Claiming the Enemy: Dustin (Porter Brothers Trilogy 3)

Dustin knew which one Jessie was talking about. “I think she would be a better fit for Bubba. That way, he wouldn’t hear her bitching.”

“You might be right.”

The woman might be attractive, but she had the personality of Attila the Hun.

Jessie moved his hand away from her breast. “Are you sorry that you married me now that you’re not dying?”

His face turned serious. “You marrying me isn’t a joking matter.”

“It’s not?” She smoothed his frown away.

“No.”

“What’s put you in a grumpy mood all of a sudden?”

“Because I just thought of something, and I think you’re going to ask for a divorce when I tell you.”

“I’m not going to divorce you,” she assured him. “Besides, we’d have to consummate it first. I’d get an annulment.”

“You’re not getting that either,” he said, frowning again.

“I didn’t ask for one,” she reminded him.

“Good, because you’re not getting one.”

“Okay, I’m not asking for one. By the way, why would I?”

“Where are we going to live? I planned to build a house behind Greer and Holly’s but didn’t because I was dying.” He needed to garner her sympathy before he gave his suggestion. “So, we could live with them until our house is built.”

When she didn’t say anything, he grew worried.

“Well?”

“I’m thinking. We could move into my home.”

Dustin paled. The thought of living with Holt and Asher kind of made him wish he were dead.

“We could live at my apartment until we build a house for us.”

“You would rather move back into the apartment building you were kidnapped from than move in with Greer and Holly?”

“What do you think?”

“I think I married a smart woman.” Kissing her, he started playing with her breast again. “Until we have our house built, I’ll even do the laundry.”

“I think that a man who does laundry is sexy.”

“Do you?” Running his tongue across her bottom lip, he took a sip of the sweetness within.

“Yes.” Kissing him back, she ran her hand down his chest. “I think a man who does the vacuuming is even hotter.”

“Isn’t that a coincidence? I love vacuuming.”

“You do?”

“Mmhmm ….” He parted her lips farther so he could deepen the kiss that made him float toward the heavens again. “I’m a vacuuming master. No one does it better than me.” Pulling the sheet at his waist higher, he flipped it so it would cover both of them.

“Dustin, what are you doing?” Giving a shocked gasp, she looked over his shoulder, making sure no one was looking into his room.

“Making sure an annulment is not an option.”

Epilogue

Jessie grimaced at hearing the bottom of her car scraping over another pothole. In the two months they had been married, her husband had promised numerous times to get the driveway paved. Having another bone to pick with him had heightened the anger that forced her to take the rest of the day off to lay down the law on her sneaky husband.

Parking in the driveway, she didn’t go to the front door. Instead, she angrily stomped around to the back of the house toward the new house she and Dustin were building.

When they talked about building their house, they had discussed building it on the land where Greer and Holly had gotten married. It would have given them a decent yard and a bigger house. Better yet, it would have a strand of trees separating her house from Greer’s. She liked Greer, and she loved Holly, but she didn’t want to be within spitting distance of them.

“Dustin, I know damn good and well that phone of yours told you I’m here!” she yelled.

Putting her hands on her hips, she watched her husband come outside of the framed house.

“Peanut, what are you doing here?”

Despite it being freezing cold, her husband was only wearing a long-sleeved Henley shirt.

Steeling herself not to notice the way his faded blue jeans hugged his hips and showed the generous swell in the crotch area, she focused her attention on his guilty eyes.

“J.T. called me.”

At the mention of their contractor, Dustin paused. “I can explain.”

“I don’t want to hear another explanation about why our fourth contractor quit. My lease is up in three months, and at the rate we’re going, I’m going to have to sign another one.”

“No, we won’t. I promise.”

“Just like you promised me that the driveway was going to get done?” Frustrated, Jessie stormed over the frozen ground toward him.

“You can’t blame me for that. The weather has been working against me. Every time I have it scheduled, it snows or rains. And when we get a break in the weather, they have another job scheduled. You see Gabriel every day during the weekdays; you talk to him. Maybe you’ll get it done faster than I can. You told me you would talk to him last week.”

Reaching up to kiss her husband’s cheek, she hoped her red cheeks could be attributed to the cold wind. During the mornings when Gabriel dropped off his kid, she somehow became tongue-tied and ended up telling him to take his time.