Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 89012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
I yawn. “I have no problems sitting still. How are your parents, anyway? I haven’t run into them since I got back.”
“They’re good. Currently fighting over a new couch.”
“Fighting as in one wants a new one and one doesn’t, or fighting as in they have different tastes?”
“Mom wants a new one. Dad does not.” He grins. “But we all know Mom will wear him down. I often think Dad just does it to irritate her because he thinks she’s cute when she’s mad.”
I laugh. “I love that they’re still in love and so playful with each other. They used to crack me up when they came to your wrestling meets and your mom would start yelling wrestling moves at you and your dad would yell, ‘Do not listen to your mother!’”
“Her go-to was always the cross-face.” He chuckles. “She would yell at me to cross-face everyone—or to get them in a chicken wing. One time, I had a ref tell me that if I listened to the woman on the bleachers, I’d probably get thrown out of the meet.”
I laugh again, imagining Damaris getting thrown out of a high school gym.
“Dad would get so embarrassed …” His smile wobbles. “But as soon as anyone started to say something at her, it didn’t matter what she’d said. She was his wife, and you didn’t get away with being aggressive toward her or the old man would throw down.”
“You would’ve come off that mat. Don’t lie.”
“Hell, yeah, I would’ve.” He grins. “And we would’ve had Banks coming off the bench and Moss and Jess out of the stands. Hell, Foxx would’ve shown up if it would have lasted that long. He might be a dick, but you don’t fuck with Mom.”
The pride on Maddox’s face hits me in the heart. Out of all the things I love about him, his love for his family comes first. I’ve never heard him say a bad word about any of them. Sure, he jokes around and whatever, but he adores all of them. Even Foxx.
I smile and then yawn again. I hate early mornings.
“Tired?” he asks.
I nod. “Yeah. You should’ve told me you were coming, and I would’ve ridden with you to the airport and slept all the way.”
“Come on. Let’s see what they did with our stuff.”
We walk through the living room and then make our way up the stairs. The landing opens into a cozy bedroom with a balcony that overlooks the pool. A large bathroom with a copper-colored tile that’s to die for hosts two sinks and a deep tub with a ledge wide enough to sit all the way around. A window just above the ledge allows for an unobstructed view of the water below.
“Holy shit,” Maddox says. “Look at this.”
I walk across the bathroom and peer into the closet. All our things are hung or folded and put away. Our shoes are on small shelves on the wall.
How did they have time to do this? And where is my lingerie?
“I don’t know how I feel about people fiddling with my panties, but I could definitely use someone to help me get organized when I move into my new house,” I say.
“I’ll fiddle with your panties.” He winks at me, making my knees wobble. “My house is usually a mess, but that’s really Banks’s fault.”
“Poor Banks. He takes all the blame.” I can barely keep a straight face. It’s never poor Banks. Ever.
Maddox rolls his eyes, making me laugh, before walking out of the bathroom.
I follow and watch him slip off his shoes and then plop onto the bed. He sets the glasses down, then the Cokes, and then pops one of the cans open.
The king-sized bed looks like a cloud. The white blankets are a stark contrast to the dark wooden headboard. The sight of it alone makes me yawn again.
“Trust me,” Maddox says. “Banks doesn’t get near the blame he deserves. Do you know what he’s doing right now?”
I open the French doors. The breeze rolls into the room, billowing the curtains.
“No, what’s he doing?” I ask.
“He just ordered one thousand stickers with his face on them.”
I move around the bed and then climb onto it next to Maddox. He hands me a glass of Coke.
“What’s he doing with one thousand stickers?” I ask.
“If I tell you, you can’t say a word to anyone.”
“Deal.”
He stretches back against the pillows, turning his head to look at me. “He’s going to sneak into Jess’s house and stick them on everything.”
“No, he is not.” I laugh. “Jess will kill him, won’t he?”
“He will. It’s going to be brutal and ugly, and I hate that I’m going to have to be a part of it.”
I set my drink on the bedside table and lay parallel to Maddox. “Why do you have to be a part of it?”