So, I pulled out my phone and shot Suri a text message.
Me: Gonna be home a bit later. I’ll check in with you in a couple of hours.
The only thing that settled my brain was the fact that I didn’t feel threatened at all by this man. He was arrogant, sure. He probably thought way too much of himself, too. But, he didn’t seem angry or mean, and he wasn’t overbearing in any way. He didn’t have any of those red-flag sort of traits that I looked for whenever men approached me. I mean, other than him thinking he was the bee’s knees and everything.
However, once we pulled through a set of wrought-iron gates and started up a winding driveway that ascended to what looked like a miniature castle in the middle of the fucking state, my jaw hit the floor.
No wonder he thought so highly of himself. Because dammit, if I lived in a fucking castle, I’d think highly of myself, too.
What in the world have I gotten myself into?
3
Trey
Icouldn’t believe it. What a fucking night. As we slowly drove up my driveway, nearing my estate, I watched as her jaw slowly sank toward the floorboard of my Town Car. I watched as her eyes stared out into the night, watching the dark, chiseled outline of my home come quietly into view. The stone façade had always been intimidating to people, and I liked it that way. It meant that no one ever came to my door with bullshit, and it meant if someone had the guts to get up my driveway and knock, it was probably worth listening to. Plus, the twenty acres I owned sat back off a smaller road that had very little traffic to begin with. Even though I worked at the very center of one of the biggest, most bustling cities this country had to offer, there was always peace.
It was like my home away from home.
You know, ifhomewere my office and not the fucking place where I laid my head at night.
Nevertheless, I wanted to get this lush woman up to my bedroom. I didn’t want to know her name or where she came from. I couldn’t have cared less about how her day had gone or what had driven her to the bar in the first place. All I wanted was to rip off her clothes and show her what she had turned down the first time all those months ago.
Finally, I’d get a shot at this gorgeous woman.
My driver pulled right up to the steps that led up to my front door, and I slipped out of the backseat. I wrapped around the trunk and didn’t quite get there in time before this woman opened the car door herself and stepped out. But, I arrived at her side in time to offer her my arm before I escorted her up the steps. I threw open the massive double doors of my home, exposing the lavish foyer with a hanging clear-and-red crystal chandelier that had cost me a quarter of a million dollars simply to have made. But, the comment that came out of this woman’s mouth froze me in my tracks.
“I could never afford something like this.”
She shook her head softly as she walked into the middle of my foyer. She gawked at the chandelier hanging above her head before she bent down and let her fingers drag across my pristine marble floors. She looked at her fingertips as if she were expecting dirt or grime, and when she found nothing, she simply shook her head and giggled breathlessly.
Then, she made another comment that stunned me. A remark that didn’t seem as if it were meant for my ears. But, with the acoustics of the foyer, it felt like she was talking right beside me.
“Why me?”
I watched her as she stood in the middle of my foyer. The expensive fixtures around her seemed to almost dwarf her, and it was the first time I’d ever felt guilty for bringing someone back to my place. It was clear to me she was way out of her element, and I almost felt bad for dropping her into such excess when it was evident from her comments that she didn’t have much to spare at all in the way of money.
You worked hard for that money. Don’t let anyone make you feel guilty for it.
I wanted to ask this woman so many questions. Never in my life had I ever been ashamed of my wealth or the things I possessed because of the hard work I had put into my businesses. And yet, in less than five minutes of standing in my home, this woman had managed to make me feel as if I should have been ashamed of what I had. I wasn’t sure what it was about her that had gotten beneath my skin, either. Maybe it was the fact that it felt like she was about to turn me down again. Perhaps it actually was my wounded pride getting in the way of things. But dammit, I’d have this woman tonight.
I’d show her that I was a man fully fit to have what I did.
“Would you like a tour of the rest of my place?” I asked.
The woman’s striking blue eyes finally found my own. “What was that?”
I walked up to her with a grin on my face. “I said, would you like a tour of the rest of my place?”
She held my stare. “No.”
I held out my hand. “Let me at least show you where you’ll be unwinding for the evening, then.”
Without hesitation, she slipped her hand into mine, and I led her up the steps. We walked down a long hallway with a set of double doors at the end of it, and when I threw them open, my master suite was revealed. I had decorated it myself, from top to bottom. From the four-poster California king-sized bed down to the black marble baseboards that contrasted the crisp, clean white walls, I was proud of how this room had turned out.
But, my bed wasn’t the feature of the room any longer, not when this woman stood inside of it.
“My entire townhouse could probably fit into this place,” she murmured.
