I roll my eyes. “It’s not a big deal; it’s literally their job. Mine too. If you hire them, I’ll end up doing the electrical work.”
Chad adamantly shakes his head. “It is a big deal! Family is so important and meeting other people’s families is a huge deal. What if they don’t like me?”
“Everybody likes you,” I answer dismissively, focused on the road.
But even out of the corner of my eye, I can tell Chad is sitting up straighter now after my comment, and the pride in his tone is obvious as he replies. “Thank you for saying that. It means a lot coming from you.”
I shouldn’t be so attuned to his every movement, shouldn’t feel such an immediate sense of satisfaction when I think about how much he lights up under my praise.
We need rules.
When I park in my driveway, I turn to Chad, determined to establish the boundaries we both need. “Listen. This is your last night here, okay? No more sleepovers.”
He nods slowly, scrunching up his mouth to the side for a moment. “Is that a part of the arrangement?”
“Yes. If you still want there to be one, I think we need rules,” I explain.
He nods more quickly now. “Of course I still want there to be. Last night was amazing.”
I bite my lip and ignore the way his confirmation makes me feel. It was an orgasm, of course he enjoyed it. I’m not special. “Well, we said no feelings. This isn’t dating, so I think we should clarify our other expectations.”
“Like no sleepovers?” he checks, looking at me with wide eyes for confirmation. He seems far too pleased with himself when I nod.
“Another rule of mine is that we don’t have sex two days in a row. That would be too much like dating,” I add.
“But—”
“I’m serious, Chad. Those are my nonnegotiable rules. Take them or leave them.”
He licks his lips, glancing down at my crotch. “I’ll take them.”
“Do you have anything?” I check.
“Nah. I’m happy to go along with whatever you tell me.”
I take a deep breath.He did not mean that submissively, I remind myself as I finally get out of the car.
“Does that mean no sex tonight?” Chad calls out as he follows me to the front door.
“Jesus Christ, Chad, someone could hear you!” I scold. He shrugs, offering me an apologetic smile. “But yes, no sex tonight. You’re going to pack up your things, and we will sleep. That’s it.”
“So, tomorrow then?” he asks hopefully, waggling his eyebrows.
What the fuck have I gotten myself into?
13
CHAD
“Ican’t believe this is my home!” I say to absolutely no one in the empty house. I don’t know what Derek did, but he got all the paperwork sorted out with Phil this morning, and the company I paid a ton of money for next-day help has gone. Phil said something about most of his stuff already being in South Carolina anyway, so he left me the furniture he didn’t want, and now, I’m going to spend my first night in my new house! I hate that John isn’t here, but he had to actually go to work today. Good thing he’s almost done for the day.
I walk around the giant mansion, taking it all in. The house feels massive now that I’m here all alone. It’s almost eerily quiet. Yesterday I was on such a high with John and Phil here with me, but now that it’s real, I’m a bit nervous.
There are seven dedicated bedrooms upstairs, and it’s not like I plan to have a bunch of kids or anything, so it’s probably unnecessary. It’s weird to think about having so much space to myself. Endless room for activities. I suppose I should pick up some more hobbies, but one room will definitely be a gym.
After exploring all the bedrooms, I find the biggest one and decide it’ll be my room.
I start bringing the boxes in from my car, and by the third trip, I feel like I’ve started a decent workout. I did bring in all our wedding merch, too. John isn’t here to tell me to put it away, and Blake and Liam are on their honeymoon, so no one can stop me.
