Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146666 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 733(@200wpm)___ 587(@250wpm)___ 489(@300wpm)
Oh dear Lord.
This sucked monkey balls.
She stood there, trying not to fidget. It wasn’t easy. She didn’t really like being in her own head. Too much time to think wasn’t always a good thing for her.
“Baby?” he called out.
“Yes?”
“Come here, please.” His voice was ultra-gentle, and for some silly reason she felt like crying.
Greer moved over to where he sat on the sofa. He drew her between his open legs. “Were you getting upset?”
“I . . .” She went to deny it. Then she realized she had been getting herself worked up. “I guess so.”
“You didn’t realize?”
“Not exactly.”
He nodded. “I don’t think corner time is going to be one of your punishments.”
Relief flooded through her. Okay, it seemed that she really hadn’t liked being in the corner.
“I didn’t even really notice,” she said. “But now that you say I won’t have to do it again, I feel so relieved.”
“We need to work on helping you recognize your feelings. You push them down.”
She nodded. “I guess so.”
“Let’s practice right now. Tell me something that you need.”
“I’ve got a mole on the back of my leg I need you to look at.”
“Done. And you need to tell me these things straight away. What else?”
“I think we should go back to your place.”
36
“Um.” Okay, that wasn’t what he was expecting her to say. “You want me to leave?”
He’d thought they were getting somewhere. That she wanted him around. How could he leave her here on her own?
But also he couldn’t demand that he stay?
“No!” she cried out.
“No? But you just said—”
“I said we should. Both of us. Only if you want that. Maybe you don’t want me at your place. Shoot . . . I really should have asked first. I can stay here if you want.”
“Okay, let’s slow down. I think we’ve both got the wrong idea here. You want us both to go back to my place? To stay?”
“That. Um. That’s probably too much. We barely know each other . . . I mean, I wasn’t suggesting I move in or anything—”
“I want that,” he interrupted her quickly before she could talk herself out of this.
“W-what?”
“For you to move in. I’d move you into my place right now if I could.” Forever.
Yeah. He probably shouldn’t say that last bit.
But life was too short and he knew that Greer was the one for him.
“But I know that is too fast which is why I’m kind of surprised you want to come to my house . . .”
“It just doesn’t feel like I can relax here. You’re sleeping on a sofa, and I feel terrible and I’d give you Ethan’s bed and sleep in Aidan and Livvy’s room, but that doesn’t feel right without asking them. Then Aidan would want to know what’s going on, but I’m not ready to tell him about this . . . us yet.”
“Us. I like the sound of that.” He smirked.
She rolled her eyes.
“Was that another eye roll?” he said warningly.
“It’s like a condition . . . I can’t stop!” she cried.
“Just for that, we’re buying four things off the wishlist.”
She sighed. “You’re definitely going to go broke.”
“Let me worry about that. And we can definitely stay at my house.” It would make things a lot easier. He could buy her as much as he liked and set up the spare room as a playroom.
Perfect.
She bit her lip. Even though she’d suggested this, she still looked nervous.
“You can sleep in the spare bedroom if you want.”
“All right. And you’re going back to work soon and you need your sleep.”
“Baby, you want to do this just for me?” Tenderness filled him. She was so sweet.
“Yeah. But for me too. It feels weird to do anything here, in my brother’s house.”
“I get it. I was starting to wonder where I was going to put everything we need to order.”
“Do not get carried away,” she warned.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He grinned at her. He ran his finger over her cheek. “I’m going to take such good care of you.”
She sighed happily. “I know, Daddy.”
“How about we get you packed up and we’ll head home, then?”
He liked the sound of that. Home.
“Ooh, can we ride your bike?”
“Actually, I thought you’d want to bring Sav’s SUV with you?”
“Oh, yeah. I suppose so. But could I ride your bike while you drive the SUV?”
“Haha. Nice try. Not happening.”
This was her idea.
So why was she so nervous?
Hack had set her stuff up in the spare bedroom, which had a bathroom across the hall.
And it didn’t feel right. It was like an itch under her skin . . . she wanted to be with him.
“Ladybug? Come out. We need to order some more things for your bedroom.”
She walked out to find him sitting at the dining table, looking at his tablet.
Shoot. That reminded her that she’d seen a message from DaddyO on her phone. She’d blocked DaddyDrew, but she needed to get off that site now that she was with Hack.