Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3)(100)

Sean had followed her gaze and turned a deep crimson. “It was a gag gift. I hate throwing away books.”

“Uh huh,” Krista said as she ran her fingers over the globe.

“Shall we move on?” he asked from the doorway.

Krista followed him. There was another living room, which was staged for company. No TV, no bar, no fun. Just couches and chairs facing each other for idle chit chat. It was something her mom would love. Yuck.

“For guests,” Sean explained. “It can be changed, though.”

Thank you Captain Obvious.

Next they moved on to a laundry room with a permanently set up ironing board. Which was handy, of course, if you planned on ironing. Which Sean never did. He was more of a wash-and-fold type of guy. So was Krista. Time was valuable, and spending it doing laundry was the pits. What’s the point of making money when you couldn’t drop off your laundry to be washed and folded by a business around the corner?

“It looks like it’s never been used,” Krista remarked with a smirk. There wasn’t even any spilled detergent. Or dryer lint. What laundry room didn’t have dryer fuzzies?

“I don’t actually do my laundry. I should, it’s just…”

“Your free time is too valuable to waste. I was just thinking the same thing.”

Sean smiled and ran a fingertip along her jaw line. “I love you, Krissy.”

Krista leaned into his body and entwined her fingers through his. “Where’s the bedroom?”

Sean laughed, gave her a light kiss, and tsked. “All in due time. There’s more to see. C’mon.”

Thankfully, Sean sped up the tour. There was a sun room with large windows. The kitchen was giant with an island and all new appliances. There was a small round table set up in the corner where it looked like Sean did most of his eating. There was also a dining room where Krista envisioned herself throwing spectacular dinner parties. It didn’t look like it had been touched since Sean moved in. There were two other rooms at the back of the house that were largely bare. Sean explained that he didn’t know what to do with them quite yet, so they were in transition. He was thinking guest rooms, but wasn’t sure.

They’d finished only the bottom story and Krista was tired. She opted not to see the basement, which was probably also huge, and followed him up a wide staircase to more house. Why there was any need for more house, she had no idea. No one person needed this much space. She had no idea why he bought a house so big. She also had no idea how he could afford it. His job paid out six figures, sure, but nowhere near enough to afford a house that large. At least, not right away. Maybe after a couple raises and a lot of saving, it might be doable with two incomes. Two Senior VP incomes, at that. His house in San Francisco would fetch more than eight-hundred and fifty grand since the property values there were outrageous, but L.A. was no dump. That much would buy a house for about the same size here. So whatever he made might have been a good down payment, but that still left a ton to pay off. The house she was standing in would have been in the millions—she was property hunting, she knew this from experience.

As they went up the large, sweeping staircase, Krista started to wonder if Sean took out a loan he could never possibly afford. Maybe he lost his head and was working so hard because he would be bankrupt otherwise. She had always thought he was good with money and finances, but who was to say? This house was way overboard so far. And that was just the bottom floor!

On the second floor—there better not be a third! —they hit the play room first. There was a large TV with some sort of game console set up. There was a love seat and gaming chair with a stool, and some small tables. It was probably played once or twice because stuff wasn’t put away. Across the room was a computer, equipped with joystick. That was all organized, so probably not used often, or at all. The rest of the large room was bare. It was carpeted and comfortable, painted a bright yellow, had shelves and plenty of storage area, but nothing was in it.

Before Krista could ask about it, she was whisked away to another room. Then two more. They were all set up for guest rooms with a bed, nightstand, dresser, mirror, and a big, empty closet. They smelled of fresh paint and wood lacquer. Never been used—she’d put her life on it.

There were two bathrooms nestled between the three bedrooms and game room. No one would have to wander far to find a bathroom.

Next they hit the master suite. Ordinarily she would be ready to fall out of her clothes and have Sean fall into her, but she was a bit disturbed by the size of everything.

The master suite was the only room that looked thoroughly used. There were clothes draped here and there, shoes lying around and the bed was made, but rumpled. Like the rest of the house, it was massive. The bed was a king sized wooden sleigh bed, where in San Francisco he had a queen with a nondescript metal frame. He had large, matching nightstands for both sides of the bed with reading lights. One side had papers, an alarm clock and a book. The other side wasn’t used, which made Krista sigh in relief.

There was a chair and small table in the corner by a double door—leading to a balcony?—that was set up for reading. There was a TV mounted on the wall with DVD and speakers, and things on shelves below it. There was a large fireplace with a leather couch in front of it. A door at the far side led to, what she figured was a ridiculously large bathroom. Another door revealed a couple pieces of gym equipment. And who was forgetting the closet that could be a bedroom in San Francisco? Half of it was left empty. It was like Sean drew a line down the middle and didn’t cross his things into it.