Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 96112 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96112 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
I sniffled and peered up at Colt over my shoulder. “There’s more?”
Colt smiled crookedly. “We’ll save the other thing for when we eat.”
* * *
“May I just point out that we’re eating?” I hinted.
I’d waited almost an hour!
“And it’s wonderful, isn’t it?” Lucas forked up some salmon and mashed potatoes and put it into his mouth. “I do love this meal, baby.”
Colt tipped his wineglass at him and then took a sip.
These two misters were testing my patience.
They wanted to talk about work and how their day had been. They’d even taken a minute to discuss the freaking weather and the new bistro lights Colt and I had hung up in the tree above us. And they’d just—before I interrupted them—talked about whether or not we should move the sunbeds out here and the dining area to the deck instead.
Why? Why? Why were they doing this to me?
Who cared about where the sunbeds went?
“It does make sense,” Lucas said. “To circle back—about the sunbeds. I saw you can buy roof attachments for them and a retractable umbrella of sorts.”
“We can’t have you burnin’ to a crisp in the sun.” Colt smirked.
“Not all of us were raised in the Texas desert,” Lucas replied mildly. “Besides, if we move the table to the deck, we’d be able to eat outside even when the weather is poor. I like the sound of the rain when I don’t have to get wet.”
“Yes, yes, we’re all fascinated with the flippin’ awning.” I stabbed a piece of salmon and stuck it into my mouth.
Colt shook his head in amusement and sighed. “Sometimes you’re very unobservant, Kit. What’ve we been talkin’ about?”
I waved a fork in the general direction of the deck on the other side of the pool. “What should and shouldn’t be under the awning. Exciting stuff.”
“And what did we discuss before that?” Lucas prodded.
I scowled. “I dunno. Oh, the bathtub? You wanna install a new bathtub once you’ve torn down the wall between the two guest rooms.” Those rooms were going to be the master bedroom when all was said and done. This house was finally a home again, but I still had a limit or two. For instance, I had no desire to sleep in the room that was once my parents’. So, Colt had come up with the idea that we could turn the two guest rooms into one big master suite.
Colt stared at me expectantly, yet with patience. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t make it a habit of plannin’ any remodeling in places where I’m only a guest.”
“Or where we’re only living temporarily,” Lucas filled in.
Funny how quickly I grew still. Even my heart stopped for a second.
Colt leaned forward and rested his forearms on the table. “We’re gonna keep our condo for a while so we can say we’ve been patient enough when the day comes, Kit. But Lucas had a meetin’ with the bank today.”
I exhaled shakily and flicked my gaze to Lucas.
He smiled tentatively and squeezed my leg under the table. “They’ve looked over our assets and said we qualify for a mortgage that would cover a house in this area once we sell our condo.”
“Oh,” I breathed. “Does that mean…?” I didn’t dare assume.
“We’ll be writin’ a contract for this.” Colt watched me with that serious expression he used when he didn’t want me to goof around. “Consider it a prenup—”
“I hate prenups,” I blurted out.
His mouth twitched. “It’s for your protection, Kit,” he explained. “If something were to happen—”
“Nooo!” This was upsetting to me, and I slumped back in my seat and covered my face with my hands. “Why would something happen to us? I don’t want you to leave me.”
“Sweetheart, no one is saying that,” Lucas comforted. “But since Colt and I wish to go all in with you, we’d feel the most comfortable if the three of us owned an equal share of the home that’s gonna be ours—hopefully for the rest of our lives.”
I sniffled and felt my bottom lip quivering. “We’d own this together? Not me one part and you two together? But like, I don’t know if I’m explaining it right—”
“I understand,” he assured me. “No, it wouldn’t be Colt and me, for lack of a better word, against you. It would be the three of us together, on equal ground.”
“But.” Colt said the stupidest word ever. “Since it was your home from the beginning, it will stay that way if something did happen. That’s really all. And once your army of family lawyers gets involved, I bet you they’ll agree.”
“Lawyers are stupidheads.” I stuck out my tongue.
“Nevertheless, you brat…” Lucas gave me a pointed look. “It’s not wrong to make sure everyone is protected. Don’t you think Colt and I did this when he and I got together?”