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“Speak of the devil.” Mabel looks to the kitchen where Harvey emerges, smiling wide as he sees us coming toward him with our arms around each other.

“There are my girls.” Why that gives me a flutter in belly, I may never understand but it does and with it comes a girlish smile I never thought myself capable of. Harvey leans in andgives me a quick kiss. His nose never healed quite right and still has a slight kink that I find more attractive than the perfectly straight

“Eurgh, get a room,” Mabel says with a mock disgust, dodging as Harvey lunges for her and giggling furiously when he catches her and hikes her up around her waist.

“How about the pool room?” he asks, barely struggling against her attempts to get away. “Fancy a dip,ursa?”

“Don’t you dare!” she gasps through laughing.

He puts her down, giving her a nudge toward the kitchen. “Next time you cheek me, I will,” he calls after her, turning back to me to find me smirking at him. “How about you, rainha? You going to cheek me?”

I wrap my arms around his neck and push my body to his. “I wouldn’t dare.”

“Hm.” He narrows his eyes at me. “You lie.”

I kiss him and take a moment to lean my forehead on his, breathing in his familiarity. “Did you speak to them?”

He chuckles. “No, rainha. I told you, you’ve got to do it.”

I glare at him. “Last time I checked, you’re supposed to take orders from me.”

“It should come from you. They’ll want to thank you.”

I screw my face up. “I know.”

He laughs again. “It’s not so bad. Although, fair warning, Guinevere will probably want to hug you. You should prepare yourself.”

“You think you know me so well.”

“I do.” He kisses me again and threads his fingers through mine, pulling me into the kitchen so I can’t escape.

There have definitely been more people around my home over the last few months but today they’re all here at the same time and it’s…overwhelming. Diamond comes by often, bringing Pippa over to see the girls and spending time with Lee andGuinevere. I feel like she’s planning a wedding in her mind even though there have been no proposals, to my knowledge. Stuart’s obviously been around a lot anyway, but now Lorraine often comes by with the boys and spends times with the kids, letting Guinevere have a break on the weekends when I’m not around. I was a little hesitant when Harvey first invited Den over for a poker night he hosted for Stuart, Lee, and Den and it felt strange having an employee from the club come to my house. As Harvey officially moved in six months ago, I can hardly stop him from using the house how he wants. Den and Harvey are now such good friends that we even had him and Candy over for dinner, Guinevere and Lee sitting to eat with us. Who am I?

I give a small wave over to the couple now, they return the gesture before going back to their conversation with Mabel. Keeley has found a party hat since rejoining the party and is sat on Stuart’s knee as Reece and Charlie set up a board game in front of them. I squeeze Harvey’s hand and he turns to give me a warm smile.

“Lee, Guinevere, can I speak to you please?” I say to them both where they stand by the kitchen island. They follow me out to the sound of Stuart teasing about them being in trouble and a titter of laughter as I assume Lee flips him off.

We head into my office, and I sit behind my desk, the two of them taking the seats opposite. I try to suppress my smile when I see genuine fear in both of their eyes. “Everything okay?” Lee asks cautiously.

“How is the renovation on the new cottage going?” I ask, ignoring his question. The house has been finished for a while and we rebuilt the original cottage where Lee and a couple other of my men lived but I put in the instruction to build a second cottage right at the back of the property a few months ago.

“It’s all good,” Lee answers. “The contractor just wants to know about finishes now; kitchen, flooring, that sort of stuff. I can get him to send you some options?”

“That won’t be necessary,” I sigh. “You should choose.”

They both blink at me and then look at each other, confused. “Me?” Lee says, pointing to his own chest.

“Well, I would suggest you let Guinevere have a say.”

“Um,” Guinevere gapes, unsure what to say.

Rolling my shoulders and trying to appear a little more relaxed, I turn to them with a small smile. “The second cottage is for you, for you both.”

They stare back with matching shocked expressions. I’m suddenly wondering if I may have over stepped.

“I mean,” I try to backtrack. “If you want to live together, that is. Maybe you don’t. But if you decide you want it, you can move in whenever you’re ready.”

“Anni,” Guinevere sobs. My eyes catch hers and she’s crying. Have I messed this up that badly?