by Alice Ward
The more we talked, the more I saw we really were — almost annoyingly — similar.
The physical connection was off the charts. I’d hoped to get another taste of it after breakfast, but I’d received a call from work about Stafford Scientific needing a rush job done, so we’d gone back to the city in a hurry. Seth said he didn’t mind, but I did. I hadn’t wanted the weekend to be over yet.
And I wasn’t over him now like I had planned.
In fact, my plan had royally backfired. Instead of being sick of Seth, I was in love with Seth. And him? If his words were to be believed, he was falling for me as well.
All through the evening and today, while fielding calls and crunching numbers, he’d sat on my mind. We hadn’t made any plans to see each other again, and, oddly enough, that made me nervous.
What if he’d changed his mind about me? What if he’d gone back to wanting me just for physical relief?
Or, worse yet, what if he’d lied? What if the things he said down by the lake were all for show or all part of some sick game he liked to play?
My fears made my passion official. I was falling for the guy, and bad.
He basically said he’s into me.
Down at the lake, when he’d told me he initially was interested in me for sex… supposing he really had been telling the truth… then he’d been trying to tell me it wasn’t that way anymore. That he wanted me for more than just sex.
Yet I had trouble believing it.
I wiped my sweating palms against my dress and then stopped myself. I hated feeling this way, like I was waiting around for a guy to throw me a bone.
This wasn’t Quinn Laurent, a woman who owned her own business and called her own shots. This was the giddy school girl I hadn’t been in years. Or perhaps had never been. I’d skipped the Spring Fling for school work, after all. Even though I liked the boy who asked me, I hadn’t liked him enough to put my passion first.
But I couldn’t imagine putting Seth on the back burner for anything.
My cell phone rang, startling me. I hurried around the desk to snatch it up, hating how much I hoped it was the man I was obsessing over.
Seth.
I took in a deep breath and composed myself before swiping. “Hello?”
“Hi, Quinn. How are you?”
His deep tones floated over me, reminiscent of his firm and purposeful touch. My stomach quivered, and heat hit my core. I glanced toward my door’s window, not wanting any of the staff to see me getting undone over a phone call.
“I’m good,” I managed. “How are you?”
“I’m good too… I had a great time this weekend.”
I plunked down into my chair, coming close to missing the seat and crashing onto the floor. “Me too. That place was amazing. Thanks for coming with me.”
“Of course,” he murmured.
I swallowed hard. His voice hadn’t had this effect on me when we were at the lodge. It was nice, and it turned me on…but it didn’t set butterflies off in my stomach. It didn’t hit me like a case of serious spring fever combined with a sugar rush.
Seth continued. “I was wondering if you might like to come over for dinner tonight.”
My heart lifted. “That sounds nice. Although I’m not going to be done here till seven, at least. Maybe seven thirty.”
I cringed. In reality, it was eight, but I didn’t want to tell him that lest he retract the invitation. Maybe if I crunched for the next few hours, then I could shave an hour or so off my projected end time.
“That’s fine,” he casually responded.
“And then I have to go pick up Starlet and take her home, feed her… so that might take another hour.” I bit back a sigh. “I’m sorry. Is that too late? Perhaps we could do it another night this week.”
“Or you could bring Starlet with you to my place.”
I cocked my head in surprise. “Really?”
“Yeah. I don’t have dog food here, but I could run out and get her some. Or just give her some chicken. Can she have that?”
I couldn’t stop the smile. “You’d do that?”
“Of course. She’s a sweet little doggy, and the sooner you get here… the better.”
The connotations in that last part couldn’t be denied. A thrill went through my body, making my arms break out in goosebumps.
“All right,” I answered with a thick tongue. “Thank you. We’ll both come. I’m sure she’ll be excited. Especially if there’s chicken waiting for her at the end of the trip.”
“I’ll text you the address. Is there anything in particular you’d like? Or any allergies?”
“No, I think I’m all good. Anything should be fine.”
“Great. And no rush. Just get here when you can.”
“Okay. I’ll still make it as soon as possible.”
“See you then.”
“Bye.” Vibrating with excitement, I hung up.
CHAPTER TWELVE
I rushed through the day, working at nearly twice my regular pace. Instead of breaking for lunch, I had Stephanie pick me up a salad from the deli around the corner, then gnawed on it with one hand while I went over spreadsheets and typed with my free fingers. Several times lettuce dropped onto the keyboard. Eventually, I gave up and put the food aside to focus on working.
By five o’clock, everything I needed to finish was done, and I had a jump start on Tuesday’s list. The extra time meant I could pick up Starlet and then run home and shower after all.
My dog in tow, I freshened up quickly and then changed into a little black dress and a pair of red heels. Maybe the attire was a bit much for dinner at Seth’s house, but I didn’t care. I felt sexy, damn it. Tonight was my night.
Starlet and I climbed into the car, and I let the GPS guide me toward Seth’s apartment. I didn’t recognize the name of his street and hadn’t taken the time to look at a map.
Starlet looked anxiously out the window.
“It’s all right,” I promised her. “We’re going to Seth’s house.”
