“If I hadn’t sent Andrea’s stuff back you could’ve borrowed that.” He stood up, arms folded across his chest, still stark naked and glorious. There was a twitch of a smile at the corners of his mouth and I got that he was testing me, he wanted a reaction.
“Were we the same size?”
The smile crept up. “You’re tinier. Except for your tits.” His eyes blatantly landed on them and his cock twitched.
Now it was my smile that was evil.
I took the t-shirt and gym shorts that would just about do. “You can think about my tits some more while you’re in the shower. You’re going to the housewarming aren’t you?”
He nodded. “I’m not so much celebrating their new house, more the fact that Victoria is staying in London so therefore Max won’t revert to being the cranky bastard he was.”
My panties weren’t going back on. I pulled on Eli’s gym shorts and tied them tightly so I wouldn’t end up flashing London. “Me too. Although the house is pretty amazing, if I do say so myself.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing your handiwork.” He pulled on a clean pair of sweats.
I liked how he gave underwear a miss when he was being comfy.
“Are you still going to see that property you’re interested in today?”
“Three o’clock. Then time to go home and change and get to Max’s. Want to join me in looking round a haunted house?” The words once again popped out. This was a second one-night stand, not some coupley house hunting mission.
“You didn’t mean to ask me that, did you?” he said, looking highly amused. “Shall I forget you’ve asked until you’ve thought about whether you want me there or not?”
“Fuck it. It’ll be fun. And you can see me in action on a will-be building site. Want to come haunted house shopping?”
“Hell yeah,” he said. “After I’ve bought your brother and next sister-in-law a present.”
It was an old priory, with the emphasis on old. Old as in old-fashioned, worn and unloved but the bones were good and strong, the foundations firm and solid. I stood at the end of the overgrown garden, looking through the grass that was already too tall and the shrubbery that had overtaken everything and saw a home. I saw children and barbeques – not the children on the barbeque, because that would be psychotic – and Christmas lights and Halloween pumpkins and I fell in love.
“What’s the suggested price?” Elijah said, standing slightly behind me.
I mentioned a number that made me cringe. “I have the cash and I’ll sell my current place to get the funds to finish the renovations. I might have to move in with Payton or Seph or someone in between until I can camp out here.” Which would be some months as the house was currently missing a part of its back.
“You really want this?”
I nodded. “I have an architect lined up and my best team of builders are about to finish on the detached. It looks worse than what it is.”
“I hope it does look worse than what it is,” he said, following me through the old metal gate towards the door. Something scurried nearby and I made a note to call out a contact who would get rid of any rats’ nests. The place was likely to be overrun by them and I’d prefer to not be jumping every two minutes if I heard scuffling inside.
Inside was falling apart. It had been bought two years ago by the same company that had bought Victoria’s – Max’s girlfriend – grandfather’s house. The company had gone bankrupt with several projects having been at a standstill for some time. They’d made a start by stripping plaster, floorboards and taking down an external wall in order to extend and make a larger kitchen/diner but it had never been finished. I hadn’t been trained in architecture: I was an interior decorator, but I had picked up enough to know what needed to be done. I talked Eli through the processes as we walked the property, pointing out damp, picking in between brickwork and lifting floorboards.
The house had a history; it had been the priory for the nearby church and there were stories about various people having stayed there.
“Will you live here once it’s finished?” Eli said as we headed into the garden.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I’ve never flipped anywhere I’ve wanted to stay. This might be different, but I’m not sure. I’m still looking for a place that’s me.”
He nodded, his hands in his pockets. Since we’d met up he hadn’t touched me, as if keeping to our two-night agreement. Truth be told, I was struggling to not touch him but I was putting that down to him being in the forbidden category. We’d had a great night and an even better morning, but that was it. He wasn’t fuck buddy material, especially because I figured he was in the market for a steady, serious girlfriend.
“I understand that. I need to think about buying somewhere rather than renting.”
“Maybe this place will take your fancy?” I said, beaming at him.
His laugh was loud. “If I win the lottery. I like townhouses and terraces. Like what Killian has. I want neighbours and ideally to live nearer friends.”
I agreed with him. The priory was beautiful, but I liked being in the centre of things.
“Afternoon, Ava.”
