Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
“Okay.”
“Alert Niamh about the whole situation. She’ll weasel in to get close to him and do his head in. Maybe she can chase him away. We really aren’t prepared for guardians to be nosing around quite yet.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
After she hung up, she realized Broken Sue had fallen quiet as well.
“Did you tell Austin Steele?” she asked.
“I did. He’s at the bar already. He’ll handle it.”
She sighed, her mind suddenly churning. “We should expect other scouts. Because unless Patty amended the invitations, there was no stipulation that they couldn’t come sooner than the suggested dates. Crap. We can’t unveil the weird that is Jessie’s crew this soon. The stories will get much too big before she can negate their weirdness with her awesomeness.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it. Alpha Steele didn’t seem impressed that one of their lead battle commanders was wandering around a quiet neighborhood, whatever his reason for being there. He’ll push the issue.”
“Meaning he’ll throw his weight around and make the other guy feel really uncomfortable?”
“Yes.” He paused as he pointed across the street. “You missed the house. I saw you walk by, looking at your phone. Why don’t you have your knives?”
The last comment was said in a growl.
“Oversight. Don’t worry, it won’t happen again. I felt completely vulnerable without them. I hate feeling like that. I couldn’t even run, though that probably doesn’t matter when the enemy can fly.”
“If you ever feel threatened…” He stopped walking abruptly and leaned down to catch her eye. “You call me. Day or night.”
Butterflies flurried in her stomach from his proximity. “I don’t have your number.”
He held out his hand, and she filled it with hers.
“No…” He squeezed her hand before shaking it a little to dislodge it. “If you give me your phone, I’ll program my number in.”
“Oh.” Her face heated. “First let me close out of all the soft-core porn…” She handed over the phone.
He tapped at it as he started across the street. “The weird mage isn’t coming, then?”
“No. He has to work.” She held out her hand for the phone as they hit the next sidewalk, out in front of his house. “Wait a minute. Let me take this in. This is not how I envisioned your digs. Who even are you?”
TWELVE
Nessa
His lawn was a little square of heaven. A lovely oak sat in the far corner of the yard with a tire swing hanging from a reaching branch.
“Do you ride?” She pointed at it with a smile.
“The neighborhood kids are welcome to use it anytime. There used to be more of them before the Dicks and Janes started moving away.”
Gray pebbles lined the walkway to the front porch, which had a welcome mat and a little park bench next to a pot growing lively pink flowers. A stationary garden gnome stood under a wide window, hunkering under a bush with his shovel tip touching the ground.
“That better not come alive,” she said.
He threaded his hands into his pockets, looking at it. “I admit, I put that there before the gnome issue at Ivy House.”
“And you kept it because…?”
“I want it to come alive. That’ll be the last time it does.”
A wave of shivers coated her skin, and she leaned away from him a little, looking up with wide eyes and a grin. “That is literally the hottest thing I’ve heard in two weeks. Slay dragons? How could you? But kill gnomes? You’re my knight in shining armor.”
His face remained impassive, very shifter-esque. “In two weeks? Who said what two weeks ago?”
“Some random guy at the bar said, ‘I’ll go punch myself in the face, then, will I?’ He was actually really good-looking, just an incredible dickhead, so it was definitely pretty hot when he said exactly what I was thinking.”
He studied her for a moment, his sharp cheekbones looking even more severe in the falling night. With his narrow nose ending in the cutest little uptick, teamed with the crazy in his eyes, he looked almost like a hot Bond villain. But she knew this guy could never be the villain he thought himself to be. He was pure and honest and good, with a wholesome house and a tire swing for the kids. The protector. The provider. The guy who would look down on all that she was and all that she’d done, regardless of the why. Maybe because of the why.
She wasn’t looking for Mr. Right, though. He didn’t exist, not for her. She was looking for Mr. Right Now, and if he’d just loosen up the cinch of his belt a little, they could both have a lovely time. It wasn’t like he was keeping himself abstinent. He took ladies home from the bar now and again, just never her. She had no idea why.
“Your bar for hotness is pretty low, huh?” he asked, his eyes showing the smile that his face didn’t.