Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
“You’re full of surprises,” I murmured.
“I’ve lived a thousand lives,” she said cheekily.
“Erik will love that you like to hunt,” Mom said. “He doesn’t go often anymore, but he’d love the company when he does.”
“None of the boys like to go?” Reese asked, taking another bite of her sandwich.
Mom let out a little giggle.
“What?” Reese mumbled around her food, holding her hand in front of her mouth.
“It’s just that you call them boys even though the youngest of them could be your great-great-great—”
“Yeah, yeah,” Reese said with a wink. “You guys are all ancient.”
“They’re old,” my dad announced, striding in from the garage. “I’m ancient.”
“How old are you?” Reese asked in fascination.
“Whatever you’re imagining,” I told her quietly. “Older than that.”
“No fucking way.”
“Thank you,” my dad said as Mom handed him a sandwich. He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss. “This looks great. I’ll take care of dinner.”
He rounded the island and sat down.
“Reese likes to hunt,” my mom said, raising her eyebrows.
“Is that right?”
“I mean, I haven’t done it in years, but I think I remember the basics,” Reese hedged.
“What do you hunt?” Dad asked as he dug into his sandwich.
“Deer and elk.”
“With?”
“A rifle?”
“Amateur.”
“Hey,” she complained with a laugh. “What do you hunt with?”
“Longbow,” he replied. “Knife.”
Reese’s mouth dropped open. “Bullshit.”
I leaned back to enjoy the show.
“All it takes is patience.”
“Wait, are Vampires like crazy fast or something? I’ve seen the movies.”
Dad choked a little on his sandwich while Mom laughed.
“Yeah, yeah,” Reese grumbled, leaning back against me. “Laugh it up.”
“Uh, no,” I said, brushing the hair off her neck. “We’re not unnaturally fast.” I paused for a moment, holding back my laughter. “We don’t sleep in coffins or sparkle either.”
“You’re such an ass,” she complained, elbowing me in the gut.
It almost sounded like an endearment.
“We’re stronger than humans,” my dad explained. “Our hearing is much more sensitive, and so is our eyesight. And as you know, once mated, we’re immortal.”
“And you don’t age past thirty-one.”
“Well, actually,” my mom said, waving her hand from side to side. “That’s an approximation. I stopped noticing changes in Beau around thirty-one years old, but Danny was closer to what?” She glanced at my dad. “Twenty-five?”
“Around then, yes.”
“Chance was—” She paused and squinted. “Twenty-nine or thirty.”
“Thirty,” my dad confirmed.
“Ambrose and Ezekiel were both around twenty-seven.”
“Wow. So why are they all different?”
“No one knows,” my dad answered. “Just one of those things.”
“Maybe it’s based upon their mate, right?” Reese said, glancing up at me. “I mean, I’m twenty-seven, so Beau being essentially thirty-one is pretty perfect.”
My parents both looked at me and then Reese.
“That could be it,” I agreed, running a hand down her back.
“I mean, it would make sense.”
“It would.”
“You guys should take a poll or something,” she mused. “See what the age differences are between mates.”
“I’m not sure how many Vampires would be willing to give out that information. We’re generally pretty private.”
“Well, you should at least say something to your brothers,” she said, tipping her head to meet my eyes. “If they know how old they are in relation to their mate, they could narrow down the search a little.”
“Yeah, I’ll tell them.”
“Mattie and I are ten years apart,” my dad said gruffly. “I’m not sure how helpful a poll would be in understanding.”
“But you two got together in the 1860s, right? So, ten years difference would’ve been pretty standard back then, more so than now.”
“True,” my mom said with a small smile.
“I’d bet five years or less,” Reese said thoughtfully. “I bet all the Boucher brothers are within five years of their mates’ ages.”
“Could be.”
Reese let out a little uncomfortable laugh and shrugged. “Or I could be absolutely wrong, and there’s no correlation at all. Ignore me.”
I kissed the top of her head as the conversation turned to other things and a weight settled in my gut.
I understood where she was going with it, and the idea had merit except for one thing. Millie Davies had been twenty-one when we met.
Chapter 9
Reese
“How did you find yourself working at the bank?” Beau asked as I rolled to face him.
His head rested on the crook of his elbow, the wide expanse of his shoulders bare. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to how gorgeous he was.
“Nepotism,” I said, pulling the covers up to my chin. God, his bed was comfortable. “I’ve worked a lot of jobs and got paid okay, but I’d never really found anything I liked. When Noah started Accord, Mr. Miranda asked if I’d like to work there. The rest is history.”
“What do you like about it?”
“Beyond being a giant pain in Noah’s ass?” I smiled. “I like being able to work independently, just me and my music. Also…I don’t know, I like knowing that we’re putting out a product that you can’t just get anywhere, at least not that kind of quality.”