Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 63601 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63601 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
What made us all work as friends was that there’d never been a spark between any of us, and he knew it too, so I didn’t have to worry about hurting his feelings.
Gary was definitely the most sensitive between all of us, but he flashed me a grin and was genuinely excited for me. “I’m glad, but—ha—but I’m going to tell you to be honest with him and to make sure he understands you’re the serious type and not just dating to see how you fit together.”
There was no way he’d think we were just dating to see how we worked, right?
“You’ve talked to him about that, right?” When I didn’t answer fast enough, he turned around and started jabbing at the air with the spatula. “Have you explained that you’re the I’m your Dom and I’m keeping you type?”
“Yes.”
Maybe?
Yes.
I was pretty sure I’d made that clear.
“God.” Gary didn’t like whatever he saw on my face and rolled his eyes. “You’re going to end up married and he’s not going to understand how it happened.”
“Nope. Once his mother hears that word she’s going to be all in and he’ll understand exactly how we got to that point.” She was going to be a menace. “If it makes you happy, though, I’ll be very clear with him about how serious this feels.”
As long as it came up in conversation because I wasn’t just going to randomly announce I was keeping him.
That sounded creepy.
“Fine.” Shaking his head, he shifted his focus back to breakfast and seemed to leave his worries about my relationship behind. “Hey, if you don’t have any other plans this morning, do you want to go Christmas shopping with me? I want to pick out something for Ruslan and a few things for my family.”
“You still heading out at the end of the week?” Gary had been slightly cagey about what he’d been up to lately, but I knew he missed his family and was ready to see them.
“Yeah.” Opening a bag of chopped potatoes, he nodded. “You’re still welcome to come.”
Oh.
“Um, I’m going home with Teddy.” I found myself trying not to squirm as Gary looked at me and gave me a knowing grin. “Stop that. You look ridiculous.”
“Teddy and Levi sitting in a tree…K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love then comes collars then comes Teddy in a baby carriage.”
“I think that order is slightly mixed up and I haven’t seen little-sized strollers.” Making sure the house was big enough for a playroom or nursery depending on what he wanted would be important, though. “Do you think having a playroom and nursery would be too much?”
His giggles said it might be a bit much.
“How big of a house were you looking for?” Barely holding back more laughter and probably the urge to tell me that I was ridiculous, he rolled his eyes. “I’ve seen your parents’ place, remember?”
He was being the ridiculous one now.
“Nothing that size.” My goal was not to have staff…at least not at this point in my life. “We were just playing around and talking about those houses a few blocks over. The ones near that pink monstrosity.”
And the eyes went round and round again.
“Those are million-dollar homes, not starter properties.” Mumbling something that sounded like he thought I had more money than common sense, he sighed. “They’re pretty, though.”
Ha.
“And a good long-term investment because the college isn’t going anywhere.” I’d done a bit of research on the area in general. “They’re also not the most expensive homes around here, so they’re more reasonable than you think.”
His snort said we’d have to agree to disagree on that part.
“You should wait until you’re out of college to even think about something like that.” His logic would’ve been good for most other students.
“I’m in a PhD program, dork. I’m going to be here for years.” How long the fucking programs were was the only downside of wanting my doctorate. “So the wait until I’m steady thing doesn’t really apply.”
“Part of me likes how well planned out this chaos actually seems to be and another part wants to freak out at all your crazy plans.” Shaking his head, he huffed. “So we’re going to change the subject. Christmas shopping. Do you have stuff for Teddy’s parents? Is there anyone else in that household you should buy stuff for?”
Oh, good point.
“Yeah, I need to make a list but there are a few other things I need to get and I need to get something for Ruslan too.” Dante wanted him to feel welcome and comfortable with us, so the Christmas dinner thing needed to go smoothly. “You still good doing most of the cooking for that dinner? I can help.”
Gary pretended to get offended and huffed. “You want to take over my kitchen? No.”
Drama queen.
“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t offer.”
Oh.
“Um, at some point later this week please ask me if I’ve talked to Teddy about the Christmas dinner thing?” His laughter made me groan. “Hey, I’m sorry if he’s slightly distracting and I’ve had a lot to think about.”