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Upstairs, I found the hardwood bridge that lead from an upper sitting area to the loft above the den, and I was standing there, admiring the view of the sea out the two-story windows, when I realized I wasn’t entirely sure how to get back to foyer. Or the bedroom. Or a bathroom, and that would become an issue shortly.
“Hey!” I shouted, and it echoed off the glass. “Hey, Neil?”
No answer. How did I figure I was going to shout across thirty-five-thousand square feet?
Luckily, there was an intercom on the wall. Out of all the complicated buttons, I picked the one labeled “HOUSE” and said tentatively, “Hello?”
It took a moment, but Neil answered with his own uncertain, “Hello?”
“Um, I am totally lost.” I giggled into the speaker.
“Christ, so am I. Where are you?”
“In that loft thing I was going to use as an office.” I looked around. There would actually be room for two desks. I wondered if we could share the space without driving each other crazy and destroying our relationship. “Although it would be pretty inconvenient to keep my office in a room I can’t actually find again.”
“I’m in the basement, in the cinema. But I’m sure I can make it out, with some trial and error.”
“Me too.”
“Meet me in the bedroom, there’s something I’d like to show you.”
I snorted. “I’ve seen it, baby, it’s very impressive.”
“Cheeky. Get your cute little ass down there.”
I let go of the button and squealed like a girl, then heard laughter in another part of the house. Oh, shit. We’d been broadcasting our conversation into every room.
I hoped the movers were entertained.
Neil was waiting for me in the bedroom, standing with his hands on his hips, looking out at the ocean. Twenty minutes, tops, and we were already in love with the place.
“Okay, what is it that you want to show me?” I leaned on the door and got my smirk ready.
He kissed the top of my head and nudged me into a walk, his arm around my shoulders. “You haven’t seen the very best part of the house yet, Sophie.”
He led me to the door of the master bath.
My breath caught. My heartbeat sped.
I’d forgotten all about Neil’s promise to me. He pushed the door open with one hand, allowing me to enter before him.
The bathroom is beyond awesome. There was an electric sauna, which had really impressed Viking Neil, and a shower tucked away behind a curved wall tiled in sand-colored stone that matched the airy neutral design of the room. The roof sloped up into a point truncated by a the biggest skylight I’d ever seen, and there, standing in the place of what was once a two-person Jacuzzi tub, was my perfect, simple, elegant bathtub. Like a steampunk glass slipper, it was a vision in porcelain and copper, from the peak of its curved back to the gentle slope of its sides, right down to the knobby claw feet. Neil had even installed new plumbing to accommodate the antique set up, and he’d included a European-style showerhead on a long hose.
Gotta love a man who understood a woman’s need for easily accessible water pressure.
I gasped a little “Oh!” of delight and whipped my shirt over my head.
Neil barked a startled laugh. “What are you doing?”
“I am getting in this bathtub.” I kicked my boots off and shimmied my jeans down my thighs.
“You don’t want to wait and help with the unpack—”
“Nope!” I cut him off and bent down to catch my panties from around my ankle.
“Would you like to run some water, at least?” He stepped over to the tub and flipped up the taps.
“And bubbles,” I said wistfully. “Next time.”
