Good. She was learning.
My date for the evening walked into the room when she finally woke up. “Sorry I slept in so late. After you left in the middle of the night, I couldn’t get back to sleep.” With her shoes in her hand and messy hair, she didn’t even give Arwen a second glance. She knew I was married, but since I’d told her we had an open relationship, she didn’t bother being discreet. She leaned over me and kissed me on the neck. “Call me later.”
Once a woman asked me to call her, I never did. When expectations were established, I lost interest.
She walked out and left us to enjoy our breakfast.
Abigail brought in the plates then went back to the kitchen.
Arwen didn’t ask about the woman I’d spent the night with. “Did you leave last night?”
I didn’t lie to make my life easier. It was too much work because you had to keep track of every lie you ever told. I’d rather just be honest and piss people off. But if I told Arwen about Kamikaze, it would terrify her. The woman had already been through enough in the last two weeks. I wasn’t going to tell her some assholes wanted to buy her and sell her into sexual slavery. “Pipe busted on the grounds. I had to fix it.”
“Don’t you have men for that?”
I looked up from my newspaper. “I’m quicker.”
She set down her coffee and started to eat. She must be in a better mood because she hadn’t had an appetite recently. A long night with Dante seemed to recharge her.
I didn’t know anything about Dante, but he didn’t seem good enough for her. They weren’t going to last, so I guess it didn’t matter anyway. “You’re at the theater tonight?”
“Yes. For practice.”
I folded my newspaper then straightened so I could eat my breakfast while it was still hot.
She smeared Abigail’s homemade jam across her toast and took a bite, rolling her eyes just a little bit like she couldn’t believe how good it was. “I love jam…” After a few more bites, she ate the entire thing then moved on to her eggs.
I didn’t expect us to eat together every morning, but she seemed to have invited herself to share the ritual with me. I’d tell her to leave, but it was too soon to be a jackass. When enough time passed, I could start to be myself again.
“Are you still going to give me a tour of the house? I can barely remember how to get to my room.”
“If you’re up for it.”
“Definitely. I’ve never told you this before, but your home is beautiful.”
Her family estate used to be glorious at one time, but now it was long gone. The banks would remove anything they could sell, and it would be put on the market for someone else to purchase. Her ancestral home had been passed down for generations—and now it would belong to someone else.
She sipped her coffee. “You really can’t take a compliment, can you?”
I took a bite of my food and stared her down, chewing slowly as I considered what to say. Threatening her was my automatic response, but I was still trying to be sensitive because of her father’s passing.
She smeared more jam onto her toast. “When you don’t like something, you just ignore it?”
“Would you rather have me yell at you?”
“No. I just wish I understood why you refuse to acknowledge every positive thing I say.”
“If you’re fishing for a response to every compliment you give, then it must not be genuine.”
“It is genuine. I’m just trying to understand you.”
I brought my coffee to my lips and took a drink. “Save yourself some time and don’t.”
I took her on a tour of the house, showing her the large kitchen Abigail thrived in, the three separate dining rooms, the different living rooms, and then the private gym on the second floor.
She looked at the cardio machines and all the equipment I used on a daily basis. “Wow. This is the size of a regular gym. You’re the only one who uses it?”
“You can use it too if you like.”
“I’m not big on exercise.” She walked to the biceps curl and stared at the machine like she had no idea how it worked. “Singing is my exercise.”
Then she must have good genes, keeping a figure like that. I’d only seen her eat a couple of times, and she had a full meal. I walked out of the gym then took her to the drawing room on the third floor. The room didn’t have much of a purpose, but it had the best view of the property. There were a couple of couches facing each other and a grand piano tucked into the corner. Sleek and black, it didn’t have a spot of dust because my staff kept this entire place perfectly tidy every single day.