Read Aligned: Volume 4 for Free Online Page A

would be quick. I suspect she is ready to get her million-dollar commission. I suspect she thought this would be an easy payday. It’s not been, though.  
    “What about something smaller and cozier? What about something more secluded?”  
    The realtor looks at Landon, who nods in agreement. He doesn’t seem to have an opinion about where we live, or if he does, he is keeping it to himself. So far, he has gone along with whatever I say.  
    The realtor pulls out her phone. “Just give me a few minutes to see if I can find something more cozy . Are we still looking at the same budget?”  
    Landon glances at me before answering. “Yes.”  
    We both watch as she hurries outside to go find us something that better fits what I want. Although, I’m still not sure I know what I want.  
    “Is something going on?” he asks.  
    “No.”  
    He moistens his lips as he moves closer to me until he is holding me in his arms. “It just seems to me like you don’t want to move in together. Have you changed your mind?”  
    I shake my head. “No. I just realized I don’t want this big of a house. I don’t want maids to help me clean it and take care of it. I don’t want guards to protect all of our expensive things. I just want something simple something that is just the two of us. I might change my mind later. If we take our relationship to the next level, maybe, but I don’t want that right now. It feels too much like ...”  
    He narrows his eyes. “Like the house Ethan bought you.”  
    I nod.  
    “But we can buy something better than what Ethan bought you. We can get something even grander. We have the money. We could buy a house with twenty bedrooms and thirty something bathrooms.”  
    I raise my eyebrows at him as I lean back to look in his eyes. “And what will we do with all of these bedrooms?”  
    He shrugs innocently as he smiles cockily. His lips crash with mine as his tongue slips into my mouth for just a second, teasing me with what he wants before pulling away. “We could fill them.”  
    My mouth drops. I had no idea Landon wanted children. I imagined the forever bachelor would never want such a thing. I’m not sure if I share the same vision.  
    “You really want children?”  
    He smiles wickedly. “Maybe. I haven’t really thought much about it yet. But I want everything with you. And we could have fun trying in all of those bedrooms.”  
    I blush as I stare up at a man who loves me. A man I love in return. How did I get so lucky to find someone like him despite all of my troubles?  
    “Someday, then. Now, though, I want somewhere for just the two of us. Somewhere cozy that we can grow closer instead of further apart.”  
    “Cozy it is, then.”  
    He pulls me against his chest as his lips find mine again. It’s heavenly. Every single time his lips touch mine, I get lost in it. His tongue caresses mine making me moan in a not so innocent manner.  
    I hear our realtor clear her throat, and I pull away from Landon slightly embarrassed. He glares at the realtor, though, for interrupting what I can only imagine he thought was going to be a quick fuck in one of the house’s seven bedrooms.  
    “I found something,” she says.  
    I nod and pull Landon out of the house to his Porsche parked outside the house next to the realtor’s SUV. She offered to drive us, but Landon wouldn’t hear of it.  
    As we climb in his car, I’m glad he drove. It gives me time to think about what I want. It gives me time to hold Landon’s hand while thinking about my plan. I need to start surveilling Ethan. I need to find evidence to free everyone, and then I need to find a way to kill him. I don’t trust the police to keep him locked away. Not after I found out I’ve tried going to the police before and they just dismissed me as a crazy woman who was mad at her husband. I won’t do that again. I will fix this myself.  
    Our cars climb higher and higher into the mountains. Each curve