Chapter 9 #2
She continued to read while he pointed out things in the papers that now belonged to her.
Like the house was furnished. Her own condo wasn’t furnished, and it looked it.
There was barely any furniture in the place, and she’d lived there for five years.
When she finished reading the contract over, she looked at Mr. Gloom.
There was something about him, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
He was odd, but he seemed to be genuinely nice.
“I’d like to see the house. Can that be arranged?” He told her that it belonged to her and she could sell it if she wanted. “I’m going to end up doing that, I think. I can’t afford a house that big.” He seemed relieved, and she again was struck by how odd he was.
“You can see the house tonight. The electricity is still on for it.” She wondered who was paying that bill and decided that she didn’t care right now.
She just wanted to see the house and be reminded of her father.
“There are others like me around the house, too. They’ll be able to show you around. ”
“Others like you?” He seemed to have forgotten himself for a few seconds and told her never mind. “I hope no one is living in my house. I’d hate to have to have them removed when I’ve only just found out that I own a home. I’ve dreamed of owning a big house like this one sounds all my life.”
“You’ll have such fun in it too.” She said that she would have, but it just wasn’t in the cards. “The cards?”
“You know. Fate. It wasn’t fated that I own—what’s the matter with you?
” He asked if she believed in fate. “I guess I do. I never gave it much thought before, but I do know that fate has a little to do with how things end up in the world. My parents were fated to be together, but I’m happy they were, or I might not be here. That was fate to me.”
“You’d be surprised at how much fate does play in your life.
” He giggled again, and she had to smile.
It was like bells ringing. She had no idea where that thought had come from, but that’s what she thought each time he laughed.
Pulling up in front of the house, she wondered why she trusted the man so much.
He was nearly a stranger, and she was trusting him to take her to a giant house without anyone knowing where she was.
As soon as she entered the house, she fell in love with it. “You like the house?”
“Oh, I love it so far.” She opened the front door and fell deeply in love with the house. It was what she’d dreamed of all her life. Her living in a mansion like this one and being loved by someone powerful and wonderful to her. It was too bad that she was going to have to sell it.
~*~
“What is it that you’re looking for in a house, and maybe we can figure it out?” He said he wanted a pool. “You can always put in a pool. Though I’ve never seen you swimming in one, I believe that putting one in after you buy the house would be all right.”
“I want to see the pool in the yard. I’m having trouble visualizing it.
I know that I can have one put in, but I don’t want to have to mess with one after buying the house.
” So Rance wrote down pool. “That’s a must-have.
I have no idea why, but I have a feeling that my mate is going to love the outdoors and will want a pool to lounge in at the end of the day. ”
“So you’ve been thinking about having a mate. I’m hoping that you’re better prepared for one than I was. I was a bastard.” He said he’d heard. “I figured everyone has by now. I don’t mind telling you that I’m lucky that Kimber wanted anything to do with me after the way that I treated her.”
“I don’t even care if my mate is a vampire too.
Though that would be nice. However, I don’t care so long as she allows me to make her happy.
And I want that more than anything.” He told him that having a mate was the best thing that had ever happened to him.
“I want that too. I want to wake up with her by my side and go to bed with her each night.”
“You sound like you’ve given this a great deal of thought.
” He said that he had and that he was looking forward to this more than anything.
“But first you want to get a house. I understand, too, that there’s a difference between having a house and having a home.
She’ll brighten things up that you never thought possible.
And you’ll have the best sex of your life as well. ” They both laughed.
There wasn’t much listed that had a pool, but they made arrangements to go see some that didn’t have one as well.
With him there, he was hoping that he could find a house with him and have the pool added in later.
Or maybe not. Rutger seemed determined that a pool be in the yard when he bought it.
It might be harder to find, but he was willing to bet that the house would be epic.
He didn’t seem to mind what the house looked like; he said that he could change the inside to be what he wanted.
Which he thought was good thinking on his part.
But it was going to be the pool that kept him from finding his dream home.
There were four homes that they could look at today, and he set him up with those. He didn’t know why he wanted him to go with him, but he didn’t mind. He loved Rutger like a brother and would move the ends of the earth for him. They got along better than any of the others, too.
The first house with a pool seemed to not call out to Rutger.
He didn’t much care for it either, as it was a fix-it-up sort of home.
The kitchen was all right; it would still need some work, but it was the rest of the house that was ugly.
He’d never said that about a house before and thought that the word suited it just fine.
There was shag carpet throughout the house, even in the dining room.
He didn’t know why, perhaps because his own house didn’t have any in the dining room, but he thought that was the last place you’d want carpet.
Even half the kitchen seemed to have the stuff through the main part to the little dining area.
It would need to have a deep cleaning, as there were more cobwebs in the house than Rutger told him about the ones that he had in his own home.
The second house was nice. It didn’t have a pool, and neither one of them thought that the back yard could handle one.
There was so much in the way of landscaping that there was little to no room to even walk around in the yard.
He loved the living room in that it was large enough to have guests over and they’d not be crowded.
But there was the pool thing, and Rutger wasn’t budging on it.
After leaving the house, they made their way to the third house.
They weren’t holding out much hope; the pool had been brought up again, but they were going to see everyone so that they could see if there was room for one.
If their luck was going to continue on like it was, then they were going to be looking at houses for a long, long time.
He wondered if they’d be looking at every for-sale house in the county before too much longer.
It wouldn’t bother him; he’d get to hang out with his best buddy, but Kimber might be jealous after a while.
“If this one is a bust, how about we find ourselves a nice bar and have a glass of wine? I could use something to end the day on.” He said that he’d love that.
“Good. My treat since you were so nice to come along with me today. How’s your next week looking?
I’m to understand that people are set to sell their homes on Monday because they’ve spent the entire weekend looking at their four walls and are sick of the house. ”
“I never heard that before, but it makes sense. I had to take an entire week to build my house before I felt as if I got it just right. I love having Kimber there. She fills out the rooms with her brightness.” He asked him if he was sappy.
“You’ll understand once she comes to you.
They’re like a bright shining star in the darkest of nights, just shining through, just for you.
I’m telling you, I have no idea why I was so against having a human as a mate.
She’s the best thing that has ever happened to me. ”
“I can tell. She must not need to cling to you all the time. When I told her that we were going out, all she said was to have fun. How can one have fun when looking for a house? It’s not fun at all.
” Rance said he thought he was having a wonderful time.
“You’re nuts. No one likes to go house hunting.
It’s some kind of national rule that people hate shopping for a house.
Not to mention you didn’t even house hunt.
You built your house with magic, so don’t tell me that you love house hunting. You built so you’d not have to hunt.”
“You could be right. I never thought of it that way before.” They were getting out of the car for house number three when it struck him how much fun he really was having.
Rance didn’t know if it was simply because he was doing it with his friend or if he was having a good time.
Either way, he’d do it again and again with Rutger.
Perhaps not every day, but at least a couple of times a week.
“Maybe it’s all on you. You could maybe just be what people need to go house hunting with them. ”
“Nah, I’m not having a good time.” Nodding, he really didn’t agree with him.
Pulling into the driveway, he could see that this house was going to be a bust too, as not only was there no pool, but the yard looked like a used car dealership with broken-down cars all over it.
They’d not even trimmed the weeds out of the engine blocks of the cars before showing their house. Still? Rance thought it was funny.