Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81208 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
I scrunch my nose. “How about ramen? Does that count?”
She rolls her eyes. “When the universe was doling out the gifts for this family, she overlooked the importance of sustenance.”
I’m not the only one to stop dead at her words. Did she just call us a family? Maybe she meant me and my brothers, or could she have intended to include herself? With every new day that passes, she seems to gain confidence and relax into spending time with us. She’s still sleeping in the spare room, but when we all decide to go to bed at night, her gaze lingers on us as we disappear into our rooms.
We’re doing the right thing. This will work out how it’s supposed to. Patience is a virtue, after all. At least, that’s what our mom tried to drum into us. Maybe she knew something.
“So, what would be your ideal date, Goldie?” Hunter asks out of nowhere.
“Escape Room,” I guess, earning a swat to my pec from a scowling Goldie.
“Something that’ll get her arrested,” Robert says, “For the cuffs.”
“We thought you meant for the prison food,” Hunter jokes.
“A picnic near a lake or on a beach,” Goldie says, ignoring our quips. “Around an hour before the sun’s going to set. I just love the light at the time… how it seems to smooth everything out and make it sharper at the same time. I love the stillness that comes with the arrival of the moon and the lingering warmth left over from the day.”
“That sounds like bliss.” Hunter rolls onto his side, propping his head on his elbow. “What kind of food?”
“Porridge, grilled meat, and ramen, of course,” she laughs. Then we’re all tickling her, and she’s flailing and laughing until happy tears stream down her face, and we’re all sweating and out of breath.
The rest of the evening continues in the same way, with stories and laughter, and in the days after, we take tentative steps closer to our fated mate, hopeful that she’ll decide to let us claim her soon.
30
HUNTER
“I’ve been thinking,” I say, rubbing my hand over my stubbly chin. Goldie looks up from her book, lowering it slowly into her lap.
“Don’t hurt yourself.” She grins, and I stifle a smile of my own. Her humor has been a bonus I didn’t know I’d enjoy in a mate. Not your mate yet, I correct myself. She’s still resisting being claimed, much to my frustration.
It’s mid-morning, and Evan and Robert are at the store, leaving Goldie and me to our own devices. She smells good and my bear is ravenous to taste her but that’s nothing unusual. We’ve been in a state of starvation for her since she arrived.
“Seriously. I’ve been thinking about your business.”
She glances up. “What about my business?” Folding down the corner of the page she was reading, she then places the book on the arm of the couch.
“You’re bored. I can tell.”
“I am,” she admits, raising her eyebrows.
“Have you thought about what you’ll do?”
She shakes her head. “I feel like I’m trapped in limbo. I don’t see how I can go back to do what I was before.”
“That’s what I was thinking, too.”
At my confirmation, her shoulders slump. I raise my hand, hoping what I’m going to suggest next will stave off her disappointment. “How about starting up an online business?”
“What kind of business?”
I shift against the cushions, twisting so my knee is pressed into the back of the couch and my leg rests folded in front of me. I push up the sleeves of my jumper. “Selling the kind of accessories we have in the room upstairs.”
Her brow furrows and her lips purse. She picks at the hem of her shirt, which is actually my old shirt—seeing her wrapped in something I’ve worn ticks all my territorial primal boxes, almost as much as if I had her enveloped in my arms. “I don’t know much about websites,” she says.
“Evan does,” Hunter says. “He can help set up an online storefront. Robert’s great with numbers. He can help you with the financial side.”
She nods, still fiddling, still unsure.
“And I can help you with the purchasing.”
“I don’t have any money to purchase anything with,” she says.
“We have money to get you started.”
“No.” She’s quick to question my idea, even though I can tell she’s interested. Her need for independence makes me both proud and frustrated.
“Money isn’t a problem, but if you feel like it is, we can get you started, and you can pay back anything you borrow from the insurance money.”
Her eyes light up. “You’d do that? Lend me the money to get started?”
“Of course.” She still doesn’t understand the bond we have and the obligations it comes with. She’s human, and there isn’t anything comparable. Even a husband-and-wife arrangement falls short compared to what we’ll have when she finally comes to her senses.