She turned her nervous eyes on me.
“There’s chicken there. Chicken.”
This time she perked up, her tail wagging at the speed of light.
As we drove, I wondered for the first time about Seth’s place. In all the time I had spent thinking about him, I’d never really been curious about his home. My thoughts were usually preoccupied with his smile, the sound of his voice, or the magic of his touch.
Would the neighborhood be a safe one? What kind of place could Seth afford? Living comfortably in the city wasn’t cheap. When I first moved to Chicago, I rented an apartment in Edgewater with two roommates and paid — what was for me at the time — out the ass. Unless you were making good money, living in even semi-luxury could be nearly impossible.
Did I need to worry about my vehicle out on the street? And what about the apartment — how tidy was Seth? And did he have roommates?
I cringed at that last one, imagined trying to have a romantic dinner in the corner of a small kitchen while some dude played Grand Theft Auto in his boxers on the couch. Despite all the topics we’d touched on over the weekend, Seth’s personal life mostly remained a closed box. He casually mentioned army friends, but that was about it.
My anxiety ratcheted up as Starlet and I got closer to our destination. Instead of the overpasses and abandoned buildings I’d half expected, though, the high-rise condos around us got nicer and nicer. We were at the edge of the Gold Coast historic district, I realized with a start. Not only was it one of the nicest places in the city to live, it was one of the most expensive.
The GPS pointed to a newer building set a bit farther back from the street than the ones around it. A drive led down into an underground parking lot. I pulled up and stopped at the gate, where a guard came over and tipped his hat at me.
I rolled my window down. “I’m here to see Seth Allman.”
The guard smiled. “Go right ahead and park anywhere you like.”
I did as he instructed,
then hooked Starlet’s leash on her and took the elevator in the garage up to the seventh floor, as per Seth’s instructions in his text.
Everything about the building was shiny and brand spanking new, down to the buttons in the elevator and the wood paneling in the seventh-floor hallway. The air smelled fragrant from the flowers placed intermittently down the hall, and the polished floors reflected mine and Starlet’s images back at us.
I didn’t need to see Seth’s apartment to know he couldn’t pay for a place like this on a soldier’s wages. If he rented here, it probably cost him tens of thousands a month — an insane amount of money, in my opinion. He might as well buy a house with that kind of cash. And if he owned… then he’d dropped more than a few million on the place. Maybe five. Or seven.
Seven million dollars for a condo. I’d made about that much money in my short career, but I invested much of it. I couldn’t imagine dropping it all on a place to live.
So where did the money come from? Not from the check Uncle Sam sent each month. His clothes. His Jeep. All of his possessions seemed so every day. Then there was this…
I burned with a need to know where he got the moolah, but it was, of course, none of my business. And it wasn’t like I could find a way of asking without the question being rude. Suddenly I minded Seth’s aversion to talking about himself. The likelihood of him just being self-conscious decreased dramatically.
Did he have something to hide? A not so little tidbit connected to his living in such a luxurious building?
We took the corner and finally found his door. I knocked and then smoothed my hand over my hair, searching for any unruly strands. I listened for the sound of footsteps but heard nothing. Clutching on to Starlet’s leash, I looked down the hall at the doors spaced liberally apart. The homes hidden behind the walls weren’t small ones.
There was a noise on the other side of the door, and I turned back to face it just as it opened.
Seth appeared with a smile on his face. “Hey there.”
I couldn’t stop my own grin from forming. “Hi.”
“Come on in.”
Starlet pushed herself in ahead of me, her nose flush against the ground as she sniffed each inch of floor she could.
“You can let her off the leash,” Seth said. “She’ll be fine. There’s nothing out for her to get into.”
“All right.” I bent to unhook her. Free, she ran across the foyer and through one of several doorways. I took a small step toward the nearest doorway and saw a long row of windows.
Seth touched my elbow. “Would you like something to drink?”
“Sure,” I nodded.
He guided me through the doorway Starlet had darted through and into a living room — “living room” being a loose term for the space. The bar Seth went to in the corner wasn’t a portable station containing three choices of liquor. It was straight out of a restaurant with two long counters, nice bar stools and multiple shelves of alcohols and mixers on wall shelves. It was an actual bar. All he needed was a liquor license, and he was good to host game nights for the whole neighborhood.
Windows covered two of the walls, allowing the last bit of sunlight to fill the space. In addition to the pool table, there were two long leather couches. Starlet sat on the far one, looking comfortable and pleased with herself.
Most of the room contained empty space. Thanks to the exposed bricks it almost got away without having any art, but why would Seth even have such a giant living room? Was it just so he could play pool when he felt like it?
I’d been wrong with my estimation of the cost of the place. I didn’t know just how much Seth dished out to live in such luxury, but I’d certainly underestimated the number. My own home cost me a cool three million. At the time, I’d felt like I was one of the richest people in the world by acquiring it, though of course, that wasn’t the case. The greatest wealth in the world was under wraps. The cost of Seth’s place? Who knew? My numbered guess wasn’t anything more than just that.
