Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33216 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33216 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
“Are you okay?” Robin asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s been a pretty intense vacation, huh?”
“Not intense. Relaxing. I’ve loved coming away with you.” She took another piece of eggs, and he noticed that she’d not even eaten some bacon, and yet there was already some missing from her plate.
Another thing about her he loved—she loved his dog.
She had no qualms about spending as much time with him as was possible. There was so much to love. And he couldn’t get enough of her.
“There was something I wanted to talk to you about,” she said.
This made him stop and pause. He turned to look at her and waited, listening.
“About when we go back home. I know it’s like a week away, but I … is this … you know … like something we’re not going to talk about?” She kept pausing. “Or, is this something you kind of want to explore? You see, I know you’ve sworn off women and I’ve sworn off men, but I do think we might have something here, and now that I’m talking, I’m trying not to freak out, and I’m doing this thing where I’m nervous, I talk really fast, and I don’t have a breath, and I just keep running on sentences, so please stop me.” She stopped and took a deep breath, scrunching up her face as she did so.
This made him chuckle.
“You’re laughing. You shouldn’t be laughing. It’s not funny,” she said, reaching out to give his arm a tap.
“I’ve been thinking about this as well, and I don’t want to miss a moment with you, not one single moment. I know it’s crazy and we’re probably going to regret it, but why don’t we give us a try? I know we’ve sworn off our respective opposing partners, but come on, we don’t have to, you know, stick to it. We didn’t expect to find each other, and I know when I’m with you, it feels incredible, and I don’t want to lose that.”
“So, when we get back home, would you like to try and date?” she asked.
“Yeah, I would.”
****
Elizabeth, Hector, and Jaxson all stood at the car, where they met every other week, to keep an eye on the cursed houses.
Jaxson didn’t like being nervous, because he did believe in the power of the houses. How could he not when he’d found the love of his life in Teal? Yes, she’d been a student, and yes, she’d been of age, but he’d always prided himself on not falling for a student until he met her, and then all bets were off.
Since he discovered the cursed houses, he’d done a great deal of research, and every couple that had entered those homes had all ended up together, married, happily so.
However, the couple that had entered his and Teal’s old home had been rather stubborn.
“What’s the update?” Jaxson asked.
“Rix found out the details, and they’ve gone away on a three-week vacation.”
“Together?” Hector asked, clapping his hands.
“Yep, together, and if my assessment is correct, she’ll be knocked up by the time she comes back,” Elizabeth said.
Jaxson frowned. “How can that be possible. If the houses are what brings people together, don’t they have to, like, be inside the houses to make that kind of magic work?” He couldn’t even believe he was talking like this. There was no way any of this was logical. It just couldn’t be, and yet he knew it was real.
Elizabeth tutted. “Stupid boy. The houses bring people together, but it doesn’t create love. They create scenarios.” She gave a little chuckle. “Like, I also have knowledge that something has apparently gone wrong in one of the houses, which resulted in the other spending time at the other person’s house. Trust me, the houses work, but they don’t create the love. They just know which couples will work, and that’s why they’re drawn to them.”
Jaxson took a deep breath. It was still hard to believe, yet that is exactly what had happened.
Chapter Nine
Back home, and Robin had already contacted the builder, and he promised to be out next week to look at Dylan’s house. He couldn’t come any sooner as he had so much work. The time he did have available, they were not there, which was just typical.
It was an emergency, but she wanted to get Dylan’s house looking amazing. Not that she minded him living with her. Far from it. She actually enjoyed his company, and being around him was a lot of fun.
Gripping her neck, she gave it a stretch left and right, before wandering out into the garden where Dylan was resting on one of her lounge chairs. Buttercup was playing with one of her balls, and she looked super cute as she did it.
“Any news?” Dylan asked.
“Next week.” She flopped down into the chair beside him. They had gotten back yesterday, were suffering a little jet lag, and in all honesty, had no desire to do anything but relax. “I will get it fixed, I promise. It’s just taking a little more time than I anticipated.”