Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Me too.
“I’m glad you’re not broke or mad, Daddy.” Daddy didn’t need batteries to make my tummy feel funny and for me to get all shivery.
“I’m not mad or broke.” His big Daddy smile said he was telling the truth. “And I’m very glad I found you and that I finally get to be your Daddy.”
“I am too, Daddy.” I gave him bunny kisses that time. “But I was patient and I looked for you but I didn’t know I had to go to Canada to find you. I don’t have a passport, Daddy.”
I’d have never found him.
Daddy chuckled, not worried, so he made my worries get lower too. “We’ll work on that later. For now, I’m here and we’re going to have lunch and play and I’ll tell you stories.”
I liked stories.
Play?
“Do you have toys for me, Daddy?” I tried to look cute like Kenzie so Daddy would want to tell me all about them, but he shrugged.
“We’ll have to see.” Daddy was being cute and sneaky, but we hadn’t been quiet enough.
“Aww, Alick’s mate bought him toys. That’s cute, right? That’s better than flowers, right?”
Oops.
Maybe Mr. Kennedy did need a hobby?
“Are they sex toys or real ones?”
Maybe they all needed a hobby.
Chapter 6
Grady
For fuck’s sake.
Rubbing Alick’s nose again to get him to giggle instead of worrying about the neighbors, I rose. “One second.”
Two steps brought me over to the door, and I threw it open, growling at everyone gathered around the trailer. “If you don’t leave us alone, I’m going to make this town so famous you’ll have humans from one end to the other. You’ll never get good gossip again.”
Then I’d start eating them.
Chomp. Chomp.
I wasn’t going to forget how tasty Alick’s friend thought human shapes were.
Or had that been crunchy?
Ignoring the details, I kept glaring at the neighbors until they pouted and began wandering off. “It’s your own fault. Don’t give me those looks. You idiots can’t eavesdrop quietly.”
They were nosy and loud…those two traits didn’t go together at all.
When they were all a good way away from the trailer, I closed the door and did my best to quickly shift back into Daddy mode instead of angry Dom mode. I shouldn’t have worried. Alick giggled. “Chomp. Chomp.”
Rolling my eyes got another happy sound from the clearly little mate I’d finally found. “I’d need at least three bites.”
“Chomp. Chomp. Ch—” As he tried to get the word out a third time, he broke down in giggles and couldn’t get the last one out. “You’re scary, Daddy. You made them go away and you told them they were naughty.”
The last bit seemed to be his favorite part.
“They were.” Doing my best to listen for anyone else that had decided to hang around, I huffed to make Alick laugh again. “And they weren’t very good at eavesdropping either. They’re supposed to be quiet so they can keep listening.”
His snickers and the way his body jerked when he laughed made him look even younger. “Not here.”
Making a rude sound, I scoffed to get another giggle from him. “I’m not going to let them get away with badly done misbehavior. Only good sneakiness can be rewarded with gossip.”
That should’ve been obvious.
“Lorne’s Papa…Carrick the mage…he likes privacy and that makes everyone sad.” Alick frowned and sighed like privacy was something to be avoided at all costs. “Lorne can tell us all the important stuff because his Papa said that was okay, but Mr. Kennedy and his friends don’t like being left out.”
Somehow, the town just kept getting stranger.
“Well, I won’t leave them out completely, but they have to get better at being sneaky if we’re going to reward them.” I didn’t think a bit of effort was too much to ask.
Alick smiled, unreasonable drama and worry fading. “Really? They’ll like that. I’m sure Kenzie can teach them. He and his Daddy are really smart.”
The cop?
“His Daddy is the cop, right?” Was I remembering that right?
Alick nodded, looking adorably earnest. “He’s our deputy and he’s human. He’s very good with dealing with outside people. He loves Kenzie a lot. Even when he gets frustrated. So he’ll be a good helper too.”
The deputy loved his mate enough to help the townspeople learn to eavesdrop better?
Interesting.
“I’m glad he loves Kenzie and I’m glad he can deal with the outside world.” Because it was obvious most of them needed an intermediary.
“He does.” Rocking back and forth in the small booth seat, Alick gave me a beaming, definitely little smile. “He loved Kenzie enough to even date him when he thought Kenzie was an alien.”
That was love right there.
“An alien, huh?” Thinking back about what I’d seen, I could understand how he’d come to that conclusion.
“Yeah, but he liked us anyway. He was even nice to Lorne when Lorne kept stealing watches.” The way Alick said it so matter-of-factly made it clear there was a story, but I wasn’t sure I was ready to get distracted by asking about it.