Page 87 of The Grand Duel
That earns him a smile. I look up, noticing his eyes look tired too. “Thank you for this.”
He nods, dropping his gaze quickly. The doors to the penthouse open, and I step out with him. “I won’t be a minute. Make yourself at home.”
He walks off towards the stairs, and I linger in the entrance.
The apartment is…nice. I guess. It’s sleek—mostly white. Very modern.
Not very Charles.
Luna’s paws scratch against my hips as she jumps up at me. “You hungry, Lu?”
Daisy follows her sister to where I stand, sitting at my feet.
I wonder where their food is…I walk to the stairs and call up, “Charles?”
Nothing.
I bite my lip for a minute thinking, and then head for what looks to be the kitchen.
The decor follows.
Cold. Cold. Cold.
“Where does he keep your food, babies…”
Luna bounds over to a side door when I get close, and I smile, opening it and finding a room very similar to the one at the office.
It’s colourful and warm, with large wooden dog beds lined with cushions. Dog toys litter the space along with a circular sofa. It’s nicer than his entire apartment. In my opinion, anyway.
I feed the dogs and rinse out their water bowls. By the time I’m done, Luna and Daisy have finished with their food and have run off up the stairs.
I walk to the main living space and across to the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Even the view is the same as every other high rise in London. I turn and let my eyes take in the space again, trying to picture Charles living here.
This isn’t what I imagined for his home, especially with the timeless, old-money decor at his office.
“Sorry.”
I turn and find Charles halfway down the stairs. He has on a pair of dark, boot-cut jeans and a navy sweatshirt, making him look a little boyish with the way it fits so differently to his suits. I’ve never seen him look so casual.
“You’re fine,” I observe, tilting my head as he runs his hands through his hair and reaches for his things, filling his pockets.
“You fed the girls,” he says, looking up and across the room at me.
I free my bottom lip from between my teeth. “Yeah…they were ravenous.”
“They’re in bed for the night. You ready?”
I walk across the living area to the entrance, standing next to him as we wait for the lift. “Have you lived here long?”
I feel his gaze on me, but I don’t look up, knowing he’s far too close and will notice the blush it’ll give me the second I do.
“A while. Mason, who you met last week, he found and purchased this place when I was living in my old flat.” His voice grows wistful, the memory clearly a fond one. “I was young. Twenty-eight, maybe.”
“He bought it? Why would he do that?”
“I refused to spend the money. I’d not long set up the headquarters here in the city. I had the Belfast offices on the horizon, and it felt like the company was running faster than I could keep up.”