Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 68583 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68583 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
The moment he’d fucked up, I would’ve had him.
But I also didn’t have the same type of job that the Ritters had.
Speaking of jobs, Baker’s phone beeped, and she reached for it.
“Hold on,” she said. “Go get us another plate while I get this job figured out. It’s a big one I’ve been waiting for.”
I grinned and did as she said, filling the plate twice as high this time.
“Good, Silver. Y’all outdid yourselves,” I said as I refilled my plate.
“Agreed,” Webber murmured.
He was baby free, and I idly wondered where his kid had gone since Silver was still holding Holt, but I didn’t say anything.
Instead, I headed back outside, my lips twitching when I closed the door on Silver’s surprised look.
Webber never gave her compliments.
In fact, he tried hard not to acknowledge her at all.
“…You have to take this one. We’ve been working toward a company like this for years. They’re an easy, high-paying job. Plus, all of the job is through rural communities. No city-work at all.” Baker encouraged. “This would also be contractual as well. They guarantee four jobs a week, which we can put Kenny on. It’s guaranteed at-home-every-night, which he’ll need when his wife gives birth.”
I could hear Shad’s displeasure—he wanted to come home and help—but he understood her point.
I took the phone from her hand and said, “Take the jobs, Shad. I have her.”
I caught Baker’s eyes when I said that, and I watched something pass through them.
An awareness.
Understanding, maybe.
Was she happy with that statement?
I didn’t know, but there was something inside of me, deep down in my darkest depths, that wanted her there. That said that maybe this was my chance.
I could make this right for her.
I could give her a safe-harbor.
I could give her something that her own man could not.
Plus, I liked the way she smiled, and didn’t flinch at giving me full control of her son.
She knew danger.
She knew that I was an ex-con.
Yet, she’d trusted me with her kid anyway.
Sick or not, she had survival instincts.
She should’ve been scared, but she wasn’t.
“If you’re sure…” Shad said.
I dropped my chicken down onto the table and said, “Be right back. Gonna grab some drinks.”
Baker picked the plate up without acknowledging me or the fact that I’d taken over her conversation.
When I got inside, Silver and Webber were bickering.
I walked to the fridge and had to laugh when I saw Webber’s charge in a box next to the sink padded with the blanket off my couch.
Lips twitching, I caught up a couple of Cokes as I said, “Shad, she can’t go home with you.”
“Why?” Shad asked, not mad at the words that’d just slipped so easily from my lips.
“She’s mad as hell at your wife and her siblings,” I said. “She needs a bit of time to come to terms with her issues, and your family needs to start making amends.”
Shad was silent for a long moment and then, “Kenny’s kickin’ himself. He saw how his wife was struggling, being so pregnant and alone all the time, and he’s seein’ the light. My family is stubborn. They knew they did her wrong, yet they never stopped doin’ it. I’ve spent the last couple of months workin’ on ’em. But they didn’t see the big picture until I told them about Baker’s call last night.”
“Well, I think reaching out would be a good start,” I said. “Anyway, I have a guest room. And I was thinkin’ that I have this nice, fancy daycare in my building, I might as well put it to good use. And she can hole up in my office in the corner and do her work while I keep an eye on her.”
Shad sighed. “This is a fucking mess.”
“Agreed,” I said. “Just give her time. But you can come see her any time you want.”
When I hung up Webber said, “Can I take advantage of your daycare?”
I shrugged. “I’m paying for it. Why not?”
When I got back outside with the drinks, Baker didn’t ask about my conversation with her dad, and I didn’t tell.
But I did feed her as much as she could eat and told her what would happen tomorrow.
She didn’t argue.
Seven
Driving class: hands at 10 & 2.
Copper hot biker guy: Noon and my thigh.
—Baker’s secret thoughts
BAKER
Color me surprised when on the drive from Copper’s apartment to his work, Holt didn’t cry a single time.
I sat there pumping in the front seat, and Holt didn’t even wake up when the pump alarm told me it was full.
I unstrapped myself in the front seat, uncaring who saw my nipples—not even the sexy as hell man beside me—and placed both full bottles in the cup holders of his car.
His very old, but overwhelmingly comfortable car.
He’d explained when he’d noticed my surprise that the car used to belong to his grandparents, and had gone to his sister Keely originally. But when Keely moved in with her husband, he’d gotten her a new car, and Copper had taken hers over since he didn’t usually drive much.