We walk down the hall after him. “This is my office.” He looks sheepish.
Sheesh! My eyes pop out. To one side, there are several desktop PCs and a laptop. Everything looks top-of-the-line. On the other side of the spacious room is a gamer’s paradise. There are gaming chairs and all the latest gaming tech, including what looks like virtual reality equipment. The screen is obscenely big. There’s also a single bed. The covers are ruffled. I see a whole bank of cupboards on the far side, and a door. I’m assuming it’s a bathroom.
“I’m a software developer. I’ve also invented a couple of apps along the way.” He shrugs.
I’ve heard of people making small fortunes developing apps. I think I might be looking at one of them. I’m duly impressed.
“In case you didn’t notice, I’m an avid gamer.” He smiles. “I’m somewhat of a homebody. It’s tough having my kind of ability. I avoid people…crowded places. This is how I socialize most of the time.” He makes a face. “Sad, I know, but what can you do?” He gives a one-shouldered shrug.
“Raven is the same,” Maddox pipes up. “We can’t get her to go anywhere crowded. Anywhere fun.”
“I’m sure.” Stephan locks eyes with me for a moment but quickly looks away. “I would prefer it if you stayed clear of this room,” he says. “I have various systems running. If you accidentally touched something, or…” He pushes out a breath. “I could lose hours of work…days even.”
“No problem,” Barrett says. “We’re not really into tech. We don’t have anything like this where we come from.”
“Oh?” Stephan looks interested. “No gaming? No computers?” He frowns.
“None of that stuff,” Barrett says. “We were completely off the grid. We farmed and hunted. Lived off the land. Kept to ourselves.”
Stephan looks taken aback. “That’s a little…strange.”
“It was…different,” Maddox adds. “There was no mingling with humans.”
“Really?” Stephan looks shocked. “Not at all?”
He shakes his head. “We kept to ourselves. Leaving was an adjustment.” I sense that Stephan wants to say or ask something else, but Maddox leaves the room before he can. We still need to be careful about what we divulge. “What’s down here?” he asks, speaking up so that we can hear him from the hallway.
We all follow. “It’s the bedroom I was talking about,” Stephan says. “This is the smaller of the three I have available.” The bedroom is bigger than the motel rooms we’ve been sharing. It’s nicely decorated. Warm and appealing. Maddox and I shared one bedroom, and the other three shared another one. They’ve taken turns sleeping on a fold-out bed on the floor. Thankfully you can generally choose a double bed or two singles. We’ve mostly been okay. This is like heaven in comparison. A big queen-size bed. A cozy wingback chair in the corner. There’s a lovely view of the gardens. I can smell lavender and roses.
“There are enough rooms for each of you to have your own space. They all have an en suite.” The bathroom attached to this bedroom is decorated in white and gray. It’s almost as big as one of the motel bedrooms, as in the whole room, including the bathroom. It’s gorgeous.
“I’ll take this one,” I say.
“Are you sure?” Maddox asks, frowning. “You might prefer one of the others.”
“One of the spare rooms upstairs has an en suite with both a bath and a shower,” Stephan says. “It has a balcony overlooking the gardens. It’s really beautiful. In fact, both bedrooms upstairs are nicer than this one.”
I shake my head and shrug. “Thanks, but I don’t need anything fancy.” In my opinion, this is seriously fancy. “I’ll let you two fight over who gets the bigger bedroom.” I smile at my brother and Barrett.
“I hope you’re not a light sleeper?” Stephan asks me.
I shake my head, frowning. “No. Why is that?”
He smiles and, holy hotness, but I take note. “Good, because I often work late or start really early. I work all hours. I’m busy with a huge project right now. I wouldn’t want to disturb you.” He looks concerned. His eyes are so warm. His lashes are long and black. Stephan is hot.
“Take the room upstairs, sis. I’ll take this one,” Maddox insists. There’s a hardness to his voice I don’t like.
“I’m fine here.” I’m not sure why he’s going on about this. I get the feeling he wants me upstairs. Why? “Out of the two of us, you’re the light sleeper,” I tell my brother.
“My sister might sleep like the dead, but there’s an unfortunate side-effect in that she snores.” Maddox chokes out a laugh. He’s trying to dial back on the weird tension that’s creeping in.
“I do not,” I throw back because I don’t snore.
“Do too.” He chuckles. “She might disturb your work. She’s that bad.”
I gasp. “You talk such shit.”
“I’m deadly serious.” He laughs some more.
“Whatever,” I mutter, walking out of the bedroom. Maddox is acting strangely. I’m not sure why. We head up a huge spiral staircase. The whole thing is made out of floating oak steps and stainless steel. This place is like something out of a magazine.
There are big double doors as we reach the top of the stairs. Stephan opens them and gestures for us to enter. “This is the bedroom I had in mind for you,” he says to me as I walk past him. I note that he moves back to make plenty of space for me. He’s been very good about not accidentally getting into my space. I like how thoughtful he is, which makes me feel even guiltier about what happened earlier.
The room is lovely. Like the rest of the house, the floors are gleaming gray wood. There are various textures throughout. The main colors are gray and white, with splashes of yellow. The headboard is solid oak. There are a desk and a chair, with a sofa in the corner. There’s a whole lounge suite on the spacious balcony.
“You might want to change your mind and take this one?” Maddox urges me.
“I promise you, I’m fine downstairs.” I want him to drop it already.
Stephan goes ahead. “Um...” He seems shy all of a sudden. “The next room is…an indulgence of mine.” He switches on a light.
We walk through the open door. “You’re freaking kidding me.” Barrett shakes his head. “Wow!”
“Fuck me!” My brother chuckles. “You have your own cinema. I’m impressed!”
“Now, this is amazing,” I say. “There’s even a popcorn machine…and a slushy machine!” I’m gaping again.
There are several rows of comfortable chairs at descending levels, with a huge screen taking up the whole wall at the front of the room. There are no windows that I can see. “It’s a bit of an overkill.” Stephan is blushing again. He’s cute when he blushes, and sexy…very sexy. “But…I love it.” He gives a boyish smile. It’s lopsided and does this thing to my insides. “I have a whole array of movies if you feel like chilling up here.”