Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 137131 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137131 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
“There’s one secondary issue I wanted to bring up.” Now’s as good a time as ever, I guess, and I might as well go for it. “You know Solitude?”
Patton and Dexter trade glances.
“You mean the cabin?” Patton asks slowly. “Yes, we’re familiar.”
“It’s currently occupied and due to unforeseen circumstances, our current guest can’t pay for the full stay they booked.” I toy with how many details to give them, but my brothers are sharks. I can’t afford to give them any blood. “This guest has a very serious personal situation. I promised I’d see what I could do to extend their time. They’re an expert on bees and they’ve promised to help out in exchange.”
“Bees? Hold on, I’m not following.” Dex taps his pen loudly against the table like a drum. “Are you, Archer Rory, saying you want us to give this person a free stay?”
“Not free,” I correct. “Apparently, the bee boxes our landscaping crew installed turned up something interesting. They produce rare honey. Supposedly. It’s definitely purple, I’ve seen it myself. Sh—our guest knows how to extract the honey and says we can sell it. The stuff may get a decent price.”
“Decent? How decent? Like does this purple honey outshine a barrel of oil?” Patton taps a few keys on his laptop. “Oh,” he says, giving me a sly glance. “I get it now.”
“What?” Dexter pulls the laptop closer, takes a good, long look, and grins. “Oh, wow. It all makes sense now. It’s a woman.”
“Is she cute?” Patton asks. “Shit, I want to see her. She must be a knockout to turn Arch into Mr. Charity.”
“Fucking hell, guys, this isn’t about how cute she is. Knock it off.”
“So she is cute?”
I glower at Dexter. “It’s none of your damn business what she looks like.”
“Okay. So Rina’s back in town,” Patton muses. “How’s that going for you?”
“For fuck’s sake, guys.” I pinch my nose, wishing I could go back in time and start my own company. I could’ve taken the financial hit without ever speaking to these idiots. “This doesn’t have anything to do with Rina.”
“Doesn’t it, though?” Dexter’s grin makes me want to throw him off a cliff. “You’re telling me you’re not doing a fake-girlfriend thing to keep Rina off your back?”
“Hell no.” Not yet anyway. “That’s your territory.”
“Worked out pretty well in my experience. Five stars. Would gladly find my wife again by pretending to date her first.”
“That’s not what you thought at the start of it,” I snarl, then stop myself. “Look, I barely know the girl. She just wound up in a dicey situation.”
“What kind of dicey? This better not have anything to do with mobsters or poisoned kids.” Patton turns to Dexter. “But hey, it turns out he’s got a heart. Who’d have thought? Christmas is saved.”
“Fuck you entirely,” I spit. “Look, this honey thing could be a potential gold mine. I did some digging. It’s very rare when it’s as neon-purple as this stuff and the markup on organic honey like this gets insane.”
They both stare at me like bored cats.
I’m not convincing either of them. Hell, I’m not sure I’m convincing myself.
It’s not like I’m doing this for the honey.
If Winnie hadn’t cried—if she hadn’t felt like heaven in my arms—maybe I wouldn’t have been so determined to help out, but that’s a strong maybe.
Hard truth is, there’s something about her.
The vulnerability, the way she flinches away from certain things like they sting, it makes me want to fix this girl.
A new emotion, I’ll admit.
I’m not the type of guy who walks around with a savior complex.
My brothers damn sure aren’t used to seeing it, either.
I don’t charge in and help people without good reason. Normally, I make the hard decisions in this business. I don’t flinch at the consequences.
Shit, what if it’s as simple as they say? The fact that she’s cute?
But how many attractive women have thrown themselves at my feet over the years? Winnie hasn’t even done that.
She hasn’t done anything to indicate she wouldn’t slap me silly if I tried to kiss her.
With her background in bloodthirsty politics, I’m just another rich guy. I don’t stand out like a demigod who draws gold diggers.
Frankly, I doubt she knows who or what I am beyond Higher Ends, considering she isn’t local. The Rory name means next to nothing in Springfield, let alone DC.
Except the way she looked at me earlier, when I comforted her…
Crap.
What the fuck am I getting myself into?
Patton tucks his hands behind his head again as he watches me, an unidentifiable expression on his face which can’t mean anything good.
“Archer, you lucky dog, here’s a bone. If Dex agrees, we won’t kick your little honey out if she doesn’t have anywhere else to stay. At least for a little while.”
“We can take the loss. Maybe write it off as charity. I’ll ask our CPA,” Dexter agrees. “Especially if it means that much to you.”