Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 73035 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73035 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 365(@200wpm)___ 292(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
That had Daddy laughing quietly as he took my hand and kissed my cheek. “I agree. But let’s see what happens next.”
He was enjoying this.
I wasn’t sure I’d have described my feelings that way, but it was nice not to be on my own. Daddy made everything more fun and less stressful. I was just hoping he’d make everyone else want to behave the same way he made me want to be good for him.
“Eventually, they have to behave themselves, right?” Right?
Fingers crossed?
Nope.
As we made our way through Grandmother’s oversized house with the fancy furniture and my out of place painting, it went better than we’d expected. By the time we’d made it out to the backyard, we’d had two very polite conversations about the weather with people neither of us knew, but that was our only reprieve.
The next time the nosy monsters attacked it was one of my stepcousins.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to remember his name. As I was trying to decide if it was Bart or Bert or something weird and longer, Daddy smiled and held out his free hand. “Brad. Good to see you.”
That was it.
I knew it was short for something longer and pretentious, but it seemed that no one called him whatever it was. Having his name didn’t fill in as many blanks as I was hoping it would. All I could remember was him doing something with finance.
“Good to see you.” He smiled, actually looking happy as he glanced between us. “I heard Grandma introduced you two.”
Right to the point.
I took this one just to practice.
Giving him my best innocent, but not quite little, smile, I nodded. “Yes, she was so helpful and sent Gray over to help me hang my pictures. He does it for a living and he was so much easier to talk to than the other decorator I tried to hire.”
Daddy was brilliant and didn’t even grin, but his hand twitched in mine, giving away how he was feeling. I ignored the hand-holding and smiled wider as Brad blinked, clearly confused. He had no idea what to say, so I just kept chattering cheerfully because this really was fun. “It looks wonderful. He did a great job. Grandmother was right. I should’ve gone right to a professional the first time.”
Brad opened and closed his mouth several times before nodding. “Yes. That’s what she always says to do.”
I perked up like he was brilliant. “It’s very true. I should’ve listened to that from the beginning.”
Daddy must’ve managed to get his wicked sense of humor under control because he finally chimed in politely if not a bit dryly. “Every wall was blank. You just can’t imagine. But we’re working on getting the artwork he bought up and making it look perfect. It’s just going to take a while.”
Shaking his head, Daddy looked at me like he was slightly disappointed. “Camden still has art in every closet, but we’re working our way through it.”
I loved that it wasn’t a lie and still confused Brad.
Bradley?
Bradford?
Bradman?
It was something weird.
“He…Yes, I heard about the problems with the decorator.” Blinking a few times, Brad seemed to mentally switch topics. “She’s pushy. We tried to hire her for a simple condo redo for our place downtown, but it was a nightmare. No one needs to look in bedside drawers to help you figure out wall colors.”
It hadn’t been just me?
Relief flooded through me and I nearly bounced I was so excited. “She was very pushy.”
Everyone thought she was weird and nosy…that was wonderful.
As Brad told us about the condo redo and how their new decorator had tried to talk them into doing red and black accent walls that sounded like something Dracula would want in his house, he got completely distracted from the actual reason he’d been sent to interrogate us.
We were amazing.
Once he’d wandered off, Daddy led me toward the side of the house where we had a tiny bit of privacy…for about thirty seconds, but I’d take what I could get. Looking wonderfully bored, he glanced around. “Who should we tell we actually met on a kink site? I’m thinking your Aunt Madeline. She hates that your grandmother is the reigning queen.”
That explained a lot of the weird Christmas presents that’d shown up after I joined the family.
“That sounds like fun, but first we have to talk to someone and you have to be surprised that I paint. You need to tell them you thought I was useless rich not artistic rich.” I dated a guy a few years ago that’d been disappointed I had a career.
This was a much better way to change that memory.
Daddy’s chest barely jerked as he swallowed a grin. “I think that sounds like a lovely way to pass the time. Have you ever met my Aunt Maggie?”
“No.” But it seemed like that was about to change. “Thank you for introducing me to your family…Gray.”