“You want a tour?” he asked, an embarrassed look crossing his face.
I nodded. “I’d love to see where a big, fancy billionaire like yourself spends his days.”
A slight smile slipped on his lips. “Okay, sure,” he said with a sigh. “I guess my legs could use a good stretch after sitting for the past few hours. Where do you want to go first?"
"That way looks promising.” I pointed to the left that looked like it led into a kitchen.
Drew led me into the kitchen, which was very sleek and modern. Windows lined the curved main wall, and the island curled around in the shape of a "c."
I ran my fingers along the white granite countertop, wanting to feel the luxury of it all. "Do you cook in here often?"
“No, not too often.” Drew shrugged, an almost embarrassed expression taking shape on his face. "I don't have the time these days, so Carmella takes good care of me."
"Is that the lady who let me in?”
He nodded. ”She pretty much runs this whole house for me. Takes care of everything so I don't have to worry about it."
"Except for when she's sick and you have to buy your own milk." I winked.
"Can't have that happening again." Drew's cheeks glowed with pink, probably remembering how we'd both looked when we'd met in the store.
Not either of our best looks.
I followed Drew out of the kitchen to another sitting area that overlooked the backyard. My gaze caught on his broad shoulders and wanted to linger for a moment before I made them focus on the yard’s landscape.
We walked through glass doors and onto a patio that dropped down to a huge infinity pool that had a view of the whole city.
I bet he had an amazing view of all the lights from L.A. at night.
"Do you have pool parties out here very often?" I asked. There were several lounge chairs on the sides, some even sitting in the shallow end of the pool.
"Not really. But my sister and her family do come to town every once in a while and we have a good time."
Hmm. Interesting. If I had a place like this I'd have my friends over every weekend.
But maybe parties weren't Drew's scene. He had always been more of the homebody type than the life of the party. Which seemed to have suited him well.
At least he'd made a ton of money with his interest in coding.
I stepped across the stones in the shallow end of the pool. Drew held his hand out to help me step down and his gentle touch sent shivers up my arm.
After showing me the putting green, barbecue area, and fire pit, Drew pushed open another door to the house and waited for me to walk inside first.
"So now that I've signed that big confidentiality contract, can you tell me how your experience as the bachelor really went?" I asked as I stepped back into his home.
"I guess I can tell you everything now, huh?" He blew out a deep breath and gripped the handrail to a staircase before leading me upstairs. "It was pretty crazy and overwhelming. That first night with twenty-five women was so long. Of course I was excited to see who I would meet—you know, find out if my future wife was in the room. And then I just had the hardest time remembering all their names and the conversations we had. I don't know if you know this, since you've only seen the show from the camera’s viewpoint…"
"Yeah, poor old non-famous me." I fake pouted when we reached the top of the stairs.
"Anyway, they actually have a producer right there next to me and the women, taking notes of our conversations so I'll remember them later. Then they'd give them to me, so I could study up before each date. There are just so many conversations that they tend to all blend together." He gestured for me to take the curved hall to the right. The wall had huge canvas paintings of lighthouses and nautical scenes.
"So would the producer, like, whisper the girl’s name to you before she walked up?"
A guilty expression made its way across Drew's face. "I didn't need help withallof them."
"I would hope not.” I laughed.
"Anyway, the guest rooms are in here, here, and here." He pointed to the doorways to the three rooms. "They're pretty typical, nothing too exciting."