place, it was like you’d been there a hundred times before and you two were just chill.” Mag shot me a grin. “Outside you shoutin’ about his dad. Mo was goin’ through his mail and you were shoutin’ about his dad and you were all about him. I had to push it, ’cause he’s my boy. But I didn’t have to push hard.”
“For me,” Axl put in, “it was the fact I was worried I wouldn’t get out of your house before you jumped on his dick.”
I couldn’t help but smile at him.
“I wasn’t even there for you,” Axl went on quietly. “He walked in, and suddenly, everything was gone, including me. You were all about him.”
“Axl told us that,” Auggie added. “Before Mag even met you.”
All the rest I knew.
But that last was news.
“We don’t trust people easy, Lottie,” Mag said. “But the people who might become a part of the lives of one of our own, that’s worse.”
“I’m sure sisters can be tough to crack,” Boone shared. “They might not show it, but brothers…”
Boone let that hang but I understood him.
They weren’t brothers of the blood, and blood was thicker than water, but doing what they did for a living, all having served before, the trust that had to build, the men those experiences had made them, what they had was stronger than steel.
“We’re here right now, for you, and we’ve known you two weeks,” Auggie reminded me. “The Morrison women are gonna love you, Lots. You got nothing to worry about.”
I felt Mo’s arm tight around me, holding me to the strength of his big body.
And I saw all Mo’s boys around me, giving me strength.
I’d fallen for Mo.
And along the way, I started falling for all of them too.
I looked at Mag.
“Evie for you. She’s a nerd. But she’s gonna sort your shit.”
Mag blinked.
I looked to Auggie.
“Pepper for you. Just trust me on her. Perfect.”
My attention went to Axl. “Hattie. You’ll flip your shit for her. And she totally won’t for you. You’ll have to work for it. But she’ll make it worth it.”
Axl tipped his head to the side, openly intrigued.
Finally, I turned to Boone.
As suspected from nuanced vibes I was getting from him, there was something guarded in his expression, and I wasn’t sure if it was me he didn’t want to see it, or the others.
So I went out on a limb he didn’t know was a limb.
“Ryn,” I stated. “Kathryn. She’ll be beyond your wildest dreams. Your wildest dreams, Boone.”
There was a flash of understanding that told me I’d guessed correctly, and I moved quickly in order not to allow the others to catch it.
I’d have that conversation with Boone later.
Alone.
I turned in Mo’s arm, looked up at him and said, “I just need to finish sorting my purse and get my shoe on, baby. Then I’m ready to roll.”
Mo looked down at me a beat.
Then he smiled.
Pep talk delivered, I was good to go.
Still smiling, Mo dipped way down to touch his lips to mine and let me go.
I sorted my purse, but it was Mo who crouched down to put on my shoe.
And with hugs and kisses on the top of my head from the guys while standing by Mo’s truck, and promises from Mag that the next time they came over, he’d bring beer, we were on our way.
I was not surprised at Mo’s mom’s house.
He’d told me, in order to raise five children after his father ditched them without doing them the favor of actually ditching them, his mom worked hard to become a CPA. She’d semi-retired the year before, a partner in a big firm in town. She still worked VIP clients, two to three days a week, because if she didn’t, she’d go crazy seeing as she didn’t knit, paint, birdwatch (or the like).
She’d also downsized houses after Mo had entered the Army out of high school years ago.
So the brick Park Hill bungalow with the pergola over the front porch, brick path, thick, green lawn and tidy but not effusive landscaping that included black-eyed Susans in their final blooms was expected.
Sadly, by the time Mo parked behind a shiny Chevy Silverado, the pep talk had worn off.