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Tiffany’s face flushed pink in the dark interior of the car as she glanced up at the smiling driver. The twinkle in his eyes as his gaze met hers in the rearview mirror confirmed he’d heard her husband’s naughty promise.
“Lukus, I can’t believe you said that,” she whispered, leaning in closer.
He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her even closer before saying in his normal voice, “And I can’t believe you forgot who you married. I take my honeymoon duties very seriously.”
She didn’t get a chance to reply because outside her window she’d just caught sight of the street sign indicating they were turning onto Rodeo Drive.TheRodeo Drive, decorated beautifully for the Christmas season.
“OMG! I can be like Julia Roberts inPretty Woman!”
Lukus chuckled. “I don’t think so. My credit card doesn’t have the same kinda limits as Richard Gere.”
“You’re no fun,” she teased, not truly upset since she wasn’t a huge shopper like her best friend Brianna was. “Is our hotel nearby? It would be fun just to window shop.”
Just as she said it, they drove by the Four Seasons hotel off to the left and then not long after, past the Marriott in the distance. The driver seemed as if he knew where he was going, despite them getting to what looked more like residential streets.
“Sorry I had to take us a bit of the long way around tonight due to them having some of the streets around Century City blocked off for the holidays. I figured you wouldn’t mind a bit of a detour through the heart of Beverly Hills on the way to the mansion.”
The mansion? Tiffany didn’t have long to wait for clarification. Within two minutes they were driving down a upscale street with opulent mansions with their perfectly manicured lawns on either side of the car. It looked like the neighborhood might have had a contest for the most impressive Christmas decorations.
She was more confused than ever when the driver pulled into a drive with a huge gate blocking the entrance. Opening his window, he reached out to the security stand and punched in a bunch of numbers. Within seconds, the gates began opening to a wide treelined driveway, lit by old-fashioned streetlamps every dozen feet.
They stopped briefly at a guard shack where a man stepped out of the small shed just long enough to motion their driver through with a friendly wave.
“Where the heck are we?” she prodded her husband, curiosity getting the best of her.
When he didn’t answer, she forced herself to stop looking outside the car for more clues and turned towards her husband instead. The shit-eating grin on his face had the dormant butterflies in her tummy fluttering to life.
He is up to something.
She didn’t have time to worm answers out of him before the car turned left at the end of the long lane. Directly in front of them, the path opened up to an even wider circular drive around a twenty-foot-tall lit waterfall feature. That in itself was impressive enough, but it was the enormous mansion sitting on the hill behind it that drew all of her attention. The mammoth stone home was beautifully lit with large decorated Christmas trees peeking out of almost every tall window. It looked like a home out of a movie.
Only when the car stopped directly in front of the huge staircase leading to the grand entrance did Tiffany turn again to her husband and ask the million-dollar question.
“Who the hell lives here?”
His eyes danced with mischief before answering. “For the next two nights… we do.”
Chapter Three
Lukus
Holy shit, this is more impressive than I’d even dreamed.
He had just finished the thought when the door beside him opened and their driver, George, offered to help them out of the backseat. Lukus waved him off, jumping out of the Lincoln and turning to help his wife out instead. He adored the look of awe on her face as she craned her neck to look up at the estate in front of them.
Only after he and George had gotten the bags out of the back of the car did Lukus see a man in a black parka coming down the handicapped ramp off to the right. He was glad to see the luggage rack wheeling his way as he hadn’t looked forward to schlepping their heavy bags up the mammoth stone steps.
“Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell? My name is Roger and I’m here to help you get settled tonight. Welcome to Runway.”
Lukus took the extended hand and gave it a shake. “Thanks for the help with the luggage. I appreciate it.”
“No problem. Technically, as you know, the clubs are closed tonight, but we do have several guests staying with us for the long holiday weekend. Come on in out of the cold and we’ll get you settled.”
Lukus let Roger wrangle the bags up the ramp on the cart while he and Tiffany held hands as they scaled the over dozen steps to the front door. They waited for Roger there before all three of them entered the grand foyer together where perhaps the largest indoor Christmas tree ever stood in the center of the entrance. As they glanced up, he saw the angel on the top was almost brushing the top of the two-story vaulted ceiling.
“Wow, now that’s a Christmas tree! How beautiful all of the ornaments are,” Tiffany admired, pulling Lukus to a stop to get a better look at the hundreds of coordinated decorations adorning the tree.
Roger grinned. “I’ll let Madison know you like it. We had help with some of the decorations around the mansion this year, but this tree was her masterpiece. She’s the manager of Runway. You’ll miss meeting her, unfortunately. Her and her fiancé left for a vacation after last night’s big New Year’s Eve bash.”
