Until November (Until, #1)(18)
"Yeah, I bought the land I live on when I first started my business and started building my house not long after."
“Wow, that’s impressive. How old were you when you started your company?” I ask, wanting to know his age but trying to be sneaky about it.
“I was twenty-two when I first started.”
“Oh. How long ago was that?” I hear him chuckle and I look over at him. “What’s so funny?”
“I'm twenty-seven, babe. Nothing is ever easy with you, is it?” he asks and I hear amusement in his voice.
“Cool,” I say, feeling like an idiot that he figured me out. We pass a large red barn then turn down a dirt road. I can’t see anything ahead of us until we go over a small hill. My breath catches and I'm stunned. I don’t know what I expected but I didn’t expect to see a large, two story log house with a wraparound porch on the second level. Beams are holding it up and space for parking is below. I see a car and four wheeler parked under it.
“You built this?” I ask and even to myself I sound breathy.
“Yeah. It took me four years to get it finished because I was working on it between jobs.”
“It’s beautiful,” I say because…wow, it’s just amazing.
We get out of the jeep and start walking up to the front porch. Beast is walking behind us and it’s so quiet out here that I can hear his tail cutting through the air. He's so excited to see this new place and explore. Asher let us inside and I am completely stunned by what I see. It’s huge. You can see the logs. There are no white walls. It’s all warm wood and open. There are giant windows that jut out and make the space almost seem larger. There is a sunken living room with a long, dark blue couch in the center of the room. It looks like it needs to be replaced but it also looks really comfortable. On the wall, there is a huge entertainment center and off to the side is a floor to ceiling fire place made out of different types of rocks. There are no pictures or throw pillows of any kind. Actually, looking around, I realize that there are no decorations anywhere. We turn a corner and enter a giant kitchen with stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, and a large island in the middle with the stove built into it. It looks like a chef's dream but it also looks unused.
“Do you cook?” I ask. That’s the only reason I can think someone would want a kitchen this large.
“Some,” he says with a look on his face that I can’t read. What the heck? This is a top of the line kitchen. I would love to spend hours in this kitchen baking or just sitting at the island and drinking coffee.
“Oh, well, it’s a really nice kitchen.” I mean, what else I could say?
“Glad you like it,” he says in a way that makes me think he’s really glad that I like it. I follow him down a hall that runs beside the kitchen. I look for Beast but don’t see him so I turn around to search him out. When I walk back through the kitchen, I stop. Beast is lying on the couch on his back with his legs straight up in the air. I feel an arm slide around my waist and Asher speaks close to my ear. “Looks like he made himself at home.” A shiver runs across my skin and I know that he can feel it when his arm goes tighter.
“Should I tell him to get down?” I ask.
“No, baby. He’s fine,” he says in his deep drawl. I love that he calls me baby, and at the same time, it scares me that I love it. “Let me show you the bedroom,” he mumbles. At his words, I get another shiver. This one’s in a completely different place.
We walk past two rooms with the doors open. One is an office and the other is a workout room. Across the hall from both is a bathroom. At the end of the hall, he opens the door. I follow behind him and realize that this is his bedroom. There is a platform bed that’s so big, everyone I know could sleep on it and no one would even touch. The sheets and blankets are a mess and there are clothes scattered all over the floor.
Next to the bed is a wall of windows and the shades are slightly open. I can see a deck off his room as well. Beside the bed are night stands built into the wall. There is a long, black dresser in the same color of the bed and side tables. There are two doors. One is open and I can tell that it’s my dream closet. It’s the size of my apartment back in New York. I walk towards it without thinking and turn on the light. I could fit a chair and a table in the space and still have room to add a king size bed.
There are shelves on both sides that have a few pairs of shoes and boots on them and along the walls there is plenty of space to hang clothes. There are a few pieces of clothing hanging but most of it is in piles on the floor.
“Oh my God, I'm in love.” I hear Asher laughing behind me so I turn to look over my shoulder.
“You have committed a huge crime,” I tell him with a completely straight face. He’s still laughing. “No, seriously, this closet should be taken care of and should never have stuff defacing the floor.” He throws his head back and is laughing so hard that the tendons in his neck are out. I catch myself wanting to run my tongue along them. I double blink at that thought. When his eyes come back to mine, he’s still chuckling.
“I don’t even like doing laundry. I'm not a big fan of hanging shit up,” he tells me.
“Oh, of course,” I whisper. Geez, I'm such a dork. He’s a guy. They don’t care about dream closets and having the space to show of all their fashion treasures. I step out of the closet and cross my arms under my breasts. His eyes drop to my cleavage so I quickly uncross my arms. Then, I realize that I'm standing in his bedroom and I'm sleeping in his house while he’s there.