Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 100680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
She always took care of them all.
Hmm. Maxim wondered what kind of sweets Rainbow liked? She probably didn’t let herself indulge.
That was a shame. Everyone should spoil themselves now and then.
If she was yours, then you could spoil her.
Fuck. Where had that thought come from? Aston Symonds wasn’t his type. Not that he had a type, really. He loved all women. But she was so serious and driven. She wore these long dresses with buttons up the front, covering every bit of skin she could.
Her hair was always back in a bun. Never a hair out of place.
Except for today. When she’d stepped out of the elevator, her hair had fallen from its bun, cascading down her back.
She’d looked younger. Sweeter. Like the first time he’d met her at the swimming pool and she’d given him a mild concussion.
Gracen turned to him, digging her finger into his chest. “Who?”
“No one for you to worry about, sweetheart. Just some problems at the Glory with a couple of drunk assholes touching things they shouldn’t have been.”
Glory was his baby. His first nightclub. He now owned several across the state, but Glory was his first love.
“Don’t you have bouncers to take care of those sorts of things?” Regent asked dryly.
He shrugged. “Sometimes, I like to get my hands dirty.” He’d spotted a couple of drunk assholes cornering one of his bar staff by the break room door, so he’d taken care of it.
Gracen was still looking worried. He knew if he didn’t wipe that frown off her face, Victor would be in a vicious mood all night. And would likely blame him.
“Please tell me that you’ve made some mocha brownies?” he asked.
“Promise that you’re not badly hurt.”
“Cross my heart and hope to die.”
She sucked in a breath at those words and he instantly regretted them.
“I’m fine, little sister. Promise.”
“All right, then. And yes, I made you some mocha brownies, some of my sticky buns for Victor, and Regent some Regent’s Rum Delight.” She threw a wink at Victor before smiling at his oldest brother.
Regent’s gaze softened. There wasn’t much that made him smile these days. He seemed to be growing more distant and colder, something that Maxim hated, even as he didn’t know what to do about it.
However, the women and children in their family were always treated to a different Regent. One who was kinder and softer. He was especially like that with their sister, Lottie, who he’d always doted on.
It had been especially hard on him when she’d moved to New York with her husbands.
Yep, husbands. Plural.
Maxim didn’t intend to settle down for a long time, but when he did, he couldn’t imagine sharing his girl with someone. Although they all shared each other.
He wasn’t into that either. Nothing wrong with it, he just wasn’t into dick.
No, you’d much prefer Rainbow’s round ass pressed against your cock, wouldn’t you?
Yeah, he hadn’t minded that at all. He’d been lucky that she’d been too scared to notice how his cock had gotten hard as she’d squirmed around on his lap.
“Yum, thanks, sweetheart. You know I live for your brownies. If I don’t get a weekly fix, I start to go into withdrawals.”
Gracen shook her head. “I wish I had your metabolism. If I ate as much as you did, I’d be as big as a house.”
Victor reached over and drew her to him, whispering something in her ear that had her going red.
“Victor, Maxim, can I see you in my office before dinner?” Regent asked. It was worded as a question, but they all knew it was an order.
“Sure,” Maxim replied.
“I’ll go check how Gerald is getting on with dinner,” Gracen said, turning away.
Victor slapped her ass and she glared at him over her shoulder.
Maxim and Victor followed Regent into his office.
Another room he hated. Although at least Regent had replaced all the furniture in it from when their father used it. There were several photos on one wall. A lot of them were of Lottie. But there were some of him, Victor, and Jardin. As well as some of Gracen, Thea, and Carrick.
And, of course, there were also several of Ace and Keir. They were Thea’s brothers, but she had custody of them.
“Jardin coming tonight?” he asked as he helped himself to a glass of expensive Scotch.
Regent frowned at him. “No, Thea and the boys all have some sort of vomiting bug.”
He shuddered, imagining how much fun that would be.
“Gracen made them soup,” Victor said. “We dropped it off earlier along with some medicine. She wasn’t happy because I wouldn’t let her go in.”
“I’ll also get some ready-made meals sent over to them,” Regent said. “But we don’t need Jardin for this conversation.”
“What’s going on?” Maxim asked.
“Someone is smuggling in and distributing a new drug.”
“What kind of drug?” Maxim asked. And who the fuck would dare to sell drugs in their town? The Malones had always run the drug trade in New Orleans.