She shouldn’t, but she had to admit she was curious about exactly how Micah would design a house for Julian. A giant media room? Somewhere to play games? What colors? What style? Nobody was going to know Julian like his older brother. Absently, she wondered if Julian had helped with the décor.
“Yes,” she finally answered quietly, giving in to her desire to see more of the home, then followed him room by room until they finally stopped in front of an elevator.
“You have an elevator in your house?” she asked, bemused. “You look like you can handle the stairs.” Her eyes scanned over his broad, powerful body.
He waved her into the elevator. “I might not have parents anymore, but you do.”
She swallowed hard as his meaning hit home. “My mom . . .” Her voice trailed off.
He simply nodded, then said, “I was thinking of adopting a dog, too. And what if I got an older dog who couldn’t make it up the stairs?”
Kristin shook herself from her fog, reminding herself that Julian hadn’t really been planning for her to live here when the house was being built. Adding an elevator had probably been Micah’s idea. If somebody was going to have an enormous luxury mansion, an elevator made sense.
“You actually want a dog?” Kristin had to admit, she was surprised.
“I like dogs. But I haven’t had one since my Lab died when I was a teenager. I was never around to spend any time with an animal.”
Kristin sighed as she stepped into the upper level. “I always wanted a cat.”
“Never had one, but I’m willing to give it a try. One dog and one cat that get along.”
“Julian,” she said in a warning voice.
“What?” he said innocently as he showed her the bedrooms upstairs, each one actually a suite with its own small sitting room and bathroom. “I’m just giving you some options.”
“I’m not living with you.”
Kristin stopped short as she saw the enormous library attached to the sitting room in the master suite. “Oh. My.”
Floor-to-ceiling shelves lined the room, and they were all full of books, all of the books labeled by category. Walking slowly around the room looking up and down in amazement, Kristin noticed he had everything from philosophy and the classics to a horror collection with science fiction right next to it.
“You like to read,” she uttered softly as her palm caressed the bindings of some of the books. “This is quite a collection.” She sat in the cozy nook window that was big enough to seat two. “I love this.”
Julian crossed his arms and smirked. “I thought you might. You can see the ocean from this window. In the summer you’ll be able to sit here and read while you listen to the waves wash in.”
“Or a storm coming in,” she said wistfully, momentarily getting caught up in Julian’s fantasy. “I love thunderstorms.”
“Me too,” he agreed huskily. “They remind me that there are things that are out of our control, things so much bigger than ourselves.”
Maybe it was an odd thing to hear from Julian, but Kristin felt exactly the same way.
He moved forward and held out his hand. She took it and let him pull her to her feet.
“One more thing,” he said enthusiastically. “The master bathroom.”
She chuckled because he sounded so excited about his new home, and she followed him compliantly. “What about it?”
As he reached a connecting door in the bedroom, he turned the handle and pushed the door open, waving her inside.
The first thing she saw was the bathtub. Not that she could miss it. It was enormous and the focal item in the space. It looked like someone had split open a giant crystal and carved out the pool that was placed next to the enormous rain shower in the bathroom. The tub was half-sunken into the floor for easy entrance and exit. Blue hues glinted off the white surface, and it was one of the most inviting things she’d ever seen. Twirling around, she noted the size of the room and the elegant contemporary design that tied everything together. “Holy shit,” she whispered to herself.
“Your tub anytime you want to use it,” Julian said cajolingly.
“It’s your tub. And I think I’d probably drown,” Kristin answered, trying and failing to imagine herself bathing in the enormous bath.
“I’d be more than happy to dive in and save you,” he mentioned amiably.
Kristin pictured herself pretending to be sliding under the water just so Julian would get that hot body naked and jump in with her. There was room enough for two. Hell, there was room enough to have a giant orgy if one was into that kind of thing.
She turned to him, resigned. “You have a beautiful home. Thank you for the tour. But I really need to get back to town.”
“Your house, too,” he grumbled unhappily.
The fairy tale had ended when she’d left Vegas, and she had to remember that. “This is your life, not mine,” she told him firmly as she started toward the stairs.
He followed closely. “Kristin? What’s wrong?”
“I can’t do this. I can’t pretend that this marriage is anything but a big mistake.” She choked back a sob, tears filling her eyes as she went to take the first step and misjudged the distance, pitching her forward.