Page 134 of The Love Penalty

She jolts, snatching for her device and nearly dropping it in her haste. She reads the screen and her face lights up as she looks to Rachel. “This could be it!”

Her best friend lurches forward in her chair and then chases her out of the room as Mick disappears to answer the call.

“What's up with those two?” Asher asks.

Ethan and Liam share a perplexed frown, then shrug.

It's obviously bothering Liam more than Ethan. The guy scratches the back of his head, turning in his seat and straining to catch Rachel's eye as she hovers in the archway, watching Mikayla pace to the front door and back.

Her voice starts pitching with excitement, and then she lets out a squeal.

Ethan winces. “What the fuck was that?”

Rising from the table, he's about to go investigate when Mikayla shouts, “Thank you! I love you too!” then hangs up and starts happy dancing.

“What are you doing?” Ethan calls across the room.

She laughs, hugging Rachel and practically skipping into the room.

“What is with the squealing?” He crosses his arms and frowns at his girlfriend.

“What?” She gives him a coy smile. “I squeal.”

“Not like that.” He smirks, and her face blushes pink as she laughs at him. “This is a different kind of excitement, okay?”

“So, what's going on?” Liam looks to Rachel, and the smile that crosses her face is brighter than the sun, I swear.

“Well…”

CHAPTER 60

ASHER

“We've got a place for us to move into!” Mikayla finishes for her, then thrusts her hands into the air and shouts, “Puck yeah!”

No one joins her because we're all sitting here in shock.

“Fuckin' what?” Ethan blinks at her, looking more confused than ever.

“Okay, I didn't want to say anything until I was sure it'd come through, but I just spoke to my dad and…” She looks around the table with a huge grin. “How do you guys feel about doing a summer renovation?”

“Okay, back up a second.” I flick my fingers through the air. “Fuckin' what?”

She laughs, the sound deep and throaty. “You know how my step-grandpa owns a bunch of restaurants and resorts and stuff?”

“Ye-ah.”

“Well, I called my dad after your uncle came to visit and told him what was going on. I was just doing it to rant, really, but a couple days later, he called me back with an idea.” She sits in her chair, pulling her knee up and hugging it while Rachel takes over for her.

“His father-in-law is always looking for ways to expand the business, so as a favor to us, he started looking for hotels close to Nolan.”

My eyebrows rise.

“He didn't find anything suitable, but…” An excited smile blooms across Rachel's face, and Mikayla butts in to finish for her.

“He did see one place online that's a little outside the box, but he asked us to go look at it anyway!”

“Okay.”

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