Stormy Satisfaction (Doms of Destiny, Colorado 11)

He smiled. “You bet I am.”

Chapter Five

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Wolfe.” Sylas shook Phoebe’s husband’s hand.

The man had a firm grip and a warm smile. “Please. Call me Lucas.”

“Sure. I’m Sylas.”

Lucas turned to Nic and shook his hand. “So you must be Nic.”

“In the flesh. I hope this isn’t an inconvenience for you.”

“It’s not an inconvenience, I promise you. In fact, it’s my pleasure, guys. I always enjoy showing my work to new eyes.”

When Lucas drove up the driveway to the house, Sylas liked it immediately. It had mature trees and a terrific view of the lake.

They got out of the car.

“The landscaping is impressive, Lucas,” Nic said.

“You should have seen it when we purchased it. A complete dump both inside and outside. But Phoebe loved the view and thought it would be a great investment for rental property. We practically stole the place because it was in such poor shape. One thing about our wife, she definitely has the Midas touch.” It was plain as day how proud Lucas was of Phoebe. But it was still strange hearing the man say “our wife.” Would it ever not sound strange? “We just got it reappraised and we’ve already doubled our money. My brothers and I worked together on the grounds, but since Mitchell is so busy with his band and Jason is covered up being the county’s sheriff, I was responsible for the changes inside. Come on, guys. Let’s take a look together.”

Sylas glanced at Nic. Together? Even though they were standing only five feet from each other, the invisible distance between them was as wide as the Grand Canyon.

The three of them walked inside, and he couldn’t believe how incredible it was. It looked as if it could’ve been on the cover of a magazine or featured on a television show. It had dark wooden floors, a gorgeous fireplace done in white stone with a handcrafted mantle, and large windows that let in lots of natural light.

His apartment in Chicago wasn’t this nice. “I wasn’t expecting an open floor plan, Lucas.”

“The house wasn’t like this when we bought it. Since it was built in 1945, we weren’t surprised to find it chopped up with little rooms and hallways. I tore out a lot of walls and took it back to the studs so that I could design it the way I wanted.”

“Wow. I wouldn’t have a clue on how to do that, Lucas.” Nic was just as impressed with Phoebe’s husband as he was.

“Let’s get a closer look at the kitchen.” Lucas led them past the massive island in the center of the space. The pride he felt for this house was easy to understand. “I chose black quartz to accent the white wooden cabinets.”

Touring the rest of the house, Sylas liked how spacious the bedrooms and baths were.

“You want to flip for the bedrooms?” Nic brought out a quarter.

“They are identical in size, so it doesn’t matter to me. You pick the one you like and I’ll take the other.”

“Fine. I’ll take the one closest to the kitchen.”

“Great.” That gave him the bedroom with the best view of the lake. But did it even matter? He didn’t expect Nic to stick around in this house for very long.

When they walked back into the main room, they saw two men, one in a sheriff’s uniform.

“Let me introduce you to my brothers, guys. This is Mitchell, the musician in the family.”

“Nice to meet you, fellas.” Mitchell was tall and his eyes were unusual. The left one was blue and the right one brown.

Lucas introduced the other man. “And this is our eldest brother, Sheriff Jason Wolfe.”

“Pleasure, guys.” Jason shook his and Nic’s hands. “Mitchell and I wanted to drop by and tell you how glad we are that you will be working with Phoebe. Since we’re expecting twins, we want her to get plenty of rest.”

“That’s hard to do with our wife, bro, as you know,” Lucas said.

“Very hard.”