Page 56 of Hunted (Desert Island Duet #2)

The house sits on a heavily treed lot, with no neighbors visible and I can even hear the sound of ocean waves, so I think the house must be right on the water.

The house is a mixture of rustic and modern.

There are dark wooden beams on some parts of it, but it also has large glass windows facing the treed areas.

Black accents are scattered throughout the siding and window trim.

It’s a gorgeous home, about the size of ours from what I can see here.

“Darla?” I turn to Reece in question, wondering what we’re doing here. “We were thinking that our house isn’t ideal for all of us, not anymore. I’ve had my realtor here, Michael, keeping an eye out for any appropriate properties, and this one just became available.”

I turn my wide eyes back to the house in question. “You want to buy this place?”

He shrugs, watching me carefully. “Maybe. We haven’t seen it yet, either.

We thought we could all look at it together and see if it will suit our needs.

All of us have different things we’d like from a home, and we can guess at what you’d like, but it’ll be your home too, so we want to make sure it has everything you want. ”

“Don’t forget we can renovate anything we don’t like,” Kingsley adds.

“What do you say, shall we take a look?” Bower asks, practically bouncing on his feet in excitement.

“Yeah, okay.” I nod, unsure what else to say.

I haven’t even seen the inside yet, but I’m already loving the fact that it seems to be surrounded by a large fence and the whole rustic modern aesthetic is gorgeous.

And by the sound of those waves, I’m hoping it has at least a partial view of the ocean.

Michael leads us into the house and I’m instantly in love. It reminds me of the house we stayed at in Madagascar. The back wall is floor-to-ceiling windows, looking directly out to the ocean. I quickly walk over and push the sliding glass door open, stepping onto the huge deck.

You could have a party on this thing, it's so big! It extends the whole width of the house and is at least twenty feet deep in some parts. I move to the railing and lean on the black frame, staring out at the ocean. I instantly feel a wave of peace flow over me.

“This feels like home,” I whisper to myself. I’m not sure if it’s specifically the ocean, or that combined with the design of the home and the security it’s already bringing me, but I know it’s true. I just hope the guys like it, too.

I turn around to ask what they’re looking for and find them all staring at me with varying degrees of smiles on their faces. I can’t help but blush from the intense attention they are giving me, and I bite my lip nervously. “Why are you looking at me like that? ”

“It’s just good to see you look so happy,” Kingsley says with a smile.

“You look at home here,” Weston adds.

“I feel at home,” I admit. “Is that bad?”

“Of course not,” Kingsley rushes to reassure me.

“We haven’t even seen inside yet. What if it’s too small or… ugly?”

“We’ll renovate it,” Reece says with a shrug.

“Come on.” Weston holds out his hand for me to take. “Instead of talking about it, let’s go look at it. Maybe it’s already perfect.” I grab his hand, and he leads me inside.

Turns out, he was right. The home is perfect for us.

It has six bedrooms, four bathrooms, and an open-plan kitchen, living, and dining room.

Downstairs has a large movie theatre room that I can't wait to snuggle up in with my guys and some popcorn. There’s also a large gym that the guys were very enthusiastic about.

Out back there is a large hot tub, big enough to fit us all at once, and my mind starts to show me some naughty ideas for what we can get up to in there. There’s also a handful of trees that look like they’d be awesome to climb.

When we take the short wooden path through some tall grass to the beach, I find myself looking in both directions for signs of the neighbors. I can’t even see their houses from this spot, and the beach is completely deserted.

“The closest houses are about a mile in each direction,” Michael points out.

Wow, we might own more of the surrounding trees than I originally thought.

Maybe there’s space there where I can try recording some survival videos.

I’ve been thinking about it a lot over the past few days.

I need to do something with my time, and the guys already pointed out the fact that people already know who I am. I won’t be able to avoid fame anymore.

I may as well do something useful with that knowledge and teach some survival skills.

A survival channel on YouTube seems like the best idea.

It would provide the content for free to anybody that wants to see it.

And I know the guys will help me record and upload it, as that sort of technology is still a bit foreign to me.

