They waved to me and called out hello.
I waved back, but I’m sure my polite smile was colored in confusion. What were they all doing there? Jude and Lesli never mentioned that they planned to have friends over. And before I could ask, more children began to arrive until there were about ten of them and a few additional parents.
As if on cue, Lacey came over to me and said loudly, “I totally forgot the kid’s scout meeting was going to be held here today. Darn. So sorry.”
“Honey!” Jude said, clearly in on it too. “How could you forget?”
She shrugged and looked helpless. “I’m so sorry.” She turned to me and Magnus and said, “I’m so sorry. I guess you guys need a little peace and quiet and that’s definitely not going to be here, but stay as long as you like. I’ll just have the kids play around you. We’ll try to keep them confined to just this area of the loft. Sorry... again.”
She looked anything but sorry. She looked downright delighted. I told myself to ignore the obvious setup and watch the show instead, but the high-pitched squeals of the kids quickly prevented that from happening. There were only about ten of them, and I was used to being around kids having worked as a substitute teacher briefly, but between the kids and their parents, all the noise and all the talking, there may as well have been a hundred of them.
“I can’t even hear myself think,” I mumbled to myself.
“What was that?” Jude yelled in my direction.
“Nothing!” I yelled back over the din.
He gave me a thumbs up and a big smile and I knew then that he was in on it too. I should have expected as much. Like father, like son. His dad, Oliver, was an incorrigible matchmaker and apparently Jude was following in his footsteps.
I looked at Magnus who seemed to be trying his best to look at the show despite the volume of noise around us. He seemed to be perfectly ok with the noise, but then I noticed him tapping the cushion next to the remote in frustration. Yeah, he was definitely not liking our current situation. And I was getting a headache.
I instantly felt bad. Even though I had been set up, it was still my fault. I’d arranged for us to have chaperones as if we were teenagers in the fifties instead of behaving like an adult and meeting him someplace more private.
I got up and sat down on the couch next to him. He looked at me in surprise.
“Changed your mind, I see?”
I grimaced. “Sort of. Let’s head to your place. I’m sure you don’t have a bunch of elementary schoolers running around there.”
“That’s true. You sure?”
I nodded and grabbed my purse. “Let’s go. I think I’m starting to go deaf and I don’t want you to be a victim of the same fate. I can’t have that on my conscience.”
He smiled and said, “Lead the way.”
We headed out and I glared at Jude and Lacey who looked at me innocently.
“Sorry for all the noise. Hope you guys find a quieter place to hang out.”
“Of course you do,” I mumbled under my breath.
As Magnus walked out the door, I turned around and caught Misha, Erik, Jude, and Lacey high-fiving each other.
They caught me looking at them, looked guilty for a second and then not so much. I shook my head, giving them all a final glare before heading out.
Chapter Seven
“So, ummm... Do you want to try my place?”
I didn’t have any alternatives, so I said yes.
It was then that I noticed his car wasn’t there.
“Where’s your car?”
“I’m getting a few things done to it, so I have my driver today. He’ll be here shortly.”
Less than ten seconds later, a limo pulled up in front of the house. To my surprise, it had a similar look to the DeLorean, but only in terms of it being clearly more technologically advanced than other limousines.
“Wow, fancy,” I whispered.
“Wait until you see the inside.”
His driver got out and quickly pushed a button to open the door.
“Please watch your head, miss,” he said, guiding me inside after Magnus slid in.
Magnus held his hand out to me and I took it. He helped guide me into the limo and I settled next to him.
“For the record, I had nothing to do with the invasion of children, otherwise known as a kids’ party.”
“Oh, I know. That was all Lacey and Jude. They looked too smug and collected amidst the chaos.”
“You noticed too!”
“Yeah, it was very clear. Even they want you to go out with me.”
“They’re just married people that want to see everyone else paired up too.”
“Or they just want you to live a little and spend some time with a very good-looking, smart, successful bachelor.”
“You’re probably right. Now, where would I find one?” I found myself joking.
He laughed and we chatted about not much of anything until we approached his home. The guards Maya had mentioned smiled and waved us in as we pulled into the driveway. They didn’t seem so mean to me.
My attention turned to Magnus’s home. It was a modern masterpiece. Mostly glass and metal. It looked like the type of home a rich superhero would have. I shared my thought with Magnus and he laughed.
“Rich? Yes. Superhero? Definitely not. I can’t even swim.”
“Really? You live in South Florida. How did that happen?”
“My mom was petrified of water. Her fear sort of rubbed off on me.”
“Did she have a reason to be afraid? Did someone she know almost drown?”
He nodded and his voice was somber as he said, “She almost died when she was a kid. She was visiting family at their lake house and one of the adults lost track of her. She wandered too close to the pier and ended up falling in.”
“That’s terrible. That must have been so traumatizing for her.”
“I hear she swims nearly every day now. But I still haven’t learned yet.”
“You should definitely learn to swim. What if one of the challenges involves swimming?”
