Page 34 of Fierce- Royce

“It does, but it’s building. I’m not complaining. The busier we are the better for business.”

“Hence the reason you’ve got no time. Or maybe you are afraid to find some woman that is going to think like your mother. To look at your wealth but hate that it’s from hard labor and not a suit and tie. I bet you look good in a suit and tie, but you’re looking pretty good in jeans too.”

He laughed at her. “This is the first I’ve seen you not in work attire. Casual looks good on you too,” he said.

He wasn’t going to address her comment about worrying that he’d find a woman like his mother. It seemed that was part of what he’d done before. Not someone always critical of how he looked after a day’s worth of work but just the time he spent on his job and not her.

“Why, thank you,” she said, flipping her hair from one side to the other.

“So we get back to Durham yesterday and Elise and I were able to relax at my father’s and be ourselves. To me that is important and what my father always encouraged. Elise wanted to bitch about my mother and my father cut her off. He said he didn’t care and it was best to not talk of it and know the visit was over. Better to relax and enjoy the day with the three of us.”

“Wise words,” she said. “I’ll have to remember them after I spend a day with my parents though they aren’t quite as bad as your mother. Or I guess my day wasn’t that bad. Just more of what Dane and I have heard most of our lives.”

“Dane?” he asked.

“My brother. That is part of my story from yesterday.”

“Now that I spilled my guts, I think it’s time you do the same. I hope that helped you understand why I’m in the situation I’m in and I’d like to hear why you are too. Then we can get down to those rules.”

She took another sip of her water and said, “My guts aren’t going to be as messy as yours, but they are still frustrating. Show me around your house while I gather my thoughts, if you don’t mind.”

“I can do that,” he said. They both stood up. “This is the kitchen.”

She winked at him. “I figured that out myself. A nice kitchen too. I’m going to assume you did all the work in this house.”

“I wouldn’t hire anyone,” he said, rolling his eyes.

She poked him in the side with her finger and he flinched. Not from pain but from the surprise of that action. She only laughed at him though.

12

Here We Are

Chloe was shocked Royce told her as much as he had.

There was part of her that felt sympathy for the kid that was treated so poorly by one parent but at least had the other in his corner.

Her parents were never that bad with her. She was loved and knew it. It’s just the type of love got on her nerves more than it should.

“I know this house isn’t new and you’re not old enough to have built it unless your business built it at one point.”

He grinned. “My father did build this house about twenty-five years ago. A few years ago I decided I wanted my own place. It was easy to rent and not deal with the maintenance of anything, but the problem with that is I couldn’t change things either.”

“I could see where that might be annoying,” she said.

“It was,” he said. “There were things I wanted to fix but couldn’t touch and had to wait for maintenance. After a while I decided to look on the market.”

“You didn’t want to build your own house?” she asked.

“Takes too long,” he said, smirking.

They were walking around his place and she could see almost every room had been updated. The paint looked fresh and light. The kitchen was stunning, all white and gray. He had an office, living room, family room, dining room, half bath and first floor primary suite. She only popped her head in there. She’d see it soon enough she was sure.

Then they made their way upstairs where there were three more bedrooms, another full bath and a bonus room over the garage with a half bath. Or a FROG as it was called.

“Your workout room?” she asked. There was weight equipment in one corner of the room and a pool table in the other.

“Yeah,” he said. “I don’t have a lot of company so I didn’t think anyone would care that there were weights on one side and the pool table on the other.”

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