Page 63 of Billionaire Unbroken - Asher
Fuck!I hated it when my brother could see through my bullshit.
The truth was that Iwasn’tsure if she wanted anything more from our relationship right now. She’d mentioned a relationship with no strings and no promises.
“I don’t,” I admitted. “I think she needs some time. We’ve barely acknowledged the chemistry between us. She has goals she wants to accomplish, Cole. I think she needs to prove to herself that she’s a talented woman with a great career ahead of her. She’s talented. Really talented. Look at her website. All she needs to do is reestablish herself and she’ll have so much demand that she’ll be turning people down.”
“You’ll need to find a new housekeeper,” Cole joked.
“I don’t think of her as my housekeeper anymore,” I informed him. “She’s a woman I care about. I’ll get someone to clean. She’s getting so many new projects that she can’t keep up both jobs anyway. I can’t cook like she does, but I can help with the other stuff. I’m going to have the bonus space on the main floor made into another office for her so she has a private place to work. She’s going to need it.”
“I don’t know if you realize it, brother, but you’re already planning a future with Sierra,” Cole said solemnly.
“Fuck!” I cursed at that. “I realize that, but I can’t seem to stop myself. I’m going to conquer my damn problems and offer her more someday. I guess I’ll have to hope she’s ready to accept it when the time comes.”
“Make her fall in love with you,” he suggested.
“How in the hell can I do that before I completely have my shit together?” I grumbled.
“You’re a good man, Asher,” Cole said adamantly. “Maybe you have things to work on, but that doesn’t affect the guy you are at your core. I know she can already see that. She wouldn’t be with you if she didn’t.”
“I don’t really want to hide the fact that Sierra and I are together,” I told him hoarsely.
Cole chuckled. “You want to claim her. Hell, I know that feeling.”
“To anybody and everybody who will listen,” I confessed.
“Then do it,” he advised. “You’re sleeping together. I don’t think Sierra is going to object. Hell, it might make her feel a little more secure. I get the feeling that she isn’t the type of woman to just casually sleep with someone.”
Hell, I knew that was true.
He had no idea how innocent she was, and I wasn’t about to tell him that she didn’t seem to have a lot of experience with having her body satisfied.
“Maybe,” I said noncommittally.
“What am I going to be missing at Millie’s dinner tonight?” Cole questioned.
“Pot roast, beef noodles, and biscuits,” I told him. “I’m sure there will be some kind of vegetables, and I’ve been told that she’s making a cherry cobbler.”
Cole groaned. “That’s sound good. I’ve never had Millie’s cobbler.”
“I like cherries,” I said. “I’ll eat your share.”
“You’d better grab what you want while you can get it. Kaleb, Tanner, and Devon can put away a lot of food.”
It sounded like it was going to be a lighthearted dinner, and I was actually looking forward to it.
“This is going to make Millie really happy,” Cole said in a serious tone. “She’s wanted you back in the family fold for a long time.”
I knew that, and it had always killed me to hurt my aunt’s feelings because she was such a goodhearted woman, but I hadn’t been ready to try to attend family dinners.
Until recently.
“I think our cousins are good men,” I mused.
“They are,” Cole confirmed. “All of them. I got to know them all better after Lauren and I got engaged. They can be a pain in the ass, but they mean well, and family means everything to them. If you ever needed them, they’d step up to the plate in a heartbeat.”
I’d noticed that with Reese, and she wasn’t even blood family to me. I had no doubt my male cousins would do the same. Devon had made that pretty clear when we’d seen each other at the bar.
“I think I’d like to get to the point where I’d do the same,” I admitted.
