Vengeance Aside (Wanted Men 0.5)(55)
“Yes. But it’s not just that.” When she looked around the spotless room, she felt the top pop off the boiling pot of her anxiety, and everything she’d been worrying about came flowing out of her. “Every little while it hits me what I’m doing, and I’m freaking out.” She pointed in the direction they’d just come from. “I just walked away from a dirty table I won’t ever have to clear. I won’t have to do dishes or clean or paint when the walls get chipped or dirty. I like doing that stuff. It’s relaxing. But here, I’ll get in the way, or I’ll interfere with someone’s job, or I’ll just get laughed at if I want to clean the toilet. I’m no longer going to have to worry about making rent or budgeting my paychecks so I can take a few days off every couple of months just to lay around and do nothing.” She flapped her hands in front of her. “But if I lay around doing nothing here, your brother and Farah, and eventually, your dad, will think I’m a lazy mooch. What if your dad doesn’t like me? That could very well be because I can be so annoying,” she informed him. “I think stupid shit and share it before I realize just how stupid it is. Want an example? I’m beginning to feel like I better have sex with you soon, so you get your money’s worth. But you’re not paying me,” she whispered as she grabbed two handfuls of her hair and looked at him in horror. “Isn’t that fucked up? Please tell me that’s fucked up.” Before he could, she blurted, “I’m not bringing anything into this relationship but myself, Lukas, and I don’t think that’s enough.”
He took a hesitant step toward her. “Have you always suffered from anxiety?”
She dropped her arms to her sides. “No. That’s the fucked-up part. I’ve never let myself give a shit about anything before, so I never had cause to worry. Not about anything.”
He smiled and put his hand out.
She moaned. “Are you doing this on purpose?”
“What?”
She gestured to him and all this patience he had with her. “This…” She rolled her shoulders to try to get the knots out of her back. “You.”
“What. Do you want me to apologize for being irresistible? Is that what you mean?”
She tried not to smile. “No. That’s not what I mean.”
“Then I’m afraid I’m at a loss.” He flapped his fingers.
“I don’t think you know the meaning of the word,” she muttered as she put her hand in his and tried not to feel ignored when he didn’t find anything she’d said worth addressing as he continued through the house.
Instead of going to the back of the kitchen and turning right, which would have brought them to the foyer and the staircase, he went through the arched exit he’d used last night and brought her to the end of a short hallway. He opened the door and got her through it before closing it behind them.
She breathed in, and when the smell of leather and everything male filled her nose, she looked up from the tiled steps they were taking into the lower level of the house. What she saw was a man cave like no other.
The walls were made up of subtly illuminated refrigerator units, all of them encased in dark wood and reaching floor to ceiling. They were filled with bottles of wine. Each had its label facing out, row after row, all the way around the room. Except where a massive stone fireplace broke the uniformity. There were brown leather couches and a couple of chair groupings. Small tables holding what she was pretty sure were humidors were scattered around, and a couple of chandeliers that matched the few free-standing lamps were above them but muted to a light glow. Fresh flowers, chocolate brown floor tile, and a gorgeous area rug completed the masculine decor.
“Your wine cellar?” she ventured a guess as they reached the bottom step. He was showing her another piece of himself by bringing her to this room. And, as she’d already known, he was beautiful.
“My wine cellar.” He brought her around and proceeded to talk wine. Thank God she knew all the basics from the courses she and Erika had taken when they’d been hired at Scorch last year. She asked about his vineyards after he told her most of his stock came from the two he owned, and soon found herself relaxing in the cozy room that suddenly didn’t seem as big as it really was.
They eventually ended up in front of one of the large sofas. He took her shoulders and turned her to face him before he sat with his arm thrown over the back of the sofa, and his ankle hooked on his knee. He was wearing black slacks and a midnight blue shirt. No tie.
“This room is mine. No one has permission to come down here other than Oksana. And that’s only at my request when I feel it’s in need of dusting. As of today, this room also belongs to you. When you feel the need to clean…” He waved his hand around. “You may polish and scrub to your heart’s content. I promise to bring snacks down and to leave dirty glasses, and even the odd ashtray when I enjoy a cigar, so that you know there are dishes that need to be done and you can get to them at your leisure. Also, I have a feeling we’re going to make something of a mess of our bedroom. Cleaning it will fall to you because I’m much to set in my ways to bother. But,” he put up a long finger, “once you’re pregnant, you can fight with me every day if you feel you must, but you will not scrub a toilet or push a vacuum cleaner around. If I learn you have, you’ll be sorry.”
She was in love.