Like, somehow, it was the only thing she’d ever been meant to do.
“Are you ready?”
Aspen snapped out of her thoughts and forced a smile as she looked at Eve, who was regarding her carefully with her hand hovering over the doorbell. Aspen’s first instinct was to ask why Eve wasn’t using a key, but she swallowed back the question to reply, “When you are,” instead.
Eve’s jaw flexed with determination, and she nodded as she pressed her thumb to the doorbell. She scrubbed her hand on the thigh of her jeans as an elaborate chime rippled through the home’s interior.
Aspen reached out and took Eve’s hand to draw her into her side as they waited for the massive, twelve-foot wooden door to be answered. “You know, if it weren’t for the snow and stuff, I’d say I feel like we’re about to enter a haunted mansion,” she quipped, pleased that none of the tension tickling the back of her neck crept into her wry tone.
Eve’s dry chuckle wasn’t quite the reaction she was going for, nor was her droll, “Not gonna lie, a haunted mansion would be a lot less scary.” Eve stiffened as the lock audibly tumbled over, and Aspen gave her hand a reassuring squeeze as the dooropened to reveal a man who looked to be in his mid-fifties in an immaculate black suit.
“Ah, Miss Eve,” the man greeted Eve with a smile that was genuine enough, if professionally reserved, as he stepped aside to usher them in. “Welcome. Your parents are expecting you.”
“Hello, Richard,” Eve replied woodenly, her hand tightening to an almost painful degree around Aspen’s as she stepped over the threshold.
Aspen’s hackles rose as Eve’s tone brought every protective instinct in her body roaring to life, but she restrained herself to an unimpressed look directed at the butler as she followed Eve inside.
“Did you have a nice flight?” Richard asked as they entered.
Aspen stroked her thumb along the side of Eve’s hand in a bid to soothe away some of her worry as Richard closed the front door behind them. She could feel his curiosity burning a hole in the back of her head, but she didn’t like the way Eve reacted to him, so she didn’t deign to satisfy it. If she’d learned anything in the military, it was to shut the fuck up and project an air of confidence while being silently judged. She hiked her chin by a fraction and plastered on a politely disinterested half-smile as she appraised her surroundings. The floors were a rustic wide plank hardwood, the exposed beam ceilings had to be over thirty-feet tall to match the roofline of the house’s towering entryway, and the space led directly into what looked like a formal living room with equally expansive windows that overlooked the valley below.
She was no stranger to old money or the trappings it provided—hell, the West family estate in the Berkshires where she’d grown up had been featured inArchitectural Digeston a handful of occasions over the last fifty years—but this was gauche and reeked of new money trying to assert itself.
“And who is your guest?” Richard asked when neither of them addressed Aspen’s presence. “We were under the impression that Mister Collier would be accompanying you this weekend.”
And so it begins,Aspen thought as Eve glanced at her before replying, “Oh, right. I guess I never updated my parents on the change. This is my girlfriend, Aspen.”
Good girl.
“Excellent. Welcome, Miss…”
“Collier-West,” Aspen supplied.
“A pleasure,” Richard replied, briefly dipping his chin in a small nod before turning his attention back to Eve. “Do you require assistance with your bags?”
“No, thank you, Richard.” Eve shook her head. “We’ll be fine.”
“Very good, Miss. Your mother has given you your usual suite. Shall I show you to your room, or…”
“No, thank you. That’s not necessary,” Eve replied politely.
This is like walking into some bad daytime soap opera or some bullshit, Aspen thought as she nodded in agreement with Eve’s decision.
“Excellent.” Richard snapped his feet together and straightened into what could only be described as full attention. “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask. Myself or someone else on the staff will take care of it. Dinner will be served at eight.”
Aspen glanced at her watch. They had twenty minutes to change and present themselves.
“Perfect. Thank you.” Eve’s smile was sharp enough to cut glass as she turned to Aspen and gestured down the hall that branched off the right side of the foyer. “Our room is this way.”
Aspen gave Richard a short nod of polite dismissal as she gathered the handles of hers and Eve’s suitcases in her righthand. It would have been easier to manage the large bags with two hands, but she’d be damned if she let go of Eve until they were safely ensconced in their room and away from prying eyes. And then, because she wanted Eve’s parents to know that she was two thousand percent on Eve’s side in case Richard reported details of the encounter to his employers, said, “Lead the way, beautiful.”
She’d meant the line more as a kind of unspokenfuck this guy, but when Eve’s cheeks pinked prettily at the endearment, she made a mental note to use it more often.
The hallway was wide enough that they could walk side-by-side, and Aspen lowered her guard as Eve’s grip on her hand relaxed the further they walked. Neither of them spoke as they wandered deeper into the sprawling manor, their progress marked instead by the quiet fall of their feet and the low hum of their suitcase wheels on the wood floor. For as large as the house appeared from the exterior, it was a near-monstrosity on the inside, and after they’d passed not one, but two separate staircases and an elevator, they finally reached the end of the hall.
“This is us,” Eve said as she pushed open an otherwise nondescript stained wood door to reveal a nice, but not overly large guest room.
Aspen took note of the space as she followed Eve inside. The hardwood from the rest of the house continued into the space, and the walls that weren’t glass were painted the same austere, perfectly impersonal white as the hallway. There was a queen-sized bed centered on the wall facing a pair of french doors that opened to a balcony that overlooked the valley below. The bed was draped in crisp, white, hotel-styled linens and centered on a plush steel gray rug. At the foot of the bed were a pair of matching armchairs and a small table.
