Page 26 of Worth Every Game
“Okay, then.”
His smile disappears, and he goes still.He wasn’t expecting me to agree.“Okay?”
“Yes. I’ll move in with you for three months. But I’m assuming we’ll never see one another because you’ll be off earning all that money, and I’ll be working tables. Or at gigs.”
“Sounds about right.”
“Perfect.” I nod at the door. “You can go now.”
He performs an elaborate mock bow, making laughter bubble up my throat, and this time I let it out, and he grins at the sound.
This is fun. Being with Jack feels so good.
Jack must agree, because he looks thrilled, and it warms my heart to see it. “I’ll send a van for your stuff next week.” He pushes open the front door, then pauses, looking back at me. “And, El?"
“Yeah?”
“Don’t forget those slippers.”
I smile as he turns away, and I can hear him chuckling all the way down the stairs and out onto the street.
9
ELLY
Jack is at work the day I move into his house. His driver delivered a set of keys to my flat last week, wrapped in a package so extravagant it was fit for diamonds.
The house is insane. It’s a double-fronted London townhouse with four storeys and an intimidating black lacquered front door at the top of four York stone steps.
It’s absolutely massive.
I knew Jack had made a lot of money, but this place must have cost him millions. Literal millions. If I’d known the house was like this, I’d have moved in immediately.
My phone buzzes, and I pull it from the pocket of my sheepskin coat.
Jack: Don’t nose in my room.
Me: Wasn’t going to.
Jack: Good. You have to wait for an invitation ;)
His message has nerves sparking in my stomach.He is dreadful. You can’t stop the man from flirting. It’s like his whole personality is just flirting. But it is kind of appealing. This huge great muscly man, who is always smiling, eyes gleaming.He always looks so…alive. Like he’s aglow with excitement. Everything is a joke to Jack, and there’s something sexy as hell about the fact he doesn’t take life too seriously.
Maybe, just maybe, I like him. Not to hook up with…but to flirt with? To mess around with? Yeah. I do.
I type a quick response.
Me: Which I would politely decline.
I wait a few moments for a reply, but when one doesn’t come, I put my phone away again, trying to ignore the ache of disappointment that follows.
I unlock the front door and let the men inside. The van and removal men were totally unnecessary. I have hardly any stuff—I could have carried it myself—so I’m glad Jack isn’t here to see it, but I’m thankful that he sorted everything out for me anyway. He didn’t have to do that.
I step into the large entrance hall to find the house is just as impressive inside as it is outside. It’s like a boutique hotel, with modern art on the walls and flowers on the hall table. And it smells like…Jack. It’s as if the wooden floor is oozing his cologne. Waves of arousal begin to pulse through me.Might as well admit it.Walking into Jack’s delicious-smelling multi-million pound home is a huge turn-on.
I lead the removal men upstairs to the bedroom on the second floor that Jack has designated as mine until my lease ends.
It only takes a few minutes for the guys to bring everything up and disappear. When they’re gone, I make my way to the kitchen. It’s so clean and tidy in here, like a show home. Everything put away so perfectly. I wipe my finger along the kitchen counter and check the tip for dust.Not a speck. And the floor practically sparkles. Jack must have a cleaner, or a housekeeper, because there is no way he gets on his knees and scrubs it himself.