Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 88263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“Be yourself. Act charming. My mother’s perfectly fine with this arrangement.”
“Your mother doesn’t know about this arrangement.”
“Keely.” He turns back to me again, looking annoyed now. “This is part of being my wife. My family is going to want to meet you. Eventually, we’ll have to speak with Carson, and Finn, and hell, you’ll have to meet Liam too. Although you won’t enjoy that. Liam’s kind of—well, he’s Liam. You’ll see.”
I shake my head, at a total loss. “I thought you were going to, I don’t know—”
“Keep you hidden away?”
“Yes! Basically!”
“You are not some piece of flesh I keep in my bed. I don’t leave you tied up, only to bring you out when I need a good fuck.”
I let out a startled laugh. “That’s not really what I meant.”
“You will meet my family. You will be a part of my life. You’re my wife, Keely. Whether you like it or not.”
I glare at him, hands balled into fists. My head’s working in circles. I knew he had a family—obviously I knew all about them—but I really didn’t expect for his mother to drop in without any warning barely two days into our marriage.
“I needed a little time,” I say, voice softening now. Though my anger’s still simmering.
“What could you have possibly do with more time?”
“I don’t know, shower?” I throw up my hands. “Get changed? I’ve been working in that hot freaking kitchen all day!”
“You have exactly thirty minutes.” He checks his watch and sighs. “Actually, twenty-eight minutes.”
“That’s not enough time!”
“Better hurry then.” He stirs. “My mother is a kind woman. She cares about her family deeply.” He glances at me. “She’s also judgmental as shit, so wear something nice.”
“You piece of—” I strangle that curse in my throat.
The bastard knows what he’s doing.
Twenty-eight minutes to get dressed. That’s just enough time, but not enough to stand around and fight him.
Asshole’s forcing my hand all over again. I can make a stink and risk not being ready when his mother comes over, or I can suck it up and shower.
“Twenty-seven,” he chimes.
“I am going to make you pay for this later,” I say through my teeth as I run to the stairs and head up to the bedroom.
Chapter 26
Keely
I make it back downstairs with exactly thirty seconds to spare.
Nolan’s mother is a tall woman, taller than me by a couple inches. She’s wearing a simple silk blouse, black jeans, and basic jewelry. No makeup, her hair down and somewhat frizzy, black sneakers on her feet. She looks like a middle-class woman heading to the grocery store, not the wife of the former boss of the most powerful crime syndicate in the city.
I like her immediately.
“It’s so good to meet you,” she says, giving me a surprisingly warm hug. “I never thought Nolan would find the right woman for him, but here you are.”
“It’s nice to meet you too, Mrs. Crowley.” I grin at her awkwardly. “I was happy when Nolan said you were coming over for dinner.”
“Please call me Molly.” She smiles happily as Nolan pours her a drink. He offers me a glass of wine, but I turn him down. “It’s nice to have another girl in the family.”
“Another?” I ask, tilting my head.
“Finn’s wife Dara was first. Then Carson married your friend, Ash. And now it’s you.”
I turn red. “Right, I forgot about them.”
“It’s okay, dear. Come sit down. I want to tell you all about the embarrassing things my son did growing up.”
I laugh, trying to force myself to feel less awkward. I’m distinctly aware of her sipping wine while staring at my empty hands. I feel rude, but I can’t think up a good excuse for why I’m not drinking, so I don’t say anything.
“I was a model son and a paragon of virtue,” Nolan says, raising his chin up. “You have no stories at all, Mother.”
“What about the time you and Carson flooded the back pond by breaking the little dam we’d built upstream? Or when you drew mustaches on half the paintings in the house?”
“Only the ugly ones. And we used washable markers.”
“You ruined a three-million-dollar portrait.”
I let out a shocked laugh. “Did he really?”
“It was more like ten million,” Nolan says with a shrug. “Father beat me senseless for that one. He didn’t even care about the money.”
“It was the principle,” Molly says. She sighs. “I didn’t always agree with your father’s discipline strategies, but I have to admit, all four of you turned out okay.”
“Mostly thank to you,” he says. “Now, please come over here and taste this so I know I haven’t messed it up.”
Molly gives me a knowing grin. “No matter how old they get, they can’t do anything on their own.”
I watch her go around and take small spoonfuls of the sauce. She compliments him, and the way his face lights up tells me everything I need to know about their relationship.