“Yeah,” I said with a grin, “you can sit right there and inspire me.”
As I was gathering things I needed to make the sandwich, I saw her looking around the room.
“This kitchen is the size of my entire house,” she mused.
“Not quite. It’s big but not that big.”
She shook her head and gestured around with her hand. “I’m guessing this is more than a thousand square feet. My house is eleven hundred square feet in total.”
“Alright,” I conceded. “It’s the size of your house. If you add the pantry area in, it’s just over thirteen hundred square feet.”
“I can’t get over you living here alone. I haven’t minded living by myself when my mom is gone for work, but in a house this big I’d be looking under every bed before I could sleep. I’d have heart palpitations over every sound I heard because I’d be convinced there was an intruder.”
I grimaced at the reminder of her living alone. I still thought it had been a shit decision on her mother’s part.
After flipping the sandwiches to the other side with the spatula, I turned and looked back at her. She had her chin resting on her hand while she watched me cook.
“No need to worry about that here,” I assured her. “The security system is state of the art. There are sensors and cameras all over the place, including out on the lawn. If there’s even the hint of something being off, the security company and the cops are here within five minutes. I know because I set the alarm off by accident the first week I was here.”
“That must’ve been a fun time,” she teased.
“It made me look and feel like a total idiot,” I admitted. “I’d just come home from an award show after party so I was pretty hammered and I hadn’t memorized all the information I needed to. Malibu’s finest were not amused, and I wound up with a five hundred dollar bill from my security company for the false alarm. Speaking of security, I need to go through all the codes and stuff with you.”
“Since I’ll always be with you when we’re coming or going you don’t need to. It would just be a hassle for you to have to change it all when I leave.”
Even the thought of her leaving made me sick. I didn’t immediately respond because I wanted to be face to face with her when I did. After plating our lunch, I took it over to the island and set it down. Then, I turned her on the swiveling stool, so she was facing me.
“This is your home now, Angel. What’s happening with us doesn’t have an expiration date.”
“We’ve only known each other for a few hours,” she reminded me. “In a few days you might be bored with and sick of me.”
“Never,” I vowed as I shook my head emphatically.
And then I gripped the back of her neck to hold her in place as I swooped in and kissed the ever-loving fuck out of her.
She parted her lips with a breathy sigh that I felt in my bones. With every passing second, I was more and more certain of what I’d been thinking from the start. Natalie was my entire world, and that was never going to change.
When our tongues touched for the first time, my heart almost galloped out of my chest. I was so hungry for her, and she tasted so fucking good it only made me want her more. She started out tentative but as the minutes passed she got more and more into it. And the more enthusiastic she got, the more I wanted her. It caused me physical pain to pull back and end the kiss. When her eyes fluttered open, and she looked up at me dreamily, I almost lost the will to care about anything other than fucking her. Fortunately, the sound of her stomach growling again pulled me out of the trance.
* * *
After lunch I brought her stuff in from the car and put her in the room across the hall from mine. I’d agonized over the decision and wasn’t at all happy about it, but I couldn’t ignore that we’d just met. Being an asshole and putting her in my room seemed like the absolute wrong thing to do.
“My bedroom is right back there,” I said as I gestured over my shoulder.
She didn’t respond as I set both of her suitcases on the bed. When I turned and looked at her, I found her fidgeting nervously and biting her lip.
“Angel?”
“I thought…”
Her cheeks went flame red as she looked away.
“Never mind,” she said with obvious fake enthusiasm. “This room is beautiful. Thank you, Jordan.”
“I never want there to be things unsaid between us. Tell me what’s bothering you.”
“It’s nothing,” she assured me. “I'm an idiot.”