Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 78304 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78304 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Images of family dinners and holidays flit through my brain, and I immediately push them aside. This isn’t my home. It’s a means to an end. A temporary dwelling, where I’ll sleep and eat while showing my dad that I’m capable of doing what he couldn’t do—run a company successfully without destroying everyone around him. Just because he made mistake after mistake doesn’t mean I will.
Ian clears his throat, and I realize I haven’t said anything in return, too lost in my thoughts.
“Thank you,” I breathe. “Your home is lovely.”
He tilts his head to the side, and I have no idea why he’s looking at me in confusion until he says, “You sound different in person than on the phone.”
It takes me a second to wrap my head around his words, but once I do, I curse myself to hell. I forgot to use my trophy-wife voice! Shit.
“I do?” I squeak out, playing dumb.
“It’s a good thing,” he says with a grin. “I like your voice better like this.”
“Want to show me around?” I ask to change the subject.
“Of course,” he says, walking around me to grab my bags.
When we enter his home, I stop in the foyer and take it all in. The color scheme is black, white, and gray. The living room is large with a ridiculously big flat-screen TV, plush black leather couches, and a wet bar that rivals a real bar. I don’t have to see the rest of the house to know this is the quintessential bachelor pad.
“Do you have a pool table somewhere?” I ask, half joking.
He chuckles. “I do. In the billiards room.” He shrugs. “I also have a pool, a hot tub, a gym, and a kick-ass outdoor grill.” He leans in, and before I can hold my breath, I inhale another whiff of that damn scent. “When I’m not working, I enjoy having some of my close friends over to barbecue and watch a game. Do you enjoy watching sports?”
“I once dated a guy on the lacrosse team, and that was fun to watch,” I blurt out. “But aside from that, I couldn’t tell you anything about any sports.” I cringe at my word vomit, but in my defense, the delicious smell of him is getting to my head and making me dizzy—and maybe stupid.
Ian barks out a melodic laugh as he steps around me. “Well, since you’ll be living here for the next year, I’m sure I can teach you a thing or two about sports.”
He shoots me a playful wink that goes straight to the apex of my legs, and I internally groan at the way this man is affecting me. I’m Anastasia Belle Kingston-Webb. I don’t let men affect me.
Jesus, get it together, woman!
He shows me the rest of the downstairs, and despite it having a bachelor-pad vibe, it’s tastefully done.
When we get upstairs, he stops at the first door on the left. “This is my room.”
I peek inside, but don’t walk in since he hasn’t done so. It has the same color palette as the rest of the house, only unlike the rest of the house that looks barely lived in, his king-size bed is a bit messy, telling me he actually sleeps in here and made his bed himself.
“Since we don’t really know each other well and our engagement isn’t real, I figured you’d be more comfortable in one of the guest rooms,” he says as he closes the door to his room and walks a little farther down the hall.
He opens the door on the other side of the hallway and steps in, rolling my luggage behind him. “This is your room. If you need or want anything changed, just let me know. It has an en suite bathroom with a Jacuzzi tub.”
“Thank you,” I murmur, checking the room out.
“I was thinking we could go to dinner tonight, and maybe tomorrow, if you’re up for it, we could go on the boat.”
“You don’t have to work?”
“I, uh …” He clears his throat. “I took the weekend off so we could get to know each other … in person.”
He smiles shyly, and my heart rate picks up speed.
“The truth is, I’ve never done anything like this before, and I had no idea what to expect. I wasn’t even convinced you’d show up.”
I laugh and nod in agreement. “I get it. I can’t believe I actually got on the plane. The last time I did something this crazy was when I was in high school and begging for my dad’s attention—” I snap my mouth closed and mentally smack myself for once again not being careful with what I say.
“Well, now, you can’t leave me hanging,” he says with a grin. “What was this crazy thing you did?”
“I, uh …” My cheeks warm at the thought before the words even make it out. “I got drunk at a charity function, and a bunch of my friends and I went skinny-dipping in the pool … that no one else was swimming in.”