While I was in the hospital, I watched lots of survival shows on the tablet to get an idea of what others were doing, and what I could do that’s different.

Although the ones I watched were great, and would have been even better if I saw them before I got stranded, I could tell none of them had actually spent any significant time on their own in the wild.

It showed me gaps in their knowledge that I could fill.

Just the thought of helping people to survive brings a smile to my face. Maybe I don’t have to completely give up my island ways, after all.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile so much,” Weston says, as he comes to stand in front of me, placing a hand on my waist and pulling me against him.

I place my hands on his chest as I look up at his own smile. “I kind of love this place. I’m already picturing things we could do here.”

“What sort of things?” he asks as his eyes turn heated.

“Well… For starters, that hot tub looked awfully enticing.”

“Hmm… What else?” His fingers dig into my waist, and he pulls me flush against him. I can already feel him getting hard.

“The beach looks pretty isolated, too,” I murmur, turning my head from side to side. I notice Reece talking to Michael and that reminds me we’re not alone out here.

“Is it? All I can seem to focus on right now is you. ”

“Me?” I ask, fluttering my eyelashes at him as he starts to dip his head towards me.

“You’ve never looked so beautiful as when you’re happy, like this.”

“Weston?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“I love you.” His smile grows wider as his eyes dance with heat.

“I love you, too. More than anything.”

“Kiss me,” I demand, unable to resist that look a moment longer.

The moment his lips meet mine, I feel the world melt away. The sound of the waves and the moan in my throat are the only things that penetrate our little bubble.

He takes his time with the kiss, as if we have all the time in the world. And I suppose, in some ways, we do.

Someone clears their throat, making Weston growl in annoyance. I pull back with a giggle and his scowl instantly softens when he sees my face.

“Sorry, but we aren’t alone here,” Kingsley reminds us, nodding towards where Michael is standing with Reece.

Weston reluctantly releases me, and we all head back to the house. When we’re standing in the large living area, Michael says he’ll give us a moment to talk in private, leaving the five of us alone.

“So? What does everyone think?” Reece asks, his eyes scanning the others before landing on me.

“What do you guys think?” I ask, not wanting to tell them how much I love it if they aren’t all in, too.

“I want to make sure you like it, Tink. But personally, I think it’s perfect.”

I can’t stop the huge smile from covering my face. “Me, too.”

“I love it, it has everything we need,” Kingsley adds.

I turn to Weston, who’s holding my hand and watching me. “What about you? Do you like it, Weston?”

“The fence is great. Doesn't stop people coming in from the ocean side but it has a really good security system. I think we can feel pretty secure here.”

“Reece?” I ask, turning to the last of my men.

“If you love it, I love it.”

“No,” I say, shaking my head. “You have to have your own opinion of it. What do you like about it?”

He steps closer as he tells me, “I like that it makes you happy. What else do I need?”

“Reece…” I warn, seeing the heat in his eyes as they dip to my lips. His hands land on my waist as he pulls himself closer to me.

“One little taste…” he murmurs, dipping his head towards mine.

There’s no denying this man. Not only is he gorgeous and sexy, but he seems to make it his mission in life to make me happy.

He’s constantly figuring out what I need before I know I need it.

Like this house. I hadn’t even realized that our current house didn’t really feel like a home. But he saw it. He saw me.

I press up on my toes, my lips meeting his and he groans in approval. I open to him, and he instantly takes control, sending a wave of heat through my body until my panties start to grow damp.

He slowly pulls back and groans in frustration. “I love you, darling, but you’re still injured, and Michael will be back any minute.” I nod my head, unable to use words right now. Why did he have to get me so worked up just to stop when it was getting good ?

“So, do you guys want to make an offer?” Michael asks a moment later when he steps back into the room.

Reece glances at each of us, and we all nod in approval. Then he turns to Michael with a smile. “Yes, let’s sign the paperwork.”

Reece makes sure that all five of our names are on the offer.

He said he wants us all to feel like equal owners in the house, and it makes my heart swell with happiness.

I know he had a hard time letting Weston into his life at the beginning, but I think they now realize they have the same goal in life.