“I’ll show you where to park it later and give you a garage remote. In the meantime, come in.” He made way for her and the dog in the foyer.
Her eyes shot up to the recessed dome that held a monstrous two-tiered chandelier, then took a turn around the space. “I love the lines of this entry. I feel like I just walked into an Italian villa.”
He shrugged. “Follow me. Party’s back here.”
Sarah and Archer trailed behind him as he padded to the family room. Archer’s nails—or are they claws?—clicked over the polished marble. His mom sat upright, her legs stretched out on the couch, her head bent over something in her lap.
“Hey, Mom?”
Mom lifted her head and whipped off her glasses before breaking into a bright smile. “Hello, hello!” She held her arms wide and beckoned the dog. “How’s my handsome man today?” she cooed. Archer rewarded her with a serious tail wag and several swipes of his long pink tongue.
Sarah looked on with a wide grin, one hand loosely holding Archer’s lead. “It’s lovely to see you again, Liz. I’m looking forward to hanging out with you.”
“Me too.” All his mom’s attention was focused on Archer, and Quinn felt himself sag with relief. If this could work out, he’d find a way to put up with Sarah Sunshine’s snark. It might take barricading himself in his room, the gym, or the in-home theater, but he’d figure it out.
“Let me show you your room,” he invited. They left Archer behind with his mom, and as they walked he pointed out this and that. “Feel free to go wherever and use whatever.”
“What’s down that way?” Sarah indicated a hall with the rooms he never used—except the one time.
“Oh. Anywhere but there. Those are the forbidden rooms,” he joked with an evil bwahaha.
“Got it. So the rooms equipped with the dance poles and BDSM gear?”
He gave her a smirk. “Not a bad idea. Think Amazon ships trapezes, poles, and those neon light-up dancing platforms strippers use?”
“You wish,” she scoffed. “Come to think of it, they probably do. Did you know that since they’ve had to shut down for the pandemic, some strip clubs have put in drive-throughs?”
“I have no idea what that would look like, but strip clubs aren’t my thing. And wow, aren’t you a wealth of information? Were you doing job research?”
She shrugged him off with a cold shoulder. In front of a large door at the end of a wide hallway, he came to a stop. She’d halted beside him, and he had to lean past her to grasp the door handle. She hopped backward as if she didn’t want any part of him touching any part of her. Fine by him, though he couldn’t avoid the sweet vanilla-flowery scent that wreathed her. Shit, that smelled good. Not what he’d expected from her, though he couldn’t say what he should have expected. The scent of burnt rubber? Motor oil?
“This is your room,” he announced as he threw the door open. She gave a little gasp and covered her mouth with both hands. He couldn’t have cared less about impressing her, but he wanted her to be comfortable, and her reaction gave him an unexpected surge of gratification.
“Oh wow!” Her eyes were wide as pucks, and she seemed to hesitate on the threshold.
He tried not to laugh at Miss Badass looking bowled over. Stepping into the room, he urged her in. “I picked this room because it has access to the backyard. I figured it would be easier to let Archer in and out.”
She gingerly moved into the space, taking it in with owl eyes.
“If you don’t like it,” he continued, “there are plenty more rooms to choose from. But this is one of the biggest, it’s close to my mom, and it should accommodate all your girlie stuff.”
I can’t imagine having enough girlie stuff to fill a tenth of this suite, Sarah thought to herself as she gaped. She didn’t care that Quinn was smirking at her. The room was beautiful! Soaring ceiling, a marble fireplace, a towering bay window with a table and armchairs, and French doors that opened onto a private deck. It was decorated in heavy, dark furniture and rich golds and reds—not exactly her style, but it imbued the room with luxury and comfort. Definitely an upgrade from Daisy’s pink room.
Quinn was in the bathroom now, which was on the other side of the fireplace, going on about a steam shower, jetted tub, towel warmers, blah, blah, blah. Sarah’s head reeled. When she peeked in, all she could think was that the bathroom resembled a spa and was bigger than the two bathrooms in her childhood home combined.
“No shortage of space, is there? Hope I don’t get lost,” she said, cutting the “Wow!” from her tone.
A chuckle rumbled in his chest. “I’ll leave you a rope so you can find your way back out. Oh. And a little tip? Watch your language around my mom, or you’ll be stuffing all those strategically placed money jars.”
“Thanks, Sparky. I’ll keep it in mind.” Now all she wanted was for him to get out so she could explore her new digs alone. As if he’d read her mind, he excused himself and left.
“Wow! A girl could get used to this,” she muttered to herself. Why didn’t Quinn like this place? Oh, right. It had to be the antithesis to the swinging bachelor penthouse he’d been so fond of. “Bet that place has the stripper poles,” she giggled to herself.
After fetching Archer, Sarah unpacked. Sadly, it took all of ten minutes, with her filling only one miniscule portion of the room’s available storage space. Liz stopped by to check on her and let her know she was going to lie down, and Sarah found
