Her gaze rakes over me, taking in my suit. I wear it like armor to protect me from her, and I’m already desperate to shed it. “I can’t give you a tour while you’re dressed like that.”
“Show me the house first.” I point toward the front door. “And after that, if you still want me to stick around, I can change and we can look around the property.”
“Did you bring a suitcase?”
A giant one. I don’t say that out loud though. “I came prepared.”
“My smart, smart Spence.” She laughs. “Okay, come on. Let me show you the house.”
I follow her inside, immediately hit with her scent, mixed with woodsy pine. I blame the walls and the ceiling, which are mostly constructed with roughly hewn wood walls. The interior has seen better days, but it’s rustic and charming, yet also somehow large and spacious. There are windows everywhere, some running floor to ceiling, showcasing the endless acres of trees.
“Where’s the ocean?” I ask as we stop in front of the giant windows that overlook the backyard and the forest beyond.
“Out there.” She points. “Past the trees.”
“You can access the beach from here?”
“Yes, just over the hill. There are trails everywhere, all over the property. It’s like a park. My own little personal park.”
I almost laugh at her using the word “little”. There is nothing small about it. “This property is worth a tremendous amount of money,” I observe. I did some research. He bought it for ten million, but it’s worth all of fifteen now. Maybe even more.
“I’mworth a tremendous amount of money,” she says, that Lancaster ego ringing through her words. “I won’t sell this.”
“I’m not suggesting you should.”
A sigh leaves her and she angles her body toward mine. “When I found out Earl did this for me, that he bought me this, I knew immediately I had to come out here. And I didn’t want to tell anyone. I didn’t want them to know about it.”
“Why not?” I want to hear her actual reasoning for once. Not a bunch of excuses or fanciful bullshit. “Be real with me, Syl.”
She’s quiet for a moment, the only sound the occasional chirping of a bird. The rustle of the trees. I’m not used to quiet like this. I prefer the city with all its noise and people yelling. Horns honking and loud music playing.
“I wanted to escape from my life.” A sigh leaves her and she looks away. “From my mother.”
I say nothing. I don’t know all the details between them, but I want her to tell me eventually. When she’s ready.
“From everyone, really.” She returns her attention to me, her expression fierce. “The city. High society. I’m sick of being Sylvie Lancaster. I just wanted to be…me. Just Sylvie. Nothing else attached.”
That’s impossible, but I understand what she’s trying to say.
“At first, I was scared living in this big house, all alone. Thank God for Roland.” She laughs, and it’s a soft, husky sound that settles in my gut. Stirs my dick. “I’m starting to get used to it though. It’s so quiet. Nothing like the city.”
“It’s unnerving.”
“Right?”
I nod, filled with the urge to reach out and touch her, but I quell it. I can’t be weak. I’m here as a friend. Nothing more.
Ah, the lies we tell ourselves. It’s almost embarrassing, how easily I believe myself when it’s the furthest thing from the truth.
I can never just be Sylvie’s friend. Not when I know the taste of her mouth. The feel of her naked body beneath mine. The way she looks when she comes. The snug sensation of her pussy wrapped around my cock.
There’s too much history between us. It’s painful and it’s rough, but it runs deep. So deep, it’s as if she throbs in my veins. In my blood.
In the depths of my very soul.
THIRTEEN
SYLVIE