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"You're home is absolutely amazing," she said as she looked, around while I led her from the front door to the living room and library to the left of the door. Her voice was full of amazement, and the tiny squeak at the beginning of her statement before she had cleared it away was simply adorable.
"Thank you," I told her with a smile as we exited the living room and entered the grand dining room before stopping at the glass sliding door that led to my backyard. "The collection I have in the living room is mostly for show. I have a full library upstairs." I stopped and debated whether to show her yard or save that for last. Deciding to wait, I continued towards the kitchen.
"I'll let you know now that the only other person, who is here on a daily basis besides my clients, is my housekeeper, Rita."
She stopped and stared at the kitchen counters in disbelief, and I stopped as she looked at me.
"There's no way this is granite," she said as she gently knocked a knuckle on the counter. "It's too perfect." I shrugged as I looked at her.
"It's marble, actually," I informed her. Her eyes widened in disbelief.
"Absolutely incredible," she said as she stared at the counter. "I didn't think they used marble to make counter tops." She then turned her head to the cabinet doors. "Are those mahogany?" When I nodded in response, her jaw dropped, and she turned to study the woodwork. "It's absolutely beautiful. I've never seen a more perfect kitchen in all my life."
I smiled happily at her.
"You're more than welcome to it," I informed her, and she frowned in confusion. Realizing that I was getting ahead of myself, I raised my hands in surrender. "My apologies; I'm getting ahead of myself. Please, let me show you the rest of the house, and we'll talk afterwards."
She nodded in agreement, and the strangely out of place professional smile returned to her perfectly sweet face. "Of course," she said, and I continued to show her my home.
Everything from the structure of the marble pillars leading up the stairs to the luxurious bathrooms amazed her, and I couldn't help but picture the little orphan Annie looking around Daddy Warbuck's mansion, when I saw just how amazed she was. Whatever doubts she seemed to have, when she first arrived, were long gone as I showed her around. In fact, she seemed to grow more and more excited the longer she was here. That was until we reached the nursery.
"Do you have children?" she asked as she looked around at the nursery.
It was set up like an old fashioned, twentieth-century century nursery meant for well-off children, but I had yet to do anything but decorate it. Her perfect face twisted into a look of confusion as she approached the queen-sized bed I had placed for her, not knowing how tall she was or how much room she needed. It was decorated with pink and white sheets, and there were plenty of pink, fluffy pillows. On the bed, nestled between the many pillows I had placed there, was a single teddy bear with a velvet blue bow tie, which, ironically, was the same shade as her suit.
"No, actually, I don't," I told her as she turned back to face me. "This is meant to be your room." Immediately, the look of wonder and amazement disappeared from her face and was replaced by that same no-nonsense look as before.
"About that," she said as she politely clasped her hands in front of her. "I appreciate what you did for my family, but I came to speak to you about the deal you made." I frowned in confusion at her.
"I'm not sure I understand what you mean," I said, and she sighed.
"I understand that they promised I would come and live with you as payment for you repaying their debt," she began, "but I came to renegotiate the deal and offer to repay you the cash that you put forward for them."
CHAPTER THREE
Skye
"Do you not like the house?" he asked as he stared at me in confusion. "If there's anything not to your liking, I can always change it. Money is no issue."
Realizing what he meant, I shook my head.
"Oh no, I love your home," I said. "I find it to be perfect in every way. I just came to see if we could repay you in some other way." Seeing his look of confusion deepen, I took a deep breath and shook my head. "You see, we have the money to repay my family's loan. I was on my way to repay it, when my family explained everything to me. Now that I know that it's been paid already, I came to speak with you." I kept a polite smile on my face, but there was something about the room that was unsettling. It was making me feel like a child again, and I didn't like it. "I am willing to repay you the money you paid in order to pay their debt."
He frowned and tapped a finger against his luscious lips as he stared at me.
In all honesty, the idea of living with this hunk of man wasn't in any way revolting. After all, he was over six feet tall and built like The Hulk. Even though his dark, silk suit attempted to give him a more sophisticated look, it still rippled with every move he made, almost as if it was fighting to contain his humongous body within its silky folds. My mind started to wonder if everything about him was as big and tan as he appeared, even beyond the silk suit. I took a deep breath and shook my head, trying to shake the thought from my head.
"So, you don't want to live here, then?" he asked, sounding a little hurt. His gray eyes stared me down, making my natural confidence dissolve, and I started to quake as I stood before him.
"It's not that," I said as I rubbed the back of my neck, attempting to hide the nervous sweat that threatened to stain my suit. "You see, I feel that it would be more convenient for you if I were to pay you back the money you gave us, instead of putting you through all the trouble of accommodating me in your lovely home. After all, I have my job to attend to regularly, my house still has a lot of work I need to do, and I'm sure having me around would be such a bother."
His eyes widened as he finally realized what I meant. “Oh, I see,” he said as he smiled at me, tapping his chin as he spoke. “You have concerns about living with me, and you believe that, if you pay me the money back, things will just continue as normal.”
I smiled as I nodded. "Yes," I said as I reached into my purse for my checkbook. "I want to make this transaction as simple and painless as possible. Now, how much did you end up paying them?"
He shook his head at me, and my heart stopped dead in my chest.
"It's no bother at all," he told me as he approached. "I can assist you with putting your affairs in order and everything." When he saw the frown on my face, he sighed and shook his head. "I see… You are a tough negotiator." He smiled at me. "How about we make a deal?" I raised my eyebrow at him.
