Page 13 of Colby (Tucker’s Pride #5)

Her return load wasn’t all that much. Just a bunch of cardboard that would recycle. A lot of places were doing that now, and it saved a lot of trash in the dumps, as well as something new was made into the products. She even recycled in her rig, though on a much smaller scale.

She was ready for home. While she had a lot to do when she got there, the first thing that she wanted to do was have a nice meal with her mom.

She’d been talking to her a lot through the chat application, but it wasn’t the same.

This time, she wanted to talk about how much profit the house made them when it sold and what she was going to do with it.

They didn’t have any large outstanding bills, but the house they had just purchased. Then her thoughts went to Colby.

He’d called her last night to tell her that he was going house hunting today and that he wanted to know if she’d come along with him.

Emma’s first thought was to tell him no, she didn’t have anything to do with his getting a new home.

But she’d been talking to a friend of hers who was a shifter too.

He told her that if she didn’t at least live with him or something along those lines, that he could go rogue.

That’s what wolves did when they lost their mates.

And she wasn’t going to be responsible for him doing anything that would cause trouble.

Emma had lunch plans with him today. After that, they were going to look at three houses that he’d picked out as well as see a realtor to see what sort of houses were on the market that she’d like to live in.

He told her that the only thing that he wanted in the way of a house was a large eat-in kitchen, and she was fine with that.

But she didn’t want to have fifty bedrooms that he might expect her to fill someday with children.

She’d caught herself being snippy about him when he wasn’t even around. And that bothered her. Emma wasn’t a nasty person to other people, and she didn’t know what it was about him that had her snipping all the time.

Pulling into the driveway at ten after ten, she was ready to call it a day.

She didn’t have any laundry to do, nor did she have to clean up the rig.

It was in good shape thanks mostly to Crumble.

Her mom met her at the front door to her house and hugged her.

She felt like that was something that she’d been wanting for years instead of the few days that she’d been gone.

“I love you so much, Mom.” She had to wipe at the tears that were falling down her cheeks. “I’m going to have to get used to you not riding with me. It gets lonely out there on the road without you around.”

“I miss you around here, too. And I have all this room that I don’t seem to know what to do with.

Yesterday I went and bought myself a television, just a little one, so that I could have something that made noise around here.

It’s made a big difference.” Emma told her about the date that she had with Colby.

“He called here a few minutes ago to let me know that he was coming and if I wanted him to pick up anything from town. He’s really a good man, honey.

You should at least give him a bit of a chance with you. ”

“That’s why I’m going with him to find a house for the three of us.

You still think you might want a room at the house, right?

” She said she was still getting used to the little one and that he would more than likely want something big.

“I don’t want anything big. I just want a couple of bedrooms, an office, and a place to park my rig. The rest can be on him.”

“That’s all someone could hope for, I suppose.

” Mom wasn’t going to go with them as she thought that she might.

She had things to do. Mom was making jelly from the fruits that she’d gotten at the store.

Next year, she was going to put in a garden and have a couple of blueberry bushes put in so that she could have fresh year-round.

It wasn’t hard to do in the area where they were living.

“I’m going to go to the library in the morning.

I get to help the older patrons learn how to use a computer.

I think that will be fun. Or not, I can’t decide. ”

Colby pulled into their driveway a few minutes after they went into the house.

She was glad to see that he didn’t dress up too fancy; his jeans and polo shirt were perfect for the weather that they were having today.

After talking to her mom for a few minutes, they were off to the first house.

She only hoped that she could hold onto her temper, which seemed to be out of control of late, and have a good time with him.

The first house they looked at was perfect for her.

There was a long, wide driveway that seemed to be double what she’d need to park her rig.

The house had an eat-in kitchen, too, which she loved.

However, when she was going through the bedrooms, something about the way that they were set up threw her off.

It wasn’t until Colby pointed it out to her that she realized that there was only one bathroom on the entire second floor and nothing in the master bedroom.

“That would make for a very crowded morning if your mom stayed with us. Not to mention, the bedrooms are so small. I bet nothing more than a full-sized bed would fit in them without dressers.” She was happy that he didn’t mention children, too.

But he was right, it would be difficult to get any kind of bathing situation finished up with only one bathroom.

“I’m not even sure that the dining room is big enough for much more than a four-top.

Unless you don’t plan on using that room. ”

“I would like to at the holidays. But you’re right. Again. The rooms are just too small.” Emma turned to Colby and looked at him. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It’s like I’m antsy all the time. Like I’m crawling out of my skin.”

All he did was put his hand on her shoulder.

And it was as if he’d cured her of all the things that seemed to be wrong with her.

Her body relaxed, and her mind seemed to just chill out.

Putting her hand over his, she closed her eyes and moaned.

It was the first time in weeks that she felt like a normal person. She asked him what he’d done.

“Nothing but centered you. Sometimes I need it as well. Just to touch from you to know that things are going to be all right.” She asked him again what he’d done.

“Nothing, I promise. All I did was give you comfort. That’s the only thing that I can think of to call it.

Comfort for the both of us. We’ve not been spending too much time together, so this is the only way to keep me from pulling you into my arms.”

“I’m not ready for sex yet. I mean, I’ve been talking to a wolf friend of mine, and he was telling me some things that would happen now that we’re mates.

” She asked him about the point of him going rogue.

“He said that his kind will go mad if they can’t have their mates around them and have to be put down. ”

“We don’t have that. Lions are very laid back when it comes to mates.

However, unlike lions in the wild, we only take one mate, and it’s the forever kind of mates.

I wouldn’t anyway, but I can’t lie to you, not even a small fib.

If you ask me something, it’s going to be the truth, so be prepared.

Also, I won’t have an affair. You’re the only one for me for the rest of my life.

I won’t ever cheat on you either. You can take that to the bank.

” She asked him why that was. “I don’t know, honestly.

It could have something to do with the fact that we fall so hard in love with our mates that there isn’t any room for anyone else.

I know you don’t want to hear this right now, as we’re taking it slow, but I’m in love with you.

I understand that it will take you time to get to know me, but I couldn’t be more in love with you if I’d known you for a thousand years.

And I’ll love you more each day that we’re together as well. ”

“Thank you. I think. Honestly, I don’t know what to think.

But I can now. Before you touched me, it was like I wanted to bite everyone’s head off, and my skin felt like it was peeling off me.

” He said that he gets that way, too, when he can’t talk to her.

“I do feel better after I talk to you. I don’t understand it, but I guess that’s the way it should be. All right, let’s go to the next house.”

The second house was no better than the first one.

The rooms were much too small for even the basics in a bedroom.

There wasn’t a dining room, and the eat-in kitchen was the only place to have a meal.

Even that was too small for what she had in mind.

When she felt herself getting overwhelmed, a new word for how she was feeling, she could just reach out and take his hand into hers, and she felt it all melt away.

The third house had potential. But it would take a lot of work to get it up to standards.

Colby said it might be easier and cheaper to start fresh with a new build.

She kind of liked that idea, too. As they went to the office of the realtor that was going to work with them, she saw a house for sale by owner.

Pulling into the long drive, she didn’t like the way that front porch was cluttered.

Knowing that she’d not do it that way, she got out of the car and reached for Colby’s hand.

It was that or yell at the people for making such a mess of the first thing people would see when they came to visit.

“It’s all fine.” She nodded once at him and put a smile on her face to see the people coming out to greet them. “We can make it into anything we want.”