Page 28 of The Marriage Negotiation

"Sure." I started following Patrick once again as he led me through the condo. "I love to cook, especially savory recipes likebread. Can't say I'm terribly good at it, but I do love the smell of fresh baked bread."

"I do okay with cooking," Patrick admitted. "I'm not a gourmet chef by any means, but we won't have to do take-out every night. That gets old after awhile."

Patrick showed me the kitchen, the dining room, and then the rest of the condo. By the time we'd been through the entire house, we had ended up on the large balcony.

"Well, what do you think?" Patrick asked. "Do you think you could be happy here?"

I smiled as I walked into his arms. "I thinkwecould be very happy here."

That was the plan anyway.

Chapter Eight

~ Patrick ~

I let out a little grunt as I set down the medical journal I had been reading and rubbed the bridge of my nose between my fingers. Even if I wasn't actively working as a doctor, I still needed to keep up on everything happening in the medical world.

When my cell phone rang, I briefly glanced at the clock as I picked it up and answered. "Kind of late for you to be calling, isn't it, Jake? Jai kick you out of bed?"

Jake chuckled good naturedly. "That'll never happen."

I hoped I could say the same after a few years of marriage.

"So, what's up?"

"Just wanted to check if you and Zaq are all moved in now."

"For the most part," I replied. "Couldn't have done it without your help, though." We would have been moving boxes for days.

I still hadn't figured out how he'd done it, but Jake came up with ten guys on the spur of the moment to get all of our stuff up to our condo from the loading dock.

"Jai and I are having a little get-together at our place tomorrow night at seven and we wanted to know if you and Zaq would like to come. It's just the guys and their spouses. It'll give Zaq a chance to meet everyone."

That actually sounded like a great idea. Zaq had met a few of my frat brothers in the last three weeks since we moved here, but not all of them. I was also interested in meeting the husband's of those who were married that I hadn't met yet.

"I'll have to check with Zaq, but I don't see a problem with it."

"It's a casual affair, so need to dress up. Jai only lets me put him in a tux about once a month. More than that and he gets squirrely."

I chuckled picturing the strawberry blond throwing a fit over a tux. I could actually see it. He might be shorter than Zaq, but he was a spitfire.

"Why don't I give you a call tomorrow and let you know?" I asked. "I'm pretty sure Zaq has already gone to bed. I just got done with my reading so I'm headed there myself."

"Sure," Jake replied. "Goodnight."

"Night." I hung up and then set my journal aside, got up, and went to lock up the condo and then go find my husband.

Neither Zaq or I were in a big hurry to get back to work. We'd spent the last three weeks getting unpacked and learning about the neighborhood we'd moved into.

We'd even gone on a few dates.

I found Zaq in the bedroom putting clothes away in the dresser. A laundry basket sat on the floor at his feet.

"Hey."

Zaq smiled at me when he glanced up. "Hey."

I walked up behind Zaq, pressing my chest to his back and wrapping my arms around him. "I thought you'd be in bed already."

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