Page 30 of Nightclub Surprise
A sexy smile curled her pink lips as she looked down, batting her lashes. “August, you’re sobad.”
Give her one soft kiss to the side of her neck. “Only with you,baby.”
Heading inside, I prepared myself for their reactions—and was pleased with them as Calum gasped after I opened the door. “Gosh!”
“Lord, August, you’ve lived here all alone?” Tawny asked. “This place is enormous.” Her eyes moved over the redwood staircase. Two sets of curved stairs ran up to the next floor, the ceiling open all the way to the top, where a skylight bathed the room with light. The grey marble glistened in the rays, shiningbrightly.
“I’ve lived here all alone,” I answered as I gave her a little squeeze. “And now I have you two to share this place with. Tawny, I’ve never been this happy in my entire life. I want you guys to make this place yourhome.”
“That’ll take some doing, August.” Her eyes were wide as she looked all over the place. “This place is like a five-star hotel orsomething.”
“It took me a minute to get used to it, too.” I kissed her cheek. “You guys will get used to it before you knowit.”
The door at the back of the room opened, and there stood my head housekeeper. “Ah, Denise, how nice to see you. I’ve got a couple of people who’ll be joining me here from now on. I’d like to introduce you to Tawny Matthews, mygirlfriend.”
Tawny reached out to shake Denise’s hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,Denise.”
“And you too,” Denise said with raised brows. “And who’s this littleguy?”
“I’m Calum,” my son said as he stepped up to shake her hand, too. “I just found out that August is mydaddy.”
Denise’s eyebrows rose even higher as she looked at me and opened her arms up wide. “Well, congratulations,August!”
Denise was incredibly maternal, with three children of her own, and she always treated me as if I were her fourth. “Thank you, Denise.” She let me go as she looked at Calum. “And he looks just like his strapping daddy,too.”
“Tawny and Calum will be living with me from now on, so please help them settle in the same way you did with me. They’re from my hometown, so this is an adjustment for them, the same as it was for me when I bought the place and hired you on.” Running my arm back around Tawny, I went on, “After hiring Denise, I thought I didn’t need anyone else to help with the upkeep of this place. She helped me hire the rest of the staff—she has a lot of experience working for people with largehomes.”
“Good to know,” Tawny said as she looked at Denise, “because I already feel overwhelmed, and we’re just in thefoyer.”
“I’ll draw you a map, so you don’t get lost,” Denise said as she clapped her hands. “I’ll be in the kitchen, come there last, and I’ll give you themap.”
The skip in my housekeeper’s step told me she was just as excited as I was to have more people in the home she took pride in caring for. As she headed toward the kitchen, I moved my little family into the nextroom.
Windows ran along the back wall of the main living area, the mountains offering a gorgeous view. “This is one of my favorite places to sit and watch the sunrise.” I nuzzled my nose against Tawny’s. “And now you guys can join me to watch it,too.”
“This view is to die for,” she murmured. “God, August, this is just too good to betrue.”
“No, it’s not. I thought the same when I first bought the place. But it is true, and now you’re a part of this as well.” Taking her by the chin, I placed a soft kiss on her lips while Calum was distracted with his own exploration of the room. “How about we see the rest of the downstairs, and then I’ll take you up, and you two can pick out your newbedrooms.”
The rest of the tour had them nearly speechless, which was a rare thing for Calum. When I took them up to the left wing, I pointed at my door, which was at the end of the hallway. “That’s my room down there. If you’ll notice, there are rooms very close to mine and right across the hall from each other. Should we check those outfirst?”
Calum ran to the door on the right and stopped, frozen in place as Tawny and I caught up. “Momma, look,” hemuttered.
Tawny’s eyes looked like they were about to fall out of their sockets—and I couldn’t blame her. The room was bigger than the apartment they’d been staying in. “Oh,Lord!”
I walked in, explaining as I went. “This is the sitting area with a television,” I gestured to the flat screen that hung on the wall in front of a couple of tan leather sofas. I opened the door at the back of that room, going into the bedroom. “There’s tons of room in here to fill this place with toys of all kinds. What do you think,Calum?”
“I think I’m in heaven,” he said with a giggle as he ran all over the room. A queen-sized bed caught his attention, and he hopped up on it and spread his little body out as wide as he could. “I can’t believe this! Is this whole bed forme?”
“It is.” Tawny went to sit on it too, moaning at how comfortable it was. “Oh, August, this bed’s so comfy.” She pulled Calum up and put him on her lap. “I bet you’ll sleep like a baby in this bed, don’tyou?”
“Prolly,” heagreed.
After showing them the attached bathroom with a stand-up tiled shower and a bathtub, I took them to the closet at the back. Neither Calum nor Tawny knew what it was. “And what kinda room’s this?” heasked.
“This is your closet.” I opened the doors, which were built to look like they were only walls. “See, your things will go in here. And the bench is for you to sit on to put your shoes on.” I went to the other side of the room, opening those hidden doors. “Your shoes will go in here on theseshelves.”
“That’s a whole lotta shelves, Dad,” Calum told me as his eyes grewwide.
