Chapter 13
“Ican feel you glaring,” the incredibly handsome man who was screwing with her emotions drawled, not bothering to look up from whatever he was working on.
“I only put that muffin down for ten seconds so that I could grab a napkin, you greedy son of a bitch!” Kristen bit out, intensifying her glare, uncaring that she was pulling out the big guns prematurely. Not when the bastard devoured the muffin that she’d spent ten minutes waiting in line for.
After another long night and a questionable amount of caffeine, she came back only to find Garrett waiting for her so that they could make a run into town to grab breakfast. When she’d tried to decline, mostly because she wasn’t sure that she would be able to resist the overwhelming urge to shove him in front of oncoming traffic, he took the decision out of her hand and cashed in one of the hours that she owed him.
Knowing that she didn’t have a choice, she grudgingly went with him only to have the large bastard steal her muffin. She knew the risks when she decided to put it down, but she’d somehow convinced herself that she’d have the muffin back in her hand before he noticed the move.
She’d been wrong.
The muffin barely had a chance to touch her plate when the large bastard, who’d devoured two apple fritters, a half-dozen donuts, and three coffee rolls, somehow managed to devour it before she knew what was happening.
She forgot just how quick the bastard was when it came to stealing her food, but more importantly, she forgot to order a backup muffin just in case.
“You knew better,” Garrett murmured absently, making another note while she sat there, slowly nodding as she narrowed her eyes on the bastard, swearing then and there that one day, she would make the bastard pay for all the times he stole her food.
After thirty more seconds of glaring, mostly because she wanted to ensure the bastard lived in fear, Kristen grumbled to herself as she shifted her attention back to her computer, and after one last glance in his direction to make sure that he wasn’t watching her, she reached for her bag.
With a bored sigh, Kristen casually dropped the bag next to her on the couch before she focused her attention back on her laptop.
After a few minutes and a quick glance to her right, she threw her left arm over the back of the couch and shifted to get comfortable while she scrolled through the chapter she’d just finished, looking for any mistakes.
While she scrolled, she slowly reached down and, after another glance in Garrett’s direction, she unzipped the bag and slid her hand inside.
A few seconds later, she found what she was looking for.
Making sure to appear innocent, her gaze once again flickered to her right as she reached inside the Ziplock bag filled with the homemade chocolate chip cookies that she’d made last night and helped herself to one.
After one last glance towards the man lost in whatever it was that he was doing, Kristen quickly pulled her hand free and took a bite before dropping her hand out of sight.
Every few minutes, her gaze would flicker to her right to make sure that Garrett was still distracted before she took another bite.
It reminded her of all those times when she was forced to hide her snacks to keep them safe.
In all those years, he never figured it out, Kristen thought, unable to help but smile as she finished off her cookie and reached into her bag for another one and-
Found herself frowning in confusion when she couldn’t find the cookies.
Wondering if the bag settled on the bottom, Kristen frantically searched her bag only to go still when she heard it, the unmistakable sound of a satisfied sigh.
Telling herself that she was hearing things, Kristen froze mid-search to look to her right only to find the large bastard devouring her cookies.
She looked from the man, who was really going out of his way to piss her off today, back to her bag and found herself wondering how he’d managed to steal her cookies without her knowing. She-
“Six hours,” he said, making her frown in confusion.
“You cashed in an hour this morning so we’re down to four,” Kristen pointed out.
“Think of it as a snack fine,” Garrett said, keeping his gaze locked on her as he popped another cookie in his mouth.
“We didn’t discuss that,” Kristen said, never taking her eyes off the large bastard as she pulled her hand back just far enough so that she could slide it inside the interior pocket, grabbed the candy bar that she had hidden there and pulled it free, watching the way that his eyes narrowed on the move.
“We’re discussing it now,” Garrett bit out, a muscle in his jaw clenching as he shoved another cookie in his mouth, his gaze never leaving the candy bar in her hand as she took her time opening it.
She-
“Looks like my ten o’clock is here,” he drawled, finishing off the cookie while she was forced to bite back a sigh as she closed her laptop and placed it under her arm.
“I have to take the dog for a walk anyway,” Kristen said, taking a bite of her candy bar as she stood up and gestured for the dog in question to join her only to have him roll onto his back with a groan.
Shaking her head in disgust, Kristen muttered, “Traitor,” as she made her way to the double doors while Garrett showed his client inside.
With a politely murmured, “Excuse me,” Kristen stepped out of the way only to sigh when the candy bar was smoothly plucked out of her hand.
With a wink, Garrett took a bite of her candy bar as he closed his office door, leaving her standing in the foyer, grumbling to herself.
