The other one was a big room that had a treadmill, anelliptical machine and weight equipment.
And the last was the wine cellar, which was a true winecellar with walls of wine shelves, innumerable dusty bottles of wine, twolarge, tall, restaurant-quality wine coolers, and even a grouping in the centerof four leather armchairs with attractive tables in between.There was anothersmall fridge that looked like it had fruits and cheeses in it, set into a barcart with a full bar, and above it, a set of display shelves with a selectionof gorgeous glasses.
It wasn’t just a place to store wine.It was a place to hangout and appreciate wine.
I loved it.
The whole house.
It was very masculine.
But I wouldn’t change a thing.
After I’d oohed and aahed and smiled and giggled and put myofficial stamp of approval on the place, Darius asked after Liam’s homework,and our son set off to his room.
I set off to do whatever unpacking I could do, which wasemptying my Nordstrom bags (and putting my stuff around the unused basin nextto Darius’s made me decidedly giddy).Liam had taken the suitcases into thewalk-in, and I located the empty drawers and put away anything that could go inthem and on shelves.
I discovered Darius’s clothes were hanging on wire hangers,and I couldn’t even, so I didn’t, and I decided to deal with that too whenDarius grabbed some the next day.
Though, he’d been wrong.His stuff didn’t take up a quarterof the space, it maybe took up a sixth.It was clear it was casual gear he woreto work, but my man needed more clothes.
It looked like no one loved him.
And that wouldn’t do.
After that, Darius and I finished off the bottle of winehe’d opened earlier while sitting cuddled together on his creamy-beige couch inthe living room, with me asking questions I’d been dying to ask, and gettinganswers I loved to hear.
Yes, he liked his work at Nightingale Investigations.
No, it didn’t feel like Lee was his boss.Lee didn’t managehis men that way, or he wouldn’t have the men he had.They were a team, Lee wasjust their leader.
No, it wasn’t as dangerous as I’d feared it would be.It wasjust that the Rock Chicks were magnets for disaster.All their shit wasoutlying (I wasn’t sure he told the whole truth about this, but since my cloudof happy goodness was forming around me, I was letting that be).
Yes, he bought and paid for all of this during his drugdealing days.And yes, he had money safe and tucked away so Liam and I were setfor life.Also yes, Lee paid well for the work he did.But no, the ties to thatlife were completely severed.It hadn’t been easy, but he and his Aunt Shirleenwere out and there was no going back.
Shirleen, by the way, was Lee’s receptionist.
So yeah, those men always took care of their family.
And it wasn’t lost on me when we got to the “set for life”part that this was likely, if possibly unconsciously, why Darius stayed in thegame as long as he did.
His father could have no clue he’d be murdered, but when hewas, his wife and children were nowhere near set for life.
But even though nothing was going to happen to my man (Godwilling), Liam and I were.
Eventually, the bottle was empty, and I was tired, so wecalled down our goodnights to Liam, went upstairs, made love, and I passed out.
I woke up to breakfast at the island with my boys.It was anunusual gray, blustery day for Denver, but it shined bright for me in thatkitchen.
I went to work, and after work, I went to my place with mybig and medium suitcases and filled them again.
Yes, I was moving fast.
No, I didn’t care.
The writing was on the wall.I’d waited years for this.
And anyway, I needed more shoes.
