Nine inches and a quarter, I hear him whisper in my head.
I shiver.
Cousin Gina rubs a palm over her rapidly growing baby bump and mutters—loudly—to my half-sister, Hilary. “Seriously. I don’t get it. How can a girl likeherget a man like that?”
Her words are like a punch to the gut. I’m not good enough. I’m still not good enough. I force myself not to react.
Hilary doesn’t answer Gina. She just meets my eyes across the foyer and sneers in my direction.
Damn. I feel two feet tall.
I don’t let it show, though. I’d never let it show. As if I’d ever give my detractors the pleasure of knowing that their insults hurt me.
I sigh the moment Lincoln silently slips his hand into mine and directs Cameron and me to the door. I should be feeling allmission accomplishedwith how this evening went. Great Grandma is in love with my new fiancé. But any feelings of relief don’t last long.
I know in my heart that my cousins and half-sisters think I don’t deserve a Lincoln Raines in my life. Now, I can’t shake the feeling that they’re going to try and sabotage this for me.
Because if they can’t get their hands on their own trust funds, they certainly don’t want me to have mine.
All I know is, I’m going to have to keep my guard up.Way, way up.
20
LINCOLN
We’re only in the car for a mile or so before Cameron conks out in the backseat. My eyes flick up to the rearview mirror, seeing him fast asleep with his new vintage car clutched to his chest.
I chuff at the thought of Josephine Lannister. That old woman is pretty tough, but she’s not all bad. Or maybe she just has a soft spot for cute kids. Hard to say. But overall, I’m feeling good with how things went this evening at family dinner.
Jules’s great grandmother believes our upcoming nuptials are the real deal. She’s even offered to host the wedding.
In two week’s time, Jules and I will be a heartbeat away from achieving everything we need.
We’ll be successfully paving our futures and our financial stability.
But first, there’s a very important issue we need to broach.
I glance over at Jules in the passenger seat, as I pull my car into a parking space outside her building. As soon as she unbuckles her seatbelt, I blurt out, “You have to move in with me.”
It hit me during dinner earlier, when that mean sister of Jules’s was eyeballing us closely. Hilary seems suspicious. We need to up our game, and married people certainly wouldn’t live in separate houses.
Jules’s head swivels toward me, her sleek black bob swaying as she turns. “What?!” When she sees Cameron snoozing in the backseat, she lowers her voice. “Why?”
“You’re moving in with me, Jules,” I say definitively.
“I like my current living situation,” she retorts.
“Well, if we’re getting married, we’ll need to live together.”
“Not all married people live together.”
“That nosy sister of yours already caught me doing the walk of shame out of your bed once. If she already thinks we’re sleeping together, she definitely won’t buy ourLittle House on the Prairieliving-separately thing now.”
Jules rolls her eyes at me. “Okay, but even if we have to live together, why would you automatically assume we have to live atyourplace?”
I can’t help but smirk. “Do you suggest that my kid and I both move into the four-hundred square feet you share with your roommate? Boy. Splitting that tiny bathroom between the four of us will be fun.”
“Ugh,” she growls.
