Page 77 of Gideon's Gratitude

“My house has a forest-green mailbox on the same side of the street as yours. Stanley’s is the next on the other side, with a stainless-steel gray mailbox.” Maddox scratched his cheek again.

“Mine is around the corner with, interestingly, a fire engine-red mailbox and a big boulder. For someone who was trying to be inconspicuous, the entrance to my driveway isn’t that.”

“But you have a gate.” Maddox nudged Adam again. Clearly the two men were comfortable with each other—even if each had, at one point, been a hermit.

“That is true.” Adam gestured to Chip. “My little escape artist.”

“Ah. Lucky seems to know the boundaries of the property. His property,” I quickly clarified. “This way.”

The six of us headed up the driveway. Past the ditch, there was a line of trees on either side of the driveway, spanning all the way to the property lines on either side. My home was completely obscured from view if one was on the road.

As we emerged, Maddox whistled. “Yeah, okay.”

“Wow.” Adam halted. “Not what I expected.”

“This is, like, Arthur Erickson west coast modern.” Maddox tilted his head. “Right?”

“Yes.” I held his gaze. “My architect, Septimus Knight, took his inspiration from Shannon Mews. I’ll have to admit, choosing masonry and glass was a bold choice up here.”

“For sure.” He cocked his head. “It’s stunning.”

“I think so.” The front of the house, with the grand entrance, had two stories of windows and faced east. “I’m looking forward to sunrises while lounging in the salon.”

“Salon?” Adam guffawed. Then sobered. “Sorry.”

“Ye who lives in a castle?” I loved that I felt comfortable teasing the men.

Maddox chuckled.

Adam shrugged. “You’ll have to see it. Impressive but in a very different way. The windows are nothing like this.”

“They’re tinted so the space won’t overheat. Let’s go.” I pulled my keys from my pocket and led the two guys inside. We all removed our boots, even though much of the flooring had yet to be installed.

When Maddox pointed to doggie pawprints, I waved him off. “Riley’s going to have a shock when she comes in and finds so many. We’ll just keep them away from the flooring that’s completed.”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

And thus began the tour of my Arthur Erickson-inspired house. No expense had been spared on the design, and I was bloody curious to see what my interior decorator—Knight’s partner—would come up with. Orlando was newer to the business, and his reputation wasn’t quite as prominent as Knight’s, but the architect promised I’d be pleased.

I couldn’t wait.

By the time we finished the tour, it was nearly nine o’clock. “I’ll show you where I’m building the cabin at the back of the property. Then I should be getting, uh, home.”

“Sounds great.” Maddox, I noticed, was very careful when he bent to put his boots on. So was Adam. Leading me to believe both might’ve been injured at some point.

Wait, Maddox had said something about his boyfriend leaving him when he was injured. The ex who lived down the street.

And Adam’s scars were visible, so perhaps there was underlying damage as well?

Gideon needs to meet these guys. They offered to help. What if they are sincere?

Because I wouldn’t always be here. I had to go back to Vancouver. And I’d exchanged no promises with the man. Even though we’d discussed me getting tested again—which implied sex without condoms—didn’t mean we’d committed to that.

“You okay?” Maddox held my gaze as we stood on the spot where I planned to put the cabin.

“Just thinking about which of my many, many, many siblings will visit first.”

“How many?” Adam scratched Chip’s ear.

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