Page 23

It was hard.

All the things I’d found on my little adventures that decorated my walls and shelves twinkled back at me, like finding pretty seashells along the shore. I was biased, obviously, because my home wasmine. It had everything I loved. Everything I needed.

I sighed and grabbed my bag, checking one last time to make sure I’d packed all the essentials. I could always come back for the others.

“Were you able to end your lease?”

I shook my head, relaxing back into the soft leather of Reid’s passenger seat.

“I only have a few months left on the lease anyway,” I explained, staring at my hands where they lay in my lap. “And I told the landlord I wouldn’t be renewing my lease, so he knows.”

Reid had managed to convince me that keeping my apartment wasn’t exactly financially smart and a part of me already knew that. Another part of me, the part that curled my fingers around my keys defiantly, had argued every step of the way.

“Still, if you wanted…” Reid sighed, though not unpleasantly. “We could just buy the apartment and then you’d still have it when we finalize the divorce.”

“Reid, there is no way that’s happening.” I breathed out, my lungs squeezing tight at the offer. “I know I don’t live in a super fancy apartment building, but the apartments are still ridiculously expensive. We’re in New York!”

“Apartment?” she scoffed. “I was talking about the building.”

“Reid,no.” I groaned.

She chuckled but let it go. We drove in relative silence until we pulled up to her manor and the large black gates swung open for her.

“There’s kind of a lot to remember about the house,” Reid warned. “But I’ll be with you most of the time so you’ll learn pretty quickly.”

We got out of the car and I nodded, listening to her explain the security system.

“This is how you unlock the front door,” Reid said, pressing the pad of her thumb to a scanner that required a code to even open up. “Your fingerprints have already been loaded so they’ll work. And you have a separate code to access the house, just so that security knows who’s arrived.”

“Uh-huh,” I hummed, doing my best to remember the list of processes and notes that Reid imparted on the short trip between the car and the front door.

“You’ll get used to it.” She chuckled. She opened the door and waited for me to walk past her and inside.

She tossed her keys and purse onto the table in the entrance hall and toed off her heels. “You’ve only really been as far as the living room, right?”

“Yeah, just the kitchen and the living room,” I answered, a little distracted by Reid’s sudden shift in demeanor.

Her shoulders loosened, and she ran a hand through her hair to shake out the perfectly styled waves. “Themainliving room,” she corrected me.

“Main…?”

“Yeah, there’s a gaming living room and a smaller living room that I usually use,” Reid said with half a shrug.

Reid took me on a tour of her home, the winding staircases giving way to glittering marble floors and elevators hidden in secret corners of the upper floors.

“And this is your suite,” she said finally, opening a large, heavy-looking black door.

I peered inside and my jaw hit the ground. “This whole room?” I asked incredulously.

Reid nodded. “I had it all set up last week after we agreed that it would be better for you to live here,” she explained. “This entire wing is yours.”

“Reid, I’m one person,” I gasped. “I don’t need all this space.”

“Yeah, but you’re going from living alone for years to moving in with me,” Reid drawled. “I don’t want you to feel like you’ve lost your freedom.”

My heart thudded and I stepped inside, glancing around in awe.

“That door over there is the closet,” Reid said, pointing at a door toward the back of the massive room. “And those are your ensuite bathrooms.”