Even though one would think coming home to a stowaway robot would keep me up for hours, the angst I'd bottled up from flying had taken enough out of me that I fell asleep rather easily. I suspected Nate may have stayed up and had a conversation with our houseguest, which was a little scary.
The fact that we didn't wake up until almost nine solidified my belief that Nate could've had a long night. For both of us, that was considered sleeping in. When we got out to the kitchen area, Vinnie was sitting there waiting.
"I would've had something ready for you to eat, but most of the things I could think of for breakfast involved milk and the milk in the fridge is a few days past expiration," he said before anyone had a chance to say good morning.
"Don't worry about it. If you actually had a breakfast sitting here waiting for us, I'd never let you leave," I replied, walking over to the fridge to check out the milk situation.
I took a whiff, because sometimes a few days was okay, but the sour odor that hit my nose told me I needed to go to the store. I looked forward to the old way of shopping and started making a mental list in my head.
"That would be the point. I like you and want you to find me useful so you keep me," Vinnie said sincerely.
Nate just laughed. "Like I said, interesting friends."
Nate must not have seen the similarities between him and Vinnie. They both acted like lost puppy dogs around me.
"You don't have to worry, Vinnie, I won't turn you back over to the think tank. I'm sure there are going to be times where I can use you on our investigations. That is, if that's okay with you. I don't want you feeling used and running away again."
I wasn't sure exactly what to do with a robot, but I knew better than to let him wander around the city by himself. I highly doubted anyone in New York would consider him that unusual, and he'd most likely fall into the wrong hands.
"No, that would be perfect. I want to be useful. Before I was never more than a project and all the cool things I learned were wasted."
"Good, we have a deal then, I guess. Are you going to be okay here while Nate and I go check out this new place he's found? With you wanting to stay, we're definitely going to need a bigger space."
"I don't need babysitting or anything. I've been in a suitcase for days and I'm still feeling a kink in my neck, so I plan on spending some time working it out."
I had a feeling watching Vinnie get out the kinks wasn't something I wanted to witness. I had no idea if he was being sarcastic or not, but he was most certainly being a little more human than I thought a robot should.
"We should be back by noon, so try not to burn the house down," Nate said to Vinnie. "Are you sure you don't want to take a shower before we go?" he asked me.
I didn't think brining up a shower was a good idea. For some reason I was afraid Vinnie might think it'd help him feel more humanoid to take one himself and I didn't think that would end well.
"With the house this full, I prefer not to. Let's just go and hope I like the place, so I can have a shower later today."
He agreed and we headed out on our bikes. I didn't remember exactly when his bike had arrived from Chicago, but it showed up one day during my recovery. Not having to run over to Rick's to grab one of his bikes made things easier if we ever felt like going for a spin.
It felt great to be on Winnie again and not riding around in a cage. I forgot to ask him where exactly we were heading, so I was forced to trail behind. He ended up taking us to Larchmont, which surprised me a little, for no other reason than the village was a little more upscale than I expected. I followed him up the drive to a huge house. There had to be a mistake.
He pulled up and turned off his bike. "Did you get lost or something?" I asked after I killed my engine.
"Nope, this is the place I wanted you to check out."
"You're joking, right? How many square feet is it?"
The house wasn't just huge, it was massive. I knew the words meant pretty much the same thing, but massive just seemed bigger. It looked kind of like a castle made with mostly red brick, but the trim was white brick. I was fairly certain my whole apartment complex would fit inside of it.
"The house itself is a little over twenty-one thousand square feet. The grounds are almost three acres. It sits on a peninsula, so the road we came up is the only road in. Most of the property is surrounded by rocky cliffs, but there's a beach if you enjoy that kind of thing. There's also a pool, but since I know you don't really care for the sun, they're just added features."
He led me up to the door and opened it with a key from his keychain. I was starting to get the funny feeling it was a property we could move into anytime because he already owned it.
"When was the house built?" I asked as we walked in. The entryway was as gorgeous as I expected. Marble floors and white columns greeted us. The jeans and t-shirt I was wearing left me feeling extremely underdressed.
