The Tycoon's Revenge(44)

“We may wither away and it will all be your fault,” Ryan said before jumping down and exiting the kitchen. She finished her salad and had the casserole in the oven, so she decided to go work on the library. She was really anxious to get it all put together. She couldn’t wait until the day the shelves were filled from top to bottom. It would take many years but part of the fun was adding new additions to it each week.

She walked in the room and gasped. The guys had unpacked everything and it looked so good. They’d even put proper books together. She only found a few were out of place. She walked back into the living room, where they were sitting and gave Derek a huge hug, which surprised him.

“Thank you so much for putting all the books up, I know it must’ve been a bit of a pain, since I have so many of them,” she gushed at him.

“You’re welcome. I wanted you to start feeling at home. I know this house is a little intimidating,” he said with a shrug.

“It was very sweet of you,” she said with a smile.

“Hey we helped to, where’s our hugs,” Ryan said with a wicked grin. She went over and hugged both him and Drew. Derek glared at his cousins, as they held on a little bit too long to be appropriate. He knew his cousins would never actually try and take his woman but he also knew the men liked to raise his blood pressure and they were doing a fine job.

“I can’t wait to go shopping at all the used book stores and fill those shelves up,” she said eagerly.

“I bet you have them filled up within a week and then will have us over here building you more shelves,” Drew said. Jasmine had always been an avid reader in school. She never went anywhere without at least one book in her bag, for just in case she ended up stuck somewhere. If she had a book, she had a constant form of entertainment.

“I can’t wait to get one of those super cushiony couches so I can go in there and fall asleep with a good book,” she said a bit dreamily.

“Oh Cuz, it looks like you’re getting replaced by a good couch and some book hero,” Ryan teased him.

“You’re both about to be booted out without dinner,” Derek threatened them. They knew he was all talk and they didn’t look the least bit concerned.

The timer on the oven went off and the men immediately headed for the dining room. Luckily Derek had a huge table already and there was plenty of room for all of them. She had the men carry the dishes to the table and then watched in amazement, as everything she made disappeared in no time at all.

“This is good, Mom,” Jacob said. The men quickly agreed with him, in between bites. She felt pretty great, because the kitchen was a dream to cook in and her company had enjoyed her meal.

“Seriously you should open a restaurant,” Drew told her.

“I would never want to do that, because then it would be work and no longer a joy and right now I love to cook, especially when it’s for people who like it,” she answered him.

“Well I can come over every night, so you have an audience,” Ryan offered.

“Anytime you want,” she said, meaning it. She really did care about both of Derek’s cousins and was so glad to have them in her life again. It was like everything had come full circle. Maybe it was time to let the past go and focus on the here and now. Derek was an amazing father and he was being good to her.

She had to be careful with her heart though, because he’d already told her they would only be together long enough for their son to grow up. If she got too attached, it would destroy her when she was kicked from her home and her life.

“When’s the wedding?” Drew said, after they finished off their dessert. Jasmine looked at Derek, because they’d never discussed a time frame.

“I wanted to get settled into the house first so I think in about a month. That would give you enough time right, Jasmine?” Derek asked, putting all the pressure on her.

“That’s plenty of time,” she answered him, feeling a bit of her panic come back.

“Well then it’s settled. We will get married four weeks from today. A Saturday is always a good one to do it on right?” he asked her once again.

“That would be fine but honestly it doesn’t need to be anything fancy. We can just go to the justice of the peace or something. Jacob could still wear a tuxedo there,” she pleaded. She didn’t need to keep adding more memories that would hurt all the more when things were completely over.

“You can’t get married like that. This is your wedding. You’ll want pictures and cake and of course your guests all want food,” Drew said, which surprised her. He was the known playboy and he was talking about a wedding. It didn’t seem to fit.