Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 82265 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82265 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“We might as well go by age. Deacon, since you and Orrin are the old men of the bunch, you all go next,” Archer teases.
Deacon points at Archer. “Respecting your elders. I like it.” He smirks as he places his hand on the small of Ramsey’s back and leads her into the house.
“Is there a waiting period for this selection process?” Brooks asks with a chuckle.
“This is ridiculous,” Declan speaks up. “Let’s just go in.” With that, we all start piling into the house. Everyone pairs up with their room partner and sets off to select their rooms.
“Come on.” Sterling grabs my hand and leads me through the kitchen and down a small hallway. Pushing open the door, he reveals a huge bedroom with a massive king-sized bed sitting in the center.
“How did you know this was here?” I ask him.
“Orrin sent the link for the house. I studied the pictures and layout description. I was going to suggest you take this room, but since you and I are sharing, we both get it.” He grins, proud of his discovery.
“Good find.”
“Agreed. It’s away from everyone else and has its own bathroom. I believe they called it an in-law suite.”
“Don’t all the bedrooms have their own bathrooms?”
“Yes, but they all share walls. This one is private.”
“Because I would have needed all the privacy staying in a room by myself?” I raise an eyebrow in question.
“No. Well, at least I didn’t think about that until now. I knew you’d feel odd being the only one having a room all to yourself, so I thought if it was secluded, you might feel more comfortable.”
“You’re always taking care of me.” My chest swells with love for my best friend.
“You know it.” He moves around the room, taking it all in. “You like it?”
“It’s perfect.”
“I think so too. I’m going to run out and get our bags.”
“I’ll come and help.”
“I can get it.”
“I need to get my bag of snacks and the cooler. We have all the groceries to pack in too.”
“Us guys can get those,” he tells me. “I can handle all of our things.”
“I can help.” I place my hands on my hips, challenging him.
“You can,” he agrees. “But you’re not going to. You’re going to relax and unwind. This weekend you’re going to let me spoil you. The guys and I already talked about it. It’s ladies’ weekend. We’re doing all the heavy lifting. And the cooking.”
“I thought you wanted me to make my pasta salad.”
“Nope. You’re going to teach me how to make your pasta salad. I’m doing all the work.”
“Oh, brother.” I laugh. “This is going to be interesting.”
“Hey! I can cook.”
“I know. I’m just teasing you. Your mom made sure you all could survive on your own. But none of you have ever cooked for a group this size.”
“There are ten of us, counting Deacon. I’m sure we can figure it out. Besides, I said we were doing all the work. Not that we wouldn’t need instructions.” He winks, then turns and walks out the door.
Twenty minutes later, I’ve unpacked both of our bags, placed our toiletries in the bathroom, and set off to find the rest of the group. I find them all on the back patio. “Wow.”
“It’s perfect, right?” Palmer asks.
“Can we stay here forever?” I ask, only half joking.
“You’ve got my vote,” Jade says.
“Are you starting the party without us?” Declan asks as he and Kennedy step out onto the patio.
“Just getting started,” Brooks tells him.
“Now that we’re all here, I’d like to introduce everyone.” Ryder glances over at the girl standing next to him. She has long brown hair with blonde highlights. She has a worried look in her eyes, but that’s to be expected. There are a lot of us.
“I’d like you all to meet Jordyn. Jordyn, this is my family.” He waves his hand in a circle at all of us before he moves to start pointing each of us out, calling us by name. We all wave and tell her it’s nice to meet her. “I know there are a lot of them.”
“You’ll get to know us in no time,” Ramsey assures her.
“It’s nice to meet all of you. Thank you for inviting me.”
“We’re glad you’re here,” Orrin tells her.
“All right, so I’m starving,” Maverick announces, making us all laugh.
“Right.” Declan nods. “You ladies, go and… do whatever it is that you do when you’re hanging out, and we’ll take care of the food.”
“Babe, you sure you don’t need help?” Kennedy asks him.
“Nope. It’s ladies’ weekend. We’re doing all the work,” Declan tells his wife.
“What?” Palmer asks.
“We talked about it a few days ago. We decided that the ladies get a break this weekend, and the men are taking care of everything.”
Ramsey opens her lips to say something, but Palmer places her hand over her mouth to stop her. “Let them. The men have spoken.”