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“No. I live in Raleigh. I’m staying here for now. On business.”
Inside, the layout and décor were very similar to next door. Same hardwood floors, same floor to ceiling windows capturing stunning views of the river. The garden, with the neatly trimmed lawns, immaculate flower beds, stone benches, all looked like a carbon copy of the other house. With just one subtle difference. This one didn’t seem as lived in. Like the furniture hadn’t quite settled in place yet.
“Is this an Airbnb?”
“Huh?” Wolfe was in the kitchen, head bent over his phone.
“This house? Is it an Airbnb?”
“No.”
Oh, so maybe there was an upmarket version of Airbnb I didn’t know about.
“It’s mine.”
I gawked at him. “You bought this whole house, even though you’re only in town for a short time?”
“I don’t like hotels,” he replied with a shrug.
“Oh. Fair enough.” There wasn’t much I could say after that, since buying a whole house in the richest area of town just to live in it for a short time wasn’t a usual experience in my life, let’s be honest. “Do you mind if I put the rest of the cake in the fridge?”
“Sure.”
“Thanks.”
His fridge was virtually bare, with only a few bottles of beer and what was in that jar…olives. “There’s no food in your fridge?”
“There’s bread and jelly in the pantry,” he replied, gesturing to the double doors next to the fridge. Unable to resist, I pulled them open. A big walk-in pantry, the size of my bedroom, naturally. Wall to wall shelving that went all the way to the ceiling and all he had in there was a loaf of bread and one jar of blueberry jelly. I turned back to him, my eyebrow raised. “I don’t cook.”
“What do you eat, then?”
He glanced up from his phone, giving me a long, amused look. “I get food delivered. Or I eat out.”
“Every night?” I was gobsmacked. “That must cost a fortune!”
“Lucky for me, I have a fortune.”
“Oh. Right. Of course.” Now I felt stupid. I looked away, down to the floor, to hide my embarrassment. Which was exactly when I realized I was in no way dressed to go out to dinner with this man. But also, there was absolutely nothing in my meagre wardrobe at home that Icouldwear to go out to dinner with this man. Shit.
“Okay, we’re set. Let’s go.”
“Wolfe, I can’t.”
“What? Why not?”
I gestured to my clothes. Denim shorts, a blue shirt and flip flops. I hadn’t even washed my hair.
“You look fine. Great, in fact.”
I almost snorted. “No, I don’t. And I have nothing at all to wear, really.” My best dress was a lacy pink, cotton dress that I’d bought on sale three years ago at Walmart.
“I’ve got you covered. What do you think I’ve been doing for the last ten minutes?” He held up his phone, indicating that all that fast typing was…for me?
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve got an appointment at a boutique at two o'clock.” He glanced down at his watch. “Which we’re going to miss, actually, if we don’t leave right now.”
“You’re…you’re going to buy me a dress?”