Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 115(@200wpm)___ 92(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23020 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 115(@200wpm)___ 92(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
“I’m just doing what you paid for, and very well at that.”
“Maybe but thank you anyway.”
“You can thank me by making my job easier. Be amicable to Mr. Ellis while you’re with the girls,” she urged. “Let him see how much you love your nieces. Show him that you’ll be an asset when it comes to caring for them.”
“I’ll do my best,” I promised before ending the call. When I headed back into the dining room, I was relieved to see that my boss was still at the grill. Although I’d only been gone for a few minutes at most, I hurried to check on my tables. I couldn’t afford to lose my job. Not until I found one closer to the girls.
I powered through what felt like the longest shift ever, and then I found coworkers to cover me over the weekend. With that done, I headed home to pack since I wanted to leave straight from work.
I was so excited to see my nieces that I barely slept all night. I had to down a ton of coffee to make it through my shift. As soon as all of my final tables were cashed out, I changed out of my uniform and hit the road.
With traffic, it took me almost three hours to get to the address my lawyer had given me, but I felt as though I had driven to a whole new world with the sprawling estates lining the road. My junker car stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the Rolls Royces and Aston Martins that passed me, and I was on the receiving end of a lot of suspicious looks.
I wouldn’t have been surprised if I was stopped by security before I made it to the house. It didn’t matter to me, though. I would happily suffer any embarrassment if it meant I got to see Daisy and Cassidy.
When the navigation app on my phone finally told me that I had arrived at my destination, I heaved a deep sigh of relief. The driveway I turned into—with the gate already open for me—led to a house that was so big and fancy, it could have been used to film a movie or something. Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, I climbed out of my car and slammed the door shut behind me. My knees shook as I walked up the steps, and my fingers trembled when I reached out to push the buzzer.
The bell’s chime lasted a while, and I was starting to worry that Carrie’s cousin had changed his mind about letting me see my nieces when the door finally swung open. My heart racing, I took a step back.
As I stared up at him, I tried to remember what Carrie had told me about her professional football player cousin. She hadn’t mentioned Roan often, and the only thing I could remember her saying about him was that he’d done a men’s underwear campaign a few years ago. The fight she and my brother had gotten into about it was pretty unforgettable.
He had mentioned how being an underwear model was the best way to pick up women if Roan was looking to score. Carrie hadn’t been happy with my brother’s remark. Probably because it had been pretty obvious that he would’ve used the ads as a way to pick up other women, even though they were in a relationship at the time. Instead of calling him out for being a jerk, she had focused on how gross it was that women all over the world were drooling over her cousin’s half-naked photos. Her fake gagging sounds had stopped me from asking to see the ad. Which was probably a good thing because now I totally got it—I would’ve been one of those women who drooled over Roan if I’d seen the ad back then.
He was the hottest guy I’d met, and the only one to ever draw a physical response from me. I was hyper aware of my heartbeat, my body felt as though it was being flooded by heat, and my breath quickened. I’d finally found out what kind of man was my type, and I apparently had great taste.
Roan Ellis was six feet of male perfection with dirty blond hair, hazel eyes, a black tattoo on his broad chest, and six-pack abs that I wanted to trace with my tongue. If he was going to be around while I spent time with the girls, I seriously hoped the man owned a shirt. If not, I was going to have a heck of a time stopping myself from jumping him.
3
Roan
My muscles tightened at the sound of the doorbell, and I bit back a curse since I was holding Daisy and had Cassidy snuggled into my side on the couch.
I wanted to meet this Ava woman before letting her anywhere near my girls, so I stood and set Daisy in her bouncy chair, chuckling when she babbled happily. “Stay here, sweet cheeks,” I said softly to Cassidy.