Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
There had been something dark and a bit ominous in his tone, and she wondered how far he would go.
She hadn’t spent much time around men like Boomer, men who’d been in the military, who worked with their hands. Dennis likely would have called him a barbarian, but she’d changed over the years. Building her business had taught her that the deck was often stacked against the little guy. If a guy with more power wanted to help in any way he could, she didn’t see a problem with that.
The real problem was that she could fall for this guy so easily, and it couldn’t work.
“Hey, Daphne. How was your day?”
The main reason it couldn’t work was standing in front of her. Daphne wondered if she’d ever felt as young as MaeBe looked. Though she couldn’t miss the fact that there was a certain hardness to the younger woman. “It was busy. Kind of like all the days seem to be lately.”
“Don’t I know it?” She nodded, her gaze going to something behind Daphne. “Hey, Sarge. You ready to beat the crap out of me again?”
An incredibly fit woman with red hair stepped up. She was ready for a workout in leggings and a tank top that showed off lean, muscular arms. “You know it. And you got in a good one during this morning’s session. Let’s see if you can do it again. Hey, Boom man.” Her gaze caught on Daphne, and the redhead gave her the once-over. “This is the mom? I should have bet more. Hey, I’m Erin Taggart.”
“Daphne Carlton. Bet on what?” She wasn’t sure she was following the conversation.
Boomer shook his head. “She’s joking. Go beat up Mae.”
“That’s my job.” Erin gave Daphne a jaunty salute. “Nice to meet you, and I hope you have a large fridge.”
Mae walked off with Erin. If she was worried about getting her ass kicked, she didn’t show it. “Is MaeBe okay?”
One big shoulder shrugged. “Yeah. She’s good. She used to be strictly on a desk job, but she’s training to go into the field. Everyone who works here is required to take self-defense and gun safety classes.”
That was the moment she realized there were a whole bunch of people suddenly standing up. Heads had come up from above cubicle walls. When she turned, they all disappeared, like prairie dogs popping up and then going back into their holes.
It was weird. “Everyone? Even the receptionist?”
“Especially the receptionist,” a deep voice said. “She’s the front line of our defense. Yasmin is tougher than she looks. If we’d had her back then, this one never gets past the front lines. Yas is excellent with pepper spray, and she can tase a man from a hundred feet away.”
“Tag, it was a CIA team.” Boomer was shaking his head like this was something they’d gone over a hundred times. “I don’t think Yas could have taken us down with her little taser.”
The man—who had to be the boss—shrugged. “Jake took you down with a chair.”
“Yeah, not my shining moment,” Boomer admitted. “And Jesse had taken me out with an umbrella a couple of weeks before. When I think about it, I wasn’t great at that job.”
“Sure you were, buddy.” Taggart put a hand on Boomer’s shoulder. “You’re just the biggest target. Everyone goes for you first. So this is the woman who wants free day care.”
She felt herself flush. “I never said that.”
“Oh, then you have a checkbook handy,” Taggart countered.
“You massive ass.” A gorgeous amazon of a woman rounded the corner, pointing her finger Taggart’s way. “Don’t you dare screw this up for him. You know good and well that he’s paid into the program out of the goodness of his own heart, and he gets a spot for anyone he wants to help out. If he wants to put your worst enemy into the after-school program, he gets to.”
“I wouldn’t though.” Boomer held his hand up as if to prove his innocence.
The big boss turned to the woman she sincerely hoped was his wife, and his shoulders sagged. “Baby, she owns a bakery. I’m going to let her pay me in cupcakes, but I have to soften her up first.”
“I’m not paying anyone in cupcakes but Boomer.” She knew a shakedown when she saw one. From the way Boomer was grinning, she suspected this was one of those rite of passage things some people went through. There were some people who believed in putting it all out there the minute they met a new person. It was a defensive posture. Or this Taggart man was simply very secure in who he was and didn’t care what anyone thought. “If he chooses to share them, that’s up to him. What’s your favorite flavor?”
The minute the words were out of her mouth she wanted to take them back. He might not want her cupcakes. Sometimes it seemed like she lived in a gluten-free, carb-free world, and she was a monster for even suggesting something should be celebrated with sugar.