"We built it in eighteen-ninety."
"I see, so this isn't a recent acquisition for you?"
"No, we liked the area back then, so we had this house constructed. We've kept it up, waiting until enough years had passed, allowing us an opportunity to move back in without anyone remembering us. I think one hundred years should be long enough." He started giving a short tour of the different rooms.
I couldn't believe I'd ever lived there. Of course, I supposed the electronics weren't the same back then, but it was still a very impressive place. When we got to the kitchen, I fell in love yet again with my favorite room of the house. After just seeing two kitchens that put my apartment one to shame, I wondered how'd I'd lived for so long without figuring out a way to remodel.
"I had your own Tabby installed. I also bought most of the appliances I've ever heard you mention. I wanted to make sure it was perfect for you."
I highly doubted the kitchen could be more perfect. Just for fun, because it was one of my favorite features at the Vida house, I got down on the floor to see if it was heated.
Nate snorted as he figured out what I was doing. "Yes, after I saw you practically making out with the floor at the other place, I called and had some people come in and install the heated floor.? Unlike the other house, ours is geothermal."
I smiled up at him. "You are the best kind of fianc? in the whole wide world. Okay, the kitchen has my approval, let's see the rest of the house."
"Let's," he said as he started the rest of the tour. "Features include eight bedrooms, twelve baths, an exercise room, an elevator, more general rooms than you could ever imagine and a tennis court."
"My house has an elevator. You've got to be kidding," I said. To prove to me he wasn't, he directed me to the elevator on the way to our bedrooms.
"This is your room," he said, opening the door in a grand gesture.
The first thing I noticed was a giant canopy bed. I walked in and saw a huge walk-in closet to match the bed. I had no idea why I'd need that much closet space, but if nothing else, I figured I could hide from Nate in there. There were two other doors in the room. I opened the one closest to the closet and found a very large bathroom with a big Jacuzzi tub in the middle and a nice standalone shower.
I was beginning to think that every adjective I could find about the house dictated how large it was or its features were. I could've noted the different colors of things, or textures, but all I saw was size.
?"What's through the other door?" I asked. Already finding a closet and bath, I couldn't think of the purpose for an extra door.
"That would lead to my bedroom. I'll give you your separate bed, but I won't be far away."
"Any other surprises I should know about?" I asked, looking at him suspiciously.
"Well, it isn't really a surprise, but Rick is going to be moving in with us. I think the house is plenty big for the three of us and a robot," he replied.
"We have a couple of last minute additions to our happy family," Rick said from the doorway. He had to be in ninja mode, or the vast size of the house covered the sound of his approach. "Meet Rom
eo and Juliet." As he spoke, two little white fluffy dogs scampered in like they owned the place.
"Oh my goodness, they are so cute!" I exclaimed. "Please tell me they're my present." I bent down to pet the little furrballs and was instantly mugged as they competed for who got the most attention.
"They are. We had a drug bust the other day and confiscated the property. These two were running around and the officers on the scene were going to send them to the pound, but I intervened."
"What kind of dogs are they? They look like little teddy bears." I didn't know any teddy bears that licked people to death, but that didn't change what they reminded me of.
"They're Bichon Frises and I think they have the perfect temperament for you. Now, what was this I heard about us having a robot moving in?" he asked.
"It's a funny story actually. When we got home there was a suitcase sitting outside the door with my name on it. Nate opened it up and out popped Vinnie," I explained.
"Yeah, she has a new secret admirer who couldn't bear the thought of living without her," Nate added his two cents.
I didn't get the sense that he was actually jealous of Vinnie, but he sure found the situation hilarious. I was still coming to terms with the fact that Vinnie had managed to ship himself to me.
"He isn't a secret admirer, he just didn't like those other people," I fought back.
"Not true, he was trying to make you breakfast in bed this morning," Nate countered.
"You can't be jealous of a robot, that just doesn't make any sense," I replied, wondering if I'd managed to read his mood wrong as far as Vinnie was concerned.
"I'm not, but it's fun watching you get all riled up about it. I think he'll be a good fit with our little band of misfits and the house is big enough for all of us. Just as long as I don't find him trying to sneak in your bed at night, there won't be any issues," he teased.
