Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 90315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90315 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
“This is you,” I tell her. “Bathroom is attached, and all yours. I need to make a couple of calls, so I’ll be downstairs.”
I turn to leave, but she stops me.
“Where is everyone?”
I lift an eyebrow. “Who’s everyone?”
“Your family, Gideon. Your wife and kids.”
“I’m not married. No kids.” I shake my head. “My brother and Willow are my family. Their kiddo, Aiden, is my family.”
Her brows pull together in a frown.
“You can get settled. If you need anything, just let me know. We’re getting up early tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“Because we’re going to start training. Like I said before, this isn’t vacation. You’ll be working while you’re here.”
“What does that mean, Gideon?”
“You’ll find out in the morning.”
“And if I’m not tired?”
I reach up and lean on the doorjamb. I took my suit jacket off once we landed, along with my tie, and rolled my sleeves to get more comfortable. She’s hardly taken her eyes off the tattoos on my left arm, and it occurred to me that she’d never seen me without the full suit.
She saw me in T-shirts when we ran together, but I’ve added to the tattoos over the past four years, filling in the sleeve.
Does she have ink?
Lena’s eyes trail over my chest and stomach. She can’t see skin, but she’s checking me out, and then, as if catching herself, she clears her throat.
“You can wander around the house if you want. I wouldn’t go outside at night because there are critters around. Bear, mountain lion, you name it. Go down and watch TV if you want.”
She nods once. “Thank you. What time should I set my alarm for?”
“Five.”
That has her balking. “Five?”
“That’s seven in DC.”
“Oh. Right. Okay, five it is.”
I turn to leave, but she stops me yet again.
“Gideon?”
“Yeah.”
“Thank you.”
Shaking my head, I walk away. Christ, I could be with her for months. Which god did I piss off so bad that I’d get stuck with Blackbird in my house, under my nose, for God knows how long?
She’s different from how she was before.
She’s not argumentative. She’s not brash or defiant.
I didn’t think I’d ever see her again, and now she’s sleeping upstairs, under my roof.
A lot can happen in two days.
Walking into my office, I close the door behind me and call Ryker.
“I saw you drive by,” he says in greeting. “I take it everything went well?”
“We’re here,” I confirm and rub my hand over my face.
Fuck, I’m tired.
“How is she?” he asks.
Fucking beautiful.
“Scared. Different. She’s grown up.”
“She’ll be safe here.”
I nod and walk to the wall of windows. I can see the lake from here, and in the daytime, the mountains beyond.
“I’ve decided to start training her tomorrow. She was put in a position that she could have gotten out of if she’d been trained. So if you hear gunfire, that’s us.”
“Good to know. You okay, Gid?”
No. I’m not okay. I have a woman living in my house, and I don’t want her here. I don’t want any reminders of what I lost.
“Fine. I’m tired. It was a long fucking day.”
“Get some rest.”
“See you tomorrow.”
After hanging up, I turn and sit at my desk. Debbie and Ray smile at me from the framed photo next to my computer.
I wish you were here.
I miss my mom. I miss them both, but Debbie and I had a special bond. She was the tiniest thing, probably didn’t even weigh a hundred pounds, but man, her heart was so big. She loved Ryker and me like we were her own.
Because we were.
She and Ray had wanted a big family, and when Ray built the farmhouse for her after they first married, he included eight bedrooms.
Eight.
For all the kids they wanted to have and raise on this ranch.
But it turned out that Debbie couldn’t have kids. So they took Ryker and me in. And Willow, too, in the summers. Debbie was Willow’s aunt.
And that woman was made to be a mom. The fact that she couldn’t have her own was an injustice that still pisses me off, because no one was better than my mom.
If she were here, she’d tell me to welcome Lena into my home, to take care of her and make her feel like she belongs. Hell, Mom would have spoiled the shit out of Lena.
It was just her way.
She’d have made fried chicken for dinner tomorrow, and Lena would have fallen in love with her.
Because everyone who knew my mom loved her.
“I think I brought a mess home,” I say to my parents. “I hope I don’t live to regret it. I don’t like bringing anything here that could hurt Wills or Ryker.”
So I need to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Clicking the keys on the computer, I bring up my cameras. They have night vision, and I arrow through, examining each one to make sure everything is as it should be. There’s a raccoon in front of camera three. Everything else is quiet.