“Because that was always my room.”
“You must have been a teenager the last time you slept in that room. Of course you wouldn’t sleep up there. Besides, Josh sleeps up there with Tamara.”
“Right,” Warren said wearily.
Selena looked as though she was about to speak into her phone, but shifted it to her shoulder at the last minute. “I can recommend afternoon drinks in the hot tub. There’s plenty of champagne in the fridge out there. See you later.” As she turned, she pressed her phone to her ear. “Patricia, are you still there? What’s the latest from Peter?”
“She seems nice,” Anna said as Selena’s voice receded along the hall.
Warren snorted a laugh. “It looks as though we’re entertaining ourselves for the afternoon. Do you want a drink?”
“Champagne in the hot tub, please,” she said dryly, then grinned when she caught Warren’s eye. “Or a cup of tea would be fine, too.”
While he filled the kettle, Anna drifted to the console table at the end of the dining room, which was loaded with framed family photos – all of which appeared to have been taken professionally. She frowned as she got closer.
“These are all of your family,” she said, picking up one of the four of them, where Warren looked to be a young teenager.
“Yes,” he said, coming over to stand beside her.
Anna’s jaw slackened, and she turned to look at him. “I thought this was a place they rent out for one week a year, but… is this…?”
“My parents own it.”
“They own it and rent it out?” Anna asked, confused. “Or they just have a second home?”
“Second home.”
Anna’s eyes felt huge. “Wow.”
“Yeah.”
“So you’ve spent a lot of time here?”
He nodded. “Most school holidays when we were growing up.”
“I didn’t realise,” Anna whispered, then turned to look at the place with fresh eyes. It was stylish in a minimalistic way, but it didn’t have much warmth to the decor, which was all white and chrome and glass.
“I haven’t been here for years.” Warren drifted back to the kitchen and opened a few cupboards before finding mugs.
“Why not?” Anna asked, leaning against the island.
A muscle in his jaw twitched, and he seemed to avoid looking at her as he focused on making drinks. “I don’t really know,” he said eventually, but it felt like a lie. Anna suspected he knew exactly why and just didn’t want to say. “I’m usually busy with work when they’re here.”
“That’s a shame,” she said, taking the elegant white mug with the gold rim.
His hum of response was ambiguous as he sat on a stool at the island.
“Let’s drink these and see what the playroom looks like these days,” he said after a moment.
Anna supposed they wouldn’t be in separate rooms after all. She lifted her mug to hide the smile that crept over her face.
Chapter Thirty
“Ican sleep on the floor,” Warren said, looking around the guest bedroom with a wrinkled brow.
Anna wandered to the large bay window. “For half the night, maybe.”
“I can also just ask Mum if there’s another room,” he replied, not reacting to her joke. “I’ve never actually told them you’re my girlfriend, and there’s no reason they need to think that.”
