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His hold tightens around my hand. “It’s peaceful, though. Isn’t it?”
“Peaceful in a spooky sort of Halloween way, I guess.” A stick cracks under my footstep and I jump again. “I’m not a nature lover.”
“Really? You could have fooled me with those dresses. You look like a walking garden half the time.”
“I love organized nature,” I say, stressing the word organized. “Gardens, flower bouquets, those kinds of things. Oh, and yes, I have a soft spot for floral prints.”
He side-eyes me. “I prefer you in the sweats.”
I laugh, tugging at the hem of my sweatshirt. “Well, this is the real me, messy ponytail and all.”
He openly stares at me for a moment as we walk. “You look great to me.”
Whoa, was that a compliment from the Beast?
I clear my throat, trying to cool the heat creeping up my cheeks. “Hmm.” I don’t know what to say but I leave my hand in his, confused by how safe I feel at his side and yet how I’m still a bit terrified of him. The woods start to thin.
His house comes into view.
Only, it’s not a house.
It’s a freaking castle.
“Oh. My. Goodness.” I stop and just stand there, taking it all in.“Thisis your…house?”
He stares up at the castle, a light of pride in his handsome face. “Home sweet home.”
“And what a home it is…” My words trail off as my mind tries to accept the fact that this place is real.
The granite structure is softly lit with fire-like sconces on either side of the door, beams of soft light shooting up from the ground, making shadows along the stone walls. Several large, arched windows are lit from within, a warm, welcoming glow shining from their panes. The building is massive, with towers and turrets.
A real castle.
He recounts the history of the place. Dozens of Italian stonemasons shaped the granite for the red-tile-roofed, four-story, thirty-room castle and the four-story tower, as well as for a large boathouse on the shore. There’s even a two-story icehouse that was used like a giant refrigerator for fine dining ingredients at the turn of the previous century. Over two thousand loads of topsoil were brought from Canada to cover the ten acres of rocky soil, hence the lush grass growing beneath our feet. The castle is complete with all the things you’d expect from a legit castle: secret tunnels, scullery kitchens, gardens, more turrets. He tells me there’s even a dungeon and underground passageways.
“What have you done with the dungeon?” I ask, a shiver moving down my spine as the breeze whips through my hair. The shiver turns to sensual chills as he turns to me, the open lust in his gaze heating my face.
He runs the tip of his tongue over his lips in a way that makes me think of Kylie and Cannon’s sex club, Fire, and all the sexy rooms set up there for playtime. His husky voice drops an octave as he says, “Maybe I’ll show you sometime.”
His reaction makes me certain. He’s turned the dungeon into a sex room.
What is he doing out here on this island? I mean, joining the family comes with money, but last I heard, he was only overseeing security at the Hamlet, the family’s town in Connecticut where not much ever happens.
I’m curious. “How are you able to live all the way out here? Shouldn’t you be at the Hamlet?”
“I have excellent staff. I keep in contact with them whenever I’m here.”
It still begs the question, what kind of operation is he running here for the family? Obviously, there’s more going on than off-site security. It’d be rude to ask these questions and it just isn’t in my nature to be rude. I bite my tongue.
“You’re welcome anywhere in the castle.” It’s an invitation, but he says it in a foreboding manner.
Just the castle? “What about the rest of the island?” I ask.
“You’re welcome anywhere in the castle,” he repeats, giving me a look that says he will not be repeating himself often.
Whew, the heat that comes off of that tense jawline when he’s admonishing me. Kinda makes me a little weak in the knees and tickly in the tummy. The man is in command and in control. Seeing the way he carries himself on his own property just heightens the natural weight of leadership he already carries on his massive shoulders.
A hot man who owns and runs his own island and lives in a castle? Not gonna lie. It’s a huge turn-on. And his taste, goodness, I’ve never seen a bachelor deck out a house like this.
