Cole's Mistake (Haven, Texas 8)

“Me too, baby, me too.” He kissed the top of her head. “I promise, for me, it has only ever been the two of you. I’m never letting the two of you go.”

“Wow this place is massive,” Keira said as she looked around the house in wonder. “I can’t believe you own it. It’s beautiful.”

Cole was glad she liked it. The farmhouse had six bedrooms and four bathrooms. The master suite was enormous with a huge attached bathroom and jacuzzi tub. You couldn’t see the nearest neighbors; they were miles away. Outside lay acres of unused land he had no idea what he was going to do with. He was no rancher.

But he’d figure something out.

As soon as he’d seen the place, he’d known it was perfect. It had Keira written all over it.

“Wow,” Keira gasped. “Look at this kitchen.”

“Yeah, it needs some work,” he said, glancing around at the scratched and worn cupboards, some of the doors were missing. The fridge was ancient, the floor buckled. “So do the bathrooms. Figure I’ve got the time to deal with that, though.”

He glanced over at Julian, who’d been silent up until now. “What do you think?”

A strange look came across the other man’s face. “It’s gorgeous. Something we always dreamed of having.”

There was a sadness in their faces that he hated. Didn’t they realize he’d damn well bought this place for them? His hands clenched into fists.

Easy, man. Easy.

“If either of you have any ideas, I’d like to hear them,” he told them both.

“Really?” Keira’s face lit up.

Julian had to grin. “You’ve just said the magic words for Keira. Nothing she loves more than decorating and renovating.” His grin dropped off. “That’s what we’d planned for the house in L.A.”

That place needed to be bulldozed, not renovated. “Yeah, about that place.”

They both turned to him.

“I might have been the one to buy it.”

“You were?” Keira gaped at him. “But you hated that place.”

He shrugged. “I also knew you probably wouldn’t be able to sell it and you needed money. So, I bought it.”

“I should have known when we got above asking price.” Julian frowned. “You didn’t need to do that.”

“Ah, yeah, but here’s the embarrassing thing. See, a contractor decided he wanted to put in a new housing suburb about six months after you both left. I sold it for nearly twice what I paid for it. So, you see, I owe you two money.”

Julian stared at him in shock. Keira laughed. “You mean my instincts weren’t off?”

He grinned, glad they weren’t mad at him. “Yeah, baby.” Then he turned to Julian, bracing himself for his reaction.

“Well, looks like we’re gonna need that money to put back into this place.” Julian smiled at Keira’s squeal of delight.

That was sweet. So, he decided not to tell them that he had no intention of using their money to do this place up.

As they drove back towards Haven, anticipation filled him, thinking of what had arrived this morning in the mail. He hadn’t shown Keira and Julian yet. Before they’d come out to the house, Joel and Julian had worked out together while Cole and Keira had hung out with Aspen and her boys. Julian had lasted about fifteen minutes before coming to check on them.

Which is ten minutes longer than Cole thought he’d manage. Keira and Cole had then joined him for a work-out. Well, Cole and Julian had worked out, Keira had watched and drooled.

His phone started ringing. He frowned. “Sorry. Thought I turned it to silent. Little bit, could you grab it and turn the sound off for me?”

She picked it up, not meaning to glance at the screen. “It’s Mr. Bridges.”

“Hank? Why the hell is he calling?” Cole muttered.