She inhaled, swerving her gaze away from him, over his shoulder. To the relative safety of the apartment behind him. It served to distract her, becausegood Lord. She was used to wealth, but this... Just the glimpse of the expanse of glass, marble and stone had her softly gasping in amazement.
Achilles shifted to the side, silently inviting her in. He didn’t speak, just slid his hands into the pockets of his suit pants and trailed her as she wandered into the penthouse, gaping—yes, gaping—at the home that made her parents’ home look like a hovel. Okay, maybe not a hovel. But definitely a single-family home.
Three glass walls invited the dark sky and Boston skyline into the apartment, granting the illusion of living among the clouds. Floating, freestanding structures separated rooms into different living areas—couches, a white piano, fireplaces, a chrome dining table, random sitting areas with low-slung furniture designating the purpose of the rooms. A steel and veined marble state-of-the-art kitchen encompassed the back end of the penthouse, while a suspended, curving, glass-encased staircase led to the second level.
She jerked her awed glance from her surroundings to Achilles. His mouth twisted into a caricature of a smile.
“Go ahead and say it. I’m a hypocrite.”
She blinked. “What?”
“Lecturing your parents on excess and benefiting from the work of someone else and living here.” He wore that same dark smile. “I believe that makes me the definition of a fraud.”
“Since a fraud or a hypocrite would be the last persons to admit they were as much, I doubt it.” She tilted her head. “Let me guess. Cain?”
His eyes narrowed on her, and she chuckled, shaking her head.
“It’s not difficult to guess. Kenan is from Boston. You relocated to Boston and wouldn’t have had a place to stay. And unknown half brother or not, Cain wouldn’t have had you living in a place he wouldn’t live in himself. And this place—” she pivoted in a small circle, again taking in the glass palace in the sky “—has Cain Farrell written all over it.”
“And what has me written all over it?”
She knew a challenge when she heard it. Knew when she was being set up for failure, too.
“Keep some of the glass and the sky. More walls. Less steel and chrome and all the amenities. I don’t think you mind the fireplaces, but not gas. I think...” She paused, cleared her throat and considered the wisdom of her next words, but what the hell? “I think you’re like how you described your mother tonight. You like to see the product of your own hands. So you would want to chop your own wood for your fireplace. Which means trees, nature and not a glass castle on the thirty-second floor. How am I doing?”
He didn’t answer, just stared at her with that bright gaze that both unnerved her and set her ablaze.
“Why are you here?” he rasped.
“To make sure you’re okay.”
Once more he studied her with that unblinking, measured scrutiny. Then, after a moment, he gave his head a hard, abrupt shake and stalked toward the living room. “Do you want a drink?”
“Since I skipped after-dinner drinks, definitely.”
He glanced at her over his shoulder, eyebrow arched. “I’m sure that went over well.”
She flashed him a dry smile. “Swimmingly. If you can call dire warnings of ruining my family’s reputation by running after you like a common trollop—who even saystrollopanymore, I ask you?—‘well.’ If so, then yes, it went over very well.”
“That’s...dramatic.” He reached the built-in bar and removed a Sam Adams for himself from the fully stocked mini-refrigerator. “What can I get you?”
“I’ll have what you’re having.”
He didn’t comment on her choice, just twisted off the cap of his beer, handed it to her and retrieved another for himself. Only after she lifted the bottle to her lips for a sip and downed the ale, did he ask, “Why are you really here, Mycah?”
Slowly, she lowered the beer, met his piercing gaze.
To apologize for my parents’ behavior.
To look you in the eye and see for myself that you don’t despise me.
All true. All answers she could give him, and he would most likely accept them. All she had to do was say them. Just say them, dammit...
“Because I didn’t feel safe in that house.”
Oh, God.Why had she said that?
Lightning flashed in his eyes, and she wanted to hide from it.
