AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Inside, I’m met with a modern, clean home with cedar wood floors. It’s bright and airy with plenty of windows facing the mountains, which the setting sun is lighting up in a spectacular array of yellows, oranges, and ambers.
Peeking through a curtained window opposite the front door, I see a pool, which takes up half the yard, the water sparkling invitingly. Two lounge chairs with an umbrella are settled next to the pool and a barbecue pit to one side causes a rumble in my stomach.
“Be right back!” I race around the house, counting bedrooms. “This place has three bedrooms, Keenan!” I grin at him as I re-enter the living room. “Can you believe it?” I catch his amused smile and remember who I’m talking to. “Right, you probably grew up in a castle with dozens of rooms.”
He chuckles. “Not exactly. I grew up in a stone and straw home with two bedrooms. One for my parents and one for me and my four brothers. The castle came later, after the war, when we were gifted the responsibility of Wolf-Haven for our services.”
My curiosity shifts from the house to Keenan. “Which did you prefer? Life in the stone house or life in the castle?”
His smile falls away. “I would trade a thousand castles to have my parents back.”
The ache in his voice draws me closer and I run my hand up his arm. “I’m sorry you lost your parents. I know how hard that is.”
“Of course you do.” He wraps his arms around me and holds me against him, the faint beat of his heart comforting. “I’m sorry about your mom, too. Izzy was an extraordinary woman.”
I look up at his face. “You knew her?”
“Only through her reputation and from my time spent watching you. She was both a skilled thief and an excellent mother.”
Gasping, I pull away from him. “You know about that?” Alarm rises to the surface, but I push the knee jerk reaction away. If Keenan cared about the stolen art, he would’ve told the police about it when he had the chance. “No one knows, not even Pinky. When my mom got sick, she made me promise never to tell anyone.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” He puts his hands on my shoulders, a move I recognize as one he uses when he wants me to calm down.
“It’s okay. I was surprised. I’ve never talked about this with anyone before. It’s not easy to discuss my mom’s secret.” In fact, it’s not easy to talk about my mom at all. Her death was slow and painful. I was alone, watching her slip away from me.
Keenan pulls me against him, his arms banding me, his hand pressing my head to his heart. “You were never alone.”
I nod because I know that now.
“We’ll talk about Izzy when you’re ready, okay?”
I nod again, grateful he’s not going to press me for details.
“Want to go for a swim before bed?”
I smile. “You read my mind.”
“Yes, I did.”
I laugh and pull away. “I don’t have a bathing suit with me.”
He frowns. “I don’t think I’ve ever owned a bathing suit. Seems like a lot of fuss just to cover what the natural order gave us.”
I look at him skeptically, then out the window at the pool. We were at the film lot for nearly ten hours, bouncing from department to department, getting fitted for costumes, picking out my makeup palettes, and running lines with scene partners. The blue lights dancing at the bottom of pool in the darkening evening promise relief from the strain of the day.
“You know you want to swim,” Keenan says.
I give in. “Alright, but if you peek while I’m taking my clothes off, you’re sleeping in the back yard and not in one of the lovely three bedrooms this house has to offer.”
“I promise not to peek.” I’m definitely peeking, he thinks.
“I heard that!” Laughing, I open the sliding door and step outside, breathing in the scent of freshly cut grass.
Despite telling Keenan not to peek, I feel comfortable around him. He’s had countless opportunities to take advantage of me as well as a built-in excuse in the form of our mating call. Yet, not once has he pushed me into doing something I didn’t want to do.
He follows me out as I reach for the hem of my shirt, dragging it over my head. It’s a warm evening with very little wind. Perfect for a swim.
I kick off my shoes and, extremely conscious of the man behind me, I unbutton my jeans and pull them down my legs along with my panties and step out of them. I hear him draw in a sharp breath and grin to myself, taking a small peek into his thoughts.
