Bud left the B&B and headed to their main laundromat. He physically checked in with all their properties at least once a month, and it sometimes took him two full days to make the rounds. Texas and one of their newer members were manning the laundromat’s office, with Texas showing Slash how to run things. Slash was a bobcat and had this habit of producing a single claw to cut shit instead of reaching for his knife.

Bud had been there perhaps twenty minutes, looking over the laundry equipment as well as the electronics and furniture, when Slash said, “My ol’lady says Nickie might’ve found a house in Buckhead. Even with the family discount, it’ll be a serious paycheck for us if she closes on it. She’s still looking though, not ready to put an offer on it yet.”

Bud froze a few seconds before asking, “They’re looking today?”

“You didn’t know?”

Bud hadn’t known Nickie had contacted a Realtor, much less that she was looking already, but he minimized it by saying, “Didn’t know she had plans for the day.”

He’d been relieved when he saw Nickie’s house in Pennsylvania. He’d worried for so long about moving Nickie into his house, or finding a different one that could be their home. As rich as she was, how would he ever afford something up to her standards?

When he’d seen her house, he’d relaxed. His place was bigger. Even if she wanted to find something else, he’d easily be able to afford the kind of house she’d want.

However, if she was looking in the Buckhead area, she was looking at mansions. Fuck.

Bud finished up at the laundromat and called their control room once he was out on the sidewalk.

“Where’s my ol’lady?”

The address was in Druid Hills — where the mansions were just as big as Buckhead. Fifteen minutes later, Bud parked his bike in the driveway of a home big enough to be a small luxury hotel. He recognized Slash’s ol’lady’s Lexus. How had Nickie known who to use? The answer came to him as soon as he thought it. Gen. It seemed Nickie was officially plugged into the ol’lady network.

The front door was unlocked and Nickie’s scent still lingered, so he walked in and said, “Honey, I’m home.”

Footsteps sounded overhead and a few moments later Nickie came down the beautiful curved marble staircase. “Bud! I thought you had a full day. What are you doing here?”

“You didn’t think I needed to know you were looking at houses?”

“I’m in town, I’m safe, and I still intend to meet you at the restaurant at six for dinner.”

She didn’t seem to understand the issue, and Bud said, “You’re looking at fucking houses, Nicole.”

“Right, because sometimes it takes longer to close than one might expect. I have plenty of time left at the condo, but it can’t hurt to go ahead and start looking in case this takes a while.”

“Without me. You’re looking at houses without me.” Fuck, why was she being so dense?

Her face reflected genuine surprise, and her vivid blue eyes opened wider despite her furrowed brows. “You wanted to come?”

“You don’t see us livin’ together at some point?”

“We’ve only been together seven weeks, Bud. We aren’t ready for that conversation yet!”

“Nearly two whole months, and we’ve lived and experienced more in those seven weeks than most folks do in a lifetime. You’re the woman for me. How long until you realize I’m the man for you?”

“I don’t know. A year or two?”

He shook his head. “That doesn’t work for me.”

“You think you’re going to live with me?”

“No, but I hoped you’d live with me.”

“Don’t be difficult.”

Bud’s wolf wanted to turn her over and belt her ass, but Bud didn’t trust himself to do it. The man and wolf were both pissed. One of them needed to calm down.

Bud turned, walked out the door, put his helmet on, and roared away. He needed to get away from her before he did something he’d regret.

* * *

When he was gone, Elizabeth came into view. “Wow. He didn’t know?”

“I’m buying the house, not him. He has his own house. Why should he need to know?”

“Our men need to be, you know, the man of the house. Doesn’t matter you haven’t been dating long. If he’s decided you’re his, he’ll want you with him and he’ll want to be the provider. My income pays for the extras, for the fun stuff, but Slash insists on providing the necessities.”

Nickie shook her head. “He’ll have to get over it. I don’t like this house as much as the one in Buckhead, but I like this area better.”

“I have more to show you in this area. You sure you want to keep looking without Bud?”

“Yes. Like I said, he’ll have to get over it. The caveman stuff only goes so far. I need a house before the lease on the condo runs out, so I’m going to buy one. I’ll never need anyone to take care of me, and Bud wouldn’t love me if he didn’t respect that about me.”

Two more viewings and Nickie found the exact house she wanted — and knew in her heart Bud would love it too. She hadn’t been looking for houses with him in mind, but now that she knew how he felt, she was happy to find one that met his needs as well as hers. This home was totally enclosed by a tall privacy fence, had a huge garage, lots of windows and outdoor living areas, a beautiful pool with a waterfall crashing into it, huge hardwood trees at the back of the property, and a small covered walkway to an office area. The current homeowners had it set up as a meditation and yoga room, but the original owner had used it as a home office. It had a small kitchenette with a full-sized refrigerator, an elegant little bathroom, and plenty of space in the actual office. It was perfect.

She called Bud. “I found the home I want to make an offer on. If you want to be part of this, you should come.”

“Text me the address and I’ll be there as quick as traffic allows.” His voice was tight, his words sharp. He was pissed, but Nickie hadn’t expected him to be friendly. They needed to talk, but she didn’t want to risk losing this house by waiting an extra day to make an offer.

“I’m less than ten miles from the clubhouse. See you soon.”

