Page 132 of Heartbroken Husband
“You hid the paperwork.” I rounded the desk and reached for the folder, but he grabbed it first. I giggled but grabbed his wrist to keep him from jerking the folder away. “Give it to me.”
“No.” He leaned back in his chair, stretching his arm as far away from me as he could reach. “This isn’t mature, Adeline. It’s nothing.”
“If it was nothing, you wouldn’t be hiding it.”
“That’s…” He sighed, laughing as he caught me around the waist and hauled me directly into his lap. “Yeah, that’s probably fair.”
I cuddled into him, one of my arms sliding around his neck, but I was still eyeing the folder. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing nefarious.”
“Then why did you hide it like you’re trying to protect nuclear launch codes?”
“It’s supposed to be a surprise,” he admitted reluctantly. “I’m still working on it. I just didn’t realize you’d be home so soon.”
I groaned. “I hate surprises.”
“That’s unfortunate given that we’re parents,” he teased, bringing his mouth unfairly close to my ear. “Every day comes with surprises. Some good. Some bad. Sometimes, Jennifer cuts her own hair at midnight and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“That happened once.”
“She gave herself bangs. That sure surprised me the next morning.” He buried his face against my shoulder, laughing quietly, but with him so warm and all those lean, hard muscles against me, my hormones were dangerously close to taking over.
I touched his cheek when he looked back up at me, forcing myself to focus. “What are you up to? Is it illegal? Is that why you won’t tell me?”
Zach leaned back in his chair, blissfully ignoring my continued pleading for information. “It’s. A. Surprise.”
“You’re evil, but just know that if this surprise involves a horse, I’m saying no. I know the girls want a pony, but you can’t just give them everything they ask for as soon as they ask.”
“Why not?”
My eyes narrowed again. “So itdoesinvolve a horse?”
“It doesn’t.” He grinned. “It doesn’t involve a boat either.”
I frowned. “A boat?”
“Yeah. Jennifer has a friend whose dad has a boat. She wanted to know if we could get one too, but I told her I already had one. A yacht, but that counts as a boat, right?”
“Of course, you have a yacht. Who doesn’t?” I dropped my face into his shoulder and just breathed him in, still trying to comprehend that this was my life now, but ultimately, I didn’tcare about ponies or yachts. I just wanted him—andfor him to be honest with me. “What is it, Zach?”
He barked out a laugh so suddenly, I started. “You can’t take that tone with me, Adeline. Seriously, it’s not fair. This is nothing to get emotional about.”
I lifted my head for the express purpose of giving him a blank look. “Right now, everything is something for me to get emotional about.”
He let out a long, low groan and finally relented. “I’m planning a month-long trip to Europe for the four of us.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Are you serious? Why?”
“Jennifer wants to see castles and Lu wants to see, and I quote,the dead people under the cathedrals. I figured we could stay with Will and Eliza for part of it while we bop around.”
“Bop around?” I repeated.
He grimaced. “I was trying to sound spontaneous and whimsical. That’s romantic, right?”
“There’s nothing whimsical about going to live in your brother’scastlefor amonthwhile we hop aroundEurope. Also,spontaneousdoesn’t usually come with an entire folder full of paperwork, but that might just be me.”
I still wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly though, too many emotions sneaking up on me all at once. A year ago, I’d been drowning, alone, and struggling to keep it together enough to get through every day.
