Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 66753 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66753 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Thank fuck Bella sends the nanny home for a few hours without me having to suggest it myself. When we’re finally alone, Bella stares at the door where the nanny has departed and then glances at me. “She’s weird with you, right?”
“Very. Maybe she’s weird with all men.”
She wraps her arms around me. “Maybe it’s just because you’re so hot.”
If she thinks I’m going to laugh, I’m not laughing. It’s been a hell of a day already. I’m looking for an outlet and she’s it. “Show me in the bedroom. We can pick my side of the bed.” I drape my arm around her and lead her that direction. When we’ve picked our sides, and we have clothes on again, we divide closets and drawers, and I walk the house while Bella explains all of her upgrades.
At present I’m sitting on the floor in front of the couch, boxes all around us and a folder in front of me on the table. Bella is laying on the floor while Molly licks her all over. “Hey there, Molly,” I chide. “That’s my job.”
Bella shakes her head at me.
I laugh. I’m not sure when in my life I sat in my own home and laughed, but then I’m not sure I ever had a home until Bella. My eyes catch on the sparkle on her finger. She said yes and then she’d fretted about the ring being too big. She’d taped the inside to ensure she could wear it and not have it fall off.
Bella’s cellphone buzzes with a text and she rolls to the table and sits up, eyeing the caller ID and then scanning a message. She eyes me, her eyes bubbling with excitement. “I got Becker’s contract back.” Her phone rings. “It’s him.”
She answers the call, and I listen to the conversation with more than a little irritation. I didn’t want her to sign Becker, but my father treated my mother like property and then still fucked around on her. I will not be that guy. And Bella wouldn’t be with me if I was.
Now my cellphone rings and I snap it up to find Dash on caller ID. I’m not sure what Bella has said to Dash at this point, and I prepare myself for a bust-my-balls conversation. “Dash,” I greet.
“Are you going to be a wuss and skip out on dinner tonight?”
Not a bust-my-balls conversation. “Because I’m afraid of you?” I ask.
“Because you’re afraid of her father. He’s protective.”
“So are you,” I remind him.
“Fathers are a whole other ballgame, man.”
“Yeah, well I appreciate the warning, but I got this.”
“But do you ‘got this’ with my sister?”
Okay, maybe this could turn into that bust-my-balls conversation after all.
I walk to the patio door and step outside into an unseasonal spring-like day which means our wedding will likely be a winter wedding, dictated by my father and his damn will. “I do,” I assure Dash. “And because I don’t know what she’s told you, I’ll leave it at that. It’s not fair to Bella for me to tell you what she might not have.”
“Not fair to Bella,” he repeats. “Interesting. Man, you really got it bad for my little sis, don’t you?”
I lean on the wall and soak in the cute little backyard that is now mine as much as Bella’s. She really went all out on this place. Firepits, planters, and a built-in grill. “You have no idea just how bad.”
“She told me about the will.” His voice is tighter now, a distinct note of disapproval in his tone. I get it. He doesn’t like the situation, but then neither do I.
“Yes, well, what can I say? My father was a bastard in life and death.”
“What are you going to do if she doesn’t say yes to the whole fake fiancée thing?”
She hasn’t told him. Thank fuck I kept my mouth shut. “Again,” I repeat, “that’s between you two, but I need you to know I love her. Like you love Allie. I think I probably have for a very long time.”
Dash is silent a moment before he says, “I think you have, too. Be good to her, man. And make sure she knows she’s worth more to you than the fortune you stand to inherit with this contract bullshit.”
“I already have,” I assure him.
“Pretend you haven’t and do it again.”
“I think that’s probably good advice,” I concede.
“All right then. I’ll see you at dinner.” He disconnects.
“Everything okay?”
At Bella’s voice, I rotate to find her standing there looking as beautiful in a fuzzy sweater and leggings as she does all done up for work. “That was your brother.”
“Oh, God. I haven’t told him about us. I haven’t had time. Did you tell him? What did he say?”
I close the space between us and brush away a wayward strand of her silky blonde hair. “I told him I love you and that you would fill him in on the rest.”