Page 52 of Keeping His Brat

Tony took her on a tour, showing her all the new features. Some she’d seen already, of course. She’d made several visits while they were still working but now … everything looked even better. There was nothing to find fault with.

She did have a few questions and Tony answered them. The plans had been discussed thoroughly before they’d even started so there were no surprises. She loved it.

It was her childhood home, but yet, it wasn’t. The upgrade had turned it into a whole new place. And with the changes, she found herself more at peace there than she had since her father’s death. She no longer saw shadows of the past around every corner.

It was everything she’d wanted, and more. Tony showed her a few small touches that he’d included. “The bathroom has a heat lamp above the tub, and the lights have an optional dimmer. Should be more relaxing,” he explained as he showed off the master bath.

“Oh, that’s fantastic. What’s this for?” She ran her fingers over a small panel.

“Audio jacks so you can plug your phone or whatever in for music. There are waterproof speakers built in.” He gestured up at the corners of the room. “And a USB charging port so you don’t run down your batteries. It’s a popular request for bathroom remodels these days so I thought you might like it.”

She did! She hadn’t even thought to ask for something like that. “Tony, that’s fantastic! Thank you, I love it.” She had offered him some budget leeway for things that he might think of as he did the work, and she wasn’t regretting it now.

She was already thinking about romantic baths with Sam. The tub was big enough for two and with mood lighting and soft music … it might help to add a little more romance to their lives. After the two weeks apart, she was feeling a need to reconnect.

Everything was perfect and she didn’t hesitate to sign off on the project. She left, slightly delayed, for her trip to town with a huge mood lift. She might be in big trouble with Sam but knowing that their home was ready for them to move into took her mind off of it. It might even work as a distraction if he was too angry with her.

When she got to town she made a quick stop at the grocery store, just to pick up some essentials until she had more time. Then she headed over to the café and ordered lunch to go. It was busy at that time of day, and it took a while to get their order ready.

With all of the delays, her trip had taken significantly longer than she’d expected, and she had a feeling Sam would be home before she was. She pulled in by the cabin and sat for a minute. Her fingers tapped to the beat of the country song on the radio until it finished. Then she turned off the music, but she stayed where she was.

If Sam was inside, she needed a minute to prepare for the trouble that was waiting. She was starting to wish she’d told him the day before. At the time it had seemed reasonable to wait and not ruin his first night home. And, of course, once his mind turned to sex there was no way she was going to do anything that might put him in the mood to leave her wanting.

But now, she couldn’t help but realize that letting him walk in without warning was going to make things worse. “Not one of my brighter ideas,” she said with a sigh. She slid out of the car, pulled an armful of bags from the backseat, and headed inside.

Sam must have heard her rustling outside the door, since he came to open it before she could manage. He looked down at all the bags and quickly relieved her of them.

“I was wondering where you’d gone. I didn’t see a note …” The words trailed off expectantly and she winced.

Oh right. She was supposed to tell him when she left the ranch. One of those little Daddy things he liked to keep track of in case of emergencies. “Sorry, I forgot. I did have my phone with me though.” She pulled it out of her pocket and flashed it at him. Proof that she hadn’t messed at least one thing up.

Ironically the two weeks she’d been running things had done a lot to cement the need to have her phone on her at all times. People wanted things a surprising number of times throughout the day. Leaving it home on the counter just meant having to run back and get it constantly.

What happened with the cow wouldn’t happen again now that the habit was engrained. Which hadn’t stopped her from finding new rules to break. “I’ll go grab the rest.”

“I’ll get them,” Sam said.

He’d done a lot to convince her that he was in good shape the night before, so she didn’t argue. He went out the door and, in a minute, he brought back the last of the bags. He seemed … calm. If he was furious, she saw no sign of it. They worked side-by-side in the kitchen, putting things away and she snuck looks at him while he was busy.

“I ran into town to pick up lunch and figured I’d better grab a few things while I was there. We were out of everything.”

“Except soup.” He laughed.

“Yeah … well, in my defense you were sick and then you weren’t here. It was a lot to eat on my own.”

“And you made enough to feed the whole ranch.”

“Yeah, that too.” Charlie laughed as she set the takeout boxes on the table. She started to relax. There was no way Sam had missed the fact that she’d made some changes, but he didn’t seem mad. That was a good sign.

The lunch conversation was light chit chat. Sam conspicuously said nothing about the ranch, and she held her house news in reserve. But she did tell him about her trip into town. “It looks like a new Italian place is going in on the corner. You know where Sally’s used to be?”

“Good we could use a decent Italian place. Going to miss Sally’s though. They had the best pie.” Sam sighed.

“True. But there are other pie places.” It wasn’t much of a consolation, but she’d never been a huge fan of pie anyway and she loved Italian food.

They talked about the grocery store prices, and about how downtown was looking busier lately. Charlie was beginning to get antsy when Sam didn’t bring up the real topic. She was almost ready to do it herself and get it over with.

But when they were done eating, he sat back and gave her a forceful look that let her know it was coming. “So, you have anything you want to tell me?”

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