In the club, she’d looked angry at first, too. He had his arm around Kim—perhaps that was why. Seeing Ella there, against a backdrop of a multitude of beautiful women, all dressed—or undressed— to look their hottest, it was patently obvious to him that Ella left them all in the dust. The girl is seriously beautiful—and the thing he might love most about her is that she genuinely doesn’t appear to be aware of her beauty. Or if she is, she doesn’t take it too seriously.
He almost can’t believe that events happened as they did, but a quick glance over at the passenger seat and there she is, in all her auburn glory. She catches his eye and he smiles, reaching for her hand to give it a reassuring squeeze—he can tell she’s nervous. How many other men has she been with since she left him last year? He’s burning to know but he’s too polite to ask and she probably won’t offer the information. After all, it isn’t really his business, is it?
Would she be surprised to know he hadn’t been with a single woman since her? He wonders.
“Aren’t we going to your place?”
He looks over at her, smiles enigmatically, and nods.
“Didn’t we just pass your exit?”
“I don’t live in the glass house anymore, Ella. I moved out last week.”
“Oh? Where?”
“You’ll see. We’re almost there.”
“What prompted you to move?”
“I bought the new place a year ago but I’ve been having it remodeled. The renovations were just finished a little over a week ago so I moved in and put the other house up for sale.”
“A year ago? Seems a lot of things happened with you last year.”
He keeps his focus trained on the road ahead, choosing not to acknowledge her observation. It must be so obvious that I fell apart when she disappeared, he thinks. But I won’t confirm it—that would give her too much sway over me and I simply cannot allow that to occur. Not yet. Perhaps not ever.
As he turns his little black Lexus sports car into the marina parking lot, Ella’s head whips over to look at him. “No way! You bought a houseboat?”
Smiling, he nods. “I needed a change and I love the water. I have to say, I’m really loving it—I don’t think I’ll ever leave.” He parks the car in his designated space and quickly jumps out to open Ella’s door. She waits, remembering that he has these ingrained manners and expects her to abide by them.
Once outside the car, Ella jumps up with excitement, clapping her hands. “I’m impressed, Ian, so impressed. I would never expect you to live on a houseboat—but I love it!”
Laughing, he cocks his head in that way she loves. “Why? Wouldn’t you expect it?”
One corner of her mouth turns up in a crooked grin; she seems elated at the prospect of visiting a houseboat. “Not luxurious or formal enough for you. I don’t know, Ian, but you seem different to me now—much more relaxed about life, more inclined to enjoy it. Am I mistaken?”
She takes his extended hand, both of them reveling in this one small touch after so long apart, and they walk toward his boat. He doesn’t answer right away; instead his eyes scan the dark water, lights from the row of houseboats shimmering on its surface. “Perhaps not,” he says after a pregnant pause, “I suppose I went through a bit of a personal crisis last year, Ella.” That’s as much as he plans to admit to her. He could tell she’s dying to ask questions but he doesn’t encourage them. There’s only so far he’s willing to open himself up to her. No, he has to be careful, never relax his vigilance. He’d learned his lesson quite well. Five years ago. So fucking well. But no, he thinks, shaking off the old demons; he refuses to conjure the ghost of Natasha tonight.
“Here we are.”
Ella stops dead in her tracks and gapes at the house. “Oh my God, Ian, it’s… magnificent. Just, like, drop-dead gorgeous.”
It looks like a villa one would see on the banks of the Grand Canal in Venice. The house has two stories and a roof deck on top, with glass panels wrapped around the perimeter of the roof for safety without obstructing the view. The façade is a textured plaster in Tuscan Gold and all the windows, both arched and square, are floor to ceiling height and wrap around the entire house. Ionic columns enclose the first floor to form a portico extending around the entire house while the second story has four columns in front from roof to ground that harbor a balcony within. The same glass panels protect the entire second floor, whether a Juliet balcony or the larger terrace in front. There are huge pots of colorful flowers anchoring the roof on all four corners.