Page 50 of Hot Rucking Canadian

“I don’t want her to think I’m marrying you for the money.”

He guffawed. “It’s notthatmuch money. And I told her that you didn’t know about it.”

“Which I didn’t.”

“Right. So I didn’t have to lie to my grandmother.”

“Okay. What’s the third?”

“Well, two more.”

God help me.“Sure…”

“Mama’s lonely.”

That had me sitting up. “Maria? She said that?”

He nodded. “She thought she’d be okay in her studio apartment, but she misses me.”

“And you miss her.”

“Right. Now, do you want your mother-in-law living with you?”

“There’s a legal suite. She’d have her own space.”

He laughed. “Oh God, you have this all worked out.”

I waved him off. “What’s the third thing? Or is it the fourth?”

“Patience.”

“Not a virtue I’m known for.”

“That is true.” He squeezed my hand. “When Roger and Becca bought their house—just before the birth of their fourth child—everyone pitched in to do the renovations. If I ask, I believe we’d have a pod of Orcas descend to help. We could have your down-to-the-studs home habitable in a short period. With Maria and Becca decorating, I believe it would be livable—and beautiful—in no time.” He snapped his fingers.

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

“It sounds too easy.”

He shrugged. “Life can be easy sometimes. If we live in the east end, we’ll both have to commute to our jobs and to the stadium.”

“We’d manage.” I’d spent a few hours thinking about how we might make this work.

“Then let’s call the realtor tomorrow. Roger and Becca can arrange a home inspection so everything’s ready to go when we get home.”

“Just like that?”

“Yeah, just like that.” He pressed a kiss to my lips. “Well, first we go to an All-Blacks game.”

“You don’t want to stay? Play for the best team in the world?”

He tilted his head. “Was that always a dream? Sure. Every kid who plays rugby dreams big. But Canada’s my home. And the odds of me making the squad are infinitesimal. The odds of making a happy life with you are so, so, so much better. I like playing to win.”

I couldn’t believe how simple he made everything sound.

“Are you going to tell Nana, or am I?”

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