She pulled up a little and stared down at him. “Are you kidding?”
“Do you want the official house tour?” He squeezed her ass. “I mean, there are other things I’d rather do now that my underwear is almost off.”
“Later.”
Not the clearest answer she’d ever given him, so he tried again. “The house tour or the underwear thing?”
“We can come back to a discussion of your underwear.”
“I was afraid that’s what you meant.” He groaned as she sat up, using his body for leverage.
She stood and fixed her underwear. Unfortunately, put it back on rather than took it off. “Well?”
“You want to go right now? As in, this second?” Her timing really sucked.
“Were you just telling me what you thought I wanted to hear when you offered?”
She had to know that would get him moving. That pretty much guaranteed it.
“Oh, woman.” He shifted his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. The T-shirt came off, but he pulled the boxer briefs back up. “The end.”
“What?”
“Roughly translated, Owari means ‘the end’ in Japanese.” He held out his hand to her.
She came around from her side of the bed and slipped her fingers through his. “I don’t get the significance.”
The simple touch felt right. Kind of perfect actually. “It signaled the end of my life as it was then.”
She made an ahhh sound. “A start of a new one.”
He knew she’d get it. “Exactly.”
It took him about fifteen minutes to take her through the house, and that was only because he stopped to feel her up twice. After studying all the floors and opening every closet door for her to inspect, something she declined to do, they ended up in his study. His favorite room and private sanctuary. It was more of a library, really. Walls lined with bookshelves. He didn’t get rid of books, so the paperbacks were stacked two-deep.
She walked around the room, touching the side of this book and taking a few out to page through. “This is an impressive collection.”
“Said the professor’s daughter.”
“Oh, my father would not be happy with your selection. Mysteries, Wren? Don’t you know popular fiction ruins the mind?” She pitched her voice lower, mimicking her dad.
He loved the joking. The ease of being with her.
He rested against the edge of his oversized desk. “Then I’m in trouble because that’s what I stockpile.”
“I know it sounds weird, but I didn’t imagine you as a reader.”
That didn’t sound too great for him. “Is this that not human thing again?”
“Oh, trust me. I see you very much as a flesh-and-blood man.” She let her gaze wander over him before turning to slide one of the books back into its assigned spot. “No, it’s about the time commitment. You strike me as a guy who works fifty hours a day and doesn’t leave much extra for play.” She glared at him. “And don’t correct me. I was going for exaggeration.”
“Reading clears my head.” When he was younger, it saved him. All those years of his father being a suspect but not arrested. Wren lost himself, escaped his world, in books about heroes vanquishing demons, and slaying dragons and solving mysteries.
She leaned back against one of the bookcases. “I haven’t seen you do it since I got here.”
“The time I usually spend unwinding with a book I’ve spent with you.”
“Sorry about that.” She didn’t sound sorry.
Neither was he. “I’m not.”
“Sweet talker.”
He walked around the desk and slid into his chair. Rubbed his thumb over the worn leather on the armrest. “You can help yourself to anything in here. Anything in the house.”
“You’re not ready for me to leave so that you can get back to your bachelor days?”
She seemed to forget they were dating. The word still sounded weird to him, but the idea of having her around didn’t. “I want you to stay.”
She pushed off from the wall and stalked toward him. “That’s a pretty big comment.”
“Why do you think I’m sitting down?” He shoved the chair back so there was a bit of space between his legs and the desk. Just enough room for her.
“I’ll join you.” She didn’t wait. With one leg on either side of him, she sank down on his lap. Faced him and didn’t look away. “This is nice.”
His hands went to her hips to hold her steady. There was a floor between them and the nearest condom, so they needed to be a little careful. “Damn right.”
“You asked about my father’s whereabouts on the night Tiffany disappeared to tick him off, right?”
Wren whistled. “That is a huge conversation shift.”
For a second he wondered if he’d been set up to have the difficult conversation in a fun position. Thought about it and discarded it. She was not the type to play games. She’d been fine to tell him what she wanted, when she wanted it.