I get out of the car and shove my hands in the pockets of my black down coat. The faint sound of a dog barking catches my attention. There it is, by the front window. A little white shih tzu with its front paws on the windowsill, barking like it means business. Must be his girlfriend’s dog. I imagine Wyatt would have a big tough-looking dog like my brother Adam’s bulldog.
Garrett reaches the blue front door first, and we all gather behind him. I spot Wyatt scooping up the dog before walking toward the door.
I slip to the back of the group, standing behind tall Jenna.
“Hiding?” she asks.
I don’t respond. I don’t know why I want a buffer. I don’t know why my pulse is racing and my mouth is dry. I must be coming down with something.
6
“Welcome to Casa Winters,” Wyatt says when he answers the door.
I follow behind as everyone greets him warmly. I’m going to do the same, blend with the crowd. Just a warm hello. Or hi. Keep it simple.
But the moment we come face-to-face, his mouth curves up into a small smirk, his whisky eyes sparkling, and not one thing comes out of my mouth. Worse, my stomach flutters, actually flutters. It must be because those eyes feature in all my sexy dreams.
Damn you, Satan man!
He sets the little dog down, who immediately starts sniffing my boots. “Cindy, you made it. I didn’t know if you ever left The Horseman Inn.”
He’s deliberately goading me with the Cindy, and I refuse to rise to the bait. “Yes, I do have a life.”
“She’s due back in an hour,” Harper puts in helpfully.
“Thank you for the reminder, Harp,” I say, my gaze locked on Wyatt in some kind of staring contest.
Wyatt blinks first. “Well then, let’s get on with the tour.” He gestures for us to follow, and then looks down at the dog. “Snowball, come.”
Snowball? The dog obediently trots after Wyatt as he walks over to Garrett.
It has to be a shared couple dog. I can’t imagine Wyatt would get a white shih tzu and name it something cutesy like Snowball. He’s Satan. Not a snowball’s chance in hell. I laugh to myself at my little joke.
I follow the group as Wyatt gestures around the living room just off the foyer. It’s a large empty space with cream-colored walls and an ornate fireplace with a white carved wood mantel and surround. “We took out the dividing wall from what used to be a parlor and living room, so it’s one large living room now. Under the tarps is original wide plank oak flooring. I plan to restore it.”
Garrett goes over to inspect the fireplace.
The windows are tall and start low to the ground, letting in lots of light. I look around. I can see the potential as a modernized space. Everything’s light and bright. There’s no creepy haunted feeling either. I guess when you don’t know what’s up with a place, it’s easy to make up a story. It wasn’t just us kids who thought an eccentric old man used to live up here in a haunted house. Everyone talked about it like that in town.
“I’m going to put some cool chandeliers in here,” Wyatt says from across the space.
“You need three,” Garrett says. “Unless you add in additional lighting.”
We continue on to a large modern kitchen with white cabinets, sleek light gray granite on the counters and the large center island, and stainless steel appliances. Across from the island is a large light wood kitchen table with matching wooden chairs with seat cushions. It’s all surprisingly homey and not at all what I expected he’d have. How does Satan decorate hell? Ha-ha. Considering how old the house is, I thought it’d be drafty too. Even my feet are toasty warm.
“Did you put in heated floors?” I ask.
“Yup. Kitchen and bathroom,” Wyatt replies. “Not hard to add when you’re putting in new flooring.”
I stare at him, and then realize I’m staring and belatedly nod. It’s just that he seems so different standing in this beautiful space. Relaxed and at home. Well, duh, Syd! He is at home.
“Right through here,” he says, gesturing for us to follow him through an archway.
This next room has only a brown leather sofa. Another fireplace, less ornate than the first, and a hardwood floor with a few scratches. A pillow and blanket are folded neatly on one end of the sofa. Is this where he sleeps? Where does his girlfriend sleep? There’s no way they both fit on that sofa. Wyatt’s as big as my brothers, more than six feet and broad shouldered. His long-sleeved black cotton shirt seems to emphasize those wide shoulders and the curve of bicep. The black really brings out those whiskey eyes.
“I call this my sofa room, but it’ll eventually be the dining room,” he says.
Stop staring! He has a girlfriend. Not that it matters because, even if he was single and not irritating long enough for something to happen, I’m never crossing the line with someone I hope to have a professional relationship with.
“Next is the future library,” he says, leading the way to the next room.
Audrey gets excited and dashes ahead to see. Our little bookworm.
I follow them. It’s just an empty room, but it has a bay window deep enough to sit in and a fireplace. I could imagine curling up in a comfy chair to read on a rainy day.
“What’s your plan?” Audrey asks Wyatt eagerly. She’ll probably want to arrange all his books for him, and then stay to read as many as possible.
Wyatt gestures to the wall across the room. “Built-in bookcases with cabinets on the bottom for storage here.” He gestures to the adjacent wall. “And here.” His eyes meet mine suddenly, giving me a jolt.
He raises his brows, looking at me expectantly.
“Sorry, what?” I say when it seems I must’ve missed something.
One corner of his mouth quirks up. “I said the library is part of what Adam will be working on.” That’s my brother, the master carpenter.
My mouth is so dry. I lick my lips. “Cool. I’m sure you’ll be happy with his work.”
“That’s why I hired him.”
I rub the side of my neck, looking away. It’s the nicest thing he’s ever said to me, complimenting my brother.
“This is so wonderful,” Audrey says in a breathy voice. “A real library at home.”
“The bay window will be a reading nook.” Wyatt gestures toward it. “Shelves all the way to the ceiling, and a ladder on wheels to reach the high stuff.”
Audrey claps, beaming and looking around. She especially would appreciate a rolling ladder since she’s short at five feet one. “I can’t wait to see it!”
Wyatt gives her a genuine nonsmirky smile, and my breath catches. That kind of smile lights up his face. “You’re all welcome back for the grand reveal, which will hopefully be in March. So, back to my humble living space. Upstairs has nothing going on yet. There’s one finished bathroom and, once we can get the permit cleared, I’m having a master bathroom and powder room installed. Can you believe this huge house only has one bathroom? Obviously the old guy didn’t have daughters.”
He says that like he knows all about women hogging the bathroom. Guess he’s probably had a lot of experience with women. I bet they were all beautiful models like his girlfriend. Whatever. My younger brother Caleb is a model. No big deal.