The light quickly grew brighter as we climbed, and in one turn of the screw, we’d reached the top — a faceted hexagonal room about twelve feet across with five large vertical rectangular windows, each with a top panel in patterned stained glass in pretty blues and greens, like the flash in a peacock’s tail.
I turned slowly and took it all in. It needed paint, and the floor could use a refinish, but… “Good golly, this is beautiful.”
“Then you’re going to love this,” said Landon, who’d moved to one of the windows and was looking out.
I followed, then clutched Landon’s arm in excitement. “The river!”
“Spectacular, isn’t it?”
Beyond the weedy lawn and gnarly old oaks and palms, over the short cliff that edged the property, the Indian River Lagoon sparkled. Today the water was a steely blue-gray with glints of diamonds as it stretched north and south as far as the eye could see. And straight ahead, to the east, was the narrow green barrier island that held Bohemia Beach, dotted with seemingly tiny houses and docks on the far side of the river. The taller hotels and condos and a strip of blue ocean were just visible at the horizon beyond.
“OK, this is pretty sweet.” I self-consciously released Landon’s arm, even though my hand was kind of enjoying itself. “This would make a great studio.”
“A writer’s garret?”
“Painter’s. Photographer’s. You could do definitely do photo shoots here.”
“Or board meetings,” Landon said.
I looked at him aghast to catch him grinning again. I shook my head. “Geez, I thought you were serious. Anyway, it’s not big enough. Unless you have a really small board.”
“My board is plenty big,” he said, and I smacked his arm. He laughed, but he didn’t move away. His body was just touching mine as we stood side by side, taking in the small boats on the river and the clouds dotting the blue sky. All of a sudden the light and airy — OK, musty, but airy — space seemed a lot smaller.
“Maybe it could be an observatory?” I asked softly, trying not to notice his heady cedar-lime soap scent and the way the hairs on his arm were igniting gooseflesh on mine. He was taking up all the air in the airy room.
“Or a bedroom,” he whispered, and when I looked up, he was staring at me intently, with none of his usual glib humor. Those lips, usually smiling, were instead serious. Can lips be serious? They looked serious, and moist, and slightly open as if he were struggling for breath. And his dark eyes held mysteries and depths I had no idea he was capable of.
I swallowed, tore myself from his magnetic pull and took a step back. “Yeah, well, it’s a long way down if you have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.”
Landon blinked, then a corner of his mouth turned up. “All you need is a chamber pot.”
“Gross.”
“Or a chute?”
I groaned and laughed at the same time. Nothing like potty humor to make me forget — almost — that he was hotter than a lava flow in July. “Now that you mentioned a bathroom, maybe we should wrap this up. I’m remembering all that coffee I had this morning.”
“Agreed. Let’s finish the tour. But at least you know you have one good room.”
“If I can only get to it without falling on my ass.”
“Right.” He gestured to the steps. “After you. And be careful.”
We reached the second-floor hallway below without incident, and he peered around a rounded wall into a corner I hadn’t even noticed was there.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Another door?” He opened it. “Another staircase under the top one. Back stairs. Not uncommon in a house like this.”
“If it’s better than the others, I’m all over it.”
“It’s not a spiral, and it looks solid. But let me go first this time, just in case.” He brought out the small flashlight again, though a window on a landing halfway down made it mostly unnecessary.
Two flights brought us down behind the kitchen. Better yet, the stairs were actually intact, though the one just above the landing sounded like a dying frog when we stepped on it. I might have jumped a little.
We gave what appeared to be a very roomy dining room a quick glance — it had a great river view but was as dilapidated as everything else — and moved toward the other room at the back of the house.
“This is the last one, right?” I asked.
