Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99399 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99399 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
“He’s cute,” JJ said, as if that was relevant.
“Mm.”
He let out a huff of laughter. “Okay. Well, he is.”
“Your wife know you find guys hot?” I griped.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but she does. I’m secure in my masculinity, asshole. And I’m not one of those idiots who thinks calling another guy hot makes me gay.”
I muttered an apology and slumped over my second sandwich. “I could tell Jake was into Wolfe.”
“Ah. And you didn’t like that?” More keyboard clacking. “Interesting.”
I sucked in a breath. “Can you just tell me what you’ve found, please?”
“You know Wolfe has a crush on you, right? Ever since he was, like, fifteen. It’s like the worst-kept secret in the family.”
My heartbeat sped up a little, and my eyes flicked to the entrance of the campground as if I’d somehow missed Wolfe’s van entering, even though it was impossible from where I was sitting.
“I can’t see how that’s true in the present,” I said. “Even if it was in the past.”
So maybe I’d been the last to know about Wolfe’s crush on me. Probably because I hadn’t wanted to see it. But also because he’d been so firmly in the category of my best friend’s kid that until Wolfe brought it up six years ago, the idea hadn’t even crossed my mind.
Since then, I couldn’t get it out of my mind.
“I’m just wondering if maybe you’re used to having all Wolfe’s attention when you’re around, and now this Jake guy is taking it away from you.”
I groaned and shoved my food aside, laying my face in the cradle of my arms on the table. “Maybe. I don’t know. But… is Wolfe really going to fall for some random bar owner in a tiny town in Colorado?”
“Need I remind you my cousin Alex is a random bar owner in a tiny town in Montana?” he pointed out with a laugh. “And he seems to be doing okay for himself in the love department.”
He was right. Not that Hush was anywhere near as big as Legacy.
JJ continued. “This sounds like jealousy, which is rich coming from the guy who’s been sending Wolfe fuck-off vibes for half a decade.”
“Why are we suddenly talking about this out in the open?” I asked. “I thought the deal was we both pretend like it’s not a thing. That was working well before. Let’s go back to that.”
“Was it working well before?” he pushed. “Was it really?”
“There’s a reason I was sending him fuck-off vibes,” I reminded him.
“Mm. Not sure about that, but okay. Tell me what those reasons are, please.”
I was so startled by the question, I froze for a beat.
“Right,” JJ said. “Sounds convincing.”
“His age!” I sat up and waved my hand through the air. “The fact he’s a…” No. Not a child. Not anymore. Not for a long time. The man was thirty fucking years old. “He’s like my nephew. I can’t believe you’re even asking this. Why are we talking about this?”
JJ sighed. “Look. I know it’s weird. Wolfe’s my cousin. We grew up together.”
“Not helping.”
“But you and I have been through some shit, right?”
I thought about the time we’d been on a domestic abuse rescue job together. JJ’d only been six months off his new-hire training, and we hadn’t expected trouble. When we’d arrived at the woman’s house in the middle of nowhere Utah, not only had her abusive husband been there, but so had his drunk buddies. His drunk, armed buddies, fresh off a hunting trip.
JJ and I had been forced to fight our way out together while protecting the target and her three young children. In the process, we’d had our tires slashed, JJ’s hand broken, a deep knife wound to my side, and a malfunctioning GPS unit.
It had been a hell of a way for JJ to get on-the-job training.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “We have.” It was why I thought of JJ as more of a friend than one of the “Marian kids.”
“So tell me what you want, Trace. Not what you should want.”
“You sound serious,” I muttered. “Mr. Perfect Marriage.”
He snorted, but it didn’t sound amused. “Don’t believe everything you see. You know better than that.”
“Shit, really?”
“We’re talking about you.”
I looked around at the incredible views surrounding me. The campground was nestled in a little bowl valley between hills with taller mountains behind them on one side. The grass was beginning to green up with early spring, and the sun shone down on all of it behind a few white, puffy clouds.
The campground was wide open and spread out, and many of the sites were empty, presumably because it was still April, when a winter cold snap could hit at any time.
“We don’t have to talk about this at all,” I reminded him. “You’re the one pushing.”
“You can only ignore important things for so long, Trace. Eventually, you have to face them head-on.”