Total pages in book: 197
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
To say the least.
Catherine didn’t doubt, by the end of it, they would be the best of friends, though. Because despite her joke about the men in her family, she hadn’t lied about the other bit.
The women in their family needed to stick together.
That’s just how it worked.
Andino | Haven
Direction
“Andino, be serious.”
“I am being serious.”
Haven gave him the most exasperated look over her shoulder as she slipped her feet into heels that would make her legs look fantastic, but made his feet ache just thinking about her walking around in them all damn day. She never complained, though, so he figured she liked it.
“Really?” she asked quietly.
He stayed leaning in the walk-in closet of their master bedroom—they finally moved into that mansion on the hills, as John would say, and Andino fucking loved it. He bought the place the week after they married, closed within thirty days, and walked his wife over the threshold the day after the ink dried. It took a couple of months for the interior designer to do her work on the inside, but the place was all theirs.
Every fucking inch.
And now he wanted to start filling it.
With babies.
“Really,” he said.
Haven gave him another one of those looks. It said she thought he was acting fucking crazy, and shit, maybe he was. Before Haven, kids had never crossed Andino’s mind except when his mother felt like she needed to point out that, you know, she didn’t have any goddamn grandbabies.
Then, he met Haven.
He got her down the fucking aisle.
All he thought about now were kids—like a switch had gone off inside his head, and his focus in life changed entirely. Andino wasn’t complaining about it, that was for sure.
“I just ...”
“What?” Haven asked, standing straight.
He was right.
Those heels did make her legs look great.
Damn.
“I don’t think you should switch your shot to an IUD,” he said, shrugging. “I think you should just ... do nothing.”
“I am a month away from the bar opening.”
Andino tried not to scowl.
He really did.
And failed like a motherfucker.
Haven raised her brow at him.
Andino fixed his face and his attitude.
The bar was hers—she bought it. And not with his money, no, with hers. He was not allowed to touch the bar. He was not allowed to ask about the bar. He was not allowed to look in the direction of the paperwork for the bar.
Nothing.
It was a line in the sand, Haven drew it, and she promised to paint it with his motherfucking blood if he thought to mess with it.
So, maybe she was a little touchy.
You know, ‘cause he fucked up her other one.
Andino deserved that, though, so he shut the fuck up, and let his wife do whatever she wanted. And if that meant opening a bar that he wasn’t allowed to have any hand in, then that’s what it meant. It made her happy, and God knew Andino had enough work and business of his own that he didn’t need to be playing in Haven’s.
“So, we can’t have a family because we work?” he asked quietly.
“That’s not what I said.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“I’ve never held a baby, Andino,” she said, laughing. “Not one that young, and—”
“Do you want kids?”
“Yes.”
Her answer was so sure that he didn’t feel the need to question her on it, not that he would have even if she said no. Just because his mind was made up on something didn’t mean that Haven’s would always be in the same zone. And it took two people to make this thing called marriage work, right?
That’s what everybody kept telling him.
If she didn’t want the same things, then fine.
He wanted her.
That’s what mattered.
“Do you want kids now?” he asked.
Haven’s bottom lip caught under her teeth, and she took a beat to reply with, “I never really thought about it, you know?”
Okay.
“So, think about it now,” he murmured.
“Right now?”
“Why not?”
“Right now,” she repeated, “when you know I am heading out to finalize things for the bar, I have a lunch with your mom, and an appointment with my doctor to put in this fucking IUD.”
“Right now,” he returned, “because of that appointment. Think about it now.”
“And if I say no?”
“Then the answer is no, Haven.”
What else did she expect?
“Well, if I was going to get the IUD put in, then don’t you think—”
“You told me why you wanted that. Because you won’t have to go in as often for your shot. It’s not about anything else, it’s for that.”
“I thought ...”
“What?” he asked when she hesitated.
“That you would want to wait because we haven’t even been married a year yet.”
“Is that what you want?”
“I thought it was because I thought it was what you wanted, too. And now you want something different, and I’m just thinking about it.”
Andino grinned. “Oh?”
“Don’t get arrogant.”
“Oh, you think this is arrogance, huh?”
“You’re arrogant about everything, Andino.”