apartments in that building. I guess there’s so many of us that you can’t put us all in the same place?”
My sausage alarm goes off. “Was there someone you were thinking of in particular?” Damn. Did she have her eye on some male tenant? Worse, did she have a thing with a male tenant? I press down on the gas. It’s even more imperative that I get her to my place where I’m going to engage in a full lockdown until we figure out exactly what’s going on in her life.
“Everyone will go to Riverside. Each unit is fully furnished so the families won’t have to worry about moving their stuff in and out of storage.”
“Is Riverside up north?” She peers out the window, trying to look for a familiar landmark.
“No.”
“But…aren’t we going north?”
“Yeah.”
She twists in her seat to look at me. “If everyone in my building is going to Riverside, why are we going north? You aren’t kidnapping me, right?” She laughs lightly, but there’s an underlying current of concern.
“Riverside isn’t right for you, hon—Pepper,” I correct myself. “You need a lot of space to work through the redesign of your building.”
“Oh, so this is office space? What about the headquarters we were just at? Can’t I work there?”
“Nah, I think Beck’s going to finally make a move on Marist and we don’t want to be in his way. He’s been jonesing for her so long, he’s bound to jump her. We don’t want to walk in on him going down on her in the conference room...unless you’re into that kind of thing.” I arch my eyebrow.
She doesn’t gasp in shock like I thought she would. Instead, she raises her own eyebrow and says, “And what if I was?”
“Well, it would hurt me, but I’d have to do it.”
“Do what?”
“Gouge Beck’s eyes out.”
“What?” she almost shouts.
I swing down my private drive. “You’re right. It’s not fair to Beck to lose his eyes when you’re the one who saw him having sex, but I can’t take your pretty orbs. How will you admire my pretty face every day if you couldn’t see? The next best option is to make it so that Beck doesn’t ever gaze upon you again. But that’s not good for either of us because while Beck’s my best friend, I don’t think he’d take kindly to me maiming him permanently, so it’s just best that you stay here.” I pull the truck to a stop and wave my hand toward the modern farmhouse that serves as my home.
Pepper’s eyes grow huge as she takes in the wide wraparound porch, the careful landscaping, and the big double doors that lead into an airy living room. The whole back of the house is glass overlooking a natural pond that I have unnaturally stocked with some trout and bass for fishing. “This looks like a home,” she says finally.
“Yup.”
“It’s yours, isn’t it?”
“Yup.”
She tears her gaze away from the front door to glare at me. “I am not living with you. Not now and not ever!”
6
Pepper
How did I get in here? Abel stands holding my laundry basket in the entryway of his home. Right. I need to use the bathroom. I’ll do that real quick and then I’m out of here.
“You can just put that back in the truck.” I point at my basket. “This will be quick. I won’t need anything out of there since I only came in to use the bathroom.” If I keep telling him, then maybe he’ll finally get the fact that I’m not planning on staying. Instead of returning my basket to the car, he kicks the door shut and sets it down on a chair. “Whatever. Where’s the bathroom?”
“This way.” I try not to look around the ridiculously wonderful house. This is one of those dream homes out of one of those town and country magazines. I thought the outside was stunning with that wraparound porch. The one that made me momentarily daydream sitting on it with a good book while sipping some lemonade. But the exterior had nothing on the interior of this gorgeous home.
“You live here alone?” I itch to open some of the doors as we move down the long hallway.
“Yeah, for now.”
“No kids? I bet kids would love that backyard. There is so much room.”
“There is. I could put in a pool or swing set. There is also a giant oak out there I think I could hang a swing on.” He stops walking and I almost run right