Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 88263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
I watch her go, a knot in my gut.
When she finds out about Nolan and the baby, she’s going to lose it, and I have no clue how I’m going to avoid that nuclear blast.
Right now, I’m not showing. Hiding the baby is easy.
But three months from now? Five months?
Everyone’s going to know.
Including Nolan.
Which means I have a ticking clock to get my shit together.
Chapter 10
Nolan
There’s no sign out front of their shop. The windows are papered-over, the door closed. I’m not sure it’ll be unlocked, but there’s no resistance when I try to yank it open.
Strange to think that this is my building. I own tons like it all over the city, but this one’s important to me. This one contains Keely, my future wife, and my future wife’s business. My future business too, though that part doesn’t matter.
The investment is a pretext.
It’s the marriage I really care about.
It took talking to her last night to understand what I was really searching for.
Getting wifed up was never on my radar. Even when my brothers, Carson and Finn, found their partners, it never occurred to me that I’d be next. I’m the right age to settle down, and I’ve been unfulfilled in the romance department for a long time, despite plenty of women passing through my bedroom.
At least until Keely.
She left her mark on me. That night was incredible—she was like something from a dream.
It wasn’t only the sex.
Though the sex was spectacular—the best sex I’ve ever had, by a long margin.
It was the conversation, the banter, the teasing, the dancing. The way she talked about her hopes and dreams beside the ocean. The way she made me want to have my own hopes and dreams beyond doing what’s right for the family. She’s a person, so alive, so incredible.
I want that in my life.
I’ve always been ambitious, but lately it feels as though my ambition’s only ever aimed toward everyone around me, instead of geared toward getting things that I really want.
Like Keely.
Now, as I step into the quiet, empty front room holding a to-go carrier with four cups of coffee, each done differently, I think it’s time I used all the skills I’ve developed over the years to take what I need, consequences be damned.
And there will be consequences.
There will be hell the second Carson hears about this.
Only I won’t let my brother stop me.
The place is silent. I expected workers, the guys that were here yesterday. Instead, there’s nothing.
I move forward, heading toward the back. As I approach the door, I hear someone cursing softly to herself. Keely’s voice, sounding frustrated.
I look inside. She’s alone, standing on a stool, trying to screw a shelf into the wall above a long metal work station. The hardware must be going into a concrete block or something, because she’s cursing like crazy and really leaning into it, pushing with all her weight, but getting nowhere.
“You need help?”
She yelps, dropping her screwdriver with a clatter, and begins to teeter.
I move quick. I place the to-go carrier of coffees down on a counter as I lunge toward her, and I’m at her side in a split second, grabbing onto her hips to steady her. She curses some more, eyes wide with fear, hands gripping my wrists. “What the freaking shit are you doing here, Nolan?” she snaps. “You scared the crap out of me!”
“Not my intention,” I say, suppressing a smile. I love the way her body feels under my hands. She’s in tights and a loose t-shirt, her hair tied up, looking like she’s either in for a long day of labor or headed to a yoga session. Either way, she looks fantastic. Simple, but perfect.
The knots in my stomach every time she’s around are a new experience.
“Intention or not, maybe you could try knocking?”
“I don’t knock on my own doors.”
She rolls her eyes. “I forgot you think you own the place.”
“I do own the place.”
“Semantics.” She pauses, staring hellfire down at me. “Are you going to let me go?”
“I was kind of enjoying this.”
“Nolan.”
“Would you like some coffee?” I still don’t move my hands. I want to pull her down against my chest, but I’m afraid it’d only scare her away.
She glances at the cups. But it only seems to piss her off more. “No, thanks,” she snaps. “Will you let me go now?”
I release her with some serious reluctance. “What are you doing up there?”
“Hanging a shelf.” She flattens her lips, glaring at the protruding screw. “But the little bastard doesn’t want to go in.”
“May I?”
She hesitates but shakes her head. “No, thanks.”
“You do realize accepting help from me isn’t the same as taking my investment.”
“Or wearing your ring?” she says.
I shrug. “That too.”
“You’re unreal.” She gets down off the stool and shoves the screwdriver into my hand. “Go head, big guy. Get on up there so I can push you over. Maybe your neck will break and all my troubles will disappear.”