Candy Crush Read Online Free Page B

the foyer and living room.
Gabriella saw gleaming wood floors and lots of crown molding. A
stained glass door was propped open and led to the left and into
the living room, which was large and pentagon-shaped, matching the
outside wall. She saw a giant flat screen television, a leather
couch, two reclining chairs, a coffee table and two end tables. The
stairway leading upstairs was directly in front of her.
    “You look beat, so I’ll save the grand tour
for later. Living room there,” He nodded to his left. “Through the
living room is the dining room and then kitchen. There’s a small
half bath off the kitchen, and the laundry room doubles as the
mudroom and leads to the backyard. I suppose you drink coffee?”
    Gabriella nodded.
    “I usually drink mine at the office, but
I’ll make some in the morning. Coffee pot will be on at seven a.m.,
so if you aren’t an early riser, you won’t get fresh coffee.”
    Gabriella was indeed an early riser,
although she’d had to endure a lot of late nights in her former
life. She realized she was looking forward to getting back into a
routine of her own choosing. Fresh coffee at seven a.m. sounded
wonderful.
    “I usually leave for the office around seven
forty-five,” Brandon went on. “I’ll leave you a key. You’re welcome
to make yourself at home.” He looked at her, presumably waiting to
see if she had questions. When she didn’t say anything, he
continued.
    “Come on, I’ll show you to your bedroom. You
can help me put sheets on the bed. I wasn’t expecting company.” He
placed the bag of dog food and Butter’s bag of supplies on the
floor in the foyer, pulled the suitcase out of Gabriella’s hand and
walked upstairs. Gabriella followed, with Butter on her heels.
    “My bedroom is down there,” he nodded to the
left. His bedroom was directly above the living room. Gabriella
wondered if it was shaped like a pentagon as well. “I’d be happy to
give you a tour,” he said, promise dripping from the words.
Gabriella quelled any ideas he may have been forming with a frosty
look.
    “Okay, then, your bedroom is down here,” and
he led her down the hall to the right, pointing out the bathroom,
which they would be sharing, on the way.
    The guest bedroom was small and cozy, and
had a window seat that overlooked the front yard. While they were
by no means in separate wings, as Brandon suggested earlier, they
were on opposite ends of the house, and Gabriella noticed the door
had a lock.
    She decided she was safe enough. For some
inexplicable reason, in the last twenty minutes she managed to come
to the decision that she could trust Brandon Sarantos. It was an
odd feeling, since the only men in her life she had been able to
trust for the last few years had been her brother and her
father.
    Brandon stepped back into the hall and
reappeared with an armful of sheets. He pulled the comforter off
the bed and Gabriella helped him put on the sheets.
    “The middle bedroom is my office. I’m going
to check my emails and then probably head to bed myself. Just knock
if you need anything.” He watched her for a long moment and then
said, “Good night, Sweet Pea.”
    He turned and left the room, closing the
door behind him. Butter jumped onto the bed and laid down, head on
her paws, watching Gabriella, who slowly let out a breath she
hadn’t realized she had been holding.
    “Well, this is certainly not what I
expected,” Gabriella said to the dog, and then she began unpacking
her suitcase.
    ***
    Instead of going to his office, Brandon went
downstairs to the kitchen. He opened a cupboard door and pulled out
a bottle of Maker’s Mark, which he considered Kentucky’s finest
bourbon. He splashed some into a glass and finished it in one
swallow. Then he leaned against the counter and let his thoughts
drift to the woman who was upstairs in his guest room.
    Bathroom, he corrected, as he listened to
the creaking floorboards above his head. He heard the water switch
on and realized