Authors: Jennifer Bryan Yarbrough
He thinks that I'm the enigma? Oh, he would be wrong
about that. I'm pretty much an open book, but Cash on the
other hand? There are definitely different layers to Mr.
Cash Kingston and suddenly I'm not as scared to explore
those layers, like I was just a week ago. Time. It's amazing
how time changes things.
That's exactly what I was thinking about when I walked
into the kitchen to the aroma that was awaiting me. Cash
pointed at the bar for me to sit down. There was coffee and
orange juice, bacon, toast, and oatmeal. All of it smelled
and looked delicious.
"Is the bar fine with you? I figured since it’s just the two of
us, there was no need to eat at the table. Unless you want
to."
"No, the bar is fine. Did you actually cook all of this?"
He nodded and looked at me, shocked that I couldn't believe he could cook.
"Just because I CHOOSE to not cook, doesn't mean that I
don't know how, Liv."
He pulled out a couple of plates and bowls and even made
my plate for me and fixed my coffee exactly the way I like
it. I'm wondering how he knows what I like in my coffee and he must have watched Carmen make it, because after
that first morning, I was never allowed behind the bar in her
kitchen ever again.
"What kind of trouble are you going to get into for messing
around in Carmen's kitchen?" I must have caught him off
guard, because he spit out his orange juice.
"I won't get into any trouble if YOU keep your mouth
shut! What happens on the weekends stays on the
weekends! I'll have it all spic and span before she comes
back tomorrow and she'll be none the wiser. Okay?" This
had me laughing my head off.
"You're not scared of Carmen now, are ya Cash?"
"You're damn right I'm scared! She thinks I just mope
around all weekend and order take out! Seriously! Don't
breathe a word of this!" Oh, I've got him now.
"Ok, your little secret is safe with me. I'll try my best to not
brag about this breakfast you cooked for me. This is very
delicious, by the way. I'm very impressed."
I look at him and he still seems nervous that I'm going to
say something, which reminds me of the look that Gideon gave me when we were negotiating his punishment the day
I met him. I reached over and reassured him that I wouldn't
say anything and only then did he smile. I'm very
impressed at the wrath of Carmen. I'll have to find out
what her secret is.
I guess since I'm feeling better I should probably head
home and spend some time with Claudia." Cash suddenly
got a panicked look on his face.
"Why? I already told her you wouldn't be going home this
weekend because you got sick."
"But I feel better now, thanks to your doctoring last night
and I'm sure you have things you were planning on doing
this weekend." He shakes his head at this.
"Nope. Didn't have anything planned. Why waste a drive,
when you'll just have to turn around tomorrow and come
back." He's absolutely serious.
"So you WANT me to stay?" I kind of get that panicked
look on my face.
"Not for what you just thought of no, but I'm not going to deny that I like having you around. Aren't you having fun
this morning?"
I have to admit that I am indeed having fun and liking this
side of Cash that I haven't seen, except for with the kids.
"Actually, I am. But what are we going to do all day and
night, Cash? I'm talking PG rating, when I'm asking this
question." He drops his head and starts shaking it. "What?
What's with the head shake?"
"No PG-13? Really? PG? Come on. Loosen up just a little bit. I've been a good boy, haven't I?" I realize he's
teasing me.
"So, what did you have in mind?" I'm seriously wondering
what he has up his sleeve at the moment.
"We could go bowling or swimming, or watch some movies.
That's just a few ideas off the top of my head."
"I really don't feel like being around people, though. What if
I'm still contagious?"
"Oh, we won't have to leave the house for any of that. Have
you not seen this whole place yet? What it all has to
offer?"
Well, now that I think of it, no I haven't. So I shake my
head.
"Well, then the first thing we are going to do is take a
tour of my castle. Man! This will knock out the rest of the
day. Hurry up and eat. so that I can clean the kitchen!"
His gruff tone had me laughing at him. Yes. I liked this
side of him. He is so fun and playful and I have no idea why,
but I'm curious how this tour is going to go and wonder if
I'm going to see anything that surprises me.
******************
I was completely amazed at just how big the castle was. In
just the two weeks I've worked here, I thought that I had
seen a lot of the castle, but I was so wrong. I had
only seen maybe a fourth of it.
Cash said we needed to start at the top and work our way
down, to absorb the massive size of the castle.
He led me to an elevator I was never made aware of
that led us all the way to the top, which happened to be the 5th floor.
"I never imagined there were five floors to this place.
Granted, it's massive from outside, but I guess I hadn't really
thought about it, because I never go further than the 3rd
floor where our bedrooms are."
"There are seven floors actually. The elevator goes two
floors further down than the main living area." Oh my
word. 7?
"7? Don't tell me you really have a dungeon!" He
laughed at how childish I must have sounded.
"I haven't been down there in years, but yes, there is a
dungeon and I'm not talking about the one I was teasing
you about last week. That was actually the hallway that
leads to my own personal gym."
