Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 103552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 518(@200wpm)___ 414(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
“Yeah. You should have heard him this morning. I know he didn’t call you because he said he wasn’t going to.” She gave an adorable imitation of Hawk’s growl. “‘I don’t give a shit what Avery thinks. I’m going out there and locking that place down. Nobody’s getting in again.’ He was pissed,” Sterling said in a regular voice. “The idea that you could have been there, working late—” She shivered.
“I have a feeling whoever broke in knew I wasn’t there,” I said, “but yeah.”
I’d had the same thought earlier. What if I had been there? I knew some self-defense, but it was a terrifying thought, and it made me feel vulnerable. I hated feeling vulnerable. Hawk would take care of making sure it didn’t happen again, but maybe the violation was bugging me more than I was ready to admit.
“You don’t have to worry,” Sterling said. “Hawk is going to fix it.”
“I know,” I agreed. “‘I was just...” I wrinkled my nose, trying to think of how to say what had been on my mind without starting something I wasn’t prepared to finish.
“West is mad, too,” Sterling said quietly with a sparkle in her eye. “I overheard him talking to Hawk. He’s really bossy. Like, hot bossy.”
Before Sterling could say anything else about West’s bossiness, I distracted her. “He’s pissed at me for having that file. He’s pissed at all three of us.”
“Yeah, Hawk yelled at me. And Quinn.” Sterling shook her head. “If I didn’t know he loved her to pieces, I might have worried. Because he was furious. ‘None of you should be doing enough investigating to have a file, for fuck’s sake,’” she said in Hawk’s voice.
“Has he heard you imitate him?” I asked, smiling at her. “I’m not sure if he’d be pissed or die laughing.”
“Quinn has,” Sterling said with a giggle. “She thought it was funny.”
“I bet. I think I’m glad West yelled at me instead of Hawk, but honestly, I’m not sure which of them is scarier when they’re angry.”
Sterling nodded in agreement. “Anyway, West is pretty bossy, but he’s also West.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me, and I knew she wasn’t going to drop it.
“He’s too old for me,” I said. It was a weak excuse, and Sterling knew it.
Sterling’s eyebrows pulled together as she thought about that, her eyes scanning the aisle ahead of us. We passed one booth that had a gorgeous array of lampwork beads, and I thought of Scarlett, my twin brother Tenn’s wife. She was a glass artist who did lampwork, making jewelry and small sculptures. She’d displayed at a craft fair already this season, but she’d given this one a pass, saying she didn’t have enough time to keep up with inventory for the shops in the area that carried her work and stock another booth. A good problem to have. She was hoping to have enough for a booth here next year. Based on what I was seeing, she’d do a lot of business if she did.
“He’s not too old for you, but I know what you mean. I love him, but he’s—” Sterling looked up to the ceiling as she searched for the right word. “Rigid.”
I smirked, and she laughed.
“Not like that, you perv. I mean, maybe.” Another eyebrow wiggle. “But you know what I mean. Letter of the law and all that. He’s always been kind,” she said, echoing my earlier thoughts. “But he’s black and white. Not a lot of room for grey.”
She would know. When Sterling had been drinking, West had thrown her in jail more than once. It hadn’t taken him long to cure her of trying to drink and drive. She’d been young and stupid, but a night in jail had impressed upon her the importance of not getting behind the wheel when she’d been drinking. After the first time he’d thrown her behind bars, she hadn’t tried to drive drunk again. I knew there’d been a night or two when she’d slept in the chair in his office or an empty cell because she couldn’t drive home and didn’t want to ask our brothers for a room at the Inn.
“I don’t have a problem staying on the right side of the law,” I said, frowning to myself as I thought it through. “It’s not that. I deal with enough regulations running a brewery. I know how black and white things can be and when it’s important to do things the right way,” I said. “It’s the bossiness.”
“You never liked anyone telling you what to do.”
“Hello, pot calling the kettle black,” I said with a laugh.
“Yeah, yeah, I know we all have that problem. Except Parker. She doesn’t seem to mind being bossed around as much, but she picked a better one to do it this time.”
“Definitely,” I said, thinking of Nash, Parker’s fiancé. “I’d let Nash boss me around any day,” I joked. “Not that he has eyes for anyone but Parker.”