I ended up taking a quick shower while Will went to the kitchen, then put on a long-sleeved wool dress that reached to my knees. I chose to forgo panties, but did put on stockings and garters. I was feeling feisty tonight. This place was inspiring me.
A delicious smell greeted me when I descended the steps to the lower level, and I followed it to the kitchen. He was dicing chicken, and there was an assortment of vegetables for salad spread out on the counter. We’d shopped for groceries on the way here. I was happy. God, I was. From the tips of my toes to the ends of my hair. I didn’t think I’d ever felt so happy.
While he cooked the chicken, I made the salad. While I was dicing the herbs as tiny as possible, I heard Will snap a pic.
“What are you doing?”
“You look cute.” He turned the phone so I could see. I was fresh-faced and my hair was up in a ponytail.
“You can see my freckles.”
“I love your freckles. You shouldn’t cover them up.” He kissed under one eye, then the other.
“I won’t wear any makeup while we’re here,” I promised.
“That’s my girl.” He kissed me deeply, tangling our tongues, luring a moan out of me. I was so lost in his kiss that I barely noticed he was pushing the dress up my thighs until he let out a groan that sounded so primal, I instantly became wet.
“What’s this?”
“Garters.”
His
breath came out in a hot rush. His pupils dilated.
“You were wearing these on the plane?”
“Nope. Put them on after my shower. You want to know what I’m not wearing? Panties.”
His gaze dropped to my pelvis, then snapped back up. I tilted my head playfully. “Do you think you’ll have problems concentrating on your dinner?”
Will skimmed one big hand from my shoulder to my breast, flicking my nipples through my bra. A bolt of heat shot straight between my legs.
“Nah, I have excellent self-control, Paige.”
Game on, Detective.
Once the food was ready, we carried everything into the sunroom. It was decorated in natural shades of brown.
“It was smart to keep this. It’s truly beautiful,” I told him over dinner.
“I know. Plus, we get tourists all year round.”
“So you flipped all the properties you rent?”
“Yes. A lot are in the LA area.”
“I can’t believe you worked in construction when you were in high-school. Most teens I know wouldn’t bother.”
“It was good money, and after my parents died we needed it. And keeping busy helped me cope. Then before my senior year, Landon bought a house, wanted to flip it. I offered to work on it, and did it all on my own. When he sold it, he wanted me to keep the profit. It was enough to buy two other small properties. From then on, it snowballed. I continued doing it during college. After keeping this one, I decided that vacation rentals were a smart investment, so I picked up places to flip that were in areas with year-round tourism.”
“Wow.” I crunched some numbers in my mind from the days my grandma was running the inn. “So you could just live off the rent.”
He smiled. “Technically, yes. The decision to join the force wasn’t motivated by money.”
“And you have someone handling the daily operations in each location?”
“Exactly.”