Total pages in book: 190
Estimated words: 181992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
He looked at me and tipped his chin in greeting. Though his eyes heated, he made no attempt to touch me. Didn’t flash me a soft smile or pause in his conversation to speak to me. But I hadn’t expected anything different, given he wasn’t affectionate or tactile by nature. Plus, we might be legally bound by marriage, but we weren’t emotionally bound.
Responding with a quick smile, I took the seat across from him, delighted to find it warm. The pergola provided plenty of shade, but the sun’s heat had nonetheless seeped into the chair fabric.
I could understand why he chose to eat breakfast out here. It was incredibly peaceful. There was so little noise. Beneath the sound of Dax’s voice, there was only the chirping of birds, the slight creak of the tall trees, and the very distant whine of a lawnmower.
Hungry and curious, I lifted each of the dome covers one by one to see what selection of food awaited. I loaded my plate with pancakes and blueberries, topped them with maple syrup, and then prepped myself a cup of coffee.
When I placed my first forkful of food in my mouth, I almost groaned. Damn, those pancakes were good. As I chewed, I checked the text I’d received mere minutes ago. It was from Ollie, asking if I needed help moving my things to Dax’s place. I felt my face soften. I knew it was his way of telling me that, in spite of his reservations, he was fully behind me from here on out.
I sent him a text, thanking him for his offer but assuring him I had it covered. Dax had already informed me that he, his brothers, Jag, and Maverick would take care of it.
As I wolfed down my breakfast, I scanned through my emails. I’d notified my clients that, due to my getting married, I’d be unavailable from the day prior to the day after. Though I’d told them to forward any queries to Sabrina, I still had a shit-ton of emails and voicemails—none of which I’d respond to until tomorrow.
Finally, Dax ended his call. Resting his phone on the glass table, he said, “Morning.”
“Morning,” I greeted, lowering my own cell to the table. “How long have you been up?”
“About an hour and a half, but I didn’t have the food delivered until I heard you moving around upstairs.”
An hour and a half? I gave him a dirty look. “Must be nice to be the picture of alertness when you had so little sleep.”
His lips quirking, he hiked up a brow. “Are you saying you would have preferred sleep to orgasms?”
“No.” I forked the last piece of pancake and dipped it in what was left of my syrup. “I just resent that you appear all sharp and on the ball while I look like I could drift off any second.” It quite simply wasn’t fair.
“What you look is well-fucked,” he corrected, his tone casual. “Nothing wrong with that.”
I blinked, pausing in chewing my food. Only he could talk about sex with the same nonchalance he’d also use when speaking of the weather.
He picked up his mug. “Maverick, Jag, and my brothers will meet us at your house in an hour so we can transfer your things here.”
“I’m assuming one of them will be driving something big enough to carry furniture,” I said, lowering my cutlery to my plate.
“Maverick’s going to borrow his dad’s van.”
“Ollie offered to help, which is really him extending an olive branch.”
“Good. I would rather you weren’t at odds with your brother.” Dax took a swig of his coffee. “Speaking of olive branches … Grayden emailed me this morning.”
I stilled while reaching for a wet wipe.
“He claims to regret how he’s behaved recently—more specifically his defense of Felicity and Blaise.”
I felt my brow furrow. “Defense?”
Dax knocked back more of his drink. “Sometime after I called Felicity to warn her how exceptionally stupid it would be for her or her son to fuck with you again, Grayden contacted me, insisting that I was overreacting and there’d been a ‘misunderstanding.’ He swore that Blaise hadn’t graffitied the sign, and he maintained that Felicity had only been rude to you because she was drunk.”
What an asshole. Grayden knew she was a bitch to me in general, and he knew Blaise was a regular vandal. Then again, Grayden was bound to stick up for his family, wasn’t he?
Sniffing, I tore open the wet wipe wrapper. “Making light of their behavior was a shitty move, but it’s only natural that he’s protective of them.”
“I don’t think it was a matter of protectiveness. I think he was angry at me for making you mine, and he used my warnings to Felicity and Blaise as an excuse to reproach me.”
I felt my brows dip. “What makes you think that?”