Page 73 of Blue-Eyed Jacks
“Balcony.A private balcony.”
Well.That might be a deal-breaker.
I let Bear check it out first.Meanwhile, Kate ran her hands over the marble counters in the attached bath.I pointed at the freestanding tub.The window next to this one was smaller, less exposed, and still kinky enough to make me wiggle an eyebrow at her.
“Boss?”Sprout called from the attached walk-in closet.
I peeked inside.“Reinforced?”
He nodded.“But the main safe room is in the basement.”He waited for me to step out of his way to lead us down both flights of stairs to the family room.
“A bar should go over there,” Bear pointed to the far corner.
“This ain’t your house,” I reminded him.
He shrugged.“Figure I’ll be here often enough.”
Damn it, he was right.
There was a simple bedroom off the hall flanking the stairs.Near the end was a bathroom.And at the very end, a closet.I didn’t see the promised safe room he mentioned and was about to bring it up when Sprout reached inside the closet and flipped open a hidden panel, revealing a whole extra bedroom complete with gun storage, and an ultra-secure panic room.
“Sold,” I said.It was perfect.A house, big enough for at least a handful and a half of my men to visit, and small enough that I didn’t feel like a walking target.I looked at Kate for her sentiment.
“It’s too big for just me and Zoe.”
There was so much wrong with that sentence.“Bear?Check on my girl and do a circuit outside.Sprout?”
“Don’t have to ask me twice.Zoe probably needs help bypassing the child locks for the porn channels.”
“If you show my daughter porn, I will personally bury you alive.”
He had the audacity to laugh at me as he took the stairs two at a time.
Then it was just Kate and me.
She read my face.
“You can’t honestly tell me we’re going to live heretogether.We don’t know each other that well.”
As far as arguments went, Kate’s sucked.“My dick was in you last night.Your bare ass was on my desk.”
She frowned.“That doesn’t mean we’re just going to play house all of a sudden.”
“Yes, it does.You’re mine.”
Her back went straight.“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?Lay my claim?I did that sixteen-plus years ago when Zoe was born.”I pointed to the stairs.
Color stained Kate’s cheeks as she cleared her throat.“Your claim?I’ll remind you that the last man who laid a claim on me shared me with his entire club.Are you going to do that, too?”
“Hell no.”
“Are you going to conveniently forget I’m still technically married?”
Fuck that.“You’re getting a divorce.”I’d sic the club’s lawyer on it right away.
Her eyebrows rose.“Do you honestly think it’s that easy?I’ve been a missing person for eighteen years.I’m probably legally dead.I can’t just pick up where I left off.”