“Is she all right up there?” I found myself asking, referring to Starlet.
“She’s fine.” Seth’s voice echoed through the cavernous room. “I’m not worried about her scratching the leather.”
I stared uncertainly at Starlet. Her claws likely would leave marks, but Seth’s tone held the carelessness of a college kid in a dorm room — a youthful free spirit living in the lap of luxury, having fun but not caring at all about what happened. Most people would flip to see a dog on their leather furniture.
“Quinn?”
I blinked and turned back to face him. “I’m sorry? What was that?”
“What would you like to drink?” His eyes sparkled. “Vodka cranberry?”
“Sure,” I grinned, not able to think about anything else but him when he looked at me like that. His eyes, his touch… I’d been fantasizing about them each spare second since we’d parted, and now I was finally here with him.
He finished mixing our drinks and then carried mine over to me. He looked so out of place in his t-shirt and jeans — the average Joe in the lap of luxury.
We settled down on the nearest couch and sipped our drinks.
“Your place is nice,” I said timidly. “I love the exposed brick.”
“Thanks.” He stared at me. A long moment went by. “I guess you’re wondering why I live here.”
I sighed in relief. “Yes. Sorry. Is it that obvious?”
He slowly shook his head. “No. But the truth is that I don’t bring a lot of people here because then I have to explain my circumstances to them.”
“You don’t have to,” I quickly said, my curiosity actually off the charts. “You don’t have to share anything with me that you don’t want to.”
“I want to.”
I gulped, the sensual quality of his words caressing me.
“I inherited a lot of money from my grandfather.”
“Oh,” I nodded, then laughed.
“What?”
“Well, the way you talked about having to explain things to people made me think you had a real bomb to drop or something.”
“Like I’m in the Mafia?”
“Yes,” I laughed. “Or are a high ranking member of the Illuminati. Though those two things would be pretty exciting, I’m glad they’re not the case.”
His mouth twitched upward. “Nope. Sorry. I’m just the heir to an oil and gas fortune.”
I studied his face, still trying to figure out why he kept this part of his life a secret. “That’s not something to be ashamed of.”
He inclined his head. “Maybe. Maybe not.”
“You really feel like you can’t share that with your friends?”
His face scrunched up slightly as he thought about it. “Sharing it is one thing, but there’s a fine line between sharing and parading, and I don’t want to cross it. There’s no reason to flaunt my inheritance. I don’t exactly run in the most elite circle.” He smirked. “I don’t spend my weekends at galas or on a yacht. Most of my friends grew up like me and joined the army right out of high school. Most of them don’t even know I have money beyond the military.”
“So none of your friends have ever been here?”
“Only a few of them.”
I placed my cocktail down on the coffee table, too intrigued to even drink it. “Okay, so now I’m really interested. Can I ask you something? You don’t have to answer of course. Just tell me to stop any time you want.”
“Yes,” he said slowly. “I suppose so.”
“If you had all this money why did you join the army? You said you didn’t want to go to college, so was that the main reason?”
“My grandfather set it up so that I wouldn’t get my inheritance till I turned twenty-five.”
“Oh… all right. Got it.” I peered at him.
“You can ask.”
“Why? Why wait till you were twenty-five?”
Seth gazed at the cushion between us. “He didn’t want me to be spoiled, to have everything handed to me. Not
at first, anyway,” he added with a laugh. “He wanted me to struggle for a bit, become my own person through it all. He was great in that way.”
I put the pieces together. “So you didn’t grow up well off? If your grandfather gave you your inheritance, didn’t your parents have money?”
Seth swirled the ice in his glass. “No. My father and grandfather had a disagreement before I was born that resulted in my dad getting cut off indefinitely.”
“Wow,” I breathed.
“It’s semi-heavy.”
“But your grandfather sounds like a good man. He cares about you enough to…”
“He passed a few years ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
Seth shifted his weight, moving a little closer to me. His arm fell against the back of the couch, his fingers coming to rest lightly against my neck. “Thank you. He really was great.”
“So that’s what you meant when you said most of your friends grew up like you. You meant middle class?”
“Right. A lot about my childhood was pretty typical for small town Illinois life. I went to a public school, lived in a small brick house, went to the YMCA on the weekends. The only difference was that on holidays my grandfather would pick me up in his private jet and fly me off to Europe to go skiing. At first, I would come home and tell my friends all about it, but by the time I hit middle school, I learned to shut up about the trips. Being the only kid going to Switzerland twice a year didn’t exactly help my street cred.”
I scoffed. “No, I would imagine not.”
His thumb rubbed slightly against my neck, making my head buzz, and tossing my capability to think out the window.
Numbed, I searched for something to say. “Thank you for telling me about this. I hope it’s not too much to share. I want to know about your life, of course, but I don’t want to be forceful.”
Suddenly he broke eye contact, looking to the other side of the room. “Has Starlet eaten?”
Had I said something wrong? He’d seemed so eager to share his story with me. I’d been merely thanking him for opening up.
“I have some shredded chicken breast for her,” he continued.
Starlet perked up, her head cocking in interest at her favorite word.