Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 132657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132657 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Jensen Wiley has spent years working his way up in the criminal organization that took his brother’s life. The only thing that ever threatened to break his need for revenge was meeting Harlow Dawson. She became his partner until he realized she was being drawn into the darkest part of the organization. He had very little time to get her out and didn’t think she would go quietly. He knows his betrayal saved her life, but he hasn’t stopped loving her. Now they’re in the same city and he needs someone watching over her. He means to keep his distance until she walks right into the middle of his mission.
Niall Griffen has worried about his best friend, Jensen, for years. When Jensen asks him to watch over the woman he loves, Niall reluctantly agrees. The trouble is he falls for her too. If nothing happens, he doesn’t feel there’s any reason to talk to his friend about their unrequited love triangle. But after one night together changes everything, Niall knows he needs a new plan to make sure no one gets their heart broken. The good news? Harlow comes from a family with an interesting dynamic. He just might be able to make this work for all of them.
Things begin to unravel when Jensen’s past comes back to haunt him and the man he’s been hunting threatens to turn the tables on him. Protecting Harlow is now the only priority and might just send them all right into the relationship they all need
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Chapter One
Harlow Dawson sat on the bench in front of the locker that had been designated as hers since the day The Hideout opened and wondered if she should even be here.
Maybe instead of shoving her body into a corset and making sure her butt floss was properly positioned she should be at home, drinking tea and questioning all of her life choices. Beginning with the decision to hire Daisy O’Donnell. Sweet girl. Funny. Nice to have around. Cursed.
Firing her had been an excellent decision, but even weeks later everyone kept staring at her like she kicked a puppy.
A puppy who inadvertently sicced a hellhound on her.
“Hey, you okay?” Chloe Lodge-Taylor looked like she’d come straight from work, which given the fact that the club didn’t even open until nine said something about the young woman’s work ethic. She worked for one of her father’s companies as a junior executive, but Harlow often wondered if the job wasn’t making her friend utterly miserable. “I heard there was some trouble a couple of weeks ago. Sorry. I was in New York last week when Hurricane Daisy really blew through this time. Then I was in London and Madrid.”
Which all sounded lovely if she thought for a second Chloe was taking some time to smell the sangria. She wasn’t. She wouldn’t have done touristy stuff. She wouldn’t have taken a spa day or found new friends. Harlow was worried about her.
But wasn’t she doing the exact same thing?
“Is there a worse storm than a hurricane? Like what if a hurricane also threw bombs all over the place. Shit. I know where they got the idea for Sharknado. That writer met Daisy.” Ruby Lockwood poked her head around the corner. Her locker was on the next row, but it wasn’t like she couldn’t hear everything that happened in this part of the lounge. “Get this, Chloe. On her very first day…”
“First hour,” Harlow corrected because this was a story they would tell for all of time.
“On her first day, in the first hour of her employment, our brand-new admin not only sicced the deranged Dawson dad on us, but also managed to become a material witness in an ongoing drug investigation. Big Tag was forced to hire a bodyguard, who Daisy promptly fell in love with. They had to hide out in Sanctum because there was a cartel hit on her. They shot up Nate’s new truck and everything.”
Chloe sat down with a sigh. “Oh, dear. Tell me everyone’s alive.”
Harlow waved off the fear. “She distracted the assassins with her boobs and her dad turned the cartel on itself and all the bad guys are dead. Mostly. And did I mention the fall in love part? I’ve been told I’ll receive the save the date soon.”
It was how things tended to go on that side of the club.
The Hideout was made up of what Harlow liked to think of as two weird cults. There was the one she belonged to, which consisted mostly of young men and women who grew up with parents who played at a club called—sigh—The Club, owned by Chloe’s father, Julian Lodge. And the spy kids whose parents founded a club called Sanctum, watched over by a man everyone called Big Tag, who was a spy. The corporate kids, as Seth Taggart called them, mainly worked in fields like finance and law. The spy kids, well, there was a reason they had a conference room that sometimes was filled with people who went by names like Mr. Black or Ms. White.
Or Ms. Magenta, but at least she knew what to call those two.
Sometimes she worried she fit better on that side of the club.
Opening a private investigations agency apparently wasn’t on the same level as Chloe’s junior executive or her own sister’s budding art career. Sometimes her dads acted like she was rebelling when they literally made their living as detectives. Well, outside of the massive trust fund they came into when they were younger.
“Daisy O’Donnell is getting married?” Chloe huffed. “I did not have that on my bingo card this year. Her cousin getting a venereal disease was, though. Did you see his latest… Do I call them girlfriends?”
“And I’m out.” Ruby disappeared again. “Let me know when we’ve moved on to new material.”
Harlow groaned, facing her childhood friend. Ruby had a point. They’d had this talk before. A lot. “I don’t think he has girlfriends. But then it’s not like you have boyfriends.”
Chloe had been circling Seth Taggart since they were teens, though it didn’t reach the level of enemies who would almost certainly end up as lovers until they opened The Hideout. Chloe had rejected Seth’s advances since the first night when he offered to top her and she told him she needed more than he could ever give her.