Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 55641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 278(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 185(@300wpm)
“Looking forward to it.”
Reid answered the door on the second knock, and I launched myself into his arms. He wrapped his arms around me and swept me off my feet, carrying me into the living room. As much as I wanted to see how the finished house looked, I couldn’t quite bring myself to let go of Reid—at least not until Hunter stepped up.
His hug lasted even longer, and I almost couldn’t bring myself to let go of him when he set me back down on his feet. Then Jackson reached for me, but Reid stepped between us. “You got to see her at the art class the other night,” he told his younger brother.
“Yeah, but I didn’t get to hug her. Carl has this weird rule against the nude models passionately embracing his students. Go figure.”
“Go figure,” I echoed, and went into his embrace. As he held me, it dawned on me that I hadn’t had any trouble telling them apart today. I suspected I never would again.
“Okay, okay, I want to see the house. Then more hugs.”
The guys were more than happy to show me around, and everything looked so damn good. The new paint, the carpets and flooring, the furniture… it all flowed together in perfect harmony. Even the backyard looked good. A landscape company had been by a few times in the past week—apparently, landscaping didn’t count as part of the Ten-Day Turnaround.
We ended up back in the living room. I couldn’t help but stare at the arched ceiling above us. “It looks so damn good.”
Jackson’s jaw dropped theatrically. “Wait a minute, did you just say damn? D-A-M or D-A-M-N?”
I grinned. “The latter one.”
“Good for you,” Hunter said.
“Hey, there’s one place we haven’t shown her,” Reid said.
“That skeleton in the laundry room?”
“Nope, not that.” Jackson put his hand on the small of my back. “Come on.”
He led me over to the spiral staircase and gestured for me to go up first. I climbed the steps slowly, and when it opened up into the loft above, I gasped.
Moving as if in a daze, I walked around the little bedroom. “It’s just like my sketch.”
“Exactly like that,” Jackson said.
Everywhere I looked was something I drew. The little table by the front wall. The shelves for toys and books. The loft bed. And more, too. There were colorful rugs, stuffed animals, a rocking horse, and more. It would be the room of my dreams if I were six years old. Hell, it was pretty much my dream room even at twenty-six.
The back wall, the one that wasn’t sloped, was blank except for the outline of a large rectangle on it. “What’s this?” I asked, tracing my fingers around the edges.
“That’s where your mural goes,” Reid said.
“My mural?” I repeated.
“Yep. We’re going to hire you to paint one for us.”
They really wanted me to paint on the wall of this beautiful house? It would be an honor. “Do you really think that’ll help sell the house?”
“Probably not,” Hunter admitted, and some of my excitement wore off.
“I just don’t understand why it won’t sell.” I went to the wall that separated the loft from the living room and looked down. “It’s just so gorgeous.”
Jackson turned to his older brother. “You’re the numbers guy. Do you have any theories?”
Reid scratched the back of his hand as he looked around. “Not really.”
My heart sank as I looked at each man in turn. They’d worked so hard on this. They’d invested their time and money. It just didn’t seem fair.
Then Hunter spoke up. “I have a theory.”
“What’s that?” I asked, hoping he could shed some light on the situation.
“Maybe it’s because we took it off the market.”
I laughed. “yeah, that would do it.” Then I looked at him again. “Wait, are you serious?”
“He is,” Jackson said.
“But… why?”
“Have a seat in my office, and we’ll explain.” Reid gestured over to the twin bed. He and I sat down on it. Hunter leaned against the ladder that led up to the loft bed, and Jackson pulled up a child-sized chair that matched the little table. He looked absurd sitting in it—his knees were practically up to his ears.
“I don’t understand.” I turned to Reid. “Is this that sunk cost fallacy thing?”
“Not at all.” He gave me a warm smile as he took my hand. “We decided that we’d like to live here.”
“You did? But don’t you have a house?” It seemed insane, but I realized I didn’t know where they actually lived when they weren’t doing a Ten-Day Turnaround.
“We have an apartment,” Jackson said. But it’s in the northwest suburbs, and we’re hardly ever there. This house is a lot closer to the kind of properties we like to work on.”
“And we figured that since we fix up houses for other people to live in, it was pretty dumb for us to live in an apartment,” Reid said.