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All intentions of being professional and in control gently drifted away as I stared at Shane for what felt like forever. I had certainly got a good look at him on Halloween, but it was something else entirely to see him in almost nothing. Just miles of exposed skin, muscle, and hair stretching on forever. The cherry on top of my sexually charged sundae was how thin and small the pants were on him, and there was no mystery surrounding whether he was wearing underwear or not.
The groggy expression on his face melted away, and he raised a brow. “Are you going to explain why you’re here, or are you going to continue to imagine what I look like without the pants on?”
I shook my head, immediately annoyed that I had already failed in my one personal mission. “Jackass.”
“Well, if you’re looking to join me tonight, I might be persuaded,” he said, leaning against the door and crossing his arms over his middle.
I was not turned on by his cockiness, even if it was coupled with watching the muscles of his arms shift. “Your mother wants to talk to you before she goes to bed. She sent me out looking for you.”
His amused expression faded. “Whatever for?”
I shrugged, forcing my gaze to remain locked on his face and not the rest of him. “If I knew that, I would have already told you.”
“She never wants to speak to anyone when she’s preparing for bed,” he said, pushing off the door and unwrapping his arms. “What led to her telling you to find me?”
Here again, more proof that he was far more analytical than he generally appeared. “Well, I might have had a little talk with her.”
His brow furrowed. “About?”
“That perhaps it was time she started considering easing up on trying to be the powerhouse millionaire with the world at her fingertips and more on being a sick woman who needs to start taking care of herself better,” I said.
“Fantastic,” he hissed, lowering his head and shaking it. “You kick off the ball of shit, and it rolls downhill onto me. Typical.”
“Typical? I…”
“Typical for me, not you,” he said, turning to walk toward the lit doorway. “Are you coming in, or are you going to stand there awkwardly with the door wide open?”
I hesitated to enter what was most assuredly his space, but the news of his mother’s request had shaken what cockiness he’d had. Taking a deep breath, I followed him into a narrow hallway. There was only a small landscape of a storm-tossed cliff on the wall, and a rack with shoes, ranging from a heavy pair of boots still flaked with dried mud to well-worn tennis shoes and…fluffy slippers.
Refusing to go much further, I stepped into the nearby doorway and stood there. I was met with a small but surprisingly cozy room. There was a couch against one wall, a small table and a TV opposite the couch. There wasn’t a lot of walking space between the objects considering the size of the room, but everything was in warm, earth tones. I looked up to find the roof was not all wood. A strip down the middle was made entirely of thick glass.
Opposite where I stood was a small kitchen, with just enough space for a fridge, an oven, and a few appliances cluttering the countertop. The table pushed against the wall near the stove had two chairs. Most interesting for me, other than the doorway just off the room where Shane had disappeared, were the plants all over the place.
Some dangled from a beam that hung from the ceiling, while others dotted the windowsills and small tables. A few were flowering, but most were simply just…green. I didn’t know a thing about plants, and I had no idea what a single one of them was as I looked them over.
Shane emerged, presumably from his bedroom, fully dressed. He stopped when he saw me and shook his head. “Afraid to step in further for fear of what you might catch?”
I snorted. “This does not scream ‘I like to bring people here for wild fuck parties’ to me.”
He stopped adjusting his collar and cocked his head. “And what does it scream?”
I looked up. “Doesn’t the glass just get covered in the winter?”
“I have heating built into the roof to melt the ice and snow.”
“Huh. I guess the plants would need it.”
“They would.”
I tapped the doorway nervously. “And this feels more like a place that’s meant to be…a comfortable, safe place from the rest of the world.”
No ostentation, no airs, just simplicity and comfort. It felt so at odds with what I had seen of him before. The whole place was strangely intimate, not just because of its close quarters and cozy interior. It was more because it felt like I was getting a glimpse into Shane that very few others ever got to see. I had yet to hear of anyone being brought to this cottage, and I was sure I would have by now. No one gossips quite like employees on the job, and I knew someone would have shared it with me.
“Interesting,” he said, and I scowled. “Less interesting is that I must go see what storm awaits me.”
“Look, if I ended up bringing hell down on you…”
He shook his head. “If my mother wants to give me hell, she’s going to give me hell with or without someone’s help. It wasn’t fair of me to blame you for whatever’s about to come. Consider yourself exonerated.”
