Page 215 of Tormented Billionaire Romance Series

Carter laughed. “I won’t tell Patricia you said that about her.”

“We didn’t marry for looks,” Hal said warmly. “Have a good night, Mr. Bryant.”

Carter drove through the gate and onto the streets of a quiet beachfront neighborhood. Houses the size of mansions sprouted from sandy yards covered in seagrass. Each house backed up against the roiling fall ocean. The sharp tang of salt blew in through the car air vents, reminding me of the aquarium in the Lonely Whale. It was a scent I was coming to associate with luxury.

“You’re very quiet,” Carter remarked. He drove slower than what I thought to be necessary, presumably to give me a good look around.

I had already seen enough, though.

“Megyn?”

I didn’t want to give away how overwhelmed I was. I’d done that at the restaurant and while Carter had been nothing but patient with me, I wouldn’t push my luck. “You know that man well?”

“Hal? Oh, sure. He’s been a guard for the past ten years.” Carter shrugged good-naturedly. “He could care less about art and isn’t particularly imaginative, but when you pass a man a few times a day for over a decade, you come to be familiar with him. He’s an okay sort. Blunt.”

“I’d be mortified if my husband told someone else I was prettier than them.”

“Oh, it’s just a game those two play. They like to insult each other.”

I shuddered, rubbing my arms. “I can’t see how arguing is supposed to be fun.”

“I’m sure it’s different from that. Here we are. My house.”

Bursting up from a scrubby yard was a dark blue two-story house, standing on pillar legs to account for high tide. A ramping white walkway led up to a raised balcony and front porch area, which wrapped all around the side of the house and presumably to the back.

“It’s… It’s…” I couldn’t even find a thought to explain what I was seeing.

Carter pulled up to the driveway, which rose at a slant to a huge garage big enough for three vehicles. Two were already inside, and even I could tell they weren’t in working order.

The garage looked like any ordinary garage, though kept neatly swept and with organizational shelves and tubs rather than clutter.

Carter shut the motorized door with a press of a button and stepped out of his car.

I climbed out and shivered as the chilled air struck me. Dust went up my nose and I sneezed.

Carter looked at me apologetically and ushered me out of the garage and into the house proper, through a laundry room and adjoining pantry to a combination kitchen and dining area. The walls were in different shades of blue, teal and aquamarine and navy, accompanied by distinctly beachy furniture, made to look like rattan or driftwood.

“I feel like I’m in a vacation home,” I breathed. I turned to Carter, shaking my head. “When you live like this and you saw the awful wreck where I live…”

Carter shook his head back at me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. “Don’t be silly. Remember what I said before? Pumpkin or carriage, you are my Cinderella.”

His reassurance calmed me down a little, though I could still hardly believe that he lived in such a beautiful place. I had known he would, but actually seeing it was very different from thinking about it.

Carter grasped my hands in his and swung them back and forth between us. “I have the whole evening planned out for us,” he said. “I picked out a movie for us to watch in my theater.”

“A home theater,” I said faintly. “Do you happen to have your own bowling alley?”

He smiled and continued. “My in-home chef will prepare us a meal and we can eat it while watching the movie. If we want it later on, then we’ll have popcorn and slushies.”

“Of course you have a chef.”

“Well, he’s more like a live-in butler, but don’t tell him that.” Carter took my hand and pulled me along, through his gorgeous beach home. “He’s pretty bad at everything except cleaning.”

“He… has his own bedroom?” I stared at the doors we passed, now wondering what secrets each one held.

Carter laughed. “Actually, there’s a small apartment attached to the back of the house. That’s where he lives, though he has a key so he can come and go.”

“Oh,” I said, and left it at that. I had no idea what else I could say. I could barely afford groceries sometimes and here Carter had a person specifically to cook for him.

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