Page 79 of Devious Lies

So, I won’t entertain it.

Cause it is not going to happen.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT- MARIA

Wow.

Luc flips a large metal handle and then he slides what I soon realize is a refurbished barn door.

It’s stained black. True black. But done expertly so you can see the wood grain beneath it.

It’s fucking superb, and it matches the hall and other doors on this level. Again, I am awestruck by how huge this place is.

“Baby Girl?” he says, and I turn my head away from the door.

And I am floored.

“Are these all yours?” I ask stupidly, because it is his house, so obviously the answer is yes.

“Uh huh,” he replies, a sexy as hell grin spreading wide as he watches me take it all in.

The room is big. Huge. Bigger than my whole apartment.

There is an enormous replica of Luc’s waterfall desk, but this is more like a table. The design is the same though. And it is beautiful.

A couple of deep-seated leather chairs surround the table. All of it sits on an elegant rug that covers the center of the hardwood floor.

Near a large window, there is a comfortable-looking chaise loveseat, and I can just imagine lying there with a soft throw blanket.

Maybe I can get Anna to quilt one for me.

Recessed lights are scattered across the ceiling in various sizes, and I wonder if the color is voice controlled.

There are also half a dozen floor lamps and a fireplace near the chaise lounge.

I notice a small rolling door that is sitting open, revealing a sort of hidden pantry with a sink, a coffee machine, a few bottles of wine and top shelf whiskey, and a mini fridge on the bottom.

I grin at that.

But all these are not the showstoppers.

Oh no.

That prize belongs to the hundreds, if not thousands, of books filling the floor to ceiling, wall to wall wooden bookshelves that are all finished with that same black stain.

“Do you like it?”

“Like it? I feel like Belle,” I whisper, twirling around to try to take them all in.

“You calling me the Beast?” Luc asks from right behind me.

I feel his hands on my hips, and I moan and lean back.

“This is all yours now, Baby Girl.”

“Luc,” I snort. “You can’t mean that.”

“Of course, I do. Everything I have is yours now,” he tells me.

---