“We’ve known each other since we were kids. We grew up together and our paths happened to align when we both chose to be in the entertainment industry.” I felt bad we were only talking about me because I was just as interested in her. “What’s the story with your family?”
She sighed. “The story with my family isn’t very interesting. After my mom died, my dad dated a lot. When I was little and cute, it was like every woman he brought home wanted to be my mom and I would get my hopes up every time. They never lasted long, so it was a constant cycle of getting my heart broken. When I got older, they treated me more like I was in the way, so I tried to be scarce. The library was my safe haven. I blamed the women for abandoning me for a long time, but when I got older, I could see they were leaving because my dad was charming but toxic. He probably would’ve been terrible to me too if he’d been interested enough to bother. I haven’t spoken to him in a long time and would be happy if I never had to again.”
“I’m sorry. You deserve better.”
Her smile was back. “It took me a long time to figure that out. I was midway through a psych degree before I felt like I fully understood how it had impacted me. Therapy would’ve been a lot cheaper.”
“Were you planning to be a therapist?”
“I was, but so much of how they traditionally teach sex and kink is really limiting and backwards. It’s a little better now, thanks partly to the popularity ofCrown of Swordsand all the conversations it’s started, but there’s a long way to go. We should be able to treat people’s issues surrounding their sexuality without treating their sexuality like it’s the issue.”
The gate to my driveway swung open. As we drove onto my property she grumbled, “Of course this is your house.”
I’d bought it for the view of the ocean, the quiet hiking trails nearby, and most of all, the way it was designed for privacy. It had been a while since I’d stepped back and thought about how it looked. I was uncharacteristically anxious as she took it all in. I wanted her to be impressed, but didn’t want her to think it was too much. It was a gorgeous house, but wasn’t obscenely huge by LA standards.
“I like it.” She smiled as we got out of the car and walked up to the front door. I usually went in through the garage, but took her the fancy way.
The marble floors of the entryway echoed as we made our way inside, revealing what I’d been told were “the clean lines and simple, modern decor” of the main living area. I’d hired someone to make most of the decisions, but there were personal touches here and there. The longer I’d lived in the house the more it had started to feel like home. At first, I’d felt like I was rattling around in a giant showroom, afraid to scratch the floors or mark the furniture.
“Come on, I’ll show you where you can put your stuff.” I lifted the heavy bag before she could protest and led her up to my room, opening the empty walk-in closet that was the size of a small apartment.
“I couldn’t bring myself to fill two gigantic closets, so this one is vacant for your use, my lady.”
Her eyes were huge as she walked in and inspected the rows of shelves, massive custom cabinets, luxurious vanity, and stellar lighting. I liked impressing her a little too much, wanted to spoil her rotten.
“There’s a fucking chandelier in yoursparecloset.”
“To be fair, I have lots of spare closets. There’s only a chandelier in this one.”
“Give me a second, and I’ll go back to playing it cool, but this closet is enough to make Carrie Bradshaw come in her pants.”
“Why don’t I give you a few minutes to freshen up and relax, while I go make sure we’re all set for dinner?”
“You’re leaving me unsupervised in your giant house?”
“Snoop to your heart’s content. We boy scouts have nothing to hide.”
“Ha. That’s what they all say. If I stumble upon a collection of shrunken heads or fingers in jars or something, I’m going to be really pissed.”
I was still smiling when I got down to the kitchen, where Maia, my chef, was hard at work finishing dinner.
When I’d first had to bulk up for a role, we’d hired her to help me with the nutritional component of packing on thirty pounds of muscle, and I’d kept working with her after that because her food was so good and she was easy to be around. Sometimes, she handled all my food and other times she just helped me with an overall nutrition plan depending on what else was going on with my schedule and where I was.
“Smells good, Maia!”
She pulled a dish from the oven. “Thanks! I know your mom’s vegetarian now, so I’m trying a whole vegetarian spread this time.”
“Zane will be thrilled.” My brother needed some part of a dead animal on the plate or it didn’t count as a meal.
I didn’t catch what she muttered as she kicked the oven door closed, but it sure sounded like, “Fuck Zane.”
To me, she said, “I should be finished up here in about an hour and my assistant will have the table ready out on the deck. You sure you don’t want anyone to stick around to help serve or clean up?”
“No, thanks. It’s just family. My mom gets stressed if there’s someone waiting on us.” Realistically, so did I, but she didn’t need to know that. “Do you want to stay and eat with us?”
“Thanks for the offer, but I’ll head out once I’ve finished with everything. Have some plans to put together for a new client. Did I hear correctly that you’ve brought a girl home?” She hip-checked me when I stole a piece of broccoli off a plate.
I winked at her. “I did indeed. I think you’ll like her. Takes no shit.”
