Page 7 of Indescribable Love
Behind her, Simon closed the door and came to stand beside her. “I had to rent the piano, but I probably would have been okay without it. This was supposed to be more vacation than work, but I needed to write more than I needed to rest, so…”
Nodding, Juliette looked around a bit more. “Okay, so this is the lower level?”
“It is. There’s also a bedroom down that hallway, plus a laundry room and a full bathroom.” He grabbed her suitcase and carry-on and walked toward the hall. “And an elevator.”
She grabbed the rest of her things and followed him. It looked like a barn door, but when he slid it open, there was indeed an elevator behind it. “I’m not going to lie; I’m a little relieved because the thought of lugging all this up the stairs…”
“I never would have brought us in this way if there wasn’t an elevator. We could’ve just as easily gone through the front door, but with where you were parked, the lower-level door was closer.”
They stepped onto the elevator, and Simon closed the door and pushed the button.
“I spoke to your assistant, Nikki. Is she here?”
“She’s currently at the aquarium with her partner and their son,” he explained. “They’re staying in the guest house.” He paused and laughed softly. “I know they could have stayed here too—the house is certainly large enough—but Nikki wanted their family to have their own space and privacy.” He shrugged. “I still think they could have had that here in the house, but their son, Alex, is five and a little rambunctious. I’m not sure if they were trying to protect me or him.”
That made her laugh. “My nephew is six and the last time I stayed with my sister and her husband, I fantasized about going to a hotel. I adore Brandon, but he has way too much energy sometimes.”
“That’s what kids are supposed to be like, right?” The doors slid open and Simon stepped back to let her out first. “Why don’t you walk around up here and let me know which room you prefer? Like I said outside, there are four, and…”
Juliette walked down the hall to the back bedroom and smiled. “This is the room you were talking about, isn’t it?” she asked over her shoulder.
“It is.” He walked into the room with her luggage rolling behind him. “I almost consider this like a second master bedroom. I want you to be comfortable, and this room really has everything you could want in a home away from home.”
She laughed again. “This room is almost as big as my apartment back in New York, so, um…yeah. This is definitely everything I could want.”
For a moment, Simon didn’t say anything, but he was watching her with a smile.
Actually, he watched her for so long that she started to squirm.
“What?” she said with a little too much snap. “I mean…why are you watching me like that?”
He shrugged. “It was nice to see you start to relax with me. And smile. I was afraid you were going to frown the entire time.”
Now she did frown. “Entire time? I’ve been here for all of seven minutes.” But she felt her lips start to twitch. “Sorry. I’m just a little…”
Simon held up a hand to stop her. “You’re whoever you are,” he said. “And that’s totally fine. I didn’t expect you to show up here and be completely comfortable with me. We just met. I do pride myself on putting people at ease, and some take a little longer than others. So…take your time, Juliette.”
“Um…I actually go by Jules…”
He grinned. “I know.” Then he turned and walked out of the room. “I’m heading downstairs to make lunch. Feel free to join me after you unpack.”
“Um…okay. Thanks!” But he was already gone. With a soft sigh, Juliette turned and looked around the room. It really was almost as big as her apartment, but way more soothing. This was all soft grays and lavender, crisp white trim, plush carpeting, an enormous window, and a bathroom that rivaled a luxury spa. “This definitely isn’t going to be a hardship.”
That was her first thought. The second? She could unpack later.
Placing her purse on the bed, she left the room and decided to check out the others up here. It didn’t take long to realize Simon was right about which one was the best. The other three were perfectly fine, but they each only had queen-size beds, two of them shared a bathroom, and none of them had the view hers did.
“Okay, so he doesn’t lie and he genuinely wants me to be comfortable,” she murmured as she walked back to her room. And as great as that was, it was still wildly unfamiliar to her. All of her previous clients had an agenda and either dark secrets or bizarre habits, and most of them she didn’t catch onto right away. So, as nice as Simon was, she just had to keep her guard up so there wouldn’t be any unwelcome surprises.
In the past, she’d dealt with clients’ infidelities, drug addictions, sex addictions, nasty hygiene habits, eating disorders, and, in one particular case, physical abuse. Simon Bennett might be the poster boy for good behavior and being a friend to everyone, but that usually meant there was something big he was trying to hide.
The next few weeks were going to be spent getting to know each other and working on a plan moving forward for him and the documentary crew. The more Juliette had read in the file Vanessa emailed her, the more she felt like this was a glorified babysitting gig. Still, beggars couldn’t be choosers, so…here she was.
Before going downstairs to join him, she took a moment to freshen up. The drive from the airport had been long, and then the drive up the mountain had terrified her to the point that she’d cried. So maybe taking a few extra minutes to simply breathe and relax wasn’t the worst thing she could do. And fifteen minutes later, she felt brave enough to head downstairs.
She found Simon in the main kitchen, but she stood back and observed for a minute. The man was attractive. That was a given. He had that rumpled look about him right now—sandy brown hair with gorgeous and undoubtedly natural highlights all askew, a scruffy jaw, and it didn’t seem possible for a plain pair of blue jeans and a white t-shirt to look so good, but they did. He was tall and lean and if she went for nice guys—or clients—she’d be in serious trouble. Fortunately for her, she seemed to only gravitate toward guys waving huge red flags.
And she’d never get involved with a client.