Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 132834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
I waited for my phone to ping with a return text. It stayed silent. But I knew this wasn’t the end. Unfortunately, I could safely assume from this latest text that she wasn’t going to go away.
I pushed Lydia and my problems out of my mind as I finished vacuuming Nicky’s room, just in time for Billy Bob to carry in the parts to the adorable oak twin bed we’d found in the attic, with its matching side table and a cute lamp with elephants on it. We’d found the lamp in one of the guest rooms, but it hadn’t fit Parker’s idea for the room’s decor, so she’d switched it out for something else and earmarked it for Nicky.
Leaving Billy Bob to put the bed frame together, I walked back into the main room and stopped short. I’d left with the carpet freshly vacuumed and the rest of the room empty. I’d returned to find the sitting area set up with a graceful, bottle-green sofa and two armchairs upholstered in a multicolored pattern that perfectly picked up the colors in the carpet and the sofa. Everything was angled to face both the fireplace and the bay window.
The side tables and lamps Griffen had carried over were in place, the lamps already plugged in and casting a warm glow over the entire sitting area. Someone had hung an oil painting of the mountains over the fireplace, carried over split logs, and arranged them in an iron holder, a matching fireplace tool set beside it.
Between the sitting area and the kitchen was a rectangular table big enough to seat six, the chairs already pushed in. Daisy’s pastries were arranged on a square white platter. Where that had come from, I had no idea. My new blue stoneware mugs were washed and set out on the table.
Finn and Griffen came through the door, hefting a queen-size mattress.
“Looking good in here,” Griffen said as they passed through.
I agreed.
Finn said nothing, but his eyes found mine, his intent gaze sending a shiver down my spine. It was not lost on me that the house was filled with beautiful men. Even Billy Bob had their own well-muscled, rustic charm.
But Finn was the only one I saw. His deep, mossy green eyes with that spark of trouble. I was intimately aware of what that spark of trouble could lead to. The best kind of trouble. He wasn’t the sullen, jerky teenager I’d hated for so long, but a man who’d laid me out on my kitchen counter and given me more pleasure than anyone ever had in my entire life. I jerked my chin up, breaking eye contact.
“I need coffee,” I announced, heading straight to the coffee maker. “Anyone else?”
Scarlett handed me a mug. “Cream and sugar are on the table,” she said, her eyes flicking to the stairs where Griffen and Finn had disappeared, then back to me.
“Pretty sweet coffee maker,” she said, raising an eyebrow.
I nodded, but didn’t take the bait.
“Very nice,” Sterling agreed, looking out from where she was arranging throw pillows on the sofa. “It was sweet of him to realize you needed one. He can be a real asshole, but when we were little, he was always sweet. Before his mom died,” she added with a wistful smile.
Sterling’s own mother had died in a drunk driving accident when Sterling was three. Darcy had taken in the child of her husband’s mistress without protest, showering love on Sterling until Darcy, too, died four years later. I could still remember the chill that had fallen over Heartstone Manor when Darcy died. Nothing had been the same after that.
Shaking off her sadness, Sterling narrowed her eyes on me. “You know, I can’t quite picture Finn driving into town to buy a coffee maker. He must have had to go all the way to Asheville for one that nice.”
I’d been hoping no one else would figure that out.
“He could have ordered it,” Hope offered, raising an eyebrow at me. She knew I knew every delivery that came to Heartstone. I assumed she was helping me out because of my obvious discomfort. It was a very Hope thing to do.
Wishing the floor would swallow me up, I shook my head. “I don’t know where it came from, but it was nice of him. Where did you find the dishes?” I asked, hoping to divert them. “I love them.”
I did love the blue stoneware, the mugs and plates rimmed in a deep cobalt that faded to a pale sky blue in the center. They were gorgeous, but I was ready to toss my mug on the floor if they didn’t stop talking about Finn. He was only upstairs and would be back any second. The only thing worse than this conversation would be if Finn was included. I really did not want to stand here while Finn’s sisters and sisters-in-law grilled him about the coffee maker he bought me.