Page 19 of Cord

“Done.”

“I’m asking for celibacy and fidelity. And you’re just giving them both?” I stare at him. He hasn’t blinked once since this entire conversation started. If anything, he seems perfectly relaxed.

He shrugs. “If it’s not sex with my wife, I don’t want it.”

“OK, final guideline. This is the dealbreaker.”

“Toilet seat always down,” he agrees quickly.

“No, but that’s a really good one, so we’ll keep it as part A. Part B of the third guideline is that you don’t say nice stuff to me.”

“You mean, like telling you how pretty you look?”

“Exactly.”

“Objection, your honor.”

I glare at him but there’s no real heat to my expression. “To which one?”

“Guideline three B. Husband reserves the right to say nice things to his wife but will limit it to no more than three compliments daily.”

I sniff. “Fair enough. But that’s the limit. More than that will land you in contempt. Any other objections?”

“Not a one.”

“Then we’ve struck a bargain.” I hold out my hand to him.

He sets Molly down and rises to his feet, taking my hand in his big, capable one. “It’s a deal.”

The next morning, the smell of food cooking wakes me from sleep, and I stumble out of bed to the kitchen. Thunderstorms were predicted overnight which made it hard for me to sleep. I kept waiting for them, but fortunately, there wasn’t so much as a rumble in the sky.

Cord greets me with a nod. “Figured your first day back was worth celebrating, so I made pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream.”

I told him on our honeymoon that my mom used to make pancakes for breakfast on special days. I glance toward the plate and can’t believe he cared this much. My ex never would have thought of doing something like this. “Thank you.”

“Already fed Molly and Milo too. The three of us had a good walk today.”

I skirt around the table, stubbing my toes on the yellow paint cans. I scowl down at the cans like they’ve done something wrong, and yeah, I swear a little bit too.

“You okay?” He asks, flipping another pancake.

“Yeah, fine. One of these days, I’m going to paint this kitchen. Picked the perfect shade of yellow, and I’ve just been too busy to do it.” I take a seat and inspect my toes. Barely a mark despite the pulsing pain.

I eat breakfast, making small talk with Cord about his upcoming plans for the day. He says he’s going to see about an interview in Mount Bliss. “It’s about halfway between here and Courage County so the daily commute won’t be as long.”

I’m kind of surprised he’s looking for a job so quickly. Stuart spent the last two years, insisting that he was “working on” a channel about video games. Like most of his endeavors, it went nowhere because he could only work when he was in the mood. Then again, Cord isn’t Stuart. Even when we were on our honeymoon, he didn’t like to stay still. He’d never be okay with being a kept man, and something about that only makes him more attractive to me. A man with a strong work ethic is sexy as hell.

After stuffing myself with pancakes, I take a quick shower before gathering the pups. I pause at the front door. I don’t know what he’s planning to do today. “I tend to be home around six o’clock.”

“See you then,” he answers cheerfully then presses a kiss to my forehead. “Go out there and conquer the world, pretty girl.”

At work, I drop Molly and Milo off at doggy daycare. I love that I built a company where our employees can get free pet care and childcare. I figure it takes a village, and we have a responsibility to be each other’s village. A lot of people seem to agree with me, given that the company always ranks on the “best companies to work for” lists on the internet.

It takes me twice as long to make it back to my desk because so many people stop and chat about my honeymoon. I show off pictures from our time in Hawaii. Well, the pictures that I’m comfortable sharing. A few of them are just for me. Moments where I’m lying in Cord’s arms as he snores peacefully beside me or that moment right after we made our first hike together.

I spend the first hour of my workday listening to my assistant catch me up on all the things I missed while I was away. Then it’s all about diving into the paperwork. So much paperwork.

“Focus, you get to go home after this,” I remind myself. Home where my hot husband is waiting. My hot husband who agreed that we wouldn’t have sex. Still, it’ll be nice to come home to him, someone who makes me pancakes just because he wants me to have a good day and feeds Molly and Milo treats.