Page 93 of Housebroke

“I don’t know. Ten, maybe fifteen.”

Instead of wrinkling her nose whenever the dogs were mentioned, Nat nodded. “You’d need several acres. Lots of trees and greenery for the dogs as well, so they’d have shade and space to run around.”

“Yes.”

“And then a beautiful oasis for yourself and your—well, whoever, if you want that—to lounge and play.” She got up and went into the house, coming back outside with her pencil and sketchbook.

Hazel watched in awe as her sister began to draw out abackyard sketch. And with every half hour that passed, Hazel’s vision for her future began to materialize on the paper. It was as if Nat had crawled into her brain and pulled out every single one of her dreams.

There were copious trees and a huge play yard with toys, exercise and play equipment for the dogs, plus a small pool. Any dog would be happy to call that their playland.

And the adult playland was perfect. A large patio with an outdoor kitchen, a covered pool with rocks and a waterfall, and so many trees beyond that looked so rich and thick and... She just sighed.

“It’s so beautiful, Nat. In a perfect world, where I had money.”

“Hey, it’s okay to dream big. And you can always do this in stages, you know. Or modify it so it works for you.”

“That’s true.”

Now it was Nat who laid her hand on Hazel’s arm. “Don’t give up on your dreams, Hazel. Not for any reason or for anybody. Not ever again.”

Hazel lifted her chin. “Believe me, I don’t intend to.”

“Speaking of anybody, how are things with Linc?”

“Oh, they’re... fine.”

Her sister raised a brow. “Just fine? Is something wrong? Did he do something?”

She shook her head. “He didn’t do anything. He says all the right things, does all the right things. It’s me. I have feelings for him, Nat. Big, deep feelings.”

“Oh, honey. How did that happen?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t planning on it. It just happened. And now that it has, I’m scared to death and I’ve been avoiding him.”

“As you should. The last thing you need is to get involved with someone again. Andrew hurt you, worse than I have ever seen anyone hurt. You need a long time to heal, to become the independent person you’re meant to be.”

Wise words. But were they meant for her or for Natalie? Hazel didn’t know.

And she still didn’t know what to do about her feelings for Linc.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Tonight was the night. Linc wasn’t going to let Hazel ignore him any longer.

It was a cool day, with rain on and off. She’d taken the dogs for three walks. Really long walks. The poor pups were exhausted and currently avoiding her so they could nap. When she wasn’t harassing the dogs, she had closed herself in the guest room, saying she would be busy doing “important stuff” on her laptop. She’d only surfaced to feed him breakfast and lunch, taking both meals up to her room to eat alone.

In other words, she was avoiding him.

He was ending the freeze-out one way or another tonight. He finished up his work by five, which worked well for his plans. He put his tools away and headed upstairs, pausing outside her bedroom.

Just knock, jackass.

He inhaled a deep breath and let it out, then knocked. Once. Then twice.

“Busy in here.”

Irritated, he said, “I’m coming in.”

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