When in real life the man who owned and decorated (or oversaw the decoration) of a place such as this would have zero tolerance for a clueless heroine he had to train. Instead, he’d only have eyes for a woman confident in every aspect of her life. He would also never end up in a trendy country setting that was actually a suburb. He might eventually end up in a mini-mansion much like mine or a country house that had already been completely refurbished so he could start raising horses without delay, but never a trendy country setting.

And if he adopted a dog, he’d pick whatever breed struck his fancy, as long as it wasn’t too happy-crazy-bouncy and the dog was fine with either going with him everywhere he went like a hot guy canine sidekick or being chill hanging out and waiting for Dad to come home.

These thoughts inanely running through my head, I glanced around noting they’d used the raw materials of the warehouse beautifully. Nick’s space being a bachelor pad for a man with money and taste. But a woman could easily make the space feminine and marvelous.

Too bad he lived in that building. I would be in the market for something (hopefully soon, though no offer from the second viewing and actually no additional viewings from anyone) and I could work with a space like this.

I felt his eyes on me and looked up to him at my side.

“Impressive,” I noted.

“I can die happy, you approve,” he muttered, but there was no sting to his words because even in the subdued lighting of his space I could see his eyes were amused.

He was teasing.

I ignored that and declared, “Though, I feel I must inform you that the La-Z-Boy skews your aesthetic.”

My flippant remark was a mistake.

The biggest one I’d made in my life.

Because the second I finished uttering it, Nick’s arm shafted up. Before I knew what he intended, he’d hooked it around my neck, using it to yank me to him. I collided with his long, solid frame just in time to hear and feel him burst out laughing.

His laughter was as deep and pleasant as his voice.

And then some.

A lot of some.

So much of some I wanted the sound and feel of it to last a lifetime.

Unfortunately, it did not. His arm at my neck released some pressure and I felt him shift so I looked up at him to see he’d adjusted to look down at me.

“It’s my dad’s. Been my dad’s since I could form a memory. Dad loved that chair. No fuckin’ clue how many NASCAR races and football games he watched in that chair, probably thousands. Remember him holding me on his knee when I was fuckin’ around and climbed the cabinets in the kitchen to get something, knocked over a glass pitcher that broke, then fell on the glass pitcher, gashin’ open my leg. Deep. Long. Twelve stitches. Dad held me there while Mom wrapped a bandage around it before they took me to the doctor.” His eyes drifted beyond me as he finished, “Got a million stories like that about that chair.”

I did not like where this was going.

I so much didn’t like this, continuing to do things I knew I shouldn’t do, I noted gently, “As lovely as that is, I’m not feeling good thoughts about that chair being ten feet away.”

He stilled.

Completely.

Except his eyes.

They came right to me, working, shifting, going from blatant shock to melt to sweet warmth until he closed them from me and they were hidden.

“He’s not dead, Olivia,” he explained quietly but without inflection. “Mom got sick of that chair. Said it was an eyesore. Redecorated the whole fuckin’ family room with the sole purpose of getting shot of that chair. The minute we heard it was goin’, Knight and me started fightin’ over who would get it. Anya put her foot down that she would not inherit that ratty-ass chair. So, not havin’ a woman to bust my balls, for once in my life with Knight—and that is not an exaggeration—I won. Though, sayin’ that, that chair is worth negative five hundred dollars and it cost me a fuckin’ arm and leg to ship it from Hawaii, it’s butt-ugly, fucks with my aesthetic and on a wet day, it smells. So I’m not real certain how big a prize I got.”

“It appears you may have much the same relationship with your brother as I do with my sister.”

His arm around my neck tightened as he started moving, drawing me farther into his place.

“Somethin’ we have in common, outside we both like control, you in those shoes and you in those jeans. Though I ’spect the reason why I like you in those shoes and jeans is different than the reason you like ’em.”

“I suspect you’re right.”

He stopped us by the wine, released his hold on me, gave me an amused gleam out of his blue eyes and ordered, “You pour. Then you’re on salad duty. I got bread to sort and shit.”

After that, he sauntered comfortably around the bar in a pad that might be perfect, but to him it was home, to get to the bread, which was part of the foodstuffs arranged on the island.

I put my purse to the bar, shrugged off my jacket, poured wine and asked, “You want more?”

“Top up would be good,” he muttered, reaching a long arm out to nab a bread knife from a knife block at the back counter.

I moved around the bar and topped up his wine. Then I assessed the salad stuff. After that, I assumed salad duty, keeping an eye on Nick who was very much sorting the bread. In fact, with an ease obviously born of practice, he was making homemade garlic bread, including microwaving crushed garlic, butter and olive oil, brushing, sprinkling bits of cheese and broiling.