"No worries about that, my bed is going to be full of Romeo and Juliet. I just have to train them to growl at you whenever they see you coming."
"I'll have to always walk around with treats in my pockets then."
"So, how soon can we have everything moved in here?" I asked.
We'd taken the tour and I didn't think there was any question about whether we'd make the move. I liked the idea of not having to pay rent, and if it was really a place from my past, more memories were bound to crop up.
"Well, Rick moved in while we were away. We have a truck available and tons of boxes. Let's head home and try to get as much packed as we can, at least enough so we can stay here tonight. We don't really need the furniture, so we can just leave it behind to deal with another day," Nate suggested.
"Okay, sounds like a plan. Most of my clothes are already in my suitcase. I'd like to pack up my kitchen stuff for sentimental reasons, but other than that there isn't a whole lot else in the apartment, so it should take only a few hours at most. How are we going to get Vinnie over here?"
"I hope he doesn't have a problem traveling in the suitcase, because even though it is New York, I think people might notice a robot walking around, and I prefer we refrain from drawing that much attention to us," Nate replied.
"I don't think he'll mind. We can load him in last and take him out first, so he isn't folded for too long. I don't want to hear about him getting new kinks he has to work out. How about the dogs, what will they do while we're away?" I asked.
"I've set them up in their own room with little dog beds and more toys than they know what to do with," Rick explained. He called them and they followed him to wherever their room was located. I hoped it wasn't too far away.
With everything discussed, we left our new home. Nate and I rode our bikes and Rick followed behind with a moving truck. I hadn't realized the truck was already on the property. Nate obviously didn't think the word no was in my vocabulary.
At the start of the mission, I was living with a sort of boyfriend trying to get him to move out. Just a week later, I found myself moving into a mansion with my fianc?, his best friend, two new puppies and rogue robot I picked up on my travels. Not only that, I evidently had to prepare for some coming war that I had no clue who or what the enemy was, or the conflict they had. Nobody could say my life was boring.
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THE END
AFTERWORD
Thanks for making it this far
Well, we've made it to the end of another book. I can't believe where this adventure took us. I knew from the beginning that Nate was going to be special, but to end up having Avery be special too, that was just an added bonus.
This book really helped me decide where to take the series. I was originally just going to follow Avery around on different cases, but now we have the extra excitement of some upcoming war that no one, this writer included, has any clue on what it means.
For this book in particular, I had fun trying to decide who the bad guy was going to be during the initial phases of the book. I really was going to have it be someone at the think tank, but as soon as I wrote Katie's character, I knew it had to be her. I think it was her perky attitude.
I loved including Rick more in this book and revealing how connected he really is with Avery. I think in the books to come we are going to find out a lot more surprises about Avery's current friends.
I know the next book is going to see Avery travelling again. I believe Alaska is the destination currently calling to me. We'll be meeting one of Nate and Avery's children, but how that family reunion will go is anybody's guess.
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Amber?
About the Author
Amber has always had a passion for the written word. Along with that, she's always had ideas for stories swimming around in her head. It finally got to the point where she couldn't take it anymore and had to start getting her thoughts down on paper. There are still too many ideas, but she is working to get them out as fast as she can. Her hope is that one day her brain will be hers again.
Other hobbies of Amber's include: drawing, baking, arts and crafts, motorcycles, hockey and archery. She likes to think she has eclectic tastes where her hobbies are concerned. She loves to laugh and tries to make herself smile at least once a day. With the crazy thoughts going on in her head that usually isn't hard.
Other books by Amber Lynn:
Argonauts' Adventures
The Witch's Web
The Dragon's Fire
Daughter of Gaia Series
Daughter of Gaia
Queen of Aquima
Nightwalker Saga
The Nightwalker Knocks
The Nightwalker Teaches
Unlucky in Love series
Calypso in Love
Nani in Love
Rhea in Love
Hermia in Love
Desma in Love
Nyx Slaughter series
Night Calls
Night Marks
Night Bites
Night Howls
Night