Page 39 of Landon (In Safe Hands)
Shebounces to her feet and drops a quick kiss on my lips. “I’ll be right back.”
Lessthan an hour later she returns with food, drinks, and a box of condoms.
Thiswoman is too good to be true.
ChapterNine
Zoe
Landonis frustrated. Though we’ve had a good time holed up in this little hotel room,I can tell he’s brooding on what brought us here. We’ve spent the day eatingjunk food, and watching bad T.V. In between fucking our brains out, of course.
Iunderstand why he’s upset. It must be terrible to be restricted in such a way,but I’m sure we can work around it like we always do. The last few days havebeen great, but I have to get back to real life tomorrow. Ethan will be backfrom his trip, and I have class—not to mention I still need to find a realtor.
Weleave the hotel as soon as it’s dark and he’s quiet on the drive back. When Isqueeze his hand, he only glances at me with a quick smile that doesn’t reachhis eyes. I hate to leave him when he’s clearly upset about something, but Ihave to get back to Ethan.
“I’llcall you tomorrow,” I murmur, hugging him goodbye.
“I’lltext you the name of the realtor I recommended,” he replies, kissing myforehead.
Ethanis just getting out of a friend’s car when I pull up at our apartment. “Hey!Did you have fun?”
“Itwas cool, you know, except for the boring museum and government buildingtours,” he replies, following me inside with his suitcase in tow. He depositshis suitcase in his room and flops on the couch beside me. “So, what did Imiss?”
“Well,we now have three quarters of a million dollars in my bank account, twoproperties we need to sell, and…oh yeah, a tornado destroyed my boss’s house,so I won’t be working for a while.”
Ethan’seyes widen. “Whoa, what about a million dollars?”
“Ourparents had two life insurance policies that just paid out. I put two-hundredfifty thousand dollars into an account for you when you turn twenty-one.”
“Holyshit, Zo! Can I get a car?”
Ofcourse that’s his first thought at sixteen. “Once you get your license,” I laugh.“I think you missed the forest for the trees, kid. We’re going to find us ahouse. I’m making an appointment with a realtor tomorrow. They’ll also be ableto help us sell our parents’ house and the commercial building.”
“We’rerich.” A wide smile spreads across his face.
“Notexactly, but we won’t have to struggle anymore. My college and yours arecovered, we can get a house and new cars and still have plenty left over to seeus through the next few years.”
“It’sabout damn time something went our way.” He flashes a shy smile. “Colin and Iare officially together.”
“DoI need to give you the safe sex talk again?”
“Ifyou’re afraid I’ll knock him up, I may need to explain a few things to you.” Hecatches the pillow I toss at him. To be fair, it is a throw pillow. “Don’tworry, I know how to be safe. So, are you finally going to give in to yourboss, now that he isn’t your boss?”
“We’reseeing each other.”
“Ha!Knew it. Just don’t keep me up when he stays the night. I don’t need to be scarredfor life.”
“Relax,he won’t be staying over.” I explain Landon’s condition to him.
“That’smessed up. I mean, I’d go crazy if I had to stay inside so much.”
“Metoo.”
Afterthinking for a moment, he asks, “What if our new house had windows with UVtinting? If they can make sunglasses that protect from the sun’s rays, theyshould make windows that do.”
Whythe hell didn’t I think of that? I wonder if Landon has looked into it at all.He hasn’t been living at his uncle’s house long. Maybe he planned on havingthem installed later. “That’s a hell of an idea. I’ll look into it.”
Ethanstretches and yawns. “I’m tired. At least there’s no school tomorrow for thekids who went on the trip. Can we go look at some houses?”
