Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
* * * *
“Did you meet the new guy?” Hutch’s head popped up over the side of her cubicle and he rested an arm there, a Red Vine dangling from his mouth.
That long piece of candy was part of his daily uniform.
Hutch was one of the coolest guys she’d ever met.
Hutch had kind of saved her. He’d definitely saved her from jail, but beyond that he’d saved her from drifting away from herself, from making the kind of choice that might have killed her soul. Hutch had given her a place where she was valued.
“New guy?” She slid her headphones off her ears and onto her shoulders.
“Yeah, Big Tag’s nephew is supposed to start today.” Hutch had blue eyes and a ready smile that she so wished made her heart stop.
It was sad because Hutch was pretty much exactly her type. He liked board games and computers, and they could talk tech all night while they ate pizza and decided which craft beer paired well with cheese.
He was the brother she wished she’d had, a piece of the family she’d lost and now longed for. “Oh, yes. I met him. He seemed nice.”
“Nice? He’s practically a Taggart. Come on. You have to have some intel.”
He’d seemed a bit lost to her. She probably wouldn’t see him again. She didn’t have much to do with the bodyguards. They were pretty self-contained most of the time. Every now and then a laptop went wonky or one of them couldn’t get a game to play and it was MaeBe to the rescue, but she didn’t think Kirk looked like a guy who played a lot of games.
He looked like a sports guy.
“He was a typical ex-military guy,” she replied. “I think he said he recently got out of the Navy. I figured out that he’s Sean’s stepson, and he’s pretty cool with the whole stepfamily thing. He called Ian his uncle but Sean was Sean. Kirk seemed like an okay guy.”
“Kirk? I thought his name was Kyle.” Hutch frowned. “Or maybe Kurt. I don’t know. He wasn’t working here when I hired on, and he’s been gone for years. I think he’s come home a couple of times, but I’ve never met him. I met his brother at a party once. David’s a nice guy. You should meet him.”
She shook her head because she knew what he meant. “I will meet him when you meet my friend from the coffee shop.”
Hutch stepped back and bowed formally. “Well played, my lady. No meetings. I’m done with the whole dating thing. I am happily single.”
He was not. Oh, she had zero doubt that he was happy his ex was out of his apartment and they had cleaned up all the dishes she’d chucked his way. Hutch had promised her he’d managed to duck. It was probably all his military/CIA training. “Are you sure? She’s a nice lady and she makes a killer mocha.”
“And David is a history professor. He’s as geek as you can get,” Hutch countered. “Or I can send you downstairs and you can give Kirk/Kyle/Kurt his system orientation. I was going to send someone from help desk down.”
He was an evil man. “Please send them. I don’t think I have anything in common with that guy. Though like I said, he seemed perfectly nice if you like the type.”
She seriously doubted that man had ever played D&D or spent an entire weekend watching Lord of the Rings. He likely loved Marvel movies but didn’t read comic books.
She’d learned those kind of men never took her seriously. They might think she was good for a night in bed, but they lacked the fundamental thing she required in a relationship—the compatibility to truly be friends with her.
“So you’re not going to be inviting him to game night? You know we could use a fourth for whatever we’re playing on Thursday. Boomer’s out of town for another week.”
And she would miss the big guy, but her prep work for food for game night had gotten so much easier. The Boom man could eat. “Do you think we should cancel? If there are only three of us, it doesn’t seem like much of a party. Ever since the school year started we lost Theo and Michelle.”
She’d formed a game group over the course of her time here. It had started when Hutch had found out she had a European-style board game collection. It wasn’t much since she didn’t exactly have a ton of cash. But she was starting to grow it, and she loved hosting some friends at her place once a week. Hutch had brought along Theo Taggart, Deke Murphy, and Boomer Ward. She’d brought her friends Michelle Johnson and Harry Tanaka. Sometimes there were seven of them. Sometimes it was her and Hutch. Theo’s daughter had soccer practice on Thursdays this season and Michelle’s son had tutoring sessions. Harry had started his residency in pediatrics at Parkland Hospital, and Deke and Boomer’s work often took them out of town.