Roommate Arrangement (Divorced Men's Club #1)(64)

“Well, something like what I wrote today. A training … something or—”

The idea pops into my head, fully formed and addictive. “Like an adventure land type of thing. Obstacle courses and team-building exercises. Get some local schools on board. And if I do a summer camp, I’ll have accommodation I can offer for school groups who come from further away …”

“Yes. You could do some sport-type things, have animals … oh! A paintball range you could hire out for parties. Maybe spooky themed twilight mazes—”

“Match everything else in this damn town?”

“Exactly.”

My heart is beating fast in excitement. I can see it all. Everything he’s describing. Cabins lining the far woods at the back of the block, animals in the front paddock, and all the equipment in the back one. Behind the cottage is a big enough space to set up a paintball range—maybe even lasers for the younger kids and …

I sigh and close my phone. “It’s a nice idea.”

“Then make it happen.”

“Beau …” I laugh. “Imagine how much that land costs.”

“It’s not specified.”

“Yes, but it’s huge. I made a good profit off my last place, but not that good. Not to mention the set-up costs.”

He shakes his head. “Is this something you want to do?”

“Well, yes, but—”

“Then we’ll make it happen.”

“Make it happen,” I repeat. “It’s not that—”

“Stop. One thing I know about you is you don’t give up when you want something. If you want this, we’ll make it happen.”

And when he says it like that, I can imagine it. It doesn’t sound impossible. “We?”

“You’ve done nothing but help me when it comes to my work. Let me return the favor.”

“You’re not going to offer me money, are you?”

“Would it matter if I did?”

Hmm. On one hand, I’ve never been one of those people who worries too much about money so long as I have enough coming in to live a decent life. That said, I also don’t like handouts, and the money we’re talking about here would be a lot. I don’t want to have to rely on Beau for every little thing. “If I keep leaning on you when I need something, I’ll never learn to do shit myself.”

“Do you need to learn that?”

“Of course I do.”

“Says who?”

I tickle his ribs and make him squirm. “Literally every self-help person goes on about being self-sufficient.”

“I think that’s the worst thing you can be. I offered you a room I wasn’t using, and in return you showed me I could be myself around someone and they’d accept me. Whether anything happens between us or not, I’m not going to settle for less. What I gave you was material and worthless to me but meant a lot to you. And what you gave me can’t be replaced. When did sharing what we have with people become this huge deal? Pooling resources used to be necessary for survival, and now all people do is hoard what others need.”

“Yes, but me showing you basic decency isn’t the same thing as you giving me a place to live.”

“Says who? You’re the first person to offer that to me. I needed it. I was the first person to offer you a room because you needed it. Seems the same to me.”

I tip my head forward to press a kiss to the trail of light hair running down to his groin. I’m still not sure I agree with him, but he does have a point.

His fingers run through my hair, and he gives it a tug, coaxing me to look up at him. “We can at least look into it, can’t we?”

Every stubborn bone in my body is telling me to say no, to do this myself. But … I want Beau’s help on this. “We can try.”





26





Beau


Since Payne pointed out that Jaciel is supposed to be with Tombra, this book has been flying out of me. It’s like the whole plot exploded in front of my eyes, and suddenly those snippets I was writing make sense. Klein is the ultimate betrayer, and somehow, I set the entire thing up without even realizing I was doing it.

High fives to my erratic brain.

I’ve been pulling all-nighters, and Payne’s been working all day, but somehow we’ve found our way into each other’s beds a few times this week, and every time it happens, I have no idea what I’ve done to get so lucky, but I swear the second I figure it out, it’ll become part of my daily ritual.

We might not have planned anything more than what we are, but whenever we’re together, he holds me like I’m precious, like he’s in awe of me, and seeing Payne look at me that way, makes me fall deeper and deeper in love.

Emotionally, we’re still in limbo, but hooking up is better than nothing, and Payne made it clear he wants to at least continue that side of things once he finds his own place, so I’m being Helpy McHelperson and trying to make that happen for him.

Even while I desperately pray that him moving out won’t be the end of … whatever this is. I need to trust him, and I’m trying so hard to focus on the fact that if this is meant to be, it’ll be.

I set three different alarms today, but I’m still ten minutes late getting to the Killer Brew, and I cross my fingers Trent hasn’t left already.