Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 68308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
"I never once fought against the girl bunker club." I know better. I stay out of that. You go poking around in their business, and the girls will do it right back, but harder and deeper. They can be relentless. They do shit on a different level, and I’m not a fuck around and find out sort of guy. While we Marino men might be tough, we know better than to stir the pot when it comes to the women in this family.
"There is a club," Kinsley laughs.
"And a bunker, but don't go asking about it. You have to be invited. Otherwise, they pretend it doesn't exist."
"You really have a bunker around here."
The bunker is the least crazy thing around here. Now, the hole. That's a place no one wants to go.
“Uncle Ronan’s wife—”
“Marks.”
“Marks.” I nod, not shocked that she’s keeping up on anything I tell her. “Her father is a bit of a doomsday prepper. Old habits die hard.”
“You guys are so freaking interesting.” Kinsley holds the pile of folded clothes to her chest. “I’m going to get ready.”
“And I’ll get you coffee.” I stand. Kinsley starts to turn her head toward the bathroom, but I grab her wrist, pulling her back to me. I drop my mouth to hers, giving her a quick kiss before she can protest.
“I need to brush my teeth,” she huffs when I break the kiss.
“Then get to it.” I give her ass a small smack that earns me a glare that doesn’t help the hard-on I have. I watch her disappear into the bathroom before I head back downstairs to get her coffee and her normal lunch.
A sexy hum leaves Kinsley when she takes her first sip of coffee. Mom went ahead and took Nix to school, Damon stayed after practice, so it’s only the two of us.
“I’m not a morning person,” she admits.
“I am.”
“Oh, I noticed.” Kinsley takes a bite of the breakfast sandwich I made her. “Any updates?”
“Not yet, but when I know, you’ll know.”
"Do you think the killer could go to our school?"
"Everyone is a suspect until they're not." I glance over at her. "Including you," I tease.
"Shut up." She takes another giant bite of her sandwich, flakes from the croissant falling everywhere. "Sorry."
"As long as you eat, I don't give a shit." It can be cleaned up.
"Are you sure? Your room was rather clean."
“Don’t say things I don’t mean,” I tell her. “To you at least.”
"So you'll lie to others."
“If I need to, yeah.” Why wouldn’t I? That makes her smile, so I know she must agree. I’m sure she’s had to tell a few lies to get a story.
“We just won’t lie to each other, right?”
“Right.”
“That’s not a lie, right?”
“It’s not a lie,” I chuckle. I reach over and place my hand on her bare thigh. I relax when she places one of her hands over mine.
“You know, people are going to talk,” Kinsley says when we pull through the gates of our school. I couldn’t care less what people say. I’m already used to it coming from the family that I do. It’s not just about me this time, though.
“I told you, you should write a piece on us for the paper. What’s that called, like a poof piece?”
“Puff piece.” She snorts a laugh. “And you can’t write about yourself.”
“Sure, you can; people write whole books about themselves. I’ll write it,” I offer, trying to get her to smile. It’s all I can do at the moment to relieve some of her stress about us showing up at school together.
I don’t think Kinsley’s concern is about people seeing us together. It’s more about not wanting the attention. She’s said more than once that she wants to report the news, not be it.
"You're a dork, and you can't just write up an article. I have to approve you to be a columnist."
"Damn, it's like that?"
"You Marinos have to learn that you can't get everything you want."
"Challenge accepted." I flash the dimple at her for good measure.
"Shut up. The dimple is not going to help you this time, buddy.” Kinsley hits me playfully with the back of her hand on my chest. I pull into my parking spot before taking the hand she assaulted me with and kiss the back of it. Kinsley's whole face softens, and she shifts her body to partly face me. "You're making me really like you, Jax."
"That's my plan."
She gives a tentative nod.
"Please don't make me get attached to you and then break my heart," she says. "Not that you have my heart or anything," she quickly adds.
"Of course not." I'll give that one to her. "But for the record, you already have mine."
"See, that's the shit I'm talking about." She tries to give me one of her glares, but it's not going to work. I'm seeing that shit right now. She's scared, and I get it. A person doting and adoring her isn't the norm. She’s used to flying solo in the world, but that era is over for her. To be honest, it has been for a while. I’ve been by her side this whole time.