Page 57 of Savage Surrender

She ignores my sarcasm and turns toward the windows again, laughing under her breath. “I own a beach house. A really fucking beautiful beach house. There’s a hot tub out there. I own that too?”

“You do. I’m willing to help you test it and make sure it still works.”

“Of course.” She points toward the stairs. “How many bedrooms are there?”

“Enough.”

“That’s not a number,” Weller says.

I don’t look away from Bianca. “Go count them.”

“When did you do this?” she asks.

“Four days before graduation. After you announced you’d never been to the beach, and our discussion about taking you somewhere private... Let’s just say I had a ridiculous amount of money doing nothing in a trust from my grandparents.”

Freddie blinks. “So you went out and bought her a house?”

“I considered the whole island, but it wasn’t for sale.”

Weller’s frustration is aimed in my direction and his scent sharpens into the first clean edge of jealousy.

Beautiful.

“Damn.” Her smile turns wicked. “Am I that good of a kisser?”

My attention drops to her mouth. “That kiss made me want to give you plenty. Especially after that little sound you made when I put my hand around your throat.”

Her lips part, and her voice is soft when she says, “We weren’t even together. We hadn’t talked about being together... or what this was...” She gestures between all of us.

“The house came with no strings attached. You could’ve told us to fuck off the next day and kept the house.”

“You would’ve given me all this and let me walk?”

“I would’ve made walking away a huge pain in your ass, but yes.”

She searches my face again, slower this time. Whatever she finds strips some of the tension from her shoulders.

“The four of us talked about inviting you away with us,” I say. “I was going to suggest this place after the party, make it look casual, then hand you the keys once we were here.”

Bianca blinks. “All four of you knew?”

“That we wanted you? Painfully aware of that for a really long time. But the house was a secret, even from them. Their faces right now are a long-awaited gift to myself.”

“You’re such a pretentious asshole,” Owen growls, and flips me off.

Worth the wait.

Bianca laughs again, but it catches on the way out. “Honestly, I would’ve been so nervous on a trip with the four of you. I could barely handle kissing you without needing to go home and - never mind. This is really sweet.”

My grip tightens against the edge of the island. “Now that’s a story I want in detail.”

Her cheeks turn pink. “Maybe later.”

“It is later. Five years later, actually.”

“Tristan.”

“How many times?”