Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 74298 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74298 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 297(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
In fact, a few days ago, when Tristan first pulled up into Amberfield to help me move, I had dragged him inside and covered him in kisses the moment he arrived. He had been road-weary and felt nasty after the long drive, so we hopped into the shower together and I rinsed him off before we traded blow jobs.
I’d come in about two minutes flat. I wasn’t even ashamed. It was always like that when I first saw him after a while. Now that we were finally moved into the new home, I’d promised him that I’d make it up to him tonight. I told him that he looked like he was in need of a good, long fuck.
My cock rose a little in my pants even now as I thought of that. Down, boy, I thought. The last thing I needed when I was moving heavy boxes with Tristan and his brothers was a hard-on.
“The moving process went well, Tristan told me?” Shawn asked, setting down a box and brushing his palms off on his work pants.
“Naturally, there were about fifty things that were unexpected or went wrong,” I said. “I actually had a client back in Kansas threaten to slash my truck’s tires because she was so upset I was leaving town, but most of the other logistical stuff was manageable.”
“What?” Tris said, furrowing his brow at me. “You didn’t tell me about this.”
“Yeah,” I said. “It was Mary-Ann Miller.”
“The ninety-six-year-old woman?” Tristan exclaimed.
I snorted. “She was joking, of course. But at the time I swore she seemed like she was ready to do it. I’d been a handy-man for her way back when I was getting started in my contracting career, and she relied on me for all sorts of things I no longer would do for any other clients. She called me to replace a lightbulb in a lamp for her once.”
“Aww, that’s kind of you,” Nathan said. “Shawn and I used to do handy-man work a lot, too. It’s nice to help the older folks with things they can’t reach.”
“Actually, the light bulb Mary-Ann had me replace was in a lamp right next to her bed,” I said. “She absolutely could have done it herself.”
“She just liked you,” Tristan said. “Maybe she had a crush on you.”
“Could be,” I said. “That would explain the tire-slashing joke, I suppose. She really didn’t want me to leave.”
Shawn and Nathan laughed and all of us went back outside to get another round of boxes to haul inside. The air had turned cool as the evening rolled in, and after a long day of travel, it felt perfect. The sun was setting behind the thickets of pine trees, and the pinky-orange light broke through the clearing where the driveway went down to the main road.
It was astonishing. And this was where I got to live, full-time now, with Tristan.
I had known deep down in my gut that it was right as I’d driven up into the Rocky Mountains, through the staggeringly gorgeous pine forest and into the hilly town of Jade River.
This was where I belonged now. With Tristan. With the whole Wood family, who were a sweet group of oddballs that I couldn’t wait to spend more time with.
“We got a package in the mail from Sam, by the way,” Tristan said after we’d finished moving the last of the boxes inside. We were sitting at the slim wood dining table sipping beers, and Shawn and Nathan were in the kitchen, bickering over the right way to chop carrots. They’d offered to prepare a nice dinner for us tonight to celebrate my finally arriving in town.
“Sam sent us a package?” I said.
“Addressed to you, specifically.”
“Want to bet it’s matching tank tops?” I asked.
I was joking, but something also flared inside me when I heard Sam had sent something. It had been a few weeks since the sale was finalized and Fox and Sam became the owners of my dad’s old house. And yesterday had been the last time I’d stopped by the place to say my goodbyes. Tristan was with me, because he was amazing and had road tripped over to help me move.
Yesterday, Sam and Fox had been in painters coveralls, giving the old blue front door a fresh coat of paint. They’d matched it perfectly, and it had been a task I’d meant to do for years. I swelled with pride. I must have given Sam and Fox each three or four different hugs across the span of the short half hour I was there to say goodbye. I walked through the little back garden, the deck, the little side of the yard where I used to play in a little plastic pool as a kid.
I had kept myself cool and calm as I said goodbye to them. But the moment Tristan and I got back in my truck, the floodgates opened. I sobbed and sobbed until it felt like I couldn’t breathe, stopped, then cried some more. Tris just held me, understanding more than anyone else possibly could. He ended up driving us back.