I quirked a brow. “For me to eat? Is this something I’m always going to do alone?”
“Would you rather we do it together?”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m used to doing things by myself.”
Wow. That made me sound like a total recluse when I said it out loud. In a way, I guess I was. It didn’t bother me, though.
“I’ll make sure I eat with you.” He ran his thumb over the back of my hand a total of three times before adding, “You’re not by yourself anymore.”
Technically, I had Audrey this entire time. I also wasn’t thrilled about us getting into the habit of any routines. He was fully confident about the life we’d live together. I was waiting for it all to come crashing down before it was fully constructed.
We made our way through the kitchen, and he passed me a small tote bag that Cookie had left on the island. I peered inside and saw a few granola bars, a banana, and a bottle of water sweating condensation.
“Does the cook live here?”
“He has a small house at the edge of the property.”
We exited through the atrium and walked to the driveway. It was gorgeous outside. The weather was perfect for swimming. If I were here for leisure, I’d make good use of the big ass pool Judas had in the backyard.
There was a different line-up of cars all parked in some type of triangular formation.
“What do you think?” He pointed out a black SUV that was different than all the others. It was smaller and looked like more of a luxury vehicle than the Suburban and Denali did.
“I don’t know. It’s cute.”
“You have plenty of time to form a better opinion. She’s all yours.” He reached into his pocket and retrieved a black fob that had a large B in the center. “I meant to give you this last night.”
I looked from the key to the truck. “You’re giving me a Bentley?”
“I’ll give you one in every color if you can keep it a secret from the IRS.”
I tried not to laugh and failed. Our situation-ship had progressed to crime jokes. We were officially the real deal.
“This is why I wanted you to carry a purse. You have your car key and phone. A house key.”
He opened his palm to reveal a copy of the same odd-shaped key he used to get in last night. “You have a wallet too, but I didn’t bring that with me.”
“What about the codes?” I joked.
“You already know them.” He returned the fob to his pocket.
“I do?”
“You’ve known them since the first night.”
What a cryptic load of bull.
“You have time to figure it out. I can’t trust you to go off on your own yet.”
“The word trust coming out of your mouth is pure comedy.”
He didn’t respond. His focus seemed to be wholly on the garage. After a minute or so of us standing in place, I tried to pull my hand free.
“No,” Judas said firmly, tightening his grip. “Give him another minute, we’re early.”
“Who are we waiting on?”
It couldn’t be Gavin. According to Judas he and Audrey were off fucking the morning away.
He cut his gaze to me with a slight smile. “A friend.”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes.
“I’m glad you’re here.”
“You didn’t exactly give me a choice.”
“We both know you’ll always choose me,” he retorted matter-of-factly.
When I didn’t reply, we fell into a companionable silence. I looked around the property to get a better lay of the land. It was so huge that from up above we would be like two tiny blips.
“How many bedrooms is your—our, house.” I corrected myself before he could get another hair up his ass.
“Seven,” he replied slowly.
“Did you just stop and count?”
“No. I was thinking I should have given you a tour.”
I waved him off with the hand he wasn’t holding. “I’ll just explore when I get tired of staring at the bars on the windows. And if I get lost, I’m sure there are cameras hidden in the walls somewhere.”
What started as a joke in my head didn’t translate into my dialogue. He had two security systems on his house, the gated entryway, and armed guards that I had only gotten a glimpse of.
There was no need to question if he had cameras in his house—he did.
“They’re not in the bedroom, right?”
He let go of my hand and turned towards me. “I have them where they need to be.”
The whir of a motor put a stop to our conversation. A black, metallic UTV came from the pathway that was mostly hidden from sight because of the garage. A man I’d never seen before was behind the wheel.
“That’s our ride,” Judas announced.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going now?”
He grabbed my elbow and led me over to idling the utility vehicle. “Theo, Rhiannon. Rhiannon, Theo,” Judas established by motioning between the two of us.