“Exactly how was I wrong? You said we were going home. Do you mean your place?”
I lifted her face with a finger under her chin and shook my head. “Our home, Charlotte. There is no yours and mine anymore. Just ours.”
She sputtered some more, but then her expression turned thoughtful, and she sat quietly for the rest of the ride. In order for me to keep from tearing her clothes off and fucking her on the back seat, I thought about our apartment and wondered if she would like it.
It wasn’t far. I preferred to live near the office, so I had renovated the top two floors of one of the residential buildings I owned in the city. I hadn’t thought about a family of my own when I built it, but my parents, two sisters and their families, and my brother all liked to visit. I wanted enough room to have them all comfortable and give me privacy while they were there.
Now, I was grateful I’d designed it that way. There were six additional bedrooms, nine bathrooms, and if we chose to have more children than that, they could always be doubled.
The master suite was set up on the opposite side of the penthouse. Besides the spacious bedroom and bath, there was a sitting room, dressing room, a large walk-in closet, and a smaller room next door that I used for an office. It would be a perfect nursery though, so I’d decided to move my office to another part of the house.
However, if Charlotte didn’t like it, wanted a townhouse, or even to move out of the city, I’d happily give her anything she wanted.
The car went dark as Fenton turned into the entrance for the underground parking garage.
“This is one of your properties,” she stated.
“Very good,” I praised. I’d given her the business portfolio to familiarize herself with our current properties, ones in the process of being bought, and former properties. Looking through those would help her learn what we would or wouldn’t be interested in if a potential investment fell on her desk. I relied on my assistants' recommendations because I didn’t have the time to personally inspect every prospectus or real estate listing.
This wasn’t the first time she’d recalled a property from the portfolio. In fact, she’d done it dozens of times while she’d been working for me. It wasn’t as if she got lucky and happened to have just studied those investments when they applied to a conversation.
“You have an eidetic memory,” I concluded. How hadn’t I thought of that until just now?
Charlotte nodded. “I don’t often tell people because they get weird about me remembering stuff. Especially if we meet with shadier characters. People are more likely to let something slip or leave a paper lying around that they shouldn’t when they don’t know someone is there who can almost perfectly recall every detail of the meeting.”
A knock on my door startled me, and I realized we’d parked, and Fenton was asking permission to open the door. Smart man. In all the time he’d been with me, I’d never had a woman who wasn’t family in my car. And if I hadn’t had such a tight rein on my desire, opening the door without permission might have been the last thing he ever did.
I rapped my knuckles once to let him know it was okay, then I reluctantly let go of Charlotte and let him help her out of the car. Once I was out and on my feet, I lifted my woman back into my arms and strode for the private elevator only a few steps from my designated parking spots.
“Take a few days off, Fenton,” I called. “We won’t be leaving anytime soon.”
Charlotte scowled at me. “I can’t stay here. I didn’t even bring any clothes.”
“You won’t need them,” I quipped.
“I’ll let you know when I need you next, Fenton.”
“Yes, sir!” There was a smile in his voice, and when I turned around in the elevator to face the opening, I saw him trying to suppress laughter as he watched me carry Charlotte off like a caveman. He gave me two thumbs-up, and I chuckled as the metal door slid shut, leaving us alone. Finally.
It was beyond tempting to put my girl’s legs around my waist and press her into the wall where I could devour her mouth and grind my steel erection into the heat between her legs. But Charlotte wasn’t quite ready for things to escalate to where I wanted them to go, and if I let go of any threads to my control, that would be it.
We reached the bottom level of the penthouse in seconds, and the elevator opened into a large, resplendent foyer. It was marble and wood, but I’d gone for a homier vibe with warm colors. The banister and sconces were black wrought iron, as well as the chandelier hanging from the vaulted ceiling.
I set Charlotte on her feet and gestured around the space. “You can change anything you want. Hell, if you want to gut the place and redo every tiny detail, then do it. I want this to be your home, baby.”
All she said was, “Holy shit.”
“That’s three,” I drawled.
She didn’t respond, just wandered around looking at everything until at last, she faced me again. “It’s gorgeous, Rhett. It’s...it’s like the designer was in my head,” she laughed. “Can I...can I see the rest of it?”
I smiled and held out my hand. She hesitated, but her rosebud lips were curving up just the tiniest bit, and it was only a few moments before she placed her palm in mine.
She didn’t hate it and wasn’t pushing to leave, which meant we were making progress.
Our home was just under ten thousand square feet, so the tour took a while. It was worth it, though, because Charlotte relaxed little by little, becoming more animated. But there
