Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 108362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108362 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 542(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
My hand went to the back of her neck, rubbing at the new tension that had visibly collected there. “Margie isn’t someone we should be taking advice from, especially not in this case.”
“Shouldn’t we at least run it by your dad? See what he says?”
“We can, but I’m sure he’ll be against what Margie’s suggested, too.”
“He asked Oliver King-Clark to do some pretty dodgy stuff to track the owner of that crypto wallet. I don’t think he’s as law abiding as you’d like to believe,” she argued.
I blew out a heavy breath. She was right. My father could be fairly loose where the law was concerned, but it was always for the common good. “Fine, we’ll run it by him at dinner, but I don’t like it.”
Shannon shut down her laptop and stood, stretching her arms over her head, and my gaze wandered over her lithe form. With everything that had happened over the last day or so, I’d barely had time to appreciate her, nor be close to her like I craved. Peering past her, I made sure Zara was still in her room before I brought my hand to her hip and tugged her forward. Lifting my head, I gazed up at her, tracing her features because her face was my favourite thing to look at.
“How are you doing with all this?” I murmured, massaging her hip as I laced my fingers with hers.
“It’s been a lot,” she said, and I nodded, leaning forward to kiss the sliver of skin that peeked out beneath her top.
My gaze flicked up. “You need some stress relief?”
She sucked in a sharp breath. “We can’t … Zara’s here. Besides, I thought you didn’t want to …”
Her words fell off when I nuzzled her stomach. “Didn’t want to what?”
“You slept out here last night. You didn’t even … t-touch me.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, guilt swept in. How had I not considered how my quiet solemnity last night would come across? I’d slept out here, but only because I’d been so lost in my own stressed, angry thoughts that I’d eventually passed out on the couch. I hadn’t even considered that Shannon would think I was putting distance between us. The truth was I’d been too distracted by my need to catch Dixon to think about sex, but she should’ve known by now that I wanted her all the time.
“I’m sorry. How can I make it up to you?” A shy look crossed her face, like she didn’t know how to respond. I kept my voice low when I asked, “Did you miss me?”
She nodded, her breaths coming faster. I slid my finger under the hem of her top right before Zara came out of her room, and we quickly broke apart.
“When are we going to Granny and Granddad’s?” she asked, her expression light and cheerful, no clue of what she’d just walked in on. I had no intention of allowing Margie and Dixon’s bullshit to slow down what was happening between Shannon and me. I was still one hundred percent in with her. As far as I was concerned, we could tell Zara right now because I wasn’t going anywhere. Shannon, on the other hand, wasn’t quite where I was, but she’d get there.
“Soon,” I told her before glancing at Shannon. “You up for it?”
“Sure, I haven’t had time to buy groceries, so there’s nothing here for dinner anyway.”
“But I’m peckish now,” Zara complained.
“Do you want a snack?” Shannon asked, and our daughter bobbed her head. There wasn’t much in the fridge, only a couple of things I’d picked up on our way over yesterday. Shannon grabbed an apple and a packet of oat cookies for Zara, washing the apple before chopping it into slices as I lowered onto a stool to watch her. Her cheeks were still flushed from our encounter by the couch.
“What?” she asked, aware of my staring. “Do you need a snack, too?”
I grinned. “I could eat.” The double meaning in my response didn’t evade her, and her flush deepened. Shannon placed some apple slices on a plate next to the cookies before sliding them to Zara, who carried her plate into the living area and turned on the television. Shannon then quietly started on another apple for me. She placed the slices on a plate and put it in front of me. The air felt thick around us. I held her gaze as I brought a slice to my mouth and bit down. She turned away, wiping down the counter even though it was already clean.
“How are things with Elias? I forgot to ask if he checked himself in somewhere.”
“He did. I drove him to a clinic, and he seemed like he was serious about quitting, but time will tell. I’ll call him tomorrow to see how he’s doing.”