Page 210 of Santa Daddies
“I’ll let you know if you break one.”
“It would be easier to just know up front. Then I won’t cause any problems.”
Anson eyed her for a long moment. He really was a gorgeous man. He just needed to smile. “You? Cause trouble?”
Alice had no idea if he was being sarcastic or not.
“Eat,” he repeated.
Oh, Christmas bells. She was already breaking a rule.
“You seem quite concerned about breaking the rules,” he stated as she hastily finished her dinner.
She paused then took a quick sip of soda to wash the last of her toast down. “Um, I guess I’m a rule follower.”
He grunted.
“Are you?” she asked.
“I prefer to make them rather than follow them.”
Yeah. George had too.
Not that she should compare this man to her husband. George was a narcissistic asshole. Anson was . . . grouchy and kind of sad. She wasn’t sure why she thought that. Maybe because he lived in the middle of nowhere on his own.
“So the house rules are no lying, no invading your privacy, and eating regularly?”
Very strange rules.
“And no apologizing unless something is really your fault.”
“These are the oddest house rules I’ve ever heard of.”
“Yeah? If I was a guest in your house what would your house rules be?” he asked.
Well, that wasn’t going to happen since she didn’t have a house.
But she couldn’t say that. What would her rules be? She thought about all of George’s rules. She could use some of them.
Or not.
“I wouldn’t have any.”
“You don’t have any house rules?” he asked, leaning forward.
“No.” It wasn’t a lie. She didn’t have any. George had made them all. And they were extensive. Although they weren’t for guests.
Nope. They’d all been for her.
He rubbed his chin. “Good you’ve got some now, then.”
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind living without rules for a while. It would be freeing.”
“You think so? Sometimes, the right sort of rules and consequences, and reinforced by the right sort of person can make you feel secure. Cared for.”
She gaped at him. That was not what she’d expected him to say.
And she didn’t know what to say in return. So she took the coward’s way out.
