Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 72483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
“You are a miracle worker. I’m sure they were cold.” My sister walks straight up to Ava and throws her arms around her. “It’s so good to see you again. What a year it’s been?”
“Yes. Something like that. It’s great to see you, although I’d prefer it was for another reason,” Ava adds. I’m so grateful they’ve already met so my sister doesn’t have to grill her when it comes to me.
“Yeah, I could totally kick that cu—woman in her shins.” She catches herself, covering her mouth so the boys don’t hear her curse.
“Well, the boys ate on the plane, so they’re going to go play in their room. Is it still set up?” Landon asks me.
“Yes, it is.”
“It smells good in here,” Landon adds, turning back to the food.
“Thank you. My woman is an amazing cook,” I slide my arm around her waist possessively.
“That’s why you’re marrying me,” she teases, nudging me away.
“Hell, yes,” I say, winking. She pouts as I pull her into my arms. “God, I love you, Ava.” I kiss her before she can respond and then let go because I’m getting painfully hard.
“Can we play with the Legos, Uncle Bear?” Jr. asks with a chocolate mustache.
“Sure. You know where they’re at.” The boys jump down off the stools and scurry into the living room to pull them out of the storage chest. Usually we all play together, but it’s time to eat and for the adults to talk about the past few weeks.
Without preamble my woman and my sister go around the kitchen and start serving, although Lara steals a couple of raw carrots in the process.
Landon and I pour drinks for everyone, and we sit down at the kitchen table. I have a giant table in the dining room that we haven’t used since my mother was alive, but I like this small intimate setting for us.
“So how are you handling everything, Ava?” Lara asks, refusing to beat around the bush.
“I suppose today came as a shocker. Thankfully, Louisa prepared me for the crazy a while back.”
“I’m glad she did. Louisa’s amazing, isn’t she?”
“She is.”
“It’s just so nuts. It makes no sense why she would accuse you. It’s not like there isn’t a thing called DNA.”
“I’m betting she’s either trying to get famous or hoping you’ll pay out to make everything go away,” Landon offers.
“At this point it could be either, but none of it matters because I’m not paying her a dime. Ava’s the only one I care about when it comes to believing me. Anyways, I don’t want to talk about it. We have this fabulous meal to eat and a wedding to plan.”
“Oh my goodness! We get to plan a wedding.” Lara bounces around in her seat, clapping her hands like a child at Christmas while Ava blushes. “So when is the big day?”
“We haven’t decided yet.”
“Well, how about this summer?” Lara suggests with an evil smirk directed at me. I want to kick her in her shins myself.
I let out a groan at the suggestion. I want to marry Ava right now. “Is that too soon?” Ava asks, looking upset.
Before I can answer, Landon does. “No. He’s thinking about how soon he can tie you to him forever. I’m betting yesterday wasn’t fast enough.”
“He’s right. I’ll give you whatever kind of wedding you want, but I’m not sure I care to wait so damn long.”
“Do you have a lot of friends or family you want to invite?” Ava asks me.
“Nope. Less than twenty people for me.” I could have a thousand people here, but I want it to be as intimate as possible and as little of the press snooping about as well. Those fuckers really pissed me off to the point of pure hatred for them and what they do.
“I really don’t have any people I want to come either. Is it so terrible if we make it something small in the house?”
“We can come back in a month or so,” Landon offers.
“How about Saint Patrick’s Day?” Lara squeals. “And we can make all the plans over the phone or online. Whatever. I can have things brought in from Chicago.” My sister is loving this too much, but not if it doesn’t make Ava happy. She looks a little uncomfortable.
I roll my eyes at my sister. “Don’t listen to her. This is your day, babe. Whatever and whenever you want.”
“Actually I think it’s perfect too. If it’s not too cheesy. It will be our lucky day?”
“Woman, it’s wonderful. The sooner I get you to be my wife, the better.” I lean over and kiss her again. I’ll never get enough of her.
“Yay! So the date is set approximately six weeks from now. I can start getting the ball rolling after dinner if you’d like.”
“That sounds like fun.”
The rest of the dinner is spent talking about the boys and tomorrow’s plans for a snowball fight.