Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 34451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34451 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
“I’m not sure that any of us are going to sit comfortably tomorrow,” Autumn said with a wry grin.
“I should have realized that the Fox would know we’d left,” Brody groaned.
Yep. They all should have. The Fox was nothing if not protective of all three of them.
Sunny dug out her phone. It was a bit warmer in the house, but still not warm by any stretch. She moved around to keep herself from getting too cold.
And also because she was filled with nervous energy.
“Uh-oh.” She winced as she saw several text messages along with five missed calls from Duke.
She was in serious trouble here.
Taking a deep breath, she hit call on his name and moved further away from Brody and Autumn.
“Sunny, thank fuck,” he exclaimed, having answered on the first ring.
Okay, now she knew how upset he was. Duke tried really hard not to swear in front of her.
“I’m so sorry,” she told him.
“Where are you? Are you all right? I was just about to start calling hospitals. Did you have an accident in the snow, baby?”
“Um.”
“It’s all right if you did. I’m not worried about the truck; I’m only concerned about you. Are you all right? Did you hurt yourself?”
He was such a good guy.
And she was in such trouble.
You deserve it for worrying him.
“I’m fine, Duke. I didn’t have an accident.”
“Then, where are you?”
“Um, see, the thing is . . . I came to have a look at this log cabin.”
“What? Why would you need to look at a log cabin? And on your own?”
“Um, well, I’m not on my own. I have Brody and Autumn with me.”
“Brody and Autumn,” he said slowly.
“Uh-huh.”
“Why do you have Brody and Autumn with you?”
“Because . . . um . . . they wanted to look at it too?” Shoot. She didn’t mean to word that as a question.
“Sunny, start making sense,” he said firmly.
“I know you’re busy and stuff, but the three of us thought that maybe renting a cabin for a couple of nights over Christmas would be fun. It’s really beautiful up here, Daddy. I think you’d like it.”
“So that’s what you’ve been doing? And you decided not to tell me. Did the Fox know you were going?”
“Uh, no.” She glanced over as the Fox walked into the house. “But he’s here now. Apparently, he was alerted when Brody and Autumn left the house.”
“So they didn’t tell him they were going with you either?”
“No. And he’s not pleased.”
“I bet. He probably feels much like I do right now since you lied and didn’t tell me where you were going. I have some empathy for the man.”
“See?” she said brightly. “You’re already bonding.”
“Sunny,” he said warningly. “This is not all right. You do not go around behind my back like this. You do not go missing for hours. Much less a day when it’s snowing. And you do not ignore my calls and texts.”
“I really am sorry, Daddy.”
“Oh, you will be.”
Awesome. Something to look forward to.
“Where are you right now?” he asked.
“Um, still at the cabin.”
“At the cabin? I’m guessing in the middle of nowhere?”
“About a third way up a mountain,” she confirmed.
“You are not to drive in this weather. The Fox has his own vehicle? What about Autumn and Brody?” he demanded, going into overprotective mode.
“The Fox does. We left Autumn and Brody’s car at the bottom of the mountain, as they weren’t confident enough to drive up to the cabin. I drove your truck.”
Duke let out a deep breath. “You realize you’re grounded for a month.”
Grounded? That was new.
“What does that mean?”
“We won’t go into it just now. But it involves no driving without my permission.”
No way!
“I’d rather have the spanking,” she muttered.
“Oh, you’ll get that too.”
She gulped. Then she looked up, aware that Brody and Autumn were watching her. They both grimaced, and she shrugged.
“Seems someone is in trouble,” the Fox said.
She jumped and turned, her hand on her chest. “Fox! You need a cowbell!”
“Why?” he asked.
“So I can hear when you’re coming toward me.”
“Pretty sure a cowbell would be considered an occupational hazard.”
She guessed it would.
“You’re getting grounded and spanked, hmm?” the Fox asked. “Interesting.”
“Uh-oh,” Brody muttered.
She sent Brody and Autumn an apologetic look.
“Give me the phone,” the Fox demanded.
Alarm filled her. The Fox was known to be zealously overprotective of her.
“Fox, I deserve to be punished. I lied to Duke about where I was going. And now it’s snowing, and he doesn’t like me driving in it, plus I’ve lost the keys to his truck in the middle of nowhere.”
“You what?” Duke asked.
Shoot. How had she forgotten that she was still on the phone with him?
“Um, sorry, Daddy. We lost the keys.” She sniffled, feeling terrible.
“Tell him it was my fault,” Brody said, stepping forward and fiddling with his glasses. “I’ll take the blame. He can get mad at me.”