He winks at me and grins, which has me remembering the
hallway. How could I forget that kiss? And him
suggesting what we should do that weekend. I shook the
feeling off, as the elevator opened up into the biggest bedroom I've ever seen.
"This is what the owner before me called the master suite.
Pretty massive, huh?"
I'll say. Massive doesn't even come close to describing it.
There are antique rugs the size of the downstairs living
room all over the place. A king sized bed that literally
looked like it was made for a king and was the size of two
king sized beds put together.
On each side of the bed were walk in closets that made a
three car garage look small, and there is a swimming pool in
the middle of the room that Cash said was actually a
bathtub.
On the east side of the room was a kitchen that blew the
one downstairs to shame and a living room with tons of
massive comfortable couches on the west side of the room,
with the biggest flat screen TV
I've ever seen above a huge fireplace, with what looks like an actual bear skin on the floor.
"Was this yours and Vanessa's room?" Why I wanted to
know I have no idea, but I did. He started laughing.
"God no! I tried to talk her into it, but she wouldn't go for
it. She said I should have been ashamed of myself for
buying this place in the first place and wasn't about to sleep so far away from everyone else and be treated like royalty.
We did come up here a couple of times just to pretend that we were. We even took advantage of the bathtub, but after
waiting 4 hours to fill the tub up, I had to admit it was pretty
ridiculous."
I must still have my chin dropped, because he touched my chin and pushed it back up and started laughing, which had
me laughing. He grabbed my hand and led me back to the
elevator.
"So, what do you think so far?"
"I think you should start charging admission, is what I think.
Do you realize you could turn that whole massive room
into 4 or 5 decent sized apartments?" He shrugged his shoulders, as if I wasn't the first to bring that up.
"Yeah, but then I'd have people traipsing all over downstairs
and that's kind of funny, because Vanessa told me I should
have done the same thing. I think you two would have
gotten along pretty well, because you tend to say the same things that remind me of her."
He has a confused, but somber look on his face, which has
me wondering what he's thinking about.
"Cash, what are you thinking about at this very moment?"
Even though we were several feet apart on the elevator, all
of a sudden it felt as if we were inches apart by the look he
just gave me.
"Do you really want to know?"
That mischievous grin of his that I imagine got him out of
trouble when he was a kid, like it does Gideon now. He is
still grinning at me, as he's closing the distance between us.
"Well, now I'm not so sure." I chuckle to hide my
immediate fear and start backing away from him, as he's
moving towards me and I hit the wall of the elevator. I
have nowhere else to go, because he's right there and he
puts a hand on each side of my face against the wall.
"I was wondering what your reaction will be when we
reach the dungeon. Just curious is all." The door opens,
and he moves away from me and walks thru the door with
his hand extended out to me.
"Olivia? Are you coming? This would be the 4th floor and
it’s one of my favorites." I reach for his hand and I'm
already scared about going to the dungeon.
I look around and see all kinds of gym equipment and the
quantity reminds me of a gym. The kind where you would pay
a monthly fee to join. There are at least a dozen treadmills,
weight benches, stationary bikes of different kinds. and stair
steppers, and each one has a TV monitor so you could
watch TV while working out. There is even a boxing ring
in the corner of the room and sandbags that I imagine Cash
has put to a lot of good use.
To the side there is a sign above the door that says it’s the
tanning room and another door that says sauna and steam
room, and a shower room. If this was his favorite floor, then
that would explain the perfect physique of his body that I
try not to notice every day.
"This is your favorite floor? I've been in gyms that are
smaller than this. Do you realize that if you ever decided to
retire, you could just sell gym memberships and rent rooms
out to the public?" He laughs at my idea.
"Nah. I like my privacy and I like the sauna room for
when I get through working out. Sometimes I'll workout in
here instead of by my suite, when I'm in a bad mood,
because there are more ways to wear you out than what I
have. You're more than welcome to use the place if you
want. As a matter of fact, you ought to invite Claudia over
for a weekend and you two can have the whole upstairs to
yourself some time."
That actually sounded like a good idea and she would
probably love the change of scenery. I could already picture
her jumping up and down on the massive bed like a little
kid.
"Thank you, Cash. I will probably mention it to her. It
would be like a vacation to her and I know she'll appreciate
the offer."
He just grinned and headed back towards the elevator. "So, are you bored yet?"
"I think I'm more amazed than anything, but I think I've
seen the rest of the house, seeing as how we all sleep on the
third floor."
"But you haven't seen the 2nd floor, which is where I sleep."
There's that mischievous grin again. He leans forward and
pushes the number two. I guess we are going to his floor.
Great! I smile back, trying to act excited.
The door opens and I follow him out and he leads me down
an unlit hallway. This has me wondering if it’s the same
one that he scared me in and then kissed me, and sure
enough, I see all of his gym equipment. There are so many
different exercise machines, I'm surprised he even uses the one upstairs.