Hard Checked (Ice Kings #4) - Stacey Lynn Page 0,84
on Zillow. And holy cow. It’s freaking amazing. I was right about the deck. But what I didn’t see originally is that there’s a massive, inspiring staircase on the other side at the driveway. It starts at two different sides, meet in the middle and then continues up toward two huge front doors, the same blue color as the shutters. Inside is even more breathtaking. I could live and die and never have to see another human being in this house.
His hand is at my thigh, sliding up and down, making goose bumps pop all over.
“Why are you selling it?”
“Because it was mine and Madison’s, where we spent the off-season.”
“Oh.” My hand drops the mouse like it bit me. “I see. That makes sense, I guess. Is it… is it because of the settlement?”
“No.” He makes a sound that’s cold. I don’t ask him about the settlement, or the agreement and he hasn’t offered. I prefer staying in the dark when it comes to his now ex-wife and frankly, we’re not at a place where his finances are any of my business.
Although a quick Google search a year ago tells me he has a lot. A lot, a lot. Like a number too high to count to in your lifetime, so the beach house shouldn’t surprise me. He has to spend it somehow.
“She took very little. A modest amount. Hell, she makes about as much as my dad and it’s only for two years so she can get on her feet.”
“Oh.” Seriously. What am I supposed to say? It’s so nice the woman who left you and broke your heart didn’t take you to the cleaners? “That’s… that’s nice of her.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Pretty sure that means drop it.
“So why the house?”
“Because I don’t want the reminder of her everywhere I go, this house is enough.” I’m not sure that’s the greatest thing I can hear. Does he not want it because it’s too painful? Like a good little ostrich, I stick my head in the sand.
“I like the beach.” I can feel his smile, lips pressed to my cheek. “For real. This house is the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen. I’d sell my soul to see something like this.”
“I like your soul. But if it hasn’t sold after the season, I’ll take you there. And if you want a house on the beach, we’ll get a different one.”
We?
My back straightens and I turn to him, smirking down at him. “You’d buy me a beach house?”
“I’d buy you a house in the mountains or at the beach or anywhere else you want so you and I and our child can have somewhere to go to make our own new memories. Yes. All you have to do is ask.”
Well… wow. I shift in his lap, feeling his hard length at my hip. And then the wetness and warmth at my center.
God. This guy. I don’t know if I’ve ever been so sexual, but I want him. All the time. Maybe it’s the hormones. Maybe it’s the fact we don’t see each other every day and we’re still new.
Possibly this moment could have something to do with everything he just said.
Or… he’s just sex on a stick and a danger to my libido.
“I don’t need a beach house,” I whisper, brushing my lips against his. “But I love Topsail.”
“Then I’ll buy a house on Topsail as soon as I get rid of this one.”
“You don’t have to,” I say, but the thought sends shivers through me. I’m dating a guy who can buy me a house. For fun. Is this really becoming my life?
I quit thinking about houses when his hand at my thigh drifts to my stomach. He lifts the large T-shirt of his I threw on when I got dressed and dips down, straight between my folds and then inside me.
“Oh.”
“Gigi?”
It takes a hot minute to remember that’s my name. “Yeah?”
“I don’t want to talk about houses anymore,” he says, kissing me, sliding his fingers in and out of me.
“What house?” I murmur back.
“This is supposed to be really helpful.”
“It looks like an egg.”
I nudge Sebastian in the side and laugh. “It does look like an egg. But everything I’ve read so far tells me the moms love it. It’s a swing or a bouncy chair.”
Sebastian takes the registering gun out of my hand and clicks two.
“Hey!”
“You want it, we’ll get it. Although I still don’t like the idea of registering. Or doing it so early.”