Today she was moving in, and I was counting that as a win in my column.
“Okay, so I’m heading out,” Roman excused himself with a wave. “Liberty, it was nice to officially meet you. I’m sure the rest of the guys are going to love you. And don’t stress about meeting the wives and girlfriends. I’ll send Teagan over to coach you up.”
“Rest of the guys?” Liberty’s brow furrowed.
“Well, yeah. Everyone is going to want to meet you.” He smiled.
Liberty didn’t. She looked just as perplexed as before. Guess I was going to have more than a few questions to answer.
I walked Roman to the door and thanked him again before he drove off.
“I was kind of hoping to meet Hendrix, too.” Liberty’s voice bounced off the walls as she walked into the foyer, taking it all in.
“Oh?” My stomach tightened. Was Hendrix more her type?
“Yeah. You said he and Roman were your boys, and it seems only fair since you got to meet all of my friends.” She shrugged slightly.
Relief nearly took my knees out from under me. “Right. Well, I figured I should start you out with the most normal of my friends.”
She arched a brow and folded her arms under her breasts. “Nixon, you guys all make millions a year. There is no normal. There’s just shades of less weird.”
“Hey, I grew up on a farm. The fact that I can throw a ball just happened to buy me a house big enough to move my baby mama in.” I stretched my arms out and gestured to the rest of the house behind her.
“Oh God, you’re not actually going to call me that, are you?” She laughed.
“Not if you don’t want me to.” I grinned as I headed toward her. “I can also call you my parenting partner, my conception companion, my spawning sidekick—”
“Stop.” She put her fingers across my lips, and it took every ounce of self-control not to scrape my teeth over the digits and suck them into my mouth. “Why don’t you just tell me where I’m sleeping?” Her gaze dropped to her fingers—and my lips—and she flushed as she drew back.
“Where do you want to sleep?”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Shit, that came out all wrong.” I shook my head. “How about I give you a tour, and you choose your room?”
“Sounds fair. How many rooms are we talking about?”
“There are eight if you count the guest house behind the pool.” I nearly bit my tongue. The guest house was probably the most appropriate place for her to stay, seeing that we were basically really awkward roommates, but I didn’t want her that far.
Shit, when had I started thinking of the guesthouse as far?
“Eight?” Her eyes widened, the green matching the color of her flowy top.
“If you don’t count the guest house,” I repeated with a forced, clumsy smile.
I took her for the tour, showing her what I liked to call the guest wing, which was home to my gym, the movie room, a small kitchenette, and separate living room and two of the bedrooms. “It’s nice for when my parents come. Gives them their own space, which they’ve gotten used to with Nate and I both gone,” I told her as we crossed into the space I used.
“This is where I spend most of my time.” The living room was vaulted to the second floor and boasted the biggest TV I could buy. The furniture was soft, comfortable leather, and the design clean and simple. The only art on the walls were pictures of my family.
“Holy shit, do you run a restaurant or something?” Liberty asked as she looked into the kitchen.
“No, but it came with the house, so I said, ‘What the hell, I’ll keep it,’” I joked. “Chef is here Mondays to prep meals. His name is Pete, and he’ll make whatever you want, so just leave a list. Margot and Mary come three times a week to keep the house up. They’ll love you.”
She blinked at me and paused as we reached the oversized granite island.
“What?” I asked, looking around to see if something offended her.
“You have staff?”
“Well. Yeah.” I shoved my hands into my front pockets, glad I’d worn the cargo shorts instead of the athletic ones. “I mean, I cook, too. That’s one of the reasons I bought this house. I liked that the kitchen looked out into the living room with that whole open floor plan thing.” The dining room was just off to the right, but I mostly ate sitting on the stools at the island or on the couch in front of the TV.
“You and I are from two completely different worlds.” She took a deep breath like she needed to steady herself.
“Kind of seems like we’re about to live in the same one.” Which was mine, of course, since I sure as hell wasn’t going to fit into her tiny apartment near campus.