Not even a full minute later, Elizabeth’s phone signaled a text. “Slash says I need to make myself scarce when he gets here. I’ll go sit in my car. Let me know when you’re ready for me to come back in. It’s against the rules, but I know ya’ll won’t steal anything.” She looked at her phone again. “We have the place for another two hours before the homeowners are due in from work. If you want to place an offer, I’m going to recommend you back off about ten percent of the asking price, but I’ll run some numbers from the car and have an exact figure when you’re finished with Bud.”

Nickie felt the air pressure in the room change when Bud walked in. Elizabeth had left when they heard his bike, so Nickie was alone in the foyer.

“Let me show you around,” said Nickie. “I hope you love it as much as me.”

“No. We need to talk before I see the house. I left before because I didn’t trust myself to spank you, but that’s what’s about to happen.” He looked to the left, into the formal living room. “Pull your pants and panties down and bend over the piano bench.”

“No! I had no idea you were thinking of moving in together! You hadn’t brought it up and I wasn’t thinking we were even close to being ready after seven weeks! You can spank me for fun if you want, but I won’t bend over for a punishment spanking from you for this.”

Bud took four steps to her, lifted her over his shoulder, and the world turned upside down as he headed into the living room.

“Rosso! Dammit. No! Red! Rosso!”

He stopped walking. “Fuck. You can’t be serious.”

“Rosso! Put me the fuck down! We agreed you won’t punish me unless I agree I was in the wrong, and I wasn’t! I had no idea you’d already jumped to thoughts of us living together!”

Bud settled her gently on her feet, made sure she had her balance and turned for the front door.

“Don’t you dare leave until we’ve talked this through.”

He turned and crossed his arms. “Talk.”

“I’m sorry I hurt your feelings. I told you from the beginning — I don’t know what I’m doing, but as soon as I found the one I liked, I called you. If I’d have known how you felt from the beginning, I’d have told you before I started looking. I didn’t know, but that’s your fault for not telling me. Still, I’m genuinely sorry I hurt your feelings.”

“What if I don’t like this one? Would it matter? This is all your decision? Do I get to see the other options?”

“I’m paying for it.”

He sighed. “Shadow texted me as I arrived, says this one’s listed for a little over two million dollars, with payments of around ten grand a month if I finance it. I can easily handle half that, but my house is paid for and is worth more than a half million. I have assets I can sell worth another couple hundred grand.” He shrugged. “I should be able to handle the entire mortgage payment if it’s a house I want to live in bad enough.”

Nickie remembered Elizabeth’s advice, and heard the undercurrent of what Bud was saying. She didn’t want him buying a house she lived in, but she wasn’t opposed to them buying it together. She chose her words carefully. “If we buy it together, go in halves, how will that work? I was planning to buy it outright, and it would be awkward having you pay me any kind of monthly mortgage or rent or whatever.”

“You can put fifty percent down and I’ll handle the other fifty percent. I’ll pay it to the bank, not you.”

When she didn’t say anything, he sighed and turned to look out the window. “Look, my wolf wants to own whatever house we live in, but I get that you can afford something bigger than me, and I won’t expect you to downsize just for me if this is what you want. I’d struggled with how to handle it, but then had hopes I could buy a house you’d like when I saw your home in Pennsylvania. Why are you going bigger?” He looked around and finally met her gaze again, his green eyes troubled. Sad. “This is the mansion I assumed you had all along.”

He turned away from her again, towards the window, and she talked fast to try to assure him it was going to be okay — to let him know she was willing to take the scary fucking step of admitting she was planning her life around him being in it for a long-damned time.

“I figure I’ll be home more in the future, and I won’t be selling it in a few years to move somewhere else. I’m putting down roots.” He still didn’t turn to face her so she walked around him, into his line of vision. “For the first time in my adult life, I feel like I’ve found home, and it’s because of you. I thought it was too soon to tell you, but I’m seeing now that perhaps it isn’t. You told me to let you know when I’d moved past thinking I loved you, and I’m there. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” He said it, but he stepped away from her to look out of a different window. “I felt as if I didn’t matter when I found out you were house hunting without telling me. Disenfranchised. Excluded. It hurt. Not just me, the wolf’s pissed and hurt, too.”

Damn. He’d done so much for her, the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. She started to ask how she could make it right, but she knew. She knew.

Without saying a word, she unfastened her belt, unbuttoned and unzipped her dress pants, and let them slide to the hardwood floor. She slid her panties down until gravity took over and they hit the floor, and she stepped out of the fabric. Her heels clicked on the stone floor with every step towards the piano bench. With her stomach in her throat, she bent at the waist and settled her hands on the piano bench, her back arched and her bottom in the air.

“I’m sorry. Please make us right again.”

Instead of belting her, he walked to her and pulled her into his arms. “Later. Just offering yourself is enough, for now. If we buy this one, I don’t want our first memory here to be me punishing you. Let me help you get dressed so you can show me why you love this house.” He kissed her forehead. “Besides. You’re right. I didn’t tell you what was in my head so you had no way of knowing. We’re good, and I love you, too.”

This time, his eyes and body matched the words, and a wave of vertigo passed through every cell in her body. He held her tighter for a second, as if he knew, and with his wolf’s senses, he probably did. It passed quickly, and suddenly she wanted to show him the house she hoped they could begin sharing their life in.

“Good. We love each other and I went all girly. We’re in someone else’s house though, so let’s work on seeing if we want to make it ours. Help me get dressed, and then we’ll start with the six-car garage in the basement, in addition to the two-car garage by the kitchen on the main floor.”