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Her mouth falls open and she stares at me with wide eyes. “He what?”
Technically speaking, he didn’t specifically ask me to sell the house. But Eddie did specifically ask me to take care of her like she was my own… a promise I intend to honor. And as her godfather, I don’t feel comfortable with her living on her own. So, I decided that the house is going on the market, and she’ll move into my house.
“You’re going to be living at my place, baby girl,” I tell her firmly.
“Why can’t I just stay here? This is where I grew up, Bastian. This is my home.”
“Weren’t you the one who was just telling me you felt like this wasn’t your home anymore?”
“Shut up,” she snaps. “You know what I meant. This is my home.”
“Was. Was your home,” I tell her. “My home is now your home.”
She’s putting up a fight, which I expected. But it almost seems like she’s not putting a lot of effort behind it. Her resistance seems… performative. It almost feels like she's objecting because she feels like she should, not because she believes what she's saying. It’s possible I’m misreading her. I’m very good at reading people though, so I kind of doubt it. Which makes me wonder what’s going on with her.
“I don’t want to live at your place,” she says.
“It’s not up for debate, Bree. Your father asked me to take care of you and that’s what I’m going to do,” I tell her. “So, tomorrow morning, pack a couple of bags and we’ll head over. I’ve already scheduled a moving company to handle the rest of the house.”
“Bastian—”
“Like I said, we’re not debating this, baby girl,” I say. “This is what your dad wanted so, like it or not, this is going to happen.”
She gives me a sour expression as she shoots to her feet and stomps back to her bedroom in a huff. And all I can do is watch the way her perfectly sculpted ass jiggles in those too-short boy short panties as she goes.
Have I mentioned that I’m going to hell?
4
Bree
After a long and mostly quiet ride over, I climb out of Bastian’s SUV and look at the enormous house in front of me. It’s gleaming white with lots of smoked glass windows, is thoroughly modern in design, and is tucked away on a bluff above the ocean. It’s a beautiful house but I'm confused because I don’t think even somebody on a fire department lieutenant’s salary could afford a place like this.
“Bastian, what is this place?” I ask.
“This is home, baby girl.”
“Home? But you live in a condo in the city.”
“I keep that place for when I’m on shift at the firehouse,” he says.
The front doors of the house open and a man with short, dark hair wearing a dark suit steps out. He comes down the stairs from the porch and gives me a tight smile as he picks up my bags.
“That’s Jay,” Bastian says. “He oversees the place and he’ll be looking after you when I’m not here. Anything you need, he can get for you.”
I cock my head and look at him. None of this is making sense. Bastian is a firefighter like my dad was. So, how is it that he’s got a house like this and a staff?
“Bastian—”
“Let’s go inside, baby girl,” he says. “I know you have questions.”
“Yeah, to put it mildly.”
“Jay, see to the bags, please,” he orders.
I follow Bastian into the house, my eyes cutting left and right as I try to take it all in. The house is elegant and just screams wealth. Bastian leads me into a large living room that has an incredible view of the sun glittering off the surface of the Pacific Ocean. I stand at the wall of windows and look out at the sea, my confusion growing deeper by the second.
I’m so lost in the view that I flinch when Bastian puts his hand on the small of my back. But my skin warms where he touches me and I’m uncomfortably aware of the scent of his aftershave and the heat radiating from his body. I turn around and look up into his sparkling green eyes, my breath catching in my throat. My skin tingles and my heart thunders in my chest as his lips hover mere inches from mine.
