Page 19

Six months later

Lucian Leroux

“O h, there he is!” Reese flashed his signature grin and stood up.

“Good to see you again, my friend. How was Bangladesh?” I shook his hand firmly, and his tan didn’t escape my notice. “Knowing you, you have no tan lines.”

He laughed and sat down again, and he alerted the server. “I’m afraid I never got any vacation time over there. Thanks for meetin’ up with me, by the way.”

I waved that off, happy to help.

We ordered first, and Reese already knew what he wanted. Without an abundance of experience with Lebanese food, I just got what he ordered, and he swore by the bread, the hummus, and the lamb skewers.

It seemed like a nice place, comfortable and laid-back, with a modern twist of industrial mingling with all the rugs and paintings. Dark, rich colors.

Penelope might like it.

“So you wanted me to look over something?” I asked.

“Oh yeah.” Reese retrieved a rolled-up stack of…something…from his leather jacket. “Here. We have the highest bid so far, but we wanted professional eyes on it before we closed the deal.”

I lifted my eyebrows and unrolled the printouts.

Well, hell. He and River were buying a house?

It was a big house. An estate, rather. An old Victorian with three stories and a damn tower.

Definitely run-down, though not as bad as Greer’s ranch.

On the outside, at least. I scanned the details; it was a big chunk of land too—wait. This was in Mclean?

“This is in Mclean,” I felt the need to point out.

“I know.” He grinned.

All right, just so we were on the same page here.

I flipped to the next printout, and it was the beginning of a series of black-and-white photos of the interior.

The server returned with our drinks as I perused the images, and I thanked her absent-mindedly. Goodness, was anything intact in the house?

“You know I don’t work in real estate,” I said.

Although, I had enough knowledge to know this was a prime location worth every penny.

The floors across the downstairs needed to be torn out, and one of the twins—or their agent—had made notes in the margin about the place requiring new electricity and plumbing.

“Didn’t you mention helping others invest in real estate, though?”

I inclined my head. “I did. But if you don’t mind, I’ll have a colleague look this over at our Georgetown office.

” I returned to the information page. “That’s a lot of acres—of farmland, to boot.

I’m not well-versed in the zoning permits you might need if you plan on living here.

Can it even be rezoned? It doesn’t look residential on the inside.

” There was a freaking ballroom, for starters.

Actually, Penelope would know more too. She was a civil engineer and worked in city planning.

“It used to be the stomping grounds of some kind of society run by a rich couple,” he replied. “Then the husband died, and the wife let it all go. Never set foot in the place again. Nothing’s happened there the past twenty-five years. We don’t plan on living there permanently.”

“Because you’ll be working around the clock to afford the mortgage?” I cocked a brow at him. He called himself a security guy, one who worked exclusively at River’s side. River, in turn, worked in IT, and while there was money in that field, it wasn’t Mclean money.

Reese just smirked in response, so I moved on.

“Why on earth would someone let a big property like this just sit for so many years? Have they heard of property taxes?”

He shrugged. “The wife refused to sell is all I know. Now she’s dead, so…”

The children wanted a payday, I assumed. Fair enough.

“I’ll be happy to let a colleague look it over,” I repeated. “I’m driving over to the other office later today anyway.” Truthfully, I didn’t know enough on the matter.

“But you reckon it’s worth it?” he asked.

I flicked the details one more glance. “How many bidders were there?”

“Five, initially. We’re down to two now—or just us. We’re waiting for a response.”

I nodded in acknowledgment. “And how far above asking price?”

“Only thirty K. We expected it to go higher, to be honest. River dug around a little, and he’s guessing that whoever buys that kind of place wants to tear it down and rebuild something new.”

Undoubtedly. There wasn’t much to save. The second floor looked like it was ready to collapse.

“Considering there’s farmland attached to it, I’m not too surprised it hasn’t gone for higher,” I said. “But yes, I would say this is a good investment. The location alone is… I mean, it’s Mclean.”

Reese smiled. “Fantastic. Just what I wanted to hear.”

I returned the papers to him and had to admit I was curious. “So, what’s the plan?”

“Buddy, you will be privy to that very soon, and we won’t take no for an answer,” he answered. “I’mma talk to West first. I need his two cents on the matter, and then we’re gonna call you and Greer.”

In other words, it was kink-related. It had to be.

Were they opening a kink club in that place?

Was that financially possible?

Well, the opening was always possible. Running it, however… Making it survive …

“By the way, did you see Luke’s Facebook post today?”

I shook my head.

Reese clearly felt the need to show me. He pulled out his phone and opened the app, then showed me the screen.

I leaned forward and read it.

Getting caught in a storm in Richmond gets five stars. No sarcasm.

I leaned back again. “I take it he’s on his way home from his work trip.” I hadn’t spoken to him in a couple weeks, because he’d been swamped with work and getting ready for a trip down south.

“What would make you give anythin’ in Richmond five stars?” Reese pressed.

I furrowed my brow. “A five-star hotel?”

He chuckled and pocketed his phone. “Boy got laid.” He looked at something over my head, so I guessed our food was here.

I was hungry.

I also hoped Reese was right. Lucas had been moping a bit more than usual lately.

The food did look delicious, and the scents of grilled lamb and garlic caused my stomach to tighten with hunger.

“Try the bread,” Reese coaxed. “If it’s good enough, maybe I can convince you to come with me to that Big/Little event mid-June.”

Oh, absolutely not. No way. “No bread in the world is that magical,” I told him, breaking off a piece. “I still have scars from last time.”

I didn’t know why he wanted to go back either.

We’d both hightailed it out of there after seeing those Littles.

Bless them with all the sparkles and crayons they could dream of—and zero kink-shaming—but we’d not read the fine print on that newsletter.

The vast majority of them were into heavy regression play, and the event had been aptly named The Playground.

Because that was how the place had been treated.

“Oh, come on, man,” Reese groaned. “It’s completely different this time. I promised to take Ivy, and she’s there for the pain.”

He should’ve led with that, but I wasn’t convinced.

We adored little Ivy, but I was so far from a Daddy Dom. I didn’t belong in such a place when it was exclusive to Bigs and Littles.

“Go with River,” I said. “Where is he anyway?”

“He’s workin’.” Reese scowled to himself and chewed on a mouthful of lamb. “Some friend you are.”

I puckered my lips at him.