Total pages in book: 22
Estimated words: 19987 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 100(@200wpm)___ 80(@250wpm)___ 67(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19987 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 100(@200wpm)___ 80(@250wpm)___ 67(@300wpm)
“You can name our next child,” he offered, much to my surprise.
“Calliope is pregnant again?” I jumped up and did a little dance, excited by the possibility of another little niece or nephew.
“Yup.” He let the P on the end pop. “And you’re the first to know, so don’t spill the beans to anyone yet. I never would have let you in on the secret before I told Calliope if you weren’t being such a pain in the ass about doing me this small favor. All I want to do is celebrate my anniversary with my pregnant mate, but I can’t do that unless someone watches over our cubs for us while we’re gone.”
“Quit it with the guilt trip,” I snapped, shaking my head. “As shocked as I am to admit it, you had me at naming your next child.”
“You’re going to come to Timber Ridge?”
He sounded as surprised as I felt. “Yup. When do you need me there?”
“Can you come next weekend?”
Tane wasn’t one to let an opportunity pass him by, so I expected him to ask me to get there soon. Just not next weekend soon. “I need to talk to my boss first. Things are running smoothly at the newest restaurant, but Riggs may not be okay with me taking a trip with such little notice. I usually submit my vacation requests way in advance.”
“I like how you used ‘requests’ plural, as though you take a ton of them,” he scoffed. “How often have you taken time off other than for a holiday since you started working for your asshole boss? Maybe once in the past five years?”
Ignoring the insult he aimed at my boss, I squinted at my ceiling as I tried to remember the last time I’d used my vacation days for just a fun trip. When I couldn’t come up with anything, I sighed, “Probably not at all.”
“In that case, your boss should be more than fine with you taking some time between projects to help out with a family emergency,” he insisted.
I rolled my eyes at my brother’s exaggeration. “Taking Calliope on an anniversary trip isn’t an emergency.”
“The hell it isn’t,” he disagreed, his tone lowering to a deep growl that signaled how close his tiger was to the surface. “I need some alone time with my mate before our next little cub arrives.”
The last thing I wanted to hear—or even think—about was my little brother’s sex life. “Yeah, yeah. Stop right there. I’ll tell Riggs that I have to go out of town to help my little brother. I’m sure he’ll understand since he has his own irritating siblings to deal with, too.”
“Whatever it takes for him to agree.” He had returned to sounding smug, and I heaved a deep sigh, making him chuckle again. “I’m going to tell Calliope and the kids that you’re coming, so there’s no backing out of it now.”
“Fine, go ahead and let them know.” I had just been thinking that I needed a break, so fighting my brother when he offered up the perfect excuse for me to leave seemed shortsighted. “Just don’t say when yet. Depending on how my call with Riggs goes, I might need you to push the plan back another week.”
“That asshole better not make me wait too long.” Tane made it sound as though me not being able to make it out there next weekend would be a personal insult against him. I’d never understood why he disliked my boss so much, but I couldn’t complain too much when I’d spent even longer hating on the wolf shifter he’d accepted as his alpha. But I sure as heck could laugh at him when he was being ridiculous. “See you soon.”
My giggles kicked up a notch when he hung up, and it took a while before I calmed down enough to give Riggs a call. “Hey, Trinity. Everything okay at La Gloutonnerie?”
“Yup, nothing’s changed there in the past two hours since we last talked after they closed for the night,” I drawled, pinching the bridge of my nose between my index finger and thumb. Riggs had a one-track mind when we were opening a new place. The trait was a big part of why he was such a successful restaurateur, but it could be irritating when I was on the receiving end of questions he should already know the answer to.
“Oh, yeah. Right. Sorry, I should’ve realized.” He paused before continuing. “What’s up?”
I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. “I hate to ask with such short notice, but I was hoping I could take a few days off starting on Friday. Something came up with my brother, and I need to head out to Timber Ridge.”
“Take all the time you need,” he quickly agreed. “Just keep in touch so I know when you’ll be headed back. I haven’t set up any meetings for our next project yet, and things are running smoothly at La Gloutonnerie, so your absence won’t be felt as much as it normally would.”