Page 49 of Ask for Moore
I didn’t care if I was being reckless. If I was throwing away a career that I’d fought to build in Chicago for a smaller one in Mooreville. As long as I had Ryland, I was exactly where I wanted to be. And there were plenty of people I could help around here, so it wasn’t as though I was giving up being a lawyer. I would just be one at a slower pace that allowed me to have a full life, too. Maybe even as a wife…and a mother someday.
“Moore & Moore,” I echoed. “I like the sound of that.”
He let out a loud whoop, his dark eyes lit with triumph. “This calls for a celebration.”
“It does.” I stroked my nails down his back while lifting my legs to dig my heels in his butt cheeks. “And if this is going to be my new home, we should officially christen the place, don’t you think?”
“I do,” he readily agreed before driving me out of my mind with pleasure.
By the time Monday morning rolled around, we’d made sure every room in the house got the same treatment. Luckily, nobody interrupted us when we broke in the screened-in back porch. Or when I gave him another blow job on the couch, this time to completion. But that was probably because he’d sent out a mass text and told his family we were unavailable for the weekend. And if I’d had any doubt that his mom approved of me, it would have been dispelled when she dropped food off onto his porch to make sure we didn’t starve. Twice.
Epilogue
Ryland
“About damn time,” I muttered as the new sign was hung over the doorway.
“Are you actually complaining about how long it took to get that put up?” Waverly bumped her shoulder against my side. “We’ve only been married for two weeks, and we just got back from our honeymoon yesterday.”
“The sign wasn’t even ready for me to pick up until this morning,” Jude grumbled as he climbed down the ladder he’d used to do the installation.
“And you talked your lovely wife down the aisle in less time than Baxter or Dean,” Finn pointed out with a grin.
I shot a glare at him. “What’re you doing here, anyway? It’s not as though we needed your help putting up the sign.”
He flashed me a sheepish grin. “I wanted to ask Waverly if she was interested in fostering another kitten and figured it was best if I did it in person.”
Her eyes lit up, and I groaned, knowing damn well there would be another cat in the house by tonight. It would probably end up being a foster failure, too, because my sweet wife was too tenderhearted. She’d fall in love with the kitten and want us to adopt it ourselves. Which Finn damn well knew.
“Let’s get back to that ‘we’ part.” Jude grunted. “I don’t remember anyone being up there helping me.”
“I offered,” my wife reminded all of us.
“And I might’ve taken you up on it if I had a death wish.” He jerked his chin toward me as he folded the tall ladder. “Because your husband would have pitched a fit the second you put your foot on the first rung.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, not bothering to deny his accusation. “She doesn’t need to risk hurting herself when she might be pregnant.”
“Ryland,” she hissed, jamming her elbow in my side. “I can’t believe you’re going around telling people that.”
Finn shot me a look that let me know he was about to get me in trouble. “What? That he wanted to take a long honeymoon because he was going to try his best to knock you up?”
“I didn’t say any such thing,” I denied…even though I sure as fuck had thought it when she told me she was having some issues with her birth control and needed to switch to another kind. In the interim, we needed to use condoms as an added layer of protection, and we hadn’t done a great job of grabbing one every time we’d had sex over the past month. That was why I was extra careful with her, just in case the new pill hadn’t done its job and she was pregnant. “He’s just putting two and two together and getting five because he likes to jump to conclusions.”
“Hey, Ryland. Waverly.” Eloise stopped on the sidewalk next to our little group. Her son was holding one hand and her daughter the other, both with chocolate ice cream stains on their shirts. I was thrilled to see they were doing so well, after all the hell her ex-husband put them through over the past year and a half. Her gaze drifted toward Waverly’s flat stomach, and she smiled. “Sorry, but I couldn’t help but overhear. If it turns out that you really are pregnant and ever need a babysitter, I’d love to help. It’s the least I can do after everything Ryland has done for me.”
Waverly was familiar with Eloise’s case, and her expression softened as she looked at the single mom. “Thanks, but I probably won’t need a babysitter for several years since I am not pregnant.”
“Unless you are,” I murmured.
“Well, if you think of anything else, let me know. I have more free time on my hands now that this one”—her daughter gave a squeal of laughter—“is in school during the day, too.”
“Who was that?” Finn asked, watching Eloise lead her children toward her car.
“A client.”
My cousin shot me an exasperated look, but there wasn’t much else I could say without violating attorney-client privilege.
“Her car is crap,” he grunted, his fists clenching at his sides.
