AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Of course,” I said, “with a two-story window, closing the blinds the regular way isn’t exactly practical.” I gestured her to the touchscreen wall panel, where I flicked through a few buttons and opened the window control. A set of mechanical blinds slid down over the windows at the touch of a button, and Cameron smiled wider.
“Oh, the central computer? Well, aren’t we living in the future?”
“Out of cybersecurity concerns, the entire smart home network is a closed, hardwired system. You can connect your devices to it, but only if you enable the open network. Of course, they say it’s for cybersecurity, but my guess is that now that wi-fi connected smart homes are accessible to everyone, they had to do something else to make it feel extravagant.” I showed her through the screen, hitting the button to open the windows again and taking a few quick swipes across the features—lights, windows, security systems, sound systems. “You can control the music from here.”
“Oh, let me try.” She cut in, almost giggling now, and flicked through the controls, switching through the music. “Are you ready to hear my worst trait?”
“More than you know.”
“I go to the LIV Sunday party, but I’m actually a sucker for EDM.” She hit a button, and the music changed, a dreamy trance number with a four-on-the-floor rhythm and fat synths that I think I’d heard on the radio a lot recently. “Go ahead,” she laughed. “Make fun of me.”
“You could do worse. I had a K-pop phase.”
She laughed, eyes sparkling. “Had? Where’s the fun in that?”
I couldn’t fight off the smile. “If I get back into it, I’ll let you know. Would you like to see the kitchen or the office next? There’s a feature I’d like to show off in each one.”
“Oh, do tell.”
“Well, the office has a meeting room with a full-wall touch screen I think you’ll love for designing. And the kitchen? The kitchen has a fully stocked bar Elizabeth said we can help ourselves to.”
She licked her lips, a smile playing on the corners of her expression, and it gave me a nervous knot in my throat again. “Are you going for a Cosmo again?”
“No, I’m…” I pursed my lips through a smile. “I think I want something more adventurous.”
“Good. I’ll make you something.”
“Oh. That’s not typically how this—”
“Too bad.” She turned on her heel and, with a spring to her step, went on ahead of me. I stumbled a little keeping up, because apparently she was the one taking me on a tour now.
Cameron wasn’t the kind of person you stopped once she started something, though. I was learning quickly not to get in her way.
∞∞∞
“The rooftop,” I said, pushing out through the door, still holding the pineapple margarita Cameron had given me in one hand. “I hope you’re not afraid of heights.”
“Oh, I see,” she said, stepping out behind me and stopping, turning slowly, taking it in. “You saved the best for last.”
“So classic it’s almost a cliché, I know. Want me to take it back and we can start the tour over from up here?”
The rooftop was stunning, admittedly, especially with the light of the sunset still casting the ocean in reds and golds, with a covered terrace that had its own outdoor bar and seating area, a hot tub on a raised platform, and of course, the infinity pool, worked in alongside a green area with real, live plants. Cameron walked ahead of me to the railing, leaning against it, looking out over the view, and she let out a quiet, breathless murmur.
“A good place to soak up some sun,” I said. “You know—if you’re short for places like that in Miami Beach.”
“And have my own rooftop party. Look at this,” she laughed, walking to the poolside. “You should have told me. I’d have brought a swimsuit.”
“Well… we can always schedule another tour.”
She turned back to me with a sly smile. “I suppose. Or we could go skinny dipping.”
I felt my face prickle. It wasn’t like I could criticize, with how much time I’d been spending picturing her naked. “I don’t think Elizabeth would approve of that.”
She laughed, and then, with a light flaring up in her eyes, she slipped her jacket off. “She doesn’t need to know,” she said, her voice dropping into that husky murmur again, and I felt my head spin—my libido went suddenly off into the stratosphere, and I had to pull hard to rein it back in.
“I—Cameron,” I said, my face burning. “This isn’t—”
“Mm. You said it’s a six-hour window, right?” She gave me that playful pout again, draping her jacket over the back of a chair before she undid the top button of her shirt. “I think we have plenty of time for a swim.”
