“I can’t recall. It was given to me. I know there’s wine.”
That strengthened my impression that he got dumped and bolstered my decision to not act on the allure of his scent.
“Get it and I’ll show you where things belong, including the wine closet.” We might not be super fancy with a wine cellar, but our gramps liked his wine and he made a wine closet which was good enough for my beer drinking self.
Candrin ran off to get his groceries and I quickly opened all the windows in the kitchen, needing the fresh air. Having Candrin under the same roof as me was going to be a challenge. That was for sure.
3
CANDRIN
Did that really happen?
What a day!
I’d woken up in my room in my father’s house, the home I’d grown up in, the place where my parents had brought me home from the hospital after my birth. While Saul and Molly were staff, they were also like a second set of parents, particularly after my omega dad died.
Father was always so busy running the business, the one I’d expected to take over as his only child. That was what I’d been led to believe, he told me that himself, showed me the will. And the reason I was working at a charity and not at his side was because hewanted me to see the real world—as much as the heir to a multi-million dollar empire could—and not have the staff defer to me because I was the boss’s son. He expected people to challenge and disagree with me and in turn for me to learn from them.
As I got dressed this morning, I’d studied a photo of my parents and me when I was much younger, knowing that while the reading of the will was a mere formality, I wasn’t looking forward to it because it would be the final goodbye to Father.
The phone beeped, interrupting my day dream. Before I checked the sender I briefly wondered if it was Mr. James saying he had definitive proof that Charles, as he called himself, was an imposter and to please come home.
Dream on, Candrin.
How are you, sweetheart? Is the shared house nice? We miss you. I’ll call you tomorrow. Molly xxx
Molly and Saul had a spare bedroom but I hadn’t suggested it because my fake brother would have said no and besides, they had to work for him. I didn’t want him firing them justbecause they loved me.
Putting the phone on the nightstand, my thoughts drifted to my new landlord. If my life wasn’t in the toilet and if I wasn’t living in his house, I would pay more attention to him with the idea of asking him out. But when landlord and tenant relationships went sideways, it got messy—I’d heard enough stories from my colleagues. Nope, I’d just have to worship that body of Tanner’s from afar.
A door slammed in the distance, too far to be on this floor. Sounded as though it came from downstairs. The front door closing perhaps. Was Tanner headed out? It was Saturday night and maybe he was going to a club, visiting friends or he might be in a relationship. Gods, the universe couldn’t even let me have my fantasy. It had to take that too!
A tear slid over my cheek as I closed my eyes.Why, Father? Why?
I didn’t give a damn about the company or even the house, but to cut me off, leaving me alone and adrift was ruthless and while Father had made hard decisions during his business life, he wasn’t cruel.
Sitting up and flinging off the bedclothes, I opened my suitcase and tossed out the clothes until I found Father’s letter. Turning on the light I studied thehandwriting. It certainly looked like my father’s but I had nothing with me to compare it to. The letters Father had written me when I was a kid at summer camp were in a trunk in the attic. The only way I could get them was to sneak into the house unless I asked Saul. Nah, I couldn’t.
After a night of tossing and turning, it seemed as though I’d been asleep for a few minutes when I was woken by a loud noise. I recognized it as a vacuum cleaner because Molly used one every day at home. Not my home any longer. Someone else’s and that someone had stolen it. But I couldn’t think about that now. I had to do chores though I couldn't recall where the schedule was and what I was supposed to do.
I stuck my head out the door to find Tanner bending over the vacuum cleaner. Nice ass. Perfect for pinching, stroking and licking. But the alpha swung around and my lack of sleep had slowed my reflexes. He caught me ogling his butt.
Shit! “M-Morning. It’s a beautiful b… I mean day.”
Tanner’s eyes flicked to a window and mine followed. It was overcast and there was a light drizzle. “If… if you’re a duck that is.” He raised a brow and me being a motor mouth, I just kept on talking, digging myself deeper in a hole. “Ummm they like water on their back, right and under their butts? Ducks, I mean.”
The alpha narrowed his eyes before jerking his head at the vacuum which he turned off. It didn’t look anything like the one Molly used and it was much noisier too. She was so proud of her device, said Father had brought her the best and it made cleaning the house so much easier. This one of Tanner’s sounded like a jet engine.
“Your turn to do the living room.”
I was still in my PJs and hadn’t brushed my teeth and did Tanner just take a peek at my crotch? “Okay. I’ll mosey into the living room and that floor will be so clean you’ll be able to eat off it.”
The alpha scrunched up his nose. “Not on the carpet I wouldn’t.”
“Right.” I’d been rabbiting on, while trying to figure out how to start the vacuum cleaner. “Well, I’ll be going.” I picked up the vacuum and headed toward the stairs but I only took a few steps and I was jerked backward, landing flat on my back. I stared upward as I wriggled my toes and wondered if I’d broken anything and Tanner’s face loomed over me.
“You have to unplug it.”
