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“You’re right, but, Mom, it also made us stronger.”
“It didn’t.” She locks her eyes on mine. “Cece went looking for a man to fill the role her father couldn’t, ending up with a man just like him. And you’ve avoided love at all cost, so afraid of getting hurt that you always end things at the first sign of it becoming serious.” She grabs my hand, linking our fingers together. “You deserve love; your sister deserves love. I never want either of you to settle for contentment, not when there is so much more out there for you both if you just open yourselves up to it.” She gives my hand a squeeze. “Promise me that you’ll open yourself up to it.”
“I promise,” I say, and she kisses the back of my hand before letting it go then leans her head back against the chair, closing her eyes. Thinking our conversation is over and needing a few minutes to myself, I start to get up to go back into the house, but her next words make me pause. “If you’re curious, I like him a lot, and so does Chaz. He’s good for you, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s not hard to look at.”
“Good to know.” I push out of my seat and start for the backdoor with Mercury and Retro at my heels, probably knowing it’s time for breakfast. Before I have a chance to reach for the handle on the door, it’s opened, and a sleepy-looking Chaz steps out on the deck wearing a T-shirt and sleep pants. “Morning.” I smile at his expression, positive he’s not happy about being up right now.
“Morning.” He leans in to kiss my forehead, and then I turn to watch him walk to Mom and lean over to kiss her before he falls into the chair next to hers, stealing the cup of coffee from her hands.
I close the door behind me and set my mostly full mug on the counter before I go to the pantry for my girls’ food. I put half a can of wet food into each of their bowls before making my way down the hall to the bedroom, where Talon is still sleeping. The moment my knee hits the bed, his eyes open, landing on mine, and he lifts his arm in a silent demand for me to come to him. I don’t hesitate to fall into his embrace or kiss him when he dips his chin down to look at me.
“You taste like coffee. How long have you been up?” he asks gruffly, sleep still evident in his voice as he tosses the blankets back over us.
“Not long, but my mom was up and outside, so I spent a few minutes with her.” I close my eyes as I snuggle against him.
“Is she okay? I know you mentioned before she’s allergic to cats. I didn’t even think about that shit last night.”
Only he would remember a small detail like that. “She didn’t say anything, so I’m guessing she’s okay.” I rest my hand over his waist and my leg over his hip.
“Did you sleep all right?” He rolls us, placing us face-to-face, then drags his finger along my cheek to my ear.
“I did,” I admit, leaning up to kiss his chin before resting my palm on his cheek. “Thank you for last night, and for letting my family stay here.”
“They’re welcome here as long as they want to stay.” He rests his forehead against mine.
“I want to call you a liar, but I have a feeling you’d be okay with my entire family staying in your house for the foreseeable future.”
“Maybe not that long.” He grins, moving his hand to my ass and squeezing.
“You know what I mean.” I roll my eyes as I laugh.
“I do.” He captures my attention by resting his hand around the side of my neck, his thumb smoothing along the edge of my jaw. “I talked to my family last night. They’re all going to meet me at your sister’s this afternoon for clean-up, and this next week, we’ll move the crew from the build to her place to get things back to normal for her and the girls.”
“Wh… What?” I choke out, moving my hand to his bicep and digging my nails into his skin. “You can’t do that,” I tell him, knowing that he and Bax are behind on their deadline because of what happened at their project, and it’s something he’s been worried about.
“Don’t worry about me.”
“So I should just ignore how upset and anxious you’ve been since the house you’re building was broken into and destroyed and let you move your only chance of completing it on time to my sister’s house?”
“It’s already done.” He holds me tighter when I attempt to roll away. “I love that you’re worried about me, baby, but at the end of the day, my build doesn’t mean shit in the long run. We know that, even without a huge showing and a magazine spread, someone will buy our house. What matters right now is Ruby, Lola, and Kate feeling secure, especially with how much their lives have already changed. They don’t need to deal with any more than they already have.”
