Page 22 of Love Me Reckless

“You already have an office.” It takes up the entire third floor of his house in Grayhawk.

“Separating work from family is key to creating healthy boundaries, Kirilee.”

I cross my arms. “No.”

He blinks. “Excuse me?”

“You’re not turning my bungalow into your private office.”

He huffs and makes a face, like he’s insulted. “Is something wrong? Are you upset?”

“Where did you go last night? During the party, not after. You disappeared. Why?”

“I told you I went looking for your shoes.”

“Why did your watch face read like you had been out sprinting?”

His eyes cloud, and he makes like he’s going to check his watch but stops himself. He smiles. “I was reviewing my weekly stats right before that. I must have forgotten to clear them.”

This is perfectly logical and something Birch does regularly, but I can’t shake the feeling I’m being lied to. “If you were with someone, just tell me.”

He pinches the bridge of his nose, like he has a headache. “Not this again.”

“I’m not marrying you,” I blurt.

His eyes flash. “What?”

I gulp a shaky breath, but I don’t dare look away. “I’m… not ready.” I wince. Damn it. This is not even close to what I wanted to say.

“The twelve-carat stone on your finger says otherwise.” His voice is cold, but then he sighs, like indulging me is costing him precious energy. “What would make you feel ready?”

“I want to build a community art center and some little libraries around town and fill them with books.” My Will to Live list fills my mind. “And I want to have a bachelorette party.” I keep the details to myself.

I expect him to argue like he does about most everything, but he inhales a breath, nodding. “The community art center and book thing are easy enough. I’ll put our building operations team on it.”

“No.” It comes out more forcefully than I plan, which draws another scowl from Birch. “I want to do it myself.”

“You don’t know anything about either of those things, Kirilee.”

“So?”

He scrutinizes me with a stern once-over. “It’s nearly impossible to build in the winters here. Contractors require heavy supervision. You’ll need a budget, a project lead, plans, plus going forward with any new project, we need to take green energy into account.”

I stay quiet while he rattles on. Finally, he sighs. “All right. We can look into it.”

This feels like a compromise, but it might be the closest I can get to a yes.

“The bachelorette party idea,” he says, discreetly checking his watch. “What do you have in mind?”

“A weekend with my two best friends, somewhere fun.” Somewhere with skinning dipping options, a bar, and a sex toy shop. I suppress the giggle tickling up my throat.

“Let me look at my calendar.”

“You can’t come,” I blurt because I can practically see his wheels turning. I wouldn’t even want to attend his bachelor party. He and his polo buddies are flying to Cabo San Lucas to play in some tournament.

“I’m in charge of your safety.”

“I’ll get Zach to watch over us.”

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