Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 43102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 216(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 216(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
“Nothing’s wrong, Princess.” I tug her between us, and we sandwich her. It always seems to calm her down. Gabe’s lips immediately fall to her crown, and I kiss his cheek. Today was a lot of fun, and there’s something to be said for one-on-one time, but when the three of us are like this, it’s home. It’s perfect. And the way Gabe sighs, leaning his cheek into me, I know he feels the same way. “We just want to discuss the construction that’s about to be going on around here.”
Her head snaps up, and she frowns. “What construction?”
“That’s what we’re going to tell you, Shorty.” Gabe brushes his fingers through her hair. “We’re going to build you your own room. Or rooms. You need space to work and read, and anything else you might want to do in there.”
“Oh.” She blinks again and steps out of both of our reach entirely, wrapping her arms around her stomach. I feel the walls she just erected in my fucking soul. “You don’t have to do that.”
“We want to,” I assure her. “But we want to discuss options with you. We’re happy to add on to the footprint of the house, but if you prefer, we could build a little building out back that stands by itself. I’m fine with either, but personally, I’d rather have you in the house.”
“It might be better in the winter,” Gabe agrees, nodding. “No one will have to trudge through the snow to get there.”
“You don’t have to build me anything. If I’m in the way, I’m happy to go back to my apartment—”
“Did anyone say anything about you being in the way?” I tilt my head to the side, staring at her. “Princess, we love having you with us, every fucking minute of the day. We went and got you last night because the thought of you sleeping anywhere else is not an option for us.”
“But you want to build me my own bedroom.”
Gabe and I look at each other in surprise, and then back at her.
“No,” Gabe says as I tug her back into my arms.
Christ. My poor girl.
“No, baby. We want to build you an office that doubles as a library since you love to read so much.”
“You sleep with us, Shorty. Nowhere else. If we need to buy a bigger bed, that’s fine, but we all sleep together. I’m a possessive fucker. I want you both next to me at night.”
“Same goes,” I say and tilt her head up so I can see her face. My gut clenches when I see tears in her eyes. “Hey, no crying. This is a good thing. We didn’t mean to scare you.”
She swallows hard and blinks the wetness away. “I just … that’s a big step. Adding on to the house. It feels like a big decision.”
She still has those walls up, and I don’t like it. Have I misread her? Are Gabe and I more invested in this relationship with her than she is with us?
Whenever I say the word love, in any context, she almost flinches.
And I get it. With the childhoods we both had, trusting love isn’t easy. But I need her to know that she’s everything to us. That we are her safe place, and we’re never letting her go.
“I also want you to give up your apartment,” I tell her, needing to see her reaction. “I want you to move the rest of your things here, to our home. To your home.”
She scowls.
“I’m not ready to do that.”
“Why not?” Gabe demands before I can. “You haven’t spent any time there in more than two months. It’s a waste of money, Alex. You live here, with us.”
She’s shaking her head and paces away from us. The blood is rushing through my veins. This is not going the way we thought it would.
I reach out for Gabe’s hand and give it a squeeze, silently asking him to trust me.
“When would you be comfortable letting the apartment go, Alex?”
She’s still shaking her head, facing away from us, staring out the window to the mountains.
“I don’t know if I ever will,” she admits softly.
Gabe starts to walk to her, but I hold him back and lean over to kiss his cheek, then whisper in his ear, “Hold on.”
I turn back her way. “Have we missed the mark here, Princess?”
She sighs, her shoulders sag, and she turns around to look at both of us. Her eyes fall to our linked hands, and she winces.
“Shorty—”
“You know, I think I need a break.”
My heart stutters to a standstill. “What the fuck does that mean?”
Chapter Seventeen
ALEX
I’m going to hyperventilate. How did this amazing day go so horribly wrong? I don’t want to give up my apartment for so many reasons. A million reasons. And they’ve decided that I have to let it go, move in here, and trust that they’ll never break my heart and leave me fucking homeless?