Page 22 of Bully's Second Chance
He dropped the keys into my palm. “Those keys go to the whole house. The one with the red cap is all of the main doors, the one with the blue cap gets you into the guesthouse out back as well as the garage, and the green one gets you into my greenhouse if you need to go in there for any reason.”
I blinked. “You have a greenhouse?”
He grinned. “A lot has changed over the years.”
I smiled softly. “I suppose so.”
He cleared his throat. “Anyway, I appreciate you doing this. Oh! Before you leave today, I’ll have a list on your desk of the names and roles that my staff at the estate plays. That way, you’ll at least have a vague idea of who’s who.”
“Wait, wait, wait. First, you said ‘your place.’ And now, your place is an estate?”
He shrugged. “Sure, why?”
I smirked. “How big is your estate?”
He winked at me. “Bigger than your wildest imaginations.”
I felt confused but also intrigued. “Are there any other rules I should know about?”
He nodded. “Just one: it’s imperative that you get home by five-thirty. That means you leave here promptly at five so you can account for traffic before getting there.”
“I can do that.”
“Wonderful. I’ll work on gathering Winnie’s files for you so that you can go through them and be familiar with her when she calls again, and I’ll make sure to get you that list of names.”
I drew in a deep breath. “Sounds good to me.”
Excitement rushed through my veins as I made my way out of his office. Maybe this way, I’d learn more about Jax and the life he led outside of his office. Maybe I’d understand him a bit better and not simultaneously enjoy and hate his guts. And I knew that my excitement would work against me for the rest of the day.
Until Jax emerged from his office around three in the afternoon. “You’re done for the day.”
I looked up from my desk. “What?”
He walked over and set a stack of files on top of my desk before settling a sheet of paper on top of it all. “Here’s what I promised. I have a phone conference on my calendar that I set with Winnie myself in two weeks. I expect you to be read up by that point.”
I stood and gathered everything into my arms. “I can do that, but why am I done for the day?”
He stared at me like I had grown a second head. “Because you have to go pack. Did you already forget?”
“Oh! No, no, no. Not at all. I just—figured I’d go stay there tonight and then leave during my lunch break tomorrow to go pack.”
He turned to go back into his office. “Go pack, Lily. You’re done for the day.”
And I couldn’t get out of there quickly enough.
I mean, the anticipation was killing me anyway, so I raced home and threw random sets of clothes into one of my suitcases. I crammed my toiletries into a grocery bag, of all things, then raced back down to my car and plugged in the address he had scribbled for me on one of the mounds of papers I had sitting in my passenger’s seat. Nervous elation burst through my veins. Finally, I’d get a close encounter with the hub of Jax’s life. His home. His office. His place of peace.
Maybe I’d even rifle through his things in his bedroom.
If he didn’t keep that shit locked down with a code, too.
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but when I pulled up to the massive wrought iron gates, all I could do was gawk. There was a winding driveway lined with fresh orange trees that filled the air with a heavenly scent. I ripped myself out of my trance long enough to punch in the gate code, and as the wrought iron opened as silent as a mouse, I eased on through the crack and headed for the front door.
That was all the way on top of the hill the mansion sat on.
“Holy shit,” I whispered to myself.
My car had to work to get up that hill. But, it was worth every worried second. The instant I got out of my car and looked around, it was like I’d been transported to an entirely different world. Gone were the sounds of the city and the incessant honking of horns. I heard birds chirping and animals skittering in and out of the trees that wrapped around the property. The grass was perfectly manicured in diagonal zigzags, and it only made me want to go rushing through the front yard in my bare feet.
