Chapter 15

CHAPTER15

“You’ll pay for this,” came the warm greeting when Eric answered his phone, which, if he was going to be honest, was understandable considering that he’d been forced to blackmail his uncle into selling him this house.

“You really didn’t leave me with much of a choice,” Eric reminded him with a satisfied sigh as he took in the incredibly beautiful Victorian house that he knew that Morgan wouldn’t be able to resist.

“I could always keep the house,”Uncle Jared pointed out when they both knew that he had no intention of going back on their deal.

“That really wouldn’t work for me,” Eric murmured absently as he grabbed their bags and made his way up the stairs, noting the ugly off-green siding that Morgan probably decided had to go within seconds of seeing it.

This was definitely going to work.

Last night, after he’d realized that his plan to stay at the resort wasn’t going to work, he’d started making calls, searching for something, any-fucking thing, that would give him a chance, knowing that the only way that he was going to pull this off was if Morgan was in her element. She was never more relaxed than when she lost herself in a job.

He’d called everyone he knew, debated starting on Baker House or one of the many projects waiting for them early but…

He’d needed something better.

He’d been seconds away from giving up and trying to make the resort work after all when Uncle Ethan told him about a certain property that his brother accidentally came across a year ago and hadn’t been able to get to yet, and one that Eric knew without a doubt would be the one thing that Morgan wouldn’t be able to resist. Finding out that his great-grandfather built this house with help from his father all but guaranteed that Eric would do anything to get his hands on this house.

Even cross a line.

Knowing that he didn’t have a choice, Eric called up his uncle and asked him how much he wanted for the house, which, of course, led to his uncle fucking with his head for his own amusement. That’s when he found out that his uncle had been waiting for this moment, hoping to get his hands on Baker House and leaving him with no other choice but to do the unthinkable, mostly out of spite.

“Who told you?”Uncle Jared demanded as Eric walked into the foyer and took in the gray wall-to-wall carpet and just fucking sighed as he dropped their bags by the door.

“Does it matter?” Eric asked, wondering just how badly the previous owner had fucked this place over.

From what he’d been told, the previous owner had been a dentist who’d decided to try his hand at flipping houses, sparing no expense as he’d tried modernizing this house, hoping to make a small fortune when he sold it, only to lose the house in foreclosure when he ran out of money. Before he’d lost the house, he’d managed to have a new roof put on, had the electricity updated as well as the plumbing, which Eric was really hoping the previous owner didn’t try to do himself, but one look at the fucked-up cheap wainscotting lining the wall, the blotched paint job, and the cheap carpet beneath his feet told him everything that he needed to know.

This was going to cost a fortune to fix.

Thankfully, he had a small fortune at his disposal thanks to Morgan keeping Bradford Remodeling busy over the past year, Eric thought as he leaned over and grabbed hold of the corner of the carpet and sighed, just fucking sighed when he saw the mess that consisted of staples, nails, and glue waiting for him. Releasing the crudely cut carpet, Eric stood up and made his way into what looked like a home office and took in everything that needed to be fixed, from the gray carpet that had to go to the cheap plywood shelves that had been stained at least two shades darker than the original bookshelves that had been nailed into place to the doors that had been painted white with what looked like primer.

“We could always discuss why you decided to try salvaging your ruined honeymoon by dragging Morgan along, only to end up trying to blackmail me after one day,”Uncle Jared drawled as Eric’s gaze flickered to the stairs where Morgan most likely headed since she liked to work her way from the top down when they took on a new job.

“I thought we were discussing how I found out the real reason why Aunt Megan ended up getting banned from her favorite grocery store,” Eric said, hoping to distract his uncle and already knowing that he would pay for this one day. Out of all the rules that his family held sacred, keeping your mouth shut about a ban was probably at the top of the list, considering their history of getting banned from restaurants, grocery stores, and, thanks to his little brother, a lemonade stand. He-

“So, Theo called me last night,” Uncle Jared drawled, making Eric bite back a curse as he promised himself that he would beat the shit out of the little bastard the next time he saw him.

“I just bet he did,” Eric murmured, not really all that surprised that his little brother tried fucking him over.

“Something about you thinking that Morgan is desperate,”Uncle Jared drawled, sounding really fucking amused as Eric made his way past the grand staircase that was a fucking nightmare.

“Of course, he did,” Eric asked, sighing heavily as he walked into the kitchen that was going to have to be completely gutted at some point, even as he noted the brand-new refrigerator, dishwasher, and the stove that they weren’t going to need during the renovation since they normally lived on takeout. That, and Morgan couldn’t cook to save her life, Eric thought with a heartfelt sigh as he noted the large cardboard boxes on the kitchen table draped in a sheet marked “Pans and bowls” and “Kitchen Misc.” that Aunt Megan most likely packed for them.

His gaze flickered to the cabinets made of particleboard that were going to have to be torn out and-

“You love Morgan.”

“More than anything,” Eric said with absolutely no hesitation as he opened the pantry door and added gutting the pantry to the growing list of things to do when he saw the wire shelves installed at an odd angle, the puke-green paint job, and the cheap linoleum floor that was already peeling.

“And you just realized that?”Uncle Jared asked, sounding curious.

“I’ve always known,” Eric said as he closed the pantry door and moved onto the set of doors on the other side of the large kitchen, taking in the decent-sized bedroom before he opened the door next to it, revealing the backstairs.

“And Amber?”

“Was a mistake,” he admitted, wishing like hell that he’d figured that out sooner.

From the start, he’d made sure that she knew that he didn’t love her, wasn’t even sure that he was capable of falling in love with her, and she’d taken that as a fucking challenge, doing everything that she could short of sex to entice him into marrying her and he’d stupidly convinced himself that it was time to let go. He just…

He never would have been able to go through with it.

All it would have taken was one look at Morgan while he stood at that altar and he would have fucking broke. It wouldn’t have mattered that she didn’t love him, he just couldn’t marry another woman knowing just how fucking much he loved her.

“What’s the plan?”Uncle Jared asked, getting to the point, which he appreciated at the moment.

“To stop fucking this up,” Eric said, deciding that he should probably go find the woman in question and put his plan into action.