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I needed to focus, before I threw caution to the wind and did something reckless. “The porch looks amazing.”
“Yeah. Graham’s good. Those rockers new?”
“Yep, for the porch.”
“Nice.”
“I need to look at sets for the back, but I want to wait until we settle on the stone.”
“What was your place like in New York?”
“It was a condo in a high rise. I didn’t even have a balcony. I didn’t realize how much I missed sitting outside until I moved here.” I glanced out the window. “There’s a lot I forgot.”
“Understandable, given your history.”
I turned in my seat. “Yeah, but I think I should have been more aware given what I went through. You know, seized the day, carpe diem and all that shit.”
“You’re seizing it now.”
He had a way of cutting through the bullshit, just calling it as he saw it, simple, straightforward and honest. It was refreshing. “That’s true.”
A house came into view, and I lost my train of thought. It was a long cabin, but unlike the round logs of my cabin, they were flat planks. There was a huge covered porch, French doors on both sides of the porch, leading into the wings and windows along the whole front. A balcony was over that, more windows and an A-frame roofline with a stained-glass window centered at the peak.
The landscape had lots of large river rocks, a little stream that ran right through the garden, made to look natural, but clearly manmade. “This place is amazing.”
Killian hit a button in his truck, and the one garage door opened. He pulled his truck in next to his black sports car. I had to wonder how the man afforded a place like this, but then it dawned that we weren’t going to a restaurant. He was cooking.
He came around the truck, opened my door and offered me his hand. I could feel callouses on his and wondered how they’d feel moving over my body. My legs went a little weak at the thought. He held the back door for me, and Cooper and Max immediately greeted us.
“Hey, guys,” I said, getting down on my knees and hugging them both. Then I saw his kitchen. I stood. As much as I loved my kitchen, I had kitchen envy. Black cabinets lined the wall, a huge slap of granite resting on what looked like a pile of huge river rock was the kitchen island. The same granite was used as the backsplash. Parts of the wall were the wood while other parts were plastered and painted a smoky gray.
“The potatoes are on. I need to start the grill,” he said.
I chuckled, remembering my grill adventure. “What kind of grill you got?” I asked.
He remembered, too, when he grinned. It was just a grin, but coming from a man who showed little emotion, that look was worthy of framing. He waited for me then we walked to the great room, Cooper and Max following us, but I stopped at the stairs because he had a tree in the middle of his house, the branches were the support beams for the spiral staircase.
“I’ve never seen anything like that.”
“It was just an idea.”
“Your idea?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
So not just into construction. “Were you an architect?”
If he was surprised by my question, I couldn’t tell. “Not by training.”
“Really?” I glanced around his house. “You designed this, right?”
“Yeah, know what I like.”
It wasn’t so much his words, but the fact that he was looking at me when he said them. My heart did a slow roll in my chest. He continued to the deck; I followed but took my time, now knowing he designed his house. The fireplace was stone, but unlike my stone, it looked like the opening of a cave, even the mantel was stone. It was big and chunky, and with the straight lines of the rafter ceiling and walls, it added visual interest. The furniture was leather, a warm chocolate brown, and area rugs in dark jewel tones rested under them. He didn’t have antlers or deer heads. There was a clock over the mantle, a huge, roman numeral-faced clock with bronze numbers and hands, light fixtures that looked like raining gems in the same jewel tones. A piano sat in one corner, bookcases in the other.
“This place is a work of art. My company did several campaigns for log cabin magazines, and this puts all their star homes to shame.”
He replied with a shrug, before he slid open the slider door. He had an outdoor fireplace, hell an entire outdoor kitchen with a grill that was clearly the Bentley of grills. He even had a beverage refrigerator and beyond that was nothing but open space with the mountains on the horizon.
