Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77576 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
An anvil falls off my shoulders. “Thank you, Ava. Ruby, I truly appreciate the offer.”
“I understand.” Ruby rises. “If you change your mind, it’s an open-ended offer.”
“Are you leaving, Mom?”
“Yeah. I have some things to do at home this afternoon. But I’m going to check into this. Try to decode the message. In the meantime, I want to know right away if either of you get any more information from anyone out of the ordinary. Even if it seems completely unrelated.”
“Yeah, of course,” Ava says.
“Make that any message at all that doesn’t come from someone you know,” Ruby says.
I nod. “Absolutely. We really appreciate your help.”
“I would do anything for my Ava.”
Ruby smiles, and in that moment, I see a lot of her in Ava. They have the same eyes, the same full lips, the same teeth. Ruby is a beautiful woman, she doesn’t wear a lot of makeup, and she dresses mostly in jeans and loose T-shirts. Ava is the same way.
I’ve heard rumors that everyone in town always wondered how Ruby Lee was able to capture the best-looking Steel brother, Ryan.
But I’ve never wondered.
Because I see in her a lot of what I see in Ava. They’re both gorgeous women, just not in the traditional Steel sense.
But that doesn’t make them any less beautiful.
Ruby leaves, and Ava turns to me.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have put you on the spot like that about the security.”
“It’s okay. You were just concerned about me, and I’m touched by that. But I do want you to have security, Ava. You live here alone. And not to play the gender card—”
“But you’re going to,” she says dryly.
“Right. I’m going to. You’re a woman living alone.”
“Yeah, but in the middle of Snow Creek. If anything happened to me, someone would hear it.”
“Not necessarily. Not everyone lives above their place of business like you do.”
“You do,” she says.
“You’re going to make me play the gender card again.” I sigh and place my hand on her arm. “Besides, even if I were in my own place—which I’m not at the moment—you’re a few buildings down from me. What are the chances I’d be able to hear you if something happened?”
“Maybe Willow would hear me.”
“She’s closer than I am, above the beauty salon, but what if she did? She’s a woman living alone, just like you are.”
Ava opens her mouth, but I gesture for her to stop.
“I know exactly what you’re going to say. Just because you’re a woman doesn’t mean you can’t take care of yourself, and I agree. But you against three men who are armed?”
“You wouldn’t do any better against three men who are armed.”
Well, I would, but I’ll keep that to myself for now. She knows that as well as I do. In addition, what if someone does hear her? But what they hear is a gunshot? It would be too late to do anything.
But Ava’s feeling empowered, and I don’t want to discourage that.
“The point is, your family can afford to offer you security, and while I understand and respect the fact that you don’t like taking their money, this seems like a no-brainer to me.”
“If it’s such a no-brainer, why won’t you take their offer?”
“Because I’m not a member of your family, Ava. It’s that simple.”
She opens her mouth again but then closes it.
I give her arm a squeeze. “So you do understand.”
“Yes, I do. I understand. I just want you as protected as I am.”
“I own a firearm, and I know how to use it,” I tell her.
Her eyes go wide.
“I know your father and mother both shoot, and so do Dale, Donny, and Brock. Did you ever learn how to shoot a gun?”
“God, no. I hate guns.”
“I could teach you how to handle a weapon, if you’d like me to.”
She shakes her head vehemently. “I’m just not comfortable with that, Brendan. But thank you for the offer.”
“Well, as your mother says, it’s an open-ended offer. If you change your mind, all you have to do is ask.”
“Trust me.” She steps back from me, hunches her shoulders. “I will never change my mind.”
“So you found another place to stay at night,” my mother says over dinner.
“He’s a thirty-five-year-old man, Lori,” my father says.
“I understand that, Sean. I’m just making conversation.”
Right. I don’t believe that for a minute. My mother is trying to get information out of me. But I won’t out Ava Steel. She may not be ready to tell anyone that she and I are…
What the hell are we, anyway?
Dating, I guess.
But dating doesn’t usually mean falling into bed the first time you’re together. Definitely not for Ava Steel.
“Is that a problem?” I ask.
Mom smiles, handing me a bowl of green beans. “Of course not, honey. I just worry when you don’t come home.”
“When I’m not living here, you never know when I don’t come home.”