Page 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

SUTTON

Laurel:

We have a swimming pool in our house

Sutton:

What?

Laurel:

There’s water everywhere

Like literally everywhere

Shoes are floating around

Sutton:

Is this a joke?

Because it’s not funny.

I’m at work, and we’re swamped.

Laurel:

SO IS OUR HOUSE ::sends image::

Sutton:

Is that my favorite hoodie floating next to the couch?

Laurel:

MY favorite hoodie and yes

Sutton:

Fuck

Laurel:

The fuckiest

Well, that was just fucking fabulous.

Between the multiple pukers, the asshole who’d called our clinic incompetent because it was 100% female-run, and the delivery mix-up that left us without coffee, it had already been a day from hell.

And now this.

The clinic was booked for the rest of the day with back-to-back patients, and we were already short-staffed because the flu was going around.

I didn’t want to leave Quinn in the lurch, which meant there was no way I could duck out, even for something like this.

So, instead, I slipped into the back room and called Atlas.

It barely rang once before he answered.

“What’s wrong?”

For some unknown reason, his gruff voice brought a smile to my face.

“Nice to know you’re grumpy even over the phone.”

“Trouble…” he said, his tone making it clear his minimal patience was gone altogether.

I blew out a heavy sigh.

“The cottage is flooded.”

“What do you mean flooded? Is there a burst pipe?”

“No, I mean flooded . The entire house. Our clothes and shoes are floating around.”

“You’re at the cottage? I thought you were at work.”

“I am. Laurel just got home from school and let me know. We’re absolutely buried here, and I can’t?—”

“I’ll take care of it,” he said without hesitation, even as shouts and the distant sound of a whistle carried over the line.

“But you have practice?—”

“I said I’ll handle it,” he cut in, his tone brooking no argument.

“Take care of your patients. I’ll take care of Laurel and find out what’s going on.”

“Are you sure? I can?—”

“See you at home.”

The line went dead before I could respond.

Though, with what, I had no idea.

Thankfully, there was enough activity in the clinic to keep me busy.

Because I definitely didn’t need to analyze the hum of contentment that had settled over me at those handful of gruff words coming from him.

It was our late night at the clinic, which meant I didn’t pull into the driveway until almost seven thirty.

The cottage was dark, not even the porch light shining, but the first floor of Atlas’s home glowed brightly.

I didn’t know how long it took to drain an entire house, but I didn’t think the zero activity coming from the cottage was a good sign.

I grabbed my bag and climbed out of my car, intent on heading toward the cottage, when Atlas’s voice stopped me in my tracks.

“Trouble.” He stood at his back door, the light from inside illuminating his intimidating silhouette.

His features were cloaked in shadow, but somehow I knew he was tracing his gaze over me from head to toe, that quick check of me he always seemed to do.

“Laurel’s in here.”

That didn’t bode well.

If Laurel was at Atlas’s, that probably meant the cottage was uninhabitable.

Though I could have guessed as much from that single picture Laurel had sent me.

But I’d spent the past several hours hoping beyond hope that she was overexaggerating things.

That the camera angle had made it seem worse than it was or she was leaning into that drama she loved so much.

Blowing out a sigh, I changed direction and headed toward him.

“How bad is it?”

Instead of answering, he asked, “Have you eaten?”

“What? No, I— Atlas, how bad is it?”

He grabbed my bag as soon as I was close enough and tipped his head toward the kitchen.

“Eat first. I ordered pizza. I thought your daughter was fucking with me when she said I needed to order three.”

That startled a laugh out of me, my shoulders relaxing for the first time in hours.

“She has a hollow leg when it comes to pizza.”

“More like a hollow body. She ate more than I did. Called me a lightweight.”

“You are a lightweight,” Laurel said from the couch in the family room.

“No one’s ever dared to call me that in my life.”

“Everyone else was probably just scared to tell you the truth, but I’m immune to your scowls,” she shot back.

Either I was delirious from exhaustion and seeing things, or…

had the corner of his mouth actually twitched?

He turned to me, lowering his voice.

“Is she always like this?”

“Pretty much.”

“Quit pretending you don’t like it,” she said.

“Also, how about Cleo?”

“No,” Atlas said without sparing my daughter a glance.

I raised a brow at him in question.

“What’s that all about?”

“She thinks the kitten needs a name.”

“The kitten does need a name,” Laurel said, the you fucking idiot silent.

“I mean, I agree with her,” I said.

“Now, someone fill me in on what’s going on.”

“That’s all you, Daddy Grump,” Laurel called.

I snorted a laugh as Atlas shot her a scowl, but he didn’t put any heat behind it.

He blew out a sigh as he turned back to me.

“The company I usually use to winterize the pool had some issues, so I had to hire someone else.”

“And?”

“ And they’re incompetent fucks, because while they were draining the pool, they managed to flood the entire cottage. It ruined the floors, the drywall, the furniture. Everything needs to be replaced.”

“Great. So, what you’re saying is, we’re fucked.”

“My conclusion exactly,” Laurel said.

“What about our stuff?” I asked Atlas.

We weren’t pack rats by any means and always traveled light.

But that just meant the items we did keep were important to us.

“Laurel packed a bag, and I grabbed some things for you. We can go back and see what’s salvageable after it’s been drained.”

This was a whole fucking lot to take in, and I had no doubt I was still in the shock phase.

But my mind was spinning, trying to figure out a solution for Laurel and me.

“Okay. How long before it’s livable again?”

He rubbed a hand along his jaw and eyed me.

“Depends on supply chains, work schedules, and how much money I throw at the contractors to get it done.”

I leaned against the counter, crossing my arms over my chest. “How long, Atlas?”

“Best-case scenario? A few weeks. The more likely scenario? A couple months.”

Breathing out a laugh, I shook my head as every contingency plan I’d come up with vanished.

“Great. What the hell are we supposed to do until then? There are literally zero rentals in Starlight Cove. Where are Laurel and I?—”

“You two can move in with me.”

His words hit me just as hard as they had last week when he’d demanded the same thing.

I narrowed my eyes at him, my gaze pinging across his stony expression.

“You made them do this.”

He glanced down at me, his brow raised.

“I made them flood my own guesthouse so I could shell out tens of thousands of dollars to have it redone, just to have you move in with me?”

Well, when he said it like that, it did sound over-the-top ridiculous.

“It doesn’t have to be a big deal, trouble.”

Was that true?

Maybe sharing a home with the one man I couldn’t seem to get out of my thoughts—the very same man who made my knees literally weak—wouldn’t be a big deal.

And maybe if I just continued to repeat that to myself, it would eventually be true.

I glanced around Atlas toward Laurel.

She lounged on the couch, the kitten curled up on her chest and a soft smile on my daughter’s face I hadn’t seen in far too long.

“What do you think, Lolo?”

She shrugged.

“My room has an en suite bathroom, and it’s downstairs, all the way on the other side of the house from your bedrooms. Which means I’ll be saved from any sex noises bleeding through the walls.”

I met Atlas’s gaze and swallowed thickly, my mind immediately conjuring memories of when we’d slept together.

Both times. How he’d worked my body in ways I hadn’t even been sure were possible.

His eyes blazed as he stared back at me, jaw tense.

Like he was recalling everything the same as I was and forcibly holding himself back from tossing me over his shoulder and running me upstairs for a repeat.

Good, because that couldn’t happen again.

Now that Laurel and I were stuck here with nowhere else to go, it was even more imperative that I didn’t give in to this attraction sizzling between us.

No matter how much I wanted to.