Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 61190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 245(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61190 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 306(@200wpm)___ 245(@250wpm)___ 204(@300wpm)
Because things did get hard. Money was tight for a while, and my mom only had her sister around to help watch us from time to time. Three kids for one young woman was tough, but she was ten times tougher than our dad who ran out on us only a few months after we were born.
I supposed we were too much work for him, but we were never too much for our mom.
I could see Brianna being that way as a mom. Resilient and loving. She had that determined spark in her eyes that couldn’t be extinguished, and she and David were a good team because they supported each other. It made me wonder if there was a Brianna out there for me too.
I wanted a big family, but I needed the woman who was right for me by my side for that to happen. She was part of that pretty picture too.
“We’ll have to be smart about our attack. He’ll most likely be highly guarded, and we haven’t come across a large concentration of enemies yet. There are only so many of us, so we need to be quiet and patient instead of just kicking down the front door and spraying and praying,” I said once I dragged myself out of my own head.
“And you’ll help us negotiate,” Aziel told Brianna.
Brianna’s firm expression wavered a little, and I could tell that she was wary about coming face to face with someone as cruel and evil as Dimitrik. However, she breathed in and nodded.
“Of course. I’ll be sure to remember the word ‘surrender’ in Vlasic,” she replied with a small smirk, coaxing chuckles from me and the guys. Alright, this woman had some fire in her.
“That’s our girl,” Amir said as he flashed her a grin.
I immediately looked over at David, expecting an annoyed or pissed off expression to be on his face, but he merely smiled. Weird. I thought David would be pretty possessive of Brianna since she was stuck in a cottage with all of us, but he was pretty… chill.
“Well, we have our course of action. If we can find a picture or even a building plan of where he’s being held, I can determine the best approach for us to take to get inside,” I said.
“I’m pretty sure the rebel leaders have some maps that can help us,” Brianna told me. “I’d be happy to draft up a message to send to them.”
I had to admit that I wasn’t sure how she would handle being here in Vlasica with us. She was a civilian, who was used to safety and comfort within the walls of her home. Being out here so close to a warzone was far different, and I thought the pressure would get to her and make her crumble.
But she surprised me. I underestimated her, but I wouldn’t do that any longer.
“Let’s do it,” I replied with a nod before walking over to the laptop to stand beside her.
“I’ll leave you guys to it,” David told us, giving me a nod before leading the others out of the room so that Brianna and I could come up with a message to send to the rebels.
Brianna turned to me.
“What would you like to say?” she asked as she held her notebook against her chest.
Our eyes locked, and I felt something stir inside of me. Hot and intense. Was it pathetic to say it had been a while since I was alone in a room with a woman? A beautiful one at that.
“I’d like to thank them for the information they sent to us, and I’d like to request any maps, blueprints, or photos of the area so that we can properly plan an attack to capture Dimitrik and eliminate his forces,” I stated, our eyes not breaking for a second.
Brianna then smiled and nodded.
“I’ll type that up,” she said before putting her notebook down and leaning over to type up the message in Vlasic in the secure messenger that we used to communicate with the rebel group.
My eyes trailed over her figure, admiring the way her jeans hugged her hips and thighs. If I didn’t watch it, David was going to kick me to the curb, which I couldn’t risk. My work and my family, including the one I made in this unit, were my entire life.
I didn’t know who I would be without either of them.
“Thank you,” I told her. “You’ve been a big help to us.”
“I’m glad. I know you all took a chance on me, which I really appreciate,” Brianna said as her fingers flew over the keys. She had to use the trackpad a few times to access a Vlasic language plugin so that she could use the letters in their alphabet that we didn’t have in ours.
It was hard to wrap my mind around knowing so many languages, but I quickly learned that she was wicked smart. Intelligent and sexy. If I was David, I would’ve been all torn up inside having to leave her behind all the time for work. Now, he got the best of both worlds for this mission since she got to be here with us.