Page 59 of The Billionaire's Kiss
Stepping into the dining room, I found everyone standing up. One of the older men came up to me with his hand extended. “Hello, Mr. Nash. I’m Callum Sullivan, your head groundkeeper. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
“You too, Callum.” I looked at the others and waved. “Hi. Nice to meet you all. I won’t keep you too long. I just wanted to introduce myself and let you know that I’ll be a hands-on owner who will also be managing things here. So you’ll be seeing a lot of me, and I’ll be seeing a lot of all of you. My brothers and I own a resort in Texas, and we treat our employees like family, so expect no different from me here. Let’s all respect each other and help one another out when we can, and I think we’ll all get along perfectly.”
One of the housekeepers raised her hand. She was young but not shy at all as she asked, “Does everyone in America speak the way you do—with that accent?”
“No,” I said. “No, they don’t. I’m from Texas—born and raised there, so I’ve got a distinctive Texan accent. There are quite a few distinctive regional American accents, so I can’t say that there is any one type of way we sound. Hopefully, you’ll get to hear a lot of them once we open for business.”
“I can’t wait! I’m Darleen, by the way,” she said before sitting down.
“Nice to meet you, Darleen.” There was a lot to do, and I wanted to get started, plus I wanted to see my new home at the other end of the property. “I’ll be ordering name tags for everyone because that will make it easier on our guests. We’ll all get the chance to get to know each other in no time at all. For now, I’ll let you get back to work while I go see my new home.”
Getting back into my car, I drove along another winding road to the cottage. When I saw it for the first time, I felt a spark. Again, the pictures I’d seen hadn’t done it justice.
This was no quaint cottage; this was a sprawling home with remarkable flower gardens surrounding it. I had to fight myself not to run around like a little kid to see what I would find.
Small statues of fairies and elves peeked out from behind the flowers and bushes. It was beyond adorable, and I knew in an instant that Orla would fall in love with the place.
As I opened the door, a rush of emotion came over me. “This is home.”
I stepped inside and instantly fell in love with the place. This was a real home. Everything had been left behind, and the things I’d sent over had already been put away, I found as I made my way through the house.
My things were in the master suite, clothes hung in the closet, t-shirts, underwear, and socks in the drawers, all neatly put away. And the bathroom had all of my toiletries too.
I went from one room to another, finding each one different. My room was done in soft greys and deep blues. The next room was done in bright reds and soft grey accents. And then I opened the door to the last bedroom—a nursery.
My heart sped up as I imagined my future here. It was perfect.
