Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 101840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101840 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
“You can’t. Al-Qadiri proved that.”
I went on to explain about the insider trading, why that kind of activity was against the rules, and how the only way to protect the Paxis Council from a vengeful ex-member was to eliminate them.
“So the Paxis Council planted the bomb?”
I shook my head. “His father-in-law did. We think Liyana called her father after Saleem asked her to buy the Helvig stock. Mehmet was the one who brought Saleem onto the council. He knew it was his responsibility. Saleem’s actions shamed him.”
“Liyana betrayed her husband for the sanctity of the council?” he asked in disbelief. “How could she?”
His outrage warmed something in my chest. “You wouldn’t do the same?” I teased.
“Fuck no. Would you?”
“Of course not. But I’m not sure she loved her husband more than the game. She’d grown up around the council and felt betrayed when her father passed her over for her husband.”
Jett’s eyelids were drooping. “What if the council finds out I know the truth about everything?”
I rubbed his back slowly, in hopes of soothing him to sleep. The poor man looked wrecked. Like he’d been as upset by the past week as I had.
“First of all, they won’t,” I promised. “Because we’ll come up with a plan. Our own code. Secondly, your agency will have your back, Jett. Even if you no longer work for them.”
He snuggled closer to me. “Maybe I could be an asset for the council,” he murmured sleepily.
“Mm, maybe. Get some sleep, baby.”
“Don’t leave. Want to suck you later.”
I couldn’t hold back the laugh, and I felt his grin against my chest.
“Duly noted,” I said. “I’ll wake you for the sucking.”
Several long beats of silence passed. Enough that I thought he’d fallen asleep. Until Jett’s soft breath moved across my skin differently. “Want to introduce you to my family.”
I moved my hands up and down his back, then moved my fingertips lightly through his hair. “You won’t be embarrassed by the caveman who claimed you in front of every gay man in San Francisco?”
“No one’s ever claimed me like that before,” he admitted softly. “’S nice.”
“You’ll move in with me when we get back to the city, right?”
“Meh,” he said.
“Meh?” I asked, staring down at the side of his face. “Meh? What the fuck does that mean? Yes or no, and the answer better be yes, Jethro.”
His lips curled up, but he didn’t open his eyes.
“Some decisions are best made hungry, Johnny.”
I laughed, remembering what I’d told him when I’d made the original indecent proposal. “You don’t even know what you’re talking about. That makes no sense.”
His lips stayed curled up as he finally fell into a deep sleep, tucked safely in my arms.
EPILOGUE
JETT
This was a very bad idea.
Teaching my cousins and siblings any game was a recipe for disaster, but doing it after we’d spent the better part of the day at one of Alex’s wine tastings was taking it to a whole other level.
I’d tried to warn Locke, but he was too naive for this crowd. The man was a baby lamb in a room full of rabid and tipsy wolves hell-bent on initiating him the Marian way.
“It’s not a horsey,” Lennon explained to Ella. “It’s a rook.”
“Knight,” Locke murmured, reaching for his scotch and taking another gulp.
The huge patio table on the deck behind my grandparents’ lodge in Montana was big enough to hold everyone. The summer sun was setting behind the mountain, shooting warm rays across the yard and deck. Chill music played softly from hidden speakers, and various dishes of appetizers dotted the table between practice chess sets.
“It’s literally a horse,” Ella said, holding the knight from the red set. “And it’s pretty. I’m naming it Frank.”
Locke finished helping my cousin Rosie with the yellow pieces, which she kept knocking over since she couldn’t stop staring at my hot fucking boyfriend.
“Eyes on your board,” I told her.
Locke’s hand moved under the table to my upper thigh and then quickly toward my inner thigh until his fingers were nearly brushing my balls. “Mm,” I hummed in a too-highly-pitched tone. “Mmhm.”
“Okay,” he said to everyone, as if he wasn’t causing a nuts situation under the table. “Who remembers the eight types of pawns?”
Tommy started rattling them off. “Positive, negative, requesting, offering—”
His fiancé, Foster, stage-whispered, “Kiss-ass.”
Their dog lifted her head from the floor by Foster’s feet, sniffed when she realized he wasn’t talking to her, and put her head back down with a huff.
Avery took a sip of wine while her wife raced around after their toddler in the grass. “I’ll trade someone all my pawns for their queen,” she said seriously, shooting me a wink.
“That’s not…” Locke took a deep breath. “That’s not an allowed movement within the game regulations.”
Gabe shot me a look before blinking innocently at Avery. “I’ll trade you my queen if you’ll let me have your first few moves.”