Page 183 of Hidden Ties

Creed frowned at her. “I don’t understand. If you love it, why do you look so unhappy?”

“Because I don’t want to love it!” she wailed. “Do you even have four vehicles?”

A smile tugged on his lips. “I have two.”

“Then why do you need a four-car garage?”

“Because it comes with the house?”

She jerked her eyes toward him. “Are you laughing at me?”

“No …” he drawled, raising his hands in surrender. “Do you want to go inside and see the house? You might find something to dislike in there.”

“How big is it?” she asked, hoping it wasn’t at big as it looked.

“Over seven thousand square feet.”

The front door wasn’t one but two doors, and you had to unlock metal bars to even reach them.

“What’s with all the security? You think there’s going to be a zombie apocalypse?” When he keyed the numbers into a pad by the door, Sage heard a few beeps go off before the door was electronically unlocked. “Worried some of your girlfriends will find out where you live?” Sarcastically, she stepped into a foyer.

“I’m not the one who’s got a contract on my life.”

She deserved that uppercut, she had to admit.

“I’ll show you around.”

The house was even bigger than she had thought it was from the outside. There was a basement with a theater room and anarea that had been decorated as a playroom. The girls were going to flip out when they saw it.

Touching one of the small children’s wooden chairs sitting at a long wooden table, she could imagine the girls spending hours playing there.

Creed didn’t rush her to move on to another room, allowing her to take it all in.

Walking to a bookcase which had three rows of books, she turned around to see Creed watching her.

“How did you get it decorated so quickly?” she asked huskily. “Even the upstairs I saw coming down the steps is done.”

“This home was a model home. They decorate it, so when buyers visit, they can imagine themselves in the home.”

“Ahh … so, you don’t keep these—”

“I bought the house, with the contents included.”

“The girls are going to love playing here. This is going to make … Glory so happy.” Becoming choked up, she practically ran up the steps.

On the main floor, there was the formal living room to the side. She moved through the open-plan home and found a family room and a chef’s kitchen with a butler’s pantry behind it, filled with kitchen appliances. Coming out of the butler’s pantry, she wandered into the dining room. It was, like all the others, was tastefully decorated.

“We’ll have to store the table settings,” she began listing what they needed to address for the girls’ safety. “And the table topper in the butler’s pantry. The light fixture in here needs to go higher. All the low cabinets in the kitchen and pantry need to be child-proofed. We’ll have to watch Colby like a hawk until it’s changed. A baby gate at the bottom of the stairs—”

“Make a list, and I’ll have it taken care of.”

Creed let her explore the rest of the downstairs as he texted someone.

There were two bedrooms with a bathroom in between, which had already been decorated with children in mind. One was a pretty lavender, the other a soft green. Colby would go for the green, while Tinsley would fall in love with the lavender.

“Are the beds in here okay?” Creed asked, putting his phone away.

“The bed in the lavender room is too big for Tinsley, but I wouldn’t bother taking it down. We can bring the bed she has at my apartment here.”