Keeping Her 18+ (Her Series book three)

Alex

After a surprisingly nice breakfast with Wilder's family, he told me he wanted to show me his house. I remember from when we first met how he told me he was planning on building a house on his family's property like all of his brothers did, but I wasn't expecting it to be as beautiful as it is. It's definitely not the bachelor pad I was picturing in my mind.

It's a small single story ranch style house with light gray bricking on the outside. It has a covered front porch with dark wooden flooring. The shutters are white and it has a massive natural stone walkway leading to the steps. There are two beautiful rocking chairs framing the window on the porch and gorgeous planters next to the door. It's breathtaking, and everything I envisioned for the house of my dreams.

"Come see the inside, Goldie." Wilder whispers next to my ear as he and William walk hand in hand through the door.

My jaw drops even further when I see the inside. It's an open floor plan as you walk directly into the spacious living room. Straight ahead you can see a modern white kitchen, and to the left is an open door showing what appears to be a master bedroom. On the right are three more doors to what I assume are bedrooms and a bathroom.

The living room is cozy, with a stone fireplace and oversized couches. The lighting is calming and instantly my muscles relax in the atmosphere.

Wilder looks at me with an expression I can't name before he gets down on his knee and speaks to William.

"Do you want to see your new room?"

"Uh huh. Yep." William says happily.

"It's right in here." Wilder leads us to one of the doors I assumed was a bedroom, which I was right, but it also happens to be my son's bedroom apparently.

I don't know what to say. Part of my momma instincts wants to demand why the hell my son has a room in his house, but then I calm myself down and tell myself that Wilder is his father, so of course he wants his son to have a room in his home.

Opening the door, I see a child's room that makes tears spring to my eyes. William squeals in joy before running inside and checking everything out.

"Breathe, baby." Wilder kisses the side of my head with a huge smile on his face as he wraps one arm around me and watches William.

It's a nice sized bedroom with light gray painted walls and the same dark wood that's in the rest of the house. On one wall is a massive t.v hanging on the wall framed by two white book shelves full of various toys. There's a matching console table under the t.v with even more toys. Another wall has a peg board with all kinds of nerf guns, and on the wall across from the t.v is a twin size platform bed with dinosaur bedding. There's a child's sized recliner at the foot of the bed facing the t.v

"How di–when..." I'm speechless.

"Do you like it?"

"When did you do this?" I finally manage to choke out.

"Last night after I dropped you guys off I had Nash and Alice go to the store with me to help me pick everything out. My brothers and I spent all night fixing it up.

"Wilder." I whisper, before going up on my toes and slamming my lips to his. He growls low in his throat as he grabs the back of my neck and deepens the kiss.

"Mommy look!" William's excited squeal has us breaking apart to watch as he dumps out a box of legos I didn't see in the corner.

"So you like it?" Wilder asks again as he stands behind me and wraps his arms around me while resting his chin on my shoulder while we both watch William play happily.

"It's perfect. I love it." I tell him truthfully.

"Good, baby. That makes me so fucking happy to hear." He says low enough to where only I can hear. "What do you want to do for the rest of the day?" He asks while trailing kisses down my neck, making me shiver in response.

"I have the lunch shift at the diner today." I can't keep the sadness from my voice. If I was being honest, I didn't want to leave at all.

His arms tighten around me so I can barely move. I turn my head and peer up at him and see his jaw clenched.

"What's wrong?"

"You're not going." He says robotically, making my eyes narrow as it takes my brain a moment to catch up to what he just said.

"Excuse me?" I ask incredulously.

"I told Ann you won't be working anymore. You've been busting your ass and working too hard for too long, Goldie. It's time that you get to rest and enjoy life." God, he doesn't even seem a little sorry as the words come out of his infuriatingly sexy mouth.

"What the heck do you mean? I need to work, Wilder."

"No, you don't. You have me now and I'm going to take care of you."

"I don't need you to take care of me. I don't need you, Wilder."