Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 82060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
For me.
For Liam.
But especially, for Darius.
Chapter Fifteen
Any Means Necessary
I walked up Broadway toward Fortnum’s, Toni at my side, and I didn’t have sidewalk pavement under my feet.
I was walking on a cloud.
Suffice it to say, our first family dinner was perfect. So much so, I knew with no doubts I’d remember every second of it for the rest of my life.
Sure, my boys teased me mercilessly, but I didn’t care.
I got to watch them together.
How easy they were in each other’s company. How Liam looked at his dad with pride and respect and love all over his face. How Darius seemed so in his element with his woman and his son in his space. It was natural, relaxed, we laughed a lot, conversation flowed. It wasn’t like our first family meal out ever; it was like we’d been doing it for years.
When we got home, I finally got a full tour of the house.
A tour that cemented the fact I was moving.
The main level had the fabulous kitchen and living room, and it also had a handsome study, a family room (there was no TV in the living room, but there was a huge comfortable sectional, and an equally huge flat screen TV, replete with games console, in the family room), a dining room and full bath, which would come in handy if we had a house full of people visiting (and with the amount of extended family Darius and I had, this could happen), and someone had to bunk in the family room.
The upstairs had Darius’s room with big walk-in closet, his extraordinary bathroom that had a mix of teal floor tiles with an interesting design, white subway tile above the basin and in the shower, slate gray walls and a clean-lined, modern, wood vanity under a double basin with brass fixtures. There was also an open shower and a statement bath.
There were three other bedrooms up there, one larger, with a smaller walk-in and en suite bathroom, two smaller that shared a Jack and Jill bath.
None of those had any furniture.
So I guessed Darius hadn’t had any company.
But I knew that would change.
The lower level wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be.
In other words, it didn’t look like a bachelor pad.
If there had been a kitchen down there, there was no sign of it now. Liam’s space had another huge sectional with a TV mounted on the wall and a games console and DVD player with a long shelving unit filled with DVDs underneath it. This sectional was less stylish than the one upstairs (but still stylish), built for comfort and hours of lounging with a massive removable ottoman that fit snug in the U of the couch, so it resembled a bed.
His bedroom area was all grays and blacks, and there was no fourteen-year-old boy there.
It was a man’s room.
That didn’t mean there wasn’t any personality. But it was in the art and the lighting (including a cool blue glow that crept from under the bed).
It was perfect for him.
He had a full bath that was all chrome and dark gray block tiles and an interesting bowl sink sitting on a rich wood bureau.
This only took half the downstairs.
The other half was divided between four rooms, two being storage that were mostly empty, except some crates at the back of one, in which, among other things, I saw Darius’s high school yearbooks.
The other one was a big room that had a treadmill, an elliptical machine and weight equipment.
And the last was the wine cellar, which was a true wine cellar with walls of wine shelves, innumerable dusty bottles of wine, two large, tall, restaurant-quality wine coolers, and even a grouping in the center of four leather armchairs with attractive tables in between. There was another small fridge that looked like it had fruits and cheeses in it, set into a bar cart with a full bar, and above it, a set of display shelves with a selection of gorgeous glasses.
It wasn’t just a place to store wine. It was a place to hang out and appreciate wine.
I loved it.
The whole house.
It was very masculine.
But I wouldn’t change a thing.
After I’d oohed and aahed and smiled and giggled and put my official stamp of approval on the place, Darius asked after Liam’s homework, and our son set off to his room.
I set off to do whatever unpacking I could do, which was emptying my Nordstrom bags (and putting my stuff around the unused basin next to Darius’s made me decidedly giddy). Liam had taken the suitcases into the walk-in, and I located the empty drawers and put away anything that could go in them and on shelves.
I discovered Darius’s clothes were hanging on wire hangers, and I couldn’t even, so I didn’t, and I decided to deal with that too when Darius grabbed some the next day.