For a moment, she stood there, glaring at the door until she realized what she was doing, shook her head in disgust, and moved to head to the door, deciding that she should probably take this opportunity to run a few errands only to find herself hesitating by the front door, wondering if any of the stories he’d told her over the years were true…
There was only one way to find out.
After one last glance at the closed office doors, Kristen decided to find out even as she told herself that he’d lied to her.
There weren’t any hidden rooms, passageways, or secret doors because the asshole, who’d spent the last six years making her life a living hell, was just screwing with her head.
She wouldn’t put it past him, Kristen thought as she stood in the middle of the foyer and slowly turned around, taking in everything from what was left of the ceiling to the exposed boards surrounding her.
When she didn’t find anything that looked promising, she shifted her focus to the staircase, noting the large crack that ran down one handrail and the chunks of wood missing from the other one before she took in the missing balusters, the warped and cracked steps and wondered if the historical designation was the reason why it was taking Garrett so long to renovate the house.
When she first started looking at houses, she’d asked her realtor to look for houses built in the mid-nineteenth century by Garrett’s great-grandfather Noah, mostly because she knew that it would piss him off if he ever found out.
The men in his family were obsessed with getting their hands on the houses that Noah designed and built and after everything her realtor showed her, she could understand why.
Even the houses that had been neglected over the years were incredibly beautiful.
Not that there were many since most families kept them in pristine condition over the years and refused to part with them.
It had taken her realtor a few months before she found this one.
It was the second house that Noah Bradford had officially built, the first house being the one next-door that Garrett’s cousin Reed owned.
As soon as she saw pictures of this house, she fell in love with it, but unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be.
From what her realtor managed to find out, the house needed to be completely gutted, starting with the roof.
The plumbing needed to be ripped out, the electric needed to be replaced, along with the water heater, boiler, and heating system.
The windows needed to be replaced, the horsehair plaster needed to be torn out and everything needed to be torn down to the frame.
Basically, she was told that it was going to be very expensive, made even more so by the fact that the previous owner decided to get a historical designation on the house.
Not that it mattered since she was told the owner wasn’t interested in selling, but thankfully, the house across the street was for sale.
It wasn’t the same, but it was available at a fair price, had everything she wanted in a house and was far, far away from the asshole.
But now, he was living across the street from her, finding new ways to piss her off, and was the key to everything.
One thing was clear, Kristen decided as she made her way into what she suspected was the living room, she needed to figure out why.
She’d never had problems writing before, but for some reason, she couldn’t seem to put two words together unless Garrett was in the room.
It wasn’t exactly a comfortable position to be at the mercy of the man she hated, but for now, she really didn’t have a choice.
She needed to get a book out before her readers decided that they’d had enough and finally moved on, Kristen thought, only to immediately focus back on the task at hand when her stomach began turning at the thought of never being able to write again.
If she was going to hide a secret room, where would she hide it?
Kristen wondered as she took in the exposed frame, the closet that she hid in the other day and when she didn’t find anything promising, she made her way to the door on the other side of the room only to find herself stepping into an incredibly beautiful dining room.
As she made her way across the room, she took in the freshly polished wood floor, the dark wainscotting lining the walls, the medieval style dining room table that she immediately fell in love with and the matching sideboard against the wall, and the cast iron light fixtures tying it all together and knew without a doubt that Garrett designed it.
When they were little, he used to leave sketches tucked away in her notebooks, bringing her favorite scenes to life, but it was the houses that he drew that always blew her away.
He always made sure to bring every little detail to life, from the scuff marks on the door to the cracks in a tile.
She used to write stories about haunted mansions and pirate ships just to see what he came up with.
She always thought he would end up working for his Uncle Jared designing houses, but every time she suggested it, he would shrug it off and change the subject. So, she stopped bringing it up, but now, she couldn’t help but wonder if he’d missed his calling.
Granted, from everything that she’d heard over the years, he’d actually found it as a lawyer.
He was smart, organized, detail-oriented, and determined, Kristen thought, running her fingertips along the dining room table as she made her way to the next door.
She pushed the door open only to suddenly go still before she slowly turned around and found herself swallowing hard as she took in the oversized fireplace.
She took in the cast iron lamps secured on either side of the mantel, the small ovens built on the right side and the large cast iron pot hanging in the middle before her gaze was drawn back to the cast iron lamp on the right.
Telling herself that it was just a coincidence, Kristen made her way across the large dining room.
She ran her eyes over the cast iron lamp, taking in its intricate design, the metal cage wrapped around the glass before she reached up and ran her fingertips over the intricate design before she wrapped her hand around the base, and after releasing a shaky breath, turned the lamp to the right.
A small click followed as she dropped her hand away and watched as a hidden door slowly swung open, revealing a room and realized that she had absolutely no idea what she was supposed to do now.