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"What is your driver going to think of us?" she drawled

"I sent hio Come back with me"

As she stopped and looked up at the sky, he followed suit A thick cloud cover had rolled in, and there was a winter huave a shit about the weather

"My father is away on business," he said "We’ll have the place to ourselves He took his butler with hiht off And okay, fine, so I told the driver to clear the house out or he was fired"

Novo pivoted around "Where do you live"

"Is that a yes?"

"No, it’s a question about where you live"

He sive an inch, do you? And my blood is in you Follow the way After we fuck in the tub, I’llsilence Off in the distance a siren wailed A horn honked Three people spilled out of the club, the clutch of huht," she said

Peyton took her hand and gave it a squeeze "Thank you"

When she pulled away, he let her go And then he closed his eyes and dematerialized When he re-formed on the front lawn of his father’s mansion, he had no idea whether she would actually show or not She was like that Hot and cold

His heart pounded as he stood in the snow, the wind rushing around and whistling through the evergreens at the edge of the property

Lights were on inside, and for a h Novo’s eyes Would she like the old place?

Somehow, that didn’t matter, and not because he didn’t care about her opinion It was just that, for the first time in his life, the fact that none of this was really his hit him His father’s life, his bloodline’s expectations, his social sphere’s demands…he was not required to buy in to any of it, and le to come to this realization

At that very instant, Novo appeared beside him

"Welcome to my humble abode," he rand expanse

"You know, I thought it would be bigger" As he recoiled, she nailed hiodda her in close, he kissed her on the top of the head--and was surprised when she let him And then he took her to the front entrance As he hipped open the heavy door, he was surprised at how tense he was

She walked in with those split leathers and her athletic bodywith power and her head up as she looked around

Her eyes seerandeur, the crystal chandeliers, the grandfather clock and the tapestries

Pivoting to him, she said dryly, "You never mentioned you lived in the Smithsonian museum"

"I hate to show off, you know" He kicked the door shut, the sound of the thing hitting ho tacky Come I want to introduce you to my tub"

As they went upstairs, she asked him how many rooms there were; he hesitated

"Coood with math, it’s true" He took her to the left at the head of the stairs, down the corridor that had so uess fifty or sixty Maybe o in"

"I live in a single roo"

"You’ll have to show er than a Kleenex box"