Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“Fair enough.”
“Why do you drive? Aren’t you from the city?”
“Sort of. My parents moved us to Greenwich when there started to be too many of us to comfortably live in a city apartment. The commute isn’t bad, but you kinda gotta do it by car. Been living in the city for all my adult life, but having a car and a license comes in handy for more than visiting my parents.”
“Like doing stakeouts upstate.”
“Yeah,” he agreed as we both filed into the elevator. “Even if it comes with the headache of having to deal with the damn DMV.”
“I should feel guilty about that,” I said.
“And yet…” he said, shooting me a smile as we exited the elevator.
“And yet,” I agreed.
“So, I’ll drop by to scoop… no?” he asked when I shook my head.
“No. I’ll meet you here. I don’t want Megs or Nicole seeing you and starting to worry.”
“Five,” he said.
“Five,” I agreed before forcing myself to turn and walk away from him.
I spent the entire walk back to my building thinking about all the ways spending several days with Miko might be a terrible idea.
Like, you know, knowing he would be in a hotel room beside mine. Possibly naked. And willing.
“Christ,” I grumbled to myself as I took the elevator up to my apartment.
I needed to get a grip.
So what if he was attractive? And kind? And gave me that weird warm blanket feeling?
I was a grown-ass woman.
I could be with a hot guy for a few days without anything happening.
I hoped.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Miko
She was in the car for two minutes, and the whole space was already full of that brown sugar sweetness of hers. It was proving to be a fucking problem. I couldn’t think straight, thinking about how good that would smell up close, my nose teasing up her neck as my lips pressed…
No.
Nope.
Couldn’t let my mind go there.
We had a long drive to go, and I couldn’t be doing it with a raging hard-on.
“This is my favorite time of day,” Max said, pulling me out of my battle to try to stop imagining all the fun ways we could waste some time alone together while waiting for something else to happen.
“Five in the morning. Why?”
“It’s right before the city really starts to wake up. I’m usually on my way home from jobs at this time. I’ve always preferred seeing morning from the ‘wrong’ side of it.”
“Because, when you were on the streets, you didn’t sleep at night?” I asked, watching as her head whipped in my direction, her brows furrowing.
“How did you know that?”
“Doesn’t take a lot of imagination to figure that a teenage girl on the street wouldn’t feel comfortable sleeping when the rest of the city is too quiet to overhear if something happens.”
“To be fair, the city doesn’t typically give a fuck if they’re awake either. But the kind of men who take advantage like the anonymity of night for the most part.”
“I’m guessing that Megs slept like a baby with you as her watchdog, though.”
“She was younger,” Max insisted, straightening, ready to defend her friend.
“Seems softer too,” I agreed.
“Good.”
So, I’d been right about their dynamic. While not related, Max took on the mantle of big sister. And protector. She’d shielded Megs from the uglier parts of the world, trying to ensure that Megs didn’t become cold and jaded. By letting herself become enough of those things for the two of them.
It was sweet and sad in equal measure.
“How old were you when you got permanently off the street?”
“It was a slow process,” Max said as she fiddled with the heated seat button. “For a long time, we alternated sleeping on the street and staying in the shelters, depending on how much room there was. As I got more jobs, we tried to rent rooms by the night, when possible.
“But it wasn’t until I really found my niche with picking pockets that there was enough of an influx of money for put down on first, last, and security. Been busting my ass ever since to make sure neither of us ever end up in a tight spot again.”
“But Megs works, right?” I asked. I understood the urge to protect and provide. I was especially guilty of spoiling my sisters. But it was important to make sure they could take care of themselves too. Especially given my lifestyle. God forbid something happened to me, I wanted to know they all could stand on their own. That was why I was so hard on Nero and would be on my other brothers as they joined the Family in an official way.
“Of course she works. But she doesn’t make a ton of money. Nicole is the same. They could probably pinch together enough to make it work, but it wouldn’t be as comfortable as it is now.”
“But you expect the boyfriend to move in eventually to make things easier on them.”