Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 34451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
She smiled shyly. She didn’t think she’d ever grow used to him telling her how beautiful she was.
“So, do you know where you want the new shop to be? Of how you want to run it?”
“Yeah, I have a few places to look at in the New Year. You’ll come with me.”
Darn right, she would.
“The tricky part is finding someone to manage the new shop. They’ll have to have the same vision as me. I’ll need someone I can trust.”
“I could do it!” It was perfect. She knew what he wanted and he could trust her.
His face grew blank.
Unless he didn’t trust her. Maybe he didn’t think she could handle it.
Shoot. Her mouth went dry, and she cleared her throat.
“It’s all right if you—”
“You work with me,” he cut her off firmly.
“Um, I, but I’d still work with you.”
“No. You work in the same shop as I do. I need you to be where I can see you. You are not working in a completely different location to me.”
“But, Duke, you’ll probably be moving between shops anyway.”
“Sure, maybe sometimes, but I want you to be in the place where I spend most of my time. And I would prefer that to be the shop closest to the Iron Shadows. So I’ll know that even if I’m not around, you’ll have back-up close.”
“All right. I’ll stay where I am, and we’ll find someone else to operate the other shop.”
“Damn right.”
Duke tucked Sunny into bed and kissed her forehead.
“Daddy, aren’t you coming to bed, too?”
“I’m just going to check that the house is locked up. All right?”
“Okay, Daddy. I was very naughty today.”
Hadn’t they already talked about this?
“I know. But we’ve discussed this. Starting tomorrow, you’re grounded for a month. No going anywhere without my permission unless you’re going to work, where I will be taking you to anyway.”
“Yes, Daddy, but . . .”
“But what?” he asked.
“Do you think Santa will still have me on his nice list? What if I’m on the naughty list? He might not bring me any presents!” she wailed.
“Hush, baby. Of course you’re on his nice list. You could never be on the naughty list, no matter what you do. My Sunny is a good girl.”
“Are you sure, Daddy?”
“I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life. My precious girl could never be on Santa’s naughty list.” He kissed her lightly. “Go to sleep, baby. Daddy is here, watching over you.”
It didn’t take her long to fall asleep, then he moved quietly out into the living room.
“I’m thinking about buying my sweet girl a unicorn for Christmas, so you might like to think about putting in a stable in your backyard.”
Duke sighed. But he wasn’t surprised. He’d had a feeling that the Fox would be paying him a visit.
He was sitting on the sofa with Hatter lying half on his lap.
Traitor.
“Great guard dog you make, Hatter,” Duke grumbled.
“Oh, Hatter and I became friends a long time ago.”
“And you’re not buying Sunny a unicorn for Christmas.”
“No?”
“No. They aren’t even real.” So why was he bothering to argue this point? Sighing, he sat on the armchair. “I’m surprised you wanted to leave Autumn and Brody alone tonight.”
“I have eyes on them. Want to see?”
“Uh, no. That’s all right.”
“I could set your house up so you have eyes on Sunny at all times.”
“Uh, I don’t think . . . wait, do you have cameras set up in here? In my house?” he demanded.
The Fox just grinned.
“Fox?”
“I don’t think I’ll answer that. Makes it more entertaining when you try to figure out the answer on your own.”
“You can be a real asshole sometimes,” Duke told him without ire.
“I have to get in my kicks somehow. You know, you’d think regularly batter dipping your corn dog would—”
“Fox!” Duke said with a groan. “Can we stay focused? I want to get back to Sunny sometime tonight.”
“Right. What are we going to do about this? They can’t be allowed to go off half-cocked when they get a scheme in their head. It’s dangerous. And I can’t allow any of them to get hurt. So unless you want me to lock away all of them, we need to do something.”
Duke glared at the Fox. “This is why we have problems. You cannot keep threatening to take Sunny from me.”
Fox gave him a strange look. “I am not threatening to take Sunny from you.”
“You’re often saying how you will take her and lock her up. How is that not taking her from me?”
“I assumed you would come too.”
“Fox, sometimes you’ve threatened to take her because you thought I was upsetting her.”
“Isn’t that what big brothers do? Threaten anyone who looks at their little sister strangely, who upsets them? Even if they are her husband?”
Duke let out a breath. Shit. “I guess so. I just know that if you wanted to, you could take her and I’d never find her again.”