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

kiss. I planted one on his cheek, then took a seat across from him at the island.

“Today was interesting,” I sighed, leaning on my hand. “Rocco thinks he got Brooke pregnant, so he’s rushing to get his rulebook ready for when they get married.”

“Why?” he asked, pulling out a bottle of wine and pouring me a glass.

“Because he thinks she’s going to get all hormonal, and he needs her to sign it before she gets too crazy.”

He snorted and went back to stirring supper. “He realizes that it would never hold up in a court of law, right?”

“Logically, I think he knows that, but he can’t let go of the damn book.”

“I can understand why.”

I stared at him in confusion. Did Ryan think a rulebook was a good idea? “What do you mean?” I asked carefully, not wanting to give him any ideas.

He shrugged. “It’s just…when you’re married, each party has their own expectations. When you lay it out in a rulebook, legal or not, it makes things pretty clear.”

I leaned against the counter, narrowing my eyes at him. “And what kind of things would you put in a rulebook?”

“Oh no,” he chuckled. “I’m not falling for that one.”

He pulled out five plates and started dishing out food on each one.

“You obviously have an opinion on it. I want to know what it is.”

“No,” he said, waving his spatula at me. “I know where this is going. I’ll say what I like about it, and then you’ll rip me to shreds, dissecting everything I say and manipulating it until I don’t even know what I originally meant.”

“Does that sound like something I would do?” I asked, quirking an eyebrow at him.

“I plead the fifth.” He walked over to the stairs and shouted upstairs. “Dinner!”

He came back over, grabbing the plates as I grabbed the silverware and the glasses. I filled the kids’ glasses with milk and then sat down as they all sat and chattered around the table. But I couldn’t let this go. Did he think we needed a rulebook? And if so, what would his rules be?

I set down my fork and dove in. “So, I’m really curious as to what your rules would be.”

“I already told you that I’m not doing this.”

“Doing what?” Piper asked.

“Daddy thinks we need a rulebook for our marriage.”

“Like I have in school?”

“Exactly,” I nodded.

“No, not like that,” Ryan chuckled. “For instance, if Mommy didn’t rinse her dish, I wouldn’t waterboard her until she agreed to do it.”

“I wouldn’t get waterboarded over something like that in school,” Piper said.

“See?” I tilted my head to the side, smirking at him.

“It would have to be something much worse, like discharging my gun when people were around.”

Ryan looked from her to me and shook his head. “I’m so glad that our daughter is learning the normal way to deal with these scenarios. Then again, most kids don’t go through military training at the age of eight.”

“Look on the bright side, when boys start coming around, you won’t have to shoot them.”

“Thank god for that,” he muttered.

I pointed my fork at her after taking a bite. “She’ll do it for you.”

I grinned when he slowly looked up at me, shaking his head.

“Alright,” he said, placing his elbows on the table. “You want to know what kind of rules I would have in our marriage contract?”

“Please, enlighten me.”

“Well, for one, there would be no talk about killing people at the dinner table.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Piper asked.

“I’m with Dad,” Ryder sighed. “Can’t we just talk about normal stuff?”

Ryan grinned at me, clasping his hands together in satisfaction. “What kind of stuff do you want to talk about?”

Ryder shrugged. “You know, like Dad’s business. I like going to work with him.”

“See?” Ryan pointed to himself. “Good influence.”

“And I like hanging out with Logan. He was telling me about head the other day.”

Ryan spit out his water, choking as Piper got up and slapped him on the back. “He did what?”

“Yeah, he said something about how someday I would get head and it would be the best thing ever. I don’t know what it is, but I can’t wait to be old enough to get it!”

“Yeah, great influence,” I grinned mockingly. “If I had something to put in the contract, it would be that your friends aren’t allowed to discuss certain topics with our kids.”

“Oh, so sex is bad, but killing people is perfectly fine?”

“It is when you’re talking about self-defense.”

“Waterboarding is not self-defense!” Ryan shouted.

“That’s only done when they do something really bad,” I sighed heavily.

“Fine, I want to add to the marriage contract that when we get home at night, nobody talks about anything that happened during their day.”

“So, you want us to all be quiet?” Piper asked.

“Exactly! No talk about anything. Everyone just sits down and reads a book.”

“Or a magazine?” Piper asked.

“Sure.”

“Guns and Ammo?”

Ryan turned his glare on me.

“Hey, I didn’t make her read it.”

“No, you just left it out for her to read.”

“Well, if we’re only allowed to read books, then we’ll also have to do away with the Harry Potter marathons when James comes home.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Fine, he’s getting too old for those anyway.”

“I’ll say. He’s twenty-five.”

“And nobody goes to bed until the kitchen is clean and the entire house has been picked up,” he shot back.

I snorted. “Yeah, we wouldn’t want the clean-freak in you to have a conniption.”

“Having a clean house is not a bad thing.”

“No, but standing over me as I do the dishes and pointing out how I should be doing them is likely to make me stab you one day.”

“I’ve seen her do it,” Piper grinned. “She’s good at it.”

“I don’t stand over you and watch you do the dishes,” Ryan shot back.

“Yes, you do. Every single night. Why do you think I’ve been staying later at work?”

“I didn’t realize it was so terrible to live with me. I try to make this a nice place to live. I’m sorry that’s so hard for