Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 169013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 845(@200wpm)___ 676(@250wpm)___ 563(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 845(@200wpm)___ 676(@250wpm)___ 563(@300wpm)
I could feel the awed force of his smile. “My little criminal mastermind.”
I huffed as my fingers continued to move across the keys.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s criminal not to do it.”
Silas chuckled, the sound sinking deep. “I like the way you think.”
I’d found everything here.
My family.
My home.
My calling.
I’d become entrenched in Crimson Crows’s mission as deeply as Silas and the rest.
Working closely with Cash to move the money each operation brought in.
Funneling it.
Laundering it through a bunch of the businesses I found out Silas owned.
A restaurant and a jewelry store and the bar he’d recently purchased down by the creek. It was the same one where he’d been only an innocent, vulnerable kid who lost himself as a runner for Kent Ellison.
Plus, I was the one who searched for the nonprofits that we sank the money into.
Anonymous gifts that came from out of nowhere.
Cash had been my mentor, and he’d joked that I’d earned the equivalent of a PhD in the five days it’d taken him to show me the ropes.
I’d always been a good student.
Even better with numbers.
Had always believed I wanted to do something with that.
Funny how it turned out that something was cooking Crimson Crows’s books.
Meems was right.
I was going to be a chef, after all, just not quite the one she imagined. But I had to admit, I’d gotten really good at making Silas’s favorite pie.
“You do, huh?” I whispered, trying to focus on the task at hand.
Impossible when my husband started kissing up and down my neck.
“Like everything about you, actually,” he murmured against the skin.
A little moan worked free, and I struggled to focus.
“Look.” I pointed at the screen. “I found this veterinary center right here in Crimson Creek that’s known to give free care to animals belonging to low-income families. They just received a twenty-thousand-dollar grant.”
“That’s fucking good, baby,” he enthused in his low, rough voice.
Though he didn’t give up in his needy pursuit, sliding the chair out with me in it, leaning further over so he could drag up the skirt of my dress.
Then he went flying back when the lobby door suddenly opened and a bright wedge of light flooded into the room. Squinting, he ran a flustered hand through his hair, doing his best to appear casual as Elena walked in with Kai.
She smirked. “You might as well drop the act, big brother. Do you actually think I couldn’t feel you in here getting handsy from a mile away?”
“Hands, Daddy!” Kai pushed both of his hands out, waving his little fingers in the air.
We both choked over a laugh, though Silas was murmuring, “Hey, little man. That’s right, you’ve got two hands, don’t you?”
“One, two, fee!” He bounced on Elena’s hip, letting go of one of his adorable little squeals.
I stood, shaking myself off a bit.
This was my favorite time of day, after all.
The time when Elena brought Kai to the shop so we could all have lunch together. For most of the summer, we’d had picnics out beneath the trees, but since the weather had begun to cool, we’d taken to either eating here in the lobby or out in the shop.
“Mommy!” He reached for me.
My heart did a somersault in my chest.
Racing as it stretched and expanded.
We thought we’d test it out. Calling Silas ‘Daddy Silas’ and me ‘Mommy Brinley’, wondering if it would be awkward.
If it would feel like a lie.
It hadn’t because that’s what we’d become.
His parents.
Silas and I might have loved each other, body and soul, but this little boy was the light of our lives.
“Hi, my sweet boy.” The words were thick with adoration.
“I get Mommy.” He kicked his feet in a bid to get down.
“Oh, fine, I see how it is. Ditch Auntie Lena the second your mommy is in the room,” she teased, setting him onto his little feet then poking at his belly.
He squealed with laughter, giggling and running in place on his little sneakers. “I wove my Wena. I no ditch.”
Warmth swelled from her being, and she peeked over at me before she smiled down at him. “We all get to love each other so much, don’t we? No favorites.”
My chest squeezed in that unending affection Meems shared with everyone. The way she’d taught her grandchildren to be.
And they’d accepted me right into that fold as if I’d been there all along.
I never dared to imagine having this kind of love in my life again, terrified of it for fear of a broken heart.
But I realized the walls I’d built might have shielded me from the threat of pain and tragedy, but they were also shielding me from the good.
And I wanted that good.
I wanted it all.
Kai came scampering around the counter, pure grin on his face, eyes the color of Silas’s shining with joy and mirth.
I scooped him up and kissed the crown of his head. “Did you have a good morning with Meems and Auntie Lena?”