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Having gotten over her initial shyness, she could honestly answer, "I love it!"
The hot wind beat at them mercilessly as they left the city limits and Cage opened the cycle's motor to full throttle. They sped down the highway with the straight flying precision of a hornet. There was something wildly exciting about having only the two wheels of the cycle between her and the macadam that sped past beneath her. The motor thrummed up through her thighs, her middle, her breasts. That steady vibration was thrilling.
He turned off the highway onto a narrow blacktopped road and eventually drove through a gate. The house at the top of a gradual rise in the otherwise flat barrenness was authentically Victorian. Grass and shrubbery had been planted in the fenced yard and there was a variety of trees lending their shade. The front porch, which wrapped around three sides of the house, was shielded from the sun by the balconies of the second story. An onion-shaped cupola domed one front corner. The picture-book structure was painted the color of sand with an accent trim of rust and slate.
To one side there was a garage. Jenny noticed the Corvette parked there, along with a selection of other vehicles. Beyond the garage was a stable. Several horses grazed in the pasture behind it.
"This is my house," Cage said simply. He drew the bike to a halt and cut the engine. He let Jenny alight before he did. She stared at the house as she lifted the helmet from her head.
"This is where you live?"
"Yep. For two years now."
"I never really knew where your house was. You've never invited us out here." She turned to him. "Why, Cage?"
"I didn't want to be turned down. My folks consider this a den of iniquity, they wouldn't set foot in it. Hal probably wouldn't have come because he knew they would disapprove. It seemed simpler not to ask and just make it easier for everybody."
"What about me?"
"Would you have come?"
"I think so." But neither of them believed she would have.
"You're here now. Would you like to see it?"
He asked humbly. For all his machismo he looked extremely vulnerable. Jenny didn't hesitate this time. She very much wanted to see his house. "Please. Can we go inside?"
His mouth broke into a wide grin and he led her up the front steps. "The house was built just after the turn of the century. It went through a series of owners, each one letting it deteriorate a little more. It was truly derelict when I bought it. What I really wanted was the land that went with it, and I thought about tearing the house down and starting over with something low and sprawling and contemporary. But the house began to grow on me. It seemed to belong here, so I decided to let it stay. I've fixed it up."
That was an understatement.
"It's lovely," Jenny observed as they wandered through the tall-ceilinged, airy, sunlit rooms.
Cage had decorated simply, painting everything off-white, the walls, the shutters, the woodwork, the portiere, which separated the central hall from the parlor on one side and the rounded dining room on the other. The oaken floors had been rubbed to a soft patina. The furniture, with an emphasis on comfort, was a pleasing mixture of old and new, all tasteful and well arranged.
The kitchen was a space-age wonder, but all the modern appliances were aptly hidden behind a facade of century-old charm. The upstairs boasted three bedrooms. Only one had been fully restored.
From the doorway Jenny gazed at the room Cage slept in. Decorated in desert colors of sand and sienna, it matched his dusty-blond coloring. The massive bed was covered with an irregularly shaped, unhemmed suede spread that looked as soft as butter. Through a connecting door Jenny caught a glimpse of a lavish bathroom with a picture window immodestly placed over the enormous tub.
Cage noted the direction of her eyes. "I like to lie in the water and look over the landscape. From there the sunset is spectacular." He spoke close to her ear, close enough for his warm breath to stir her hair. "Or at night when the moon is full and the stars are out, it's a breathtaking sight."
Jenny felt herself being hypnotically drawn closer to him and jerked herself erect. "The house suits you, Cage. At first, I didn't think it would, but strangely it does."
He seemed to like that. "Come see the pool."
He led her back down the stairs, through a screened "sleeping porch," and onto the limestone patio. It was a riot of color. Terracotta pots held clusters of blooming red geraniums. In one corner a cactus garden boasted bright yellow and pink blooms. Silvery sage bushes with their purple flowers lined the fence. The pool was as deep and blue as a sapphire. "Wow," she whispered.
"Wanna swim?"
"I don't have a suit."
"Wanna swim?"
The raspy inquiry was laden with implication, subtle and seductive, but indubitably clear.
Everything inside Jenny stilled. Her blood stopped flowing through her body because her heart ceased pumping. Her lungs shut down operation. She couldn't even blink, so captivated was she by his intent amber stare and the intoxicating huskiness of his invitation.
It was unthinkable, of course.
