Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
I rolled out of bed, mentally planning my day as I stepped into the shower. Eli had already left, headed for a team meeting to work out assignments over the next two weeks. I had a research project to finish for Knox Sinclair. This one was urgent, as my report would help them decide whether they were going to take on a new client.
At the moment, I was guessing the answer would be no, based on some of the skeletons I’d found in said client’s closet. No private security company could be excessively picky about the clients they took on. Generally, the people with enough money to pay for their kind of skills weren’t angels. On the other hand, Sinclair had standards, and this guy’s skeletons had traces of all sorts of illegal activity—mostly related to weapons dealing and narcotics. Not things I’d learned Sinclair was keen on getting involved in.
Once the report was done, I had a few phone calls to make for our upcoming trip to Oklahoma, and another van to go check out with Eli after lunch.
Out of the shower, I combed my hair, threw on clothes from my much-expanded wardrobe—thanks to Wren’s shopping—and headed down the block to Sinclair. Emmett and Maddox had confirmed that no one seemed to be watching me. Since the bomber had died, there had been no intrusions into my email or socials. I seemed to have dropped off the radar completely, as far as they could tell, so I was finally cleared to walk down the street all by myself.
I liked knowing that I had people looking out for me—not just Eli, but his family, who were becoming my friends. It was also refreshingly liberating to stroll down the street, the cool air on my cheeks, alone, and not be afraid.
I let myself into the Sinclair building and jogged up the stairs, stopping at the desk to say hey to Alice. She was another bonus of my part-time employment at Sinclair.
“I saved you this,” she said, and slid me an almond croissant wrapped in a napkin.
“You’re an angel.” I took the pastry and broke off a bite, popping it in my mouth and closing my eyes to savor the treat. They were my favorite, and were almost always snapped up before I rolled in to the office. As a part-timer who worked on a project basis, I made my own hours—and managed to evade the early staff meetings the Sinclairs seemed to love. That meant I lost first pick of the treats Alice ordered in.
Today, she had her and Cooper’s daughter, Petra, with her at the front desk.
“School holiday,” she said in explanation, though Petra looked barely old enough for school.
“I’m helping Mommy organize,” Petra said with the faintest trace of an accent I couldn’t place. Her dark hair was pulled back on one side with a red barrette that matched her dress and ballet flats. She smiled up at me with icy blue eyes exactly like Cooper’s.
In front of her, she’d lined up every pen from Alice’s desk, sorting them by size and color.
“It looks like you’re doing a great job,” I said.
“Uh-huh.” Her little tongue came out, caught between her teeth as she concentrated, lining up the blue ballpoints next to one another—evaluating which blue went where in her rainbow of pens.
“We’re leaving after lunch to go to the aquarium,” Alice said.
“That could be fun,” I said, taking another nibble of my croissant.
“You should come with us if you’re not busy,” Alice said. “If you haven’t been before. It’s pretty cool.”
“Maybe I will,” I said, revising my afternoon. “I’ll check with Eli after the meeting. We’re going to go see a van.”
“Ooh, that sounds promising,” Alice said. “I can’t wait till you start rebuilding your van.”
“You want to help?” I asked. I couldn’t quite imagine Alice in her starched crinolines on her hands and knees with a drill.
“No,” she laughed. “Absolutely not. I just want to observe from afar. That seems like more fun. Like a home renovation video, except in real life. I’ll watch you do it. I get all the dopamine and don’t have to do any of the work.”
I laughed. I had an obsession with videos of people redoing their yards. I hated yard work, but I loved a pretty yard, especially since I hadn’t had my own in years. There was nothing like watching a two-minute video where someone else did all the labor and I still got to enjoy the gorgeous outcome, so I knew exactly what Alice meant.
“You can come supervise at every stage,” I said. “I just have to find the right one first.”
“Fingers crossed,” she said. “We’re leaving around twelve thirty if you decide you want to join in.”
“I’ll let you know,” I said as I headed down the hall.
The Sinclairs had said I could grab a desk wherever I wanted. A lot of the computers were open use; I just had to log in with my own code, and my desktop would pop up.