“Then we’ll just volunteer you instead of me.”
I raised an eyebrow and he laughed. “Fine. Maybe I’ll learn. If I have a great teacher. Are you offering to be my teacher?”
His words were innocent but his tone was flirtatious.
“Maybe. If you’re lucky...” I surprised myself by saying.
“God, I hope I’m lucky.”
The limo finally stopped in front of his circular driveway and Magnus helped me out. I enjoyed flirting with Magnus. More than just flirting, I enjoyed being around him. There was something about him that made me feel comfortable. He was great company, funny, personable, and had a knack for making you feel like everything you said actually mattered. So even though he and I were from different worlds, it didn’t seem to matter to him. He just saw me as Lesli and that was enough for him. And that’s what appealed to me so much. For someone who was a billionaire, he didn’t flaunt it. He was humble. And I liked that quality most about him. He didn’t treat me like a freak because I was smart. He didn’t treat me like a cheap date because I wasn’t rich. He treated me like an equal.
“Come on. Give me the grand tour of your house.”
Thirty minutes later, he’d shown me the entire house and it was breathtaking. It had only five bedrooms and each bedroom had its own bathroom. Each room had a gorgeous view of the outside given the wall to ceiling windows. The house also had an indoor pool, a library, a fitness center that rivaled any fancy gym I’d ever seen and a kitchen that was restaurant quality. And to my surprise, he had a basketball hoop in the back.
“For when I have a hard day at work and want to pretend to be LeBron James or Michael Jordan,” he explained, making me laugh.
“Well, I’m officially speechless. I’ve visited Oliver’s house, and it’s stunning, but this is by far the coolest house I’ve ever been in.”
“Thanks. It was my father’s. He gave it to me and bought another o
ne not too far from here.”
“I can’t imagine my mom leaving me anything like this. Moms of regular people leave them things like Tupperware or debt.”
He laughed. “Trust me, rich people leave their kids debt too. It’s just not talked about.”
“I have a funny feeling you won’t have that problem.”
He shook his head. “Not quite. Want a drink?” he asked, turning away from me and leading me into the kitchen.
“I’m surprised you don’t have a butler.”
“No butler. I have a housekeeping staff and a grounds staff, but I don’t really have a need for a butler. I don’t have enough visitors to warrant one.”
“No wild parties with rich and famous friends?”
“I’m a loner, believe it or not. And rich and famous people make me nervous and uncomfortable.”
“What? Why?” I was surprised by this revelation. I sat down on a bar stool next to his giant concrete kitchen island and placed my chin in my hands. “This is going to be interesting, I’m sure.”
He gave me a boyish smile as he reached for something to drink out of his fridge. “What would you like to drink? I don’t drink alcohol so I’m afraid your choices are juice, a smoothie, or a flavored water.”
I expressed an interest in one of the flavored waters and he handed it to me.
“Let me get this right… You don’t drink, eat meat, smoke?”
He shook his head and joined me at the island, sitting on a stool next to me.
“You have to have one vice.”
“I try to keep my vices to a minimum,” he said before taking a drink.
“Tell me you eat sugar at least.”
He grimaced. “I actually hate overtly sweet things. Foods, desserts—”
“Women?” I chided.
He was amused and said, “If I was into sweet women, I wouldn’t be pursuing you.”
My skin flushed at his words. So he was pursuing me still. Interesting. “I can be sweet when I want to be.”
He looked doubtful. “I’ve yet to see you display that facet of your personality, so I won’t argue the point.”
“Good idea.”
“I aim to please, your highness.”
I took another drink enjoying the banter between the two of us. It felt almost cozy. “So you were going to tell me about your poor days.”
My comment caught him off guard and he started to laugh, squirting the beverage from his mouth. He rose to get a rag to clean it up.
“Look what you made me do.” He gestured to his shirt which had once been pristine white was now decorated with splashes of cranberry juice.
“Sorry,” I said not the least bit sorry.
He found a rag and began wiping at the stains that were now forming. “You’re funny when you want to be. That ‘poor days’ comment was a real winner.”
I smiled and watched him dab at the stains.
“There’s really no use in trying to remove them with your shirt on.”
“Is that your roundabout way of trying to get me to undress for you?”
“What? No!”
“Hmm…” was all he said as he placed the rag down and deftly removed his shirt. I told myself not to stare. I really tried not to stare. It was useless. Just as I expected, Magnus was chiseled.
I pretended to be unimpressed and said, “What exercise program are you doing that gives you abs like that?”
“So you like what you see?” he said sitting back on the barstool and tossing his shirt haphazardly up against the island. He leaned an elbow on the island and studied me while I studied him.
“Your turn.”
“My turn to what?”
“Take your shirt off.”
I blushed. “I’m pretty sure I didn’t come over here to undress.”
His voice was deeper as he said, “That’s too bad.”
And then he did something I hadn’t expected. He hooked his foot around the base of my barstool and in one smooth motion, slid me over to where he was.
I was startled. “What are you doing?”
