Total pages in book: 168
Estimated words: 164910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 825(@200wpm)___ 660(@250wpm)___ 550(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164910 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 825(@200wpm)___ 660(@250wpm)___ 550(@300wpm)
Along with his finance work and investments, Callum has expanded his interests to real estate development and counseling the Bay on ways to grow our fortune.
We’ve all settled into work and plans for the future.
Macon’s latest “instructions” drift through my mind again, and I shake my head.
Pussy bullshit…
Callum and I have been together for two months. Can’t I enjoy learning how he takes his coffee and if he wets his toothbrush before or after he applies the toothpaste before I push us into something else?
I narrow my eyes, though, wishing I didn’t care what people might be saying. I don’t want anyone thinking that I’m temporary.
My heart starts to pound as I remember us in bed this morning, and I feel it in my stomach, too. Still dark, between the sheets, his body on me, his lips on mine.
I’m not temporary.
He’s not temporary to me.
Fuck.
I pull through the gate and park next to Callum’s M3, hurrying to the door even as the scent of a grill in the neighborhood hits my nose.
Heading inside, I see the house is darker than usual, the chandelier overhead dimmed to a subtle glow. Passing the empty kitchen, I catch the shadows from the TV moving over the wall and head to the living room. Callum sits on one of the sofas, his foot crossed over his knee as he stares at the muted TV playing one of the Batman movies Anna-Katherine watches on repeat lately. She lays her head in his lap, his hand resting on her arm, her eyes closed.
She’s dressed in her latest style—a pair of swing trousers but tailored into shorts, a matching vest, and a short-sleeve white blouse with a Peter Pan color. She’s been rounding it out with dark-rimmed glasses and red lipstick like she’s a supersleuth from 1930s Gotham now.
I enter the room, and he looks up as I round the back of the sofa and hang over to peer down at her. Eyes closed, her breathing steady, she’s fast asleep at eight thirty.
Callum tilts his head back. I kiss him, goose bumps breaking out when he finishes with a little peck on the corner of my lips. Once he realized I reacted every time he did that, he does it constantly now.
I rest my arms on the back of the sofa, leaning over, everything inside of me feeling so light. So good.
I love coming home to this.
“I missed you,” I say.
But his brow dips a little; he’s amused but confused. “Why are you smiling?”
Am I? I just laugh, trying to figure out how to approach this.
“How was the family meeting?” he asks when I don’t reply. “Can I come yet?”
Macon only lets family be present, and Clay’s been around long enough to prove her loyalty.
“He wants us to move into the house,” I tell him, unable to hold back my grin.
“Macon wants us all in the house?” he asks. “Fuck, no.”
“That’s what I said.”
“I mean, it’s not like we can go at it anywhere we want.”
Damn straight.
We have a place there. I still have my room, and Anna-Katherine has hers. We crash there when we’re having a house party, block party, or spending all day at the beach and want to keep enjoying the family.
But for day-to-day? I can’t be restricted to just my bedroom for sex.
I lean in for another kiss. “I like our privacy,” I whisper.
His lips meet mine, his eyes softening when I pull back. “I’m glad you like it here.”
“Well, I didn’t say that.” I look around at all the white, only really loving his copy of On the Shortness of Life and my Seneca and Nero statue sitting together on the mantle. “It’s pretty sterile. You got anything against color?”
“You can do whatever the hell you want.”
“Oh, not me,” I say. “I thought I’d let Krisjen and Aracely have some fun with it.”
He seems to think, and it might’ve been a bad idea to suggest a woman I’ve slept with decorate our house, but he simply looks down at his sister. “Anna-Katherine.” He brushes her hair. “Let her loose.”
God knows what she’ll turn the place into. Wayne Manor? Winter Palace?
But I nod. “She’d like that.”
She’s becoming very busy these days. Helping at the school, lunching with Liv and Clay, helping Krisjen and Aracely stock the new library in the Bay, and she’s supposed to be taking a part-time job at the drive-in when it opens.
And now, decorating.
I pause for a moment, thinking of the one thing I do want in this house. “I want pictures of us,” I tell him.
“Like couples’ photos?”
I almost laugh, his face contorting in disbelief.
“No, just…” I don’t know what I’m trying to say.
I want good times and memories, things to look at and remind us on bad days of how good this feels. I want him and me and Anna-Katherine and my family and…