The Reed Security Relationship Manual: A Reed Security Romance, Giulia Lagomarsino [acx book reading .txt] 📗

gathered in the conference room with me. “How are we doing with the relationship manual?”

“I have this angle I’ve been working on,” Ice said. “I call it When is the right time to tell her you love her?”

“Because you know so much about that?” Burg snorted.

“At least I didn’t fall in love with Lindsey in five minutes. Relationships take time,” he shot back.

“I say, you say it when you know,” Craig grinned, leaning back in his seat. “Look at me? As soon as I knew Reese was the one, I didn’t give up until I was sure she knew I loved her.”

Hunter shook his head in disgust. “You stalked her. That’s not the same thing as not giving up.”

“I don’t think you’re one to criticize,” Craig shot back. “I may have ‘stalked’ Reese, but I wasn’t nearly as bad as you.”

I rolled my eyes, tossing a file folder down on the table. “Craig, I’m not even sure that Knight was worse than you. You sold Reese’s house without telling her. You tricked her into marrying you.”

“Yeah, and look at where we are now,” he said, as if we were all stupid. “I’m telling you, women like to know that you’re serious, so you tell them as soon as you know.”

“Hey, this is my chapter, since you all shot down the accidental fucking,” Ice grumbled. “It’s about realizing who you are as a person with your woman, and then taking it to the next level.”

“Right,” Burg laughed. “Ice, you’re the prime example of a man that’s in love and can’t admit it. You denied that you loved her, stayed away from her just so you didn’t have to give in to your feelings, and made the whole thing more difficult on yourself. And then, when you did realize that you were in love, you passed out. Yeah, I’d say you’re the perfect one to give advice on falling in love.”

“Alright, so maybe I made some mistakes along the way, but that’s all the more reason that I should get to have some say in this. I know I’ve fucked up, and I can admit it. Whereas Craig just bashed his woman over the head until she finally gave in. Reese had barely known you for a week when you professed your undying love to her.”

“Some would say that he knew what he wanted and he took the risk,” Burg said.

“Yeah, but Reese didn’t feel the same way. In fact, they hadn’t even gone on a date yet. He was Knight, only he wasn’t dark and smoldering. He was irritating and clumsy,” Ice said. “He bought her a damn wreath.”

“I kind of liked the wreath,” I cut in. “It was definitely different. You have to give him points for originality.”

“Like how he was going to have her arrested for assault?” Hunter asked.

“Hey, at least I didn’t suggest that I break into her house to make her feel unsafe so she would call me,” Craig shot back. “I was trying to make her feel more safe by installing a security system.”

“Didn’t you break into her house and climb into bed with her?” Burg asked.

“Hey, we were married,” Craig snapped.

“Against her will,” I added. “And I believe at that point, she had already told you to fuck off.” I shook my head. “You know, the strange part is that most women are just dying for a man to finally admit that he’s in love. They want it so badly that after just a few weeks of dating, they’re hearing wedding bells. But in Craig’s case, he actually did fall madly in love with her and chose to jump in head first. And she accused him of being insane! So, really, you’re fucked either way. You tell a woman too soon, and she thinks you’re rushing it. But if you don’t tell her soon enough, she thinks you’re emotionally unavailable.”

“Well, I didn’t have any problems,” Burg shrugged. “Emma and I were on the same page from the start. We both knew that what we had was special, and we went for it.”

“Oh God,” Hunter groaned. “Now we have to hear about their perfect love.”

“Burg’s right,” I sighed. “Here’s an example of a confident man that knew exactly what he wanted, and he took it.” He shot a look at Craig. “In the appropriate amount of time.”

“Whatever.”

“Blake and Emma were dancing around their feelings for each other, both of them telling their friends how much they loved each other,” Ice said. “It was nauseating. And what made it so perfect was that they were on the same page, despite having not told each other.”

Hunter shook his head. “You’re lucky you weren’t here yet to watch it unfold.”

“You’re just jealous because Lucy literally ran away from you,” Burg shot back. “You couldn’t even share a drawer.”

“It was a big change,” Hunter snapped. “One minute we were just fucking, and the next we were sharing a house.”

“At your suggestion,” Burg grinned.

“Can we get back to the manual?” Ice asked. “I think you’re all forgetting that we need to have actual ideas to write down.”

I opened my laptop and wrote out Ice’s heading, When is the right time to tell her you love her. “Alright, let’s write it down.”

“Well, first, you don’t tell her until you’re sure she reciprocates your feelings,” Ice said, nodding at all of us.

“Maybe even wait until she says it first,” Hunter suggested.

“You’d be waiting a while,” Burg snorted. “No woman is going to tell you first.”

“Not true,” I said. “Look at Tacos. He couldn’t get Molly off his ass.”

“And look how well that went,” Ice retorted. “I’m telling you, man or woman, you should never be the first to say you love the other person. It just never turns out well.”

“But no woman in her right mind,” Burg stressed, “would tell a man she loves him first. Molly is a different story. We all know she’s a little…out there. But women know that saying I love you first is a relationship killer. Just look