Page 48 of Necessary Roughness

Much to my surprise, Leonard fired back. “Your opinions are as cheap as your shoes, Claire.”

Claire’s mouth was agape.

A sight I had never seen: Claire stunned.

That would show her.

Before she could fire back, Leonard moved on.

“I’m off!” he said, scurrying out of the room.

“You can say that again,” Claire mumbled as he walked away.

She turned, tucked her metaphorical tail between her legs, and walked into the kitchen for more Clairsmopolitans.

Luke walked up next to me and pulled me into his embrace. Waves crashed on the beach just beyond the window.

Ourperfect window. Inourperfect home.

Luke nudged me. “I can tell you’re in love with this house.”

For a moment, I wondered if he was going to say that I had fallen in love with something else. Someoneelse.

And maybe I had.

“It’s on the market,” he added as he walked out toward the back porch overlooking the beach.

The sunset before us was a masterpiece. One that I wanted to enjoy every day with Luke.

“How much?” I asked, once we were out of earshot of Claire who had stumbled back into the office to keep fussing with the insulating foam.

It was amazing how quickly she was able to recover from an awkward interaction. Knowing her, her days were probably filled with exclusively uncomfortable situations. The girl said whatever she wanted to say, whenevershe wanted to say it.

I looked up into Luke’s eyes as we stood by the hot tub, listening to the waves roll in.

It was like a quiet thunder that drowned out the sounds of anything and anyone else nearby. The only thing that existed was the two of us, and the ocean beyond. It felt as if we stood on the edge of the world.

“It’s probably just atadout of my price range,” I joked.

“Fifteen mill,” Luke said.

Only rich people could refer to millions of dollars as simplymill.

As if he were ordering fifteen pizzas for a party.

No big deal.

“Oh, is that all?” I asked with a huge grin.

Maybe after a few years of growing my podcast. If I was lucky. Very,verylucky.

Luke touched his hand to my cheek, locking eyes with me. “Well, I got my sponsorship check today. My agent called me a few hours ago.”

Luke had mentioned a new sponsorship deal but hadn’t mentioned the amount. I knew for a fact that it was more than what he’d lost with the Monarch fallout, but it didn’t seem like my place to ask.

“And it just so happens,” he added, “the numbers line up. Almost like it was meant to be.”

I knew that fifteenmill—as he so eloquently put it—was like pocket change to him, but it was still an overwhelming amount for me to even fathom.

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