Page 56 of Savage Surrender

“You can see everything from here. Look at the sailboats!” She turns, bright-eyed, then immediately looks back as another wave breaks beyond the dunes. “The boardwalk goes right to the beach. And this kitchen—holy shit, it’s huge. Is that a real fireplace?”

“It is,” I say.

She moves to the island and runs her palm over the wood cabinets, still looking a lot like a child that’s been taken to a candy shop for the first time and told to fill a bag. “This is gorgeous, Tristan. Seriously. The view, all this light, the deck... I want to see every room.”

There’s another happy little gasp as she discovers the large butler’s pantry, and I’m picturing her bent over that island with the ocean behind her and the flimsy cover-up bunched around her waist and her swimsuit pulled to the side. My cock doesn’t care that Weller is about ten seconds from choking me, though judging by the way Owen’s attention drags down Bianca’s bare legs, I’m not the only one having trouble keeping the tour family-friendly.

Freddie catches me looking and lifts his brows.

I smile wider.

“Can she see every room after you explain where we are?” Weller asks, clearly annoyed now.

Bianca glances between us. Some of the delight stays on her face, but the suspicion slides back underneath it. “Yeah. Let’s circle back to my birthday opening the front door.”

“The house belongs to you.”

Freddie’s eyebrows climb, and both Weller and Owen are staring at me like they want to brawl.

Bianca’s blue eyes open big with surprise. “What? What do you mean it’s mine?”

“It’s yours.”

She searches my face, looking for answers.

“I’m confused. Why is this my house?”

“A trust owns it, technically. You’re the only beneficiary so I can’t sell it, borrow against it, or take it back the next time you threaten me with a knife.”

“What trust?”

“A trust I created to hide it from my father.”

“Tristan.”

Weller and Bianca say my name at the same time. He sounds like a stern teacher marking attendance and her voice has enough bewildered violence in it to make my cock twitch, because apparently all Bianca has to do is look ready to hit me and my dick wants to party.

Behind her, Owen turns fully away from the hall. Freddie sets the bags down at his feet without looking, his expression caught somewhere between impressed and personally betrayed.

They are so fun to fuck with.

I put the champagne on the kitchen island before I drop it. “It was supposed to be your graduation gift.”

Her mouth opens, then closes. “My graduation gift? What are you talking about? I think I would remember if you mentioned a house, Tristan.”

“Yeah, well. I didn’t get the chance to give it to you.”

The reality of holding onto this secret for years when that was so far from what I had planned... There’s no nice way around the five years we lost.

I swear Bianca’s eyes mist up, but she turns her face, hiding it from us. By the time she turns back to us, her eyes are clear and she has a smile pasted on her face.

“So, it’s really mine...” Her gaze snaps back to mine. “All of it? The entire house?”

“The entire house.”

“And the deck? The boardwalk to the beach?”

“Attached to the house, last I checked.”