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“Excuse me?”
“I don’t want you living in that shithole anymore.”
“It’s not a shithole.”
“It is if your onsite landlord is a creep and there’s no security at the main door. Anyone can walk in off the street. Ergo, it’s a shithole, and I wouldn’t be a decent boyfriend if I didn’t move you in with me.”
I sit in the cab and stare for several long moments. I did say that about Toby, and I don’t love the lack of security either. But it’s Fate, not New York City.
Plus, there’s a large part of me that loves, loves, loves being spoiled by Buck.
On the other hand, I’ve never lived anywhere else. What would I do here besides hang out with Buck and ride with him to and from work?
And…is that such a bad thing?
It could be. When he finds out I lied on my résumé and kicks me out, I’ll have to go crawling to my parents for help, and I do not want to move to Arizona. Maybe I’ve been too determined to do everything on my own. Buck is offering me help without any strings attached.
“What’s going on in that head of yours, sweetheart?”
I gaze up at the white brick, the arched recessed entry, the tidy row of boxwoods, and faux shutters. “This house is not very you.”
“What’s wrong with it?” Buck asks good-naturedly.
“Nothing! It’s fine. It’s just not the kind of house I picture you in.”
Buck leans over the steering wheel and aims a questioning smirk at me. “Really? What kind of house do you see me in?”
I smile. “If I’m honest?” Honesty, that’s rich coming from me. I’m such a coward. “I see you in something like the Paget Mansion.”
Buck purses his lips. “Do you think I should live in the Paget Mansion?”
“Well, something like it. Obviously, you need to sell that one to make money for the company.”
“I could buy it for myself.”
“But…can you do that?”
“Sure. There’s no law that I can’t, as a private citizen, purchase property from the company. The brothers will make a profit off the sale either way.”
All this talk about buying houses is making my head spin. “But it’s just you,” I laugh. “What are you gonna do with a giant mansion?”
“Fill it with my harem.”
I shriek and hit him on the arm.
“Ouch!” Buck says, laughing and rubbing his shoulder.
“Don’t give a girl an orgasm if you don’t want her acting like a psycho when you talk about other women.”
I’m not sure how the “psycho” comment will land, but he takes it well. A little too well. All that happens next is Buck leaning his head on his arms that rest on the wheel. He stares at me for several seconds, neither of us saying anything.
Finally, he blows out a breath. “You’re fucking perfect for me, Grace.”
It’s probably the haze of happy hormones still surging through me, but Buck’s words send warm tingles through every cell in my body, down to my very bones.
“You don’t know me that well.”
“Says you.” He sits up, stretches, and gestures with his chin toward the house. “Come on.”
