“Yeah. And I had one last year and I’ll have another next year. It doesn’t matter really.”
“Bullshit it doesn’t!”
“How’d you find out anyway?” I asked.
Cole held up my phone. Damn it. Ben had blindsided me again, and as soon as I saw his name, I’d handed it over without thinking. Well, I guess the cat is out of the bag now.
“We don't have to make a big deal out of it,” I told him.
“Grace.”
“Honestly. I’d prefer not to. Turning thirty isn’t something I want to celebrate. I’d rather pretend it’s just another day of being twenty-nine,” I sighed as I focused on getting Daisy’s bottle sorted.
Chapter twenty
Cole
Ifelt pretty shitty all day. Grace did her best to paste on a smile and keep going but I could tell she was hurting. She wasn’t her normal self, and when I asked her when she was going to start reading to Daisy, she told me not today.
After she’d fed Daisy, Grace and I kept working on the chicken coop. What had started out as a basic chicken coop was now turning into the Hollywood Hills version. It had opening and closing windows, a door, and Grace had just declared it should be painted white with dark gray trim.
“The chickens aren’t going to know if it’s painted or not,” I tried to reason with her, already well aware I had a trip to the hardware store in my not-too-distant future to buy paint.
“But if you’re going to look out the window over it, wouldn’t you like it to be nice?” Grace questioned, and I hated that she had a point.
I couldn’t let her think that I was that easy of a pushover. I wanted her to work for it. At least a little bit.
“Seems like a lot of extra work for something that doesn’t really matter.”
“Cole,” Grace started, setting down her hammer and coming toward me. All day she’d worked like a trooper. She’d measured and cut timber, bolted pieces together, hammered in nails, and only once complained when her fingernail got caught and ripped off, leaving her with a bloody finger. “I’m sure the girls would appreciate a nice home. And maybe some flower beds on the outside to brighten up the place.”
“Now we’re landscaping too?” I shook my head. The chickens hadn’t even arrived yet, and already they were living a life of luxury and making demands.
Grace sauntered over to where I was standing pretending to be exasperated. When her arms wove around my waist and she looked up at me with those wide eyes, I knew we’d be planting petunias right next to the painted chicken coop.
“I’ll make it worth your while,” she promised in that voice I’d come to know meant I wasn’t going to regret agreeing to anything.
“Raincheck?” I asked, and Grace’s mouth fell open with shock.
“Huh? You’re asking for a raincheck?”
“I am. But only because it’s your birthday, and I should be taking care of you,” I told her as I palmed her ass through her denim cutoffs.
One thing about Grace was she was a real woman. She had curves and softness about her. She had a set of tits I found myself dreaming about and an ass I couldn’t keep my hands off. Grace was the entire package and one I wanted to keep.
“We could take care of each other?” Grace suggested helpfully.
“You know, that might just be your best idea yet!” I confirmed, lifting her into my arms, her legs wrapping around me as I crushed my mouth down on hers.
It didn’t take long for things to heat up. A simple kiss led to an even dirtier one. When Grace broke the kiss and started sucking on my neck, I knew I had to move. As she tormented and tortured me with wet kisses, teasing nips, and sucking on my neck, I carried her into the house.
I shoved through the door with my shoulder and laid her on the dining table.
“Cole …”
“Yes, Grace,” I replied, unlacing her shoe.
“What are you doing?”