“You were too far away,” he said reaching out and tracing a hand down the side of my face. I was so close that if I wanted to, all I had to do was stretch out a hand to touch him too.
“Come here,” he said softly. He opened his legs wide and scooted my barstool right in between them. My knees pressed against his inner thighs and I tried to not look down. I tried to pretend I didn’t notice the sudden hard silhouette in his pants when what I really wanted to do was reach forward and brush my hand over it.
He touched my face, bringing it closer and then softly kissed my lips. I closed my eyes, surprised by his gentleness. He continued to hold my face as he deepened the kiss this time. This second kiss wasn’t chaste like the first. The second one was hot, deep, and the feel of his tongue against mine was more than I could take. I moaned and that was all the encouragement he needed as he lifted me up from my barstool and placed me on his lap. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him back, wanting the moment to continue forever. Kissing Magnus was all I had imagined it would be but about a billion times better.
Finally, he slowly broke the kiss and I protested a little.
“That was nice,” I said, righting myself and pulling away. “But for the remainder of this evening, you should keep your hands to yourself.”
“Is that an order or a request?” He was amused as he made his comment, but his amused expression quickly gave way to desire as he caught sight of my hard nipples pressed against my shirt.
I felt a little self-conscious and positioned myself so that my chest wasn’t directly facing him.
“Eyes up here,” I said softly. It made me feel powerful that I could turn him on. Lesli Cabot was being drooled over by a billionaire, I could hardly believe it.
“Can you blame me?” he said with a carefree shrug.
I knew if I let this flirtation between us continue that I would end up in his bed in ten seconds flat, so I tried to get us back on topic. It wasn’t easy. I was still turned on and could feel that I was growing wet. And I gave a discrete look toward his crotch. He apparently was having the same problem that I was.
“So where were we?” I asked.
“Are we going to pretend that nothing happened?”
I nodded. “I think. Yeah. I just don’t want to complicate things.”
He looked ready to argue and then said, “I wish I could convince you otherwise, but we can leave that for another day.”
“Thanks,” I said shyly. I’d expected him to push the subject or argue with me, but he hadn’t. That sucked, because his understanding tone and gentlemanly behavior was such a turn on. And the last thing I needed right then was to be turned on any more than I already was.
“So back to your question…”
“What question?” I asked blankly, still waiting for my body to return back to normal. I was suddenly insanely aware of Magnus.
“About my poor days as you called them.”
“Oh yeah, I’m curious.”
He nodded. “I wasn’t always insanely rich. I grew up wealthy, but my parents were just upper class. They definitely weren’t billionaires. When I was around nineteen, we were struggling to get by, and the other rich kids definitely let me know it.”
“I’m sorry. What happened?” I was very curious now.
He shook his head. “That’s for another night.”
“Oh, are you baiting me now?”
He smiled slightly. “Maybe. If I tell you everything, then I’ll lose the mystery factor and women love the mystery factor.”
“Not me. I like to know exactly what I’m getting into.”
“That’s boring. Life should be about surprises.”
“I prefer stability to surprises.”
“One doesn’t negate the other.”
“You’re probably right, but it does for me.”
He didn’t respond, he just took another drink out of the fridge, handed one to me and said, “C
are to join me in the living room?”
“I’m surprised you don’t have a theatre room. All the entertainers and rich people on TV have them.”
“Maybe that’s why I’m not on TV,” He laughed as he led me to the living room, his hand lingering on the small of my back for a few blissful seconds. The heat from his hand stirred something in me and I was glad when he removed it seconds later. I shook my head and thought for what felt like the hundredth time.
“I don’t watch movies or television much, so I never saw the need for a whole room dedicated to something I don’t even do.”
“Not even sports?”
“Not a fan of sports.”
I plopped down on the couch. “So what are you a fan of?”
And then I noticed it. I’m not sure how it escaped my attention before. “Is that a theater style popcorn machine?”
He nodded.
“You don’t watch movies, but you have an old fashion popcorn machine.”
“I guess popcorn is my vice and I love theatre popcorn, nothing else comes close to it. So I bought this one at an auction. The entire theatre was being sold and the agent thought I wanted to buy the building. I was like nope, just the popcorn machine.”
“You’re eccentric… like someone else I know,” I said, thinking of Oliver.
“Not really. I’m just a sucker for a good bowl of popcorn.” He spent the next fifteen minutes showing me how to work it and before I knew it there was a big bowl of deliciousness in my hands. He excused himself to go find a shirt and I plopped down on the couch while I waited for him.
He came back a few minutes later a little less naked. I missed looking at his chest already. He sat down next to me. His knee pressed against mine as we snacked loudly.
“This is really great popcorn,” I commented in between bites. I figured if my mouth and hands had something to do, I would be less inclined to get in trouble by touching him.
He was sitting so close, if I just leaned a little to the left I would find myself in his lap again. I briefly thought about moving to sit in the loveseat across from us but thought better of it. I didn’t want it to be too obvious that his presence unnerved me.
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