Page 473 of His Virgin Romance Series

“You bought the house?” I asked incredulously.

“The whole island, actually. It’s pretty perfect, isn’t it?”

“Perfect is definitely one word for it,” I agreed. “I can’t believe you bought a whole island.”

Seth looked at me and smiled. “A little extravagant, do you think?”

“Just a tad,” I teased.

He laughed. “Come on, let’s go exploring.”

He took my hand, and we climbed the steps together. The house was a sprawling manor that could have doubled as an estate. “How big is it?” I asked, in amazement.

“Five bedrooms and seven bathrooms big,” he replied.

“Looks like more.”

“The rooms inside are massive,” he explained. “The original owner wanted fewer rooms and bigger spaces. The kitchen and dining room are huge, and the living room takes up half the space on the ground floor.”

“I can’t believe you bought a house,” I said, shaking my head.

“It’s an investment,” he shrugged. “And perfect timing, too. I closed this deal shortly before you arrived in Hawaii. Now whenever we need some alone time, we can just come here.”

I gave him a look.

“What?”

“When will we have time to come here, at all?” I asked. “We’re both so busy.”

“It won’t be like that forever,” he said. “At least, I hope not. We just have to be hopeful.”

The house’s interior was as lovely as it was on the outside. Seth had been right about how large all of the rooms were. The furniture was sparse, but it was just enough for a house that wasn’t in continual use. We went through every single room while he went through key points of architecture. He was passionate about it, and it made me wonder why he hadn’t decided to become an architect.

We circled back to the massive living room, and I settled down on the sofa. “Did you ever think about getting into architecture in college?”

Seth sat down next to me. “I thought about it a lot, actually,” he admitted.

“But?”

“Dad was grooming me to take over his empire,” he said. “And…I guess I couldn’t turn him down.”

“Is that one of the reasons why your relationship with him was a little…prickly sometimes?”

Seth looked at me and smiled. “I wasn’t aware that you were aware of my prickly father-son relationship.”

“You forget that I spent half my life watching you,” I said. “I noticed things—the way you spoke about your father was one.”

“He had a vision for my future, and I didn’t necessarily agree with that vision at first,” Seth said. “But once I got into his line of work, I realized that I actually enjoyed it. And, I have gotten to dabble in architecture every now and again, it’s just not what I do.”

“It was lucky that you enjoyed running the empire.”

“I think about that every day,” Seth nodded. “If I hadn’t, I’d probably still think about my father with resentment. But as it stands, I just miss him.”

“I can imagine,” I nodded, thinking about my own parents. “I don’t know what I would do if something happened to my dad.”

“Before he got sick, Dad was like a machine,” Seth said, with his eyes far away. “He worked twenty-four-seven. Sometimes, it felt like he never slept. I swore to myself that I would never allow myself to work like he did; but now, here I am, working like he did.”

“He was probably lonely,” I suggested.

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