Page 141 of Stanton Adore

“It looks like a resort, Josh,” I remark.

“That’s the look I have gone for.” He winks at me. He opens a door on the left, “Games room.” A massive pool table and bar complete with twelve barstools are in here, complete with three big-screen televisions. My eyes flick back to him as I remember our night of moviemaking and he smiles, knowing exactly what I am thinking of. We continue walking down the hall and he opens a door on the right. “Part…pool room,” he murmurs. Why did he just correct his speech? He was going to say party room, but he corrected himself. He quickly closes the door as if he doesn’t want me looking in. Hmm, mental note, I need to investigate this room tomorrow and find out why he’s uncomfortable with me in it. We continue down the hall and we get to a huge glass wall. “Gym.” He smiles. Ah, he’s proud of this room, and I mirror his smile. There is a huge flat-screen on the wall and every damn machine I have ever seen. I just know I am going to end up hating this torture chamber. Now I won’t even have an excuse not to get to the gym, how annoying. We continue down the hall and it occurs to me to wonder why he wants to leave this house when he is so obviously attached to it.

“Josh, why do you want to move?” I ask.

He stops dead in his tracks. “I want you to be happy, Tash, and I want you to pick the house you want to live in.”

I smile and pull him close for a cuddle and I kiss him on the lips. “Josh, I just want to live with you…in your house, and if that’s a humpy in the damn desert then I will be happy. I don’t need a new house, Josh. This house is amazing. What is it about this house that makes you think that I won’t want to live here?”

He frowns as he considers my question. “It’s not that you won’t want to live here, Tash…it’s me. I have been single a very long time and…” he’s trying to articulate his thoughts, “…everybody in LA knows this house as a party house. I would like to live in something that…I don’t know. You and I are the only ones that see…certain parts of the house.”

I give him a sad smile. “You want to move so I’m the only one that has seen your bedroom.” He bites his lip, and his eyes drop to the floor. I hit the nail on the head; he has too many memories here. Memories of other women. I pull him into an embrace.

“Josh, I’m not afraid of your past. It can’t hurt me unless you let it. I want to stay in this house for a while. At least until…I don’t know…down the track when Cam moves out and then if we find an amazing house we can move then. I have enough to worry about moving here than making you sell your beloved house.”

He smiles and nods. “I wasn’t going to sell it. I was going to give it to Cam.”

My mouth drops open. “You are going to give a house worth…what?”

“Twenty mil,” he cuts in.

My eyes bulge from their sockets. “Twenty million. This house is worth twenty frigging million dollars?” He nods and smiles. “And you are going to give it to Cam?”

He shrugs his shoulders. “Yeah, why not, unless you want to keep it for guests and stuff.” This man has lost touch with reality. I shake my head as he continues pulling me up the hall to the end door and he opens it. “Garage.” He smirks. My mouth drops open, holy fuck. This room is like a parking lot of a dealership. A massive hall with two rows of sports cars that are all black or white. I frown at him.

“I collect cars.” He smiles.

“No shit, Sherlock,” I whisper, wide eyed. He pulls me down the huge walkway through the center of the cars and my jaw is on the ground. OK, I am getting the feel of his money now. This is extravagance…extreme extravagance.

“Aston Martin.” He points. “Corvette.” He points again. “Lamborghini.” He smiles.

I stop dead in my tracks. “You have a Lamborghini?” I smirk.

His eyes light up as he nods. “Yes.” He smiles. And sure enough, a beautiful black Lamborghini comes into view.

I laugh. “And here I was thinking you were my Lamborghini,” I whisper.

He smiles again and kisses me as he places something in my hand. I frown and look down and there in my hand is a silver engraved key ring with a single key on it. I hold the key ring up to inspect the inscription:

Always, Joshua X

Huh? What is that supposed to mean? I turn the key ring over and the initials:

N M S

What do the initials stand for?

He kisses me. “Welcome home, baby. This is your housewarming present.”

He can’t be serious. “Joshua, you’re giving me a Lamborghini as a housewarming present?”

He smiles and nods. “Not just any Lamborghini, this is my most prized possession apart from Jasper.”

I frown again. “Who’s Jasper?”

“My horse,” he whispers as he does wide eyes at me.

“Oh, of course,” I mutter. I cringe that I didn’t remember that important piece of info.