Page 74 of Tempt Me

Feeling paranoid as we walk from one farmhouse to another, I flinch in reaction to a cracking sound. Tack pauses for a moment, glancing in the direction of the noise.

The sun is nearly set. I feel exposed outside. If a group of men rushed out from the woods right now, they could kill Tack and steal me away before anyone had a chance to react.

Tack takes my hand and starts walking again. We pass Indigo who sits on the porch with the dogs. He doesn’t look up from his phone when we pass him.

“The woods are loud tonight,” Tack says before shutting the screen door and leaving Indigo to keep watch.

Once Tack and I are finished showering together, we retire to his room. He looks over the security cameras around the farm while I study pictures of the gothic mansion.

“I know this is our house,” I announce while admiring the images. “I already see you in the massive garage with your friends. It’s air conditioned. You could turn part of it into a mantuary. And the kitchen is gorgeous. I see our friends over for parties,” I explain, inspiring Tack to look at the pictures again. “Our kids would attend the same schools as our friends’ kids.”

“Wouldn’t you send them to a private school?”

“Not unless there was a problem with the local school.”

Finding something to obsess about, Tack points out the obvious, “But you went to private schools.”

“And you didn’t.”

Tack frowns. “Yeah, and I read like shit and don’t know history or science. I can’t even name all the continents.”

“I feel like that’s information you could easily learn now if you wanted.”

“Yeah, but what am I going to do with that knowledge?” he mumbles while chuckling at the thought.

“There’s a trivia night at a bar Natasha, Siobhan, and I sometimes hit up.”

Laughter over, Tack insists, “I’m not doing that.”

“Okay, but I think maybe you didn’t do well in school because you had bad parents who didn’t help you. Then, by the time you arrived at the ranch, you felt so far behind, you just did the bare minimum to get through.”

Tack stares at me for a long, tense minute before muttering, “Yeah, I didn’t try. So, when my kid asks for help, I won’t know the answers.”

I slide my hand across his belly and grab his phone resting at his side. “This thing right here has the answers.”

“Yeah, but my kids will eventually know I’m a dumbass.”

“No, they’ll know you aren’t good at school stuff.” When Tack just frowns at the phone, I ask, “Do you not like the house?”

“I can’t imagine me living there.”

“Then, we don’t need to live there.”

“But it’s what you want,” he says and stares at the picture on my phone. “It’s quirky and fancy like you want.”

“Bear’s house is fancy.”

“I guess.”

“We don’t need to buy this house.”

Shifting gears on why he’s upset, Tack grumbles, “We aren’t buying it. You are.”

“Do you want to buy it?”

“I don’t have the money saved up for that house.”

“Then, let me buy it.”

---