Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 92417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
“Okay. What about your dad? Should we invite him as well?”
I shook my head, touched that she’d suggest it. “It’s poker night. His crew gets together at Gus’s house every other Saturday and they go a little wild. They split a six-pack and eat high-sodium snacks.”
She giggled. “Good for them. Okay kids, let’s leave your dad alone so he can get his work done.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“You’re welcome.” She smiled at me over one shoulder, and honest to god, my heart nearly jumped from my chest onto the table in front of me.
After a dinner break, during which I struggled to keep my eyes off her, I came back out to the garage to work while Veronica and the kids settled in the living room to watch a movie. She wanted to show them some old movie musical that had been her favorite as a kid, and they were totally into it. If I had suggested a movie from my childhood, they’d have pitched a fit, but somehow every idea Veronica had was automatically fun. Seeing them snuggle up with blankets and pillows and popcorn on the floor in the living room sort of made me want to blow off work and join them.
Xander followed me out to the garage, hurrying through the rain, which had started up again. After helping himself to a beer from my fridge, he jumped up on my tool bench and watched me lay out the boards for a Parsons table I was making from some red and white oak.
“So how’s it going with Veronica?” he asked.
“Fine.” I grabbed my tape measure and extended the metal strip. “Although she wasn’t lying about not being able to cook.”
He laughed. “You are looking a little skinny. Want to arm wrestle?”
“I’d still kick your ass.”
“Okay, big brother.” Xander’s tone let me know he was giving me this one for free. “Now tell me how it’s going between you and the nanny.”
“She’s a good employee.” I scribbled some measurements on a scrap of paper. “Does what I ask her to.”
“Have you asked her for a blow job?”
I gave him the finger without looking in his direction. “If you’re going to be an asshole, you can leave. She works for me. She takes care of my kids.”
“I’m just saying, I don’t think she’d complain. She looks at you.”
I lined up the tape measure on the next board without even looking at the number. “Fuck off.”
“I’m serious. She does it when you’re not paying attention. And when you’re looking at her, she’s focused on the kids. You guys look at each other. Trust me.”
A sweat broke out on my back. “We’re not looking at each other like that.”
“It’s like that,” he said confidently. “Not that I blame you. She’s gorgeous.”
“So you ask her out.” I said it, but at the thought of his actually doing it, a jolt of hot, electric rage shocked my system. I immediately regretted my words.
“Nah,” he said, thank fuck. “She’s not interested in me. Plus, I’m looking for a wife, and I feel like she’s probably not looking to get serious with someone so soon after her bad experience.”
Finally, I turned around and stared at him. “A wife? Are you joking?”
“No. I feel like it’s time I settle down. I’m thirty-one, you know? I’ve sown my oats. Once I get my business going and move out of Dad’s house, I’ll be like two-thirds of the way to respectable adulthood. I just need a wife and a couple of kids to complete the picture. But not like you did it,” he said, taking a swig from his beer. “Not two at once. That’s too much work.”
“Dude, the longest relationship you’ve ever had was like four weeks.”
“I was married to the U.S. Navy,” he said defensively. “I was serving my country—and I was good at it, until I got injured. I think I’ll be a fucking great husband.”
“You do?”
He grinned and spread his arms. “I’m great at everything else, aren’t I?”
Ignoring him, I turned around and got back to work.
“You know what? I’m so confident you and the nanny are going to bang that I’ll place a bet on it.”
Xander was always looking for a way to win, especially if it meant I lost. “What kind of bet?”
“The bar I want you to make. If you keep your hands to yourselves for two more weeks, I’ll quit bugging you about it. If you can’t, you owe me some reclaimed wood.”
“Deal,” I said. All it would take to win this bet and get Xander off my ass was mental fortitude. That, I had.
I hoped.
I put up with Xander for another couple hours, then kicked him out and went into the house to put the kids to bed. Veronica had already seen to it that the leftovers were put away and their chore charts marked off, and she said goodnight to the twins and promised to teach them some tap dance steps tomorrow.