“Scion Lawson, what an unexpected blessing. So good to have you home, sir. The Faraday hasn’t been the same without you. The city herself has mourned your absence.” He bowed almost in half. “How is your exquisite mother? Lovely as ever, I’m certain.”
“Mother is well, thank you.” Linus dared me to laugh with a scowl, his mask slipping a fraction, before addressing him. “Hubert, this is Grier Woolworth. She is my guest. Treat her as you would treat me.”
“Yes, sir.” Hubert unfolded and eyed me as if I were the morning sun rising. “Madam, you are glorious. I see why Scion Lawson favors you so. Your hair—like the darkest chocolates. Your eyes—like spun gold. Your—”
“If you’ll excuse us,” Linus cut in before Hubert broke out the full-on sonnets, “we have plans this evening and would like to freshen up before we head out.”
“Of course, sir, of course. Let me take your bags.” He reached for our luggage. “It’s my pleasure, truly.”
“We’re good,” I found myself saying, unnerved by the adoration shining in his eyes. “Thanks, though.”
“As you say, madam.” Crestfallen, Hubert slumped his shoulders. “I am yours to command, should you need anything, anything at all. Your slightest whim is my greatest desire.”
Pretty sure I’ve never powerwalked to an elevator so fast in my life.
Once the doors slid closed behind us, I lost my grip on my laughter and brayed to do Maud proud.
That was all it took, like I had taken my fingers and pried off the mask to find Linus underneath.
Lips twitching, he was fighting a losing battle with a smile that had me grinning back at him. His starched posture had wrinkled into comfortable lines, and I saw so clearly the moment he sank into his skin and became simply himself that my heart pinched that this Linus was the one hidden away. Except from me.
“Wow. You’ve really been slumming it with me. I had no idea.” Straightening my spine, I pushed my shoulders back until the blades rubbed. “Sir, it’s such a pleasure to have you home, sir. Do you have any boots in need of licking, sir?”
Linus wiped a hand down his face. “Living at the Faraday was part of the deal I made with Mother.”
“Ah.” I counted the floors as we rose higher and higher. “That explains Hubert.” I pulled out my phone and shot off a quick text to Amelie and Odette to let them know we had arrived safely. “I’m sure he called your mother the second our backs turned.”
“You’re probably right.” He sounded tired. “He’s not usually so obnoxious.”
“Hood seems cool.” Again, the temptation to ask what he was had me tasting curiosity. “Hubert is probably not going to be my favorite person, though. I dealt with enough sycophants on Maud’s behalf to last me a lifetime, and he had a smudge on his face from all the brownnosing he’s been doing.”
“I’ve never brought anyone home with me.” He allowed himself a tiny smile. “Outing one of my lovers to Mother would be the highlight of his career.”
“Surprise.” Jazz hands. “Mother already knows all about me.”
And one of his lovers? Just how many did he keep? Or did he mean that in a general sense?
“Not all about you,” he corrected me, snapping me back to attention. “But she knows you’re here with me. There was no point in not telling her what her spies will make sure she finds out eventually.”
Keeping secrets from his mother was dangerous, even for him. I guarded a few I hoped she hadn’t learned, but I had no idea if he was doling them out to her when she got hungry for progress, or if he played his cards close to his vest with her, maybe especially with her—as he’d instructed me to do—and that meant hoarding my secrets until he could use them. The notion he might keep them without expectation…
It was a fairy tale, and I had never believed in those.
“The penthouse.” I pretended shock. “Ding, ding, ding. Top floor.”
His soft groan humanized him. “Are you enjoying yourself?”
“Immensely.” I raced him into the hallway. “If it seems like I’m making fun of you, it’s because I am.”
“Really?” He pulled a keycard from his pocket. “I couldn’t tell.” After swiping it, he passed it over to me. “Keep this on you at all times. This is your ticket in and out. There are wards set to scan for keys.”
“I got in without one this time.” I wasn’t arguing, just wondering how it worked.
“Hood let you in.” He opened the door to his darkened loft but stood there obscuring my view. “He’s the most mellow of the watchmen, but his temper can be short. Remember your key, and try not to talk to them.”
“Are they like the guards at Windsor Castle?” I rose on my tiptoes to peek over his shoulder. “They can’t talk or blink even if you hang from them like a monkey?”
“No.” Linus thwarted me by blocking access to where I imagined the switches to be. “They’ve been known to eat visitors they don’t like, and they’re contractually permitted to do so.”
“You aren’t serious.” Stepping into Linus’s world was like strolling into one of those fairy tales I didn’t believe in but felt realer by the minute. “Management would never go for that.”
“Residents pay a premium for security, and it doesn’t get safer than this. No one will harm you within this building, or they will be executed. The mingling of species requires harsher laws. That’s why no humans are allowed. We all sign the same paperwork before buying or leasing in this building. We’re all aware of the consequences if we—or our guests—misbehave.”
“I can’t believe your mother lets you live here,” I squeaked, grateful Boaz wasn’t here to call me on it.
“I’m shocked she does too.” He glanced around the hall. “Every day.” His gaze fell on me. “I think she hoped the terms and conditions would terrify me, and they did, but this is what I want.” His half-smile was heartbreaking. “It’s as close to freedom as I’ll ever get.”
Pity would earn me his anger, so I ignored the heartfelt sentiment and nudged him out of my way. I ran my hands along the walls in search of a switch, bumping art with my fingertips, and almost swallowed my tongue when illumination spilled throughout the room from the recessed lighting tucked in the flat spaces between thick, whitewashed beams.
“Grier…”
“Hush.” I drank it all in. “I’m absorbing.”
The far wall and the one behind us were hung with sheetrock and painted a soft greige color. The other two showcased original brick with plaster patches that softened the look. The floors were polished concrete and dazzled. A narrow staircase with glass panels in place of rails had been built along one wall. To maximize space, its interior had been hollowed out and transformed into a series of bookshelves overflowing with tomes. The elegant climb led up to the bedroom, a true loft space open to the rest of the apartment.
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
The wood and brick combination saved his home from being sterile, but the contemporary furniture and modern art pieces made me wonder if the space had come furnished. Since he had no eye for design, as evidenced by his support of my wardrobe, the magazine ad results probably bothered him less than they did me.
Or maybe this was more evidence of his chameleonic nature. Maybe this was his preference, and I was all wrong about how well he fit into the quirky vintage style at Woolworth House. But I didn’t think so.
Drawn across the living room to the floor-to-ceiling windows, I stutter-stepped when movement caught my eye up in the loft bedroom, and I got an eyeful of a different view than the one I had expected.
An Asian woman lounged fully nude on the bed, her artful pose an invitation to gawk, and gawk I did.
“Hello,” she purred, twining the silky ends of her ombre hair around a delicate finger. “I wasn’t expecting Linus to bring home company.” Her brilliant green eyes sparkled almost as brightly as the elegant emerald collar around her throat. “This should be fun.” She wet her lips. “Do you want to be on top first? Or would you prefer to be topped first?”