Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 79670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
“He has to ask my permission.” My father looks at Ryleigh, who stands straight.
“Then you live with him. Before he asks you anything, he better be asking me.” She pushes off from the counter. “Ask my father if he can live with me.” She shakes her head. “Are you insane?” She walks out of the room.
“It’s the proper thing to do!” I shout at her back.
“It’s also the proper thing to not try to sleep with someone else,” she retorts over her shoulder and flips me the bird.
“She’s got a lot of pent-up anger,” my father observes, laughing, “but she loves you.”
“I bet,” I say to him and then look over at Gabriella. “Are you okay with us living with each other?”
“Are you okay with living in Dallas?” she asks, and I shrug.
“I don’t care where I live as long as you are there with me.” I lean in, and she puts her hand on my cheek. “You are my home.”
THIRTY-THREE
THREE MONTHS LATER
GABRIELLA
“The bouncy castle is being set up now,” the party planner tells me, “and the caterer is on his way and should be here in about thirty minutes.” He smiles at me. “They set up the five barbecues outside under a tent.” I just nod at him, rethinking hosting my family lunch.
“Thank you so much,” I tell him. “If you need me, I’ll be beside the bar,” I joke with him, but secretly, I might have no choice.
“Where do you want me to put this?” I look up from washing my hands to look over at Romeo. He stands there with two big white boxes.
“What is it?” I ask, not sure what it is. He walks into the kitchen and puts it on the white island. He opens the envelope on top of the box. “Congrats on the new house. Here is something to show my love.” He puts the envelope down.
“Who is it from?” I ask, walking around the island. He just shrugs his shoulders as he opens the top box.
“Oh my God,” he says, taking a frame out of the box showing a picture of Romeo not looking his best, but beside him Ryleigh looks amazing. I can’t help but laugh out loud. “They are all pictures of her,” he complains, taking out the five frames.
“You should put a couple up before the barbecue,” I urge him, and he just shakes his head.
“No way.” He closes the box. “I’m going to put this in the garage.” He turns and walks out of the kitchen to the side where the door leads to our three-car garage.
When he decided he wanted to make Dallas his home base, it shocked me. I was secretly making peace with the fact that we would be moving back to LA. I knew it was important for him, and I also knew I would do what I needed to support him. What I wasn’t expecting was for him to tell his parents he was making Dallas our home. From the minute he said it to the minute we got home two weeks later, it was a whirlwind. The first thing he did after telling his father was have me FaceTime my own father, who was happy to see me and then glared when Romeo came into the picture with me. He asked him if he could move in with me. My father, in pure Stone fashion, said no and hung up. I couldn’t stop laughing, especially when he tried to call him back, and he was rejected each time. Three days later, he finally called me back and again told me no, but then also told me I was an adult and he couldn’t stop me. It was the closest thing I was going to get to a yes.
As soon as we touched back down in Dallas, he moved out of the Ritz-Carlton and into my house. That lasted maybe two days before he came into the house with envelopes from my aunt Zoe. It was twenty-seven houses to visit. I was baffled as to why we couldn’t live in the house I was in, which he scoffed at and said he needed to pay for it.
So now here we are in a five-bedroom, eight-bathroom home that is way too big for us, but he paid for it, so there is that. “What time did you tell everyone to come?” Romeo asks when he walks back into the kitchen, going to the massive stainless-steel fridge he had custom made.
“Your parents will arrive in about twenty minutes,” I say, looking at my watch. “I don’t know why they aren’t staying with us.”
He shakes his head. “Not going to happen. I like to have sex with you, and I don’t know if I can do it with my parents down the hall.” He uncaps the bottle of Gatorade and takes a sip.