Page 27 of Hands off his Dudette

"So, I have something. Have you considered that maybe, possibly, you should ask the girl if she wants your D? Like, you go up to her, and say, 'Anna dearest, I want your P. Do you want my D?' I know, I know, that's wild, but communication does tend to work, I find."

Finn groaned. Trick mouthed, "Sorry" behind Wren.

"The problem with that, asshat, is that if she doesn't want the D, it will make things awkward as shit until the end of time," Carter explained.

The basic of normal human interactions often needed to be spelled out for Wren.

The weird doctor sighed dramatically. "Human beings are so very complicated."

Finn grinned, remembering one of Anna's theories about Wren: she said the guy was potentially an alien sent from his mothership to study human behaviors. Not the worst guess.

"All right, enough about me, get off my case. What about you guys? Still single?" Finn asked, gesturing around the table.

As much as heliked his brothers' friends, Finn didn't see them often; he had his own network of college buddies, and Anna, of course.

Wayne's expression lost all humor. So did Devon's. Wren, Carter, and Trick seemed perfectly content.

"Same old," said Devon curtly, his tone making it clear that he wasn't open to elaborating.

Somehow, his defeated tone made Finn feel better about the mess that was his life. He wasn't the only one in deep waters, apparently.

"Yeah, Devon is still being a judgmental dick about the girl he wants," said Wayne, somewhat coldly.

There was a story there. Finn decided he didn't need to know.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, and pulling it out, Finn excused himself to take the call.

"Yvonne. I didn't expect you to get back to us until tomorrow."

"The owners of the property you put an offer on were scheduled to get back to me in the morning," said the agent, "but I was just on my way out of the office when I received their reply. I figured you'd wantto hear right away. The Clarks say they'd accept an offer twenty thousand higher than yours. I should let you know that they received an offer ten thousand dollar lower than yours today—right after yours—and I have to also call them tonight."

"We'll accept the counter offer. Twenty thousand higher."

When they'd discussed numbers over the weekend, Anna and Finn had said they were willing to go as high as fifty thousand over their offer.

"Really?" The agent was squealing. Selling that type of property meant a large bonus in her pocket, no doubt.

"Really. When you get back to the owner, don't forget to mention that we have it cash."

He knew it made a lot of difference—waiting for a mortgage approval could take weeks, or more.

"That's fantastic. Do you need to discuss it with your wife first, or can I email them now?"

Finn thought it out. They'd talked about the numbers, but he didn't want to make such an important decision without Anna's explicit consent.

"If I can put you on hold for one minute, I'll ask her now."

The agent was happy to accommodate that request.

Anna replied quickly. "I'm trying to cook," she said, as guise of a greeting. "Send help."

He winced. "It's okay, the cleaner will take care of it in the morning. Now, I can't chat for long. Yvonne's on the other line—we can have the property for an extra twenty grand. They had another offer—lower than us—and I don't want to risk losing it. What say you?"

"I say yes, a million times yes! Shit, for real?"

"Yep. Hang on."

Returning to Yvonne, he confirmed their bid before hanging up.

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