Herd That (The Valentine Boys 1)

“Okay,” I finally said. “But only if you pull the trailer with him in it.”

Ace started to laugh. “That’s a deal.”

Grinning, I turned so that I was tucked closer into his body, then looked over at the man who was sitting silently in the chair next to the couch.

His eyes were on the screen, but I had no doubt in my mind that he was very aware of the two of us on the couch.

He was also staring really hard at the screen as if he wanted to interject himself in the conversation but didn’t want to seem nosey.

“Spit it out,” I ordered him.

Callum grinned, then turned his head to look at me.

“I’m just happy to see my brother smiling is all,” he said. “And I’m also happy that you’re moving out of that old goat’s house. Though, I wish I would’ve known it was being offered. I offered it to Desi, too, but she said you were already going to live there.”

I frowned. “She wants to live there?”

Callum shrugged. “She’s having trouble with her ex. He’s pissed off that she’s taking money from his father. She just wants to sell the house that they bought together, and can’t because they have too much money into it. She’d lose her ass. Anyway, she’s looking for a place to live that’s cheap.”

I frowned. Why was I just now hearing this?

“When did you hear this?” I asked quickly.

“Today at the gym. When y’all were supposed to be there.” He pointed out.

I flushed.

“We went and worked out!” I said defensively. “And she should’ve called. Why didn’t she call?”

When I made to stand up and leap off the couch, Ace’s hand tightened around my waist.

“You do realize that it’s almost three in the morning, right?” he asked.

I pursed my lips.

Yeah, I probably shouldn’t wake her up. She’d hate me.

Desi was a woman who hated being woken up, whether it was a nap or sleep.

I closed my eyes and decided that first thing in the morning, I’d be contacting her.

“Shit,” I finally muttered. “And why is the house a bone of contention? I thought it was settled. She would get the house, and he would get the RV with the truck that pulls it.”

“That was originally the plan, from what I’m told,” Callum agreed. “But then the ex changed his mind.”

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose.

“So to settle whatever it was they needed settling, they’re selling the house and the truck and the RV and then dividing out the cash from that,” he said.

My brows went up in surprise.

“Desi’s willing to sell her house?” I shook my head. “That’s surprising after all the bullshit he put her through.”

Callum’s brows lowered. “I highly dislike him.”

I nodded my head in agreement, instead of getting off of Ace, I leaned over him to reach my phone that was on the table next to the couch arm. When I had it in my hand, I went to lean back and instead was pulled farther into his lap.

Liking my new position, I snuggled more comfortably into Ace’s lap, pushed his ball cap off his forehead a little bit, then gave him a sound kiss on the cheek right under his eye before opening my phone.

Ace repositioned the hat on his head, then thought better of it and took it off completely.

My lips twitched when I saw the crease in his hair. The waves that were normally present were indented and even more messy than normal. It was adorably cute.

I had to practically force myself to look away and check my email, then got frustrated when not even that showed any new emails from Desi.

Sometimes when she had a lot of stuff to say she’d send it in an email. The email could be about a new recipe she wanted to try all the way to a dream she had that she wanted to remember in case she ever wanted to ‘write her memoirs’ one day.

I threw the phone down in disgust when all I had were upcoming bills due.

“Ugh,” I muttered, practically dropping my head onto Ace’s chest and sighing dramatically. “Balls.”

Ace wrapped his arms around my upraised knees, then held me like one would a child as he continued to watch the show that we were enraptured in earlier.

“I think I need to go to bed,” I finally admitted. “If we don’t, I’m going to hate myself Monday morning.”

Ace grunted something that sounded like ‘in a minute’ so I chose to allow him to continue holding me.

And before I knew it, I was sound asleep in Ace’s arms.Chapter 18How do I block you in real life?

-Ace to Callum

Ace

The fact that she spoke in her sleep was absolutely adorable.

After ensuring that my brother had the shutting down of the house handled and that he’d texted Darby to make sure that he was alive and still able to bother the shit out of us tomorrow, I took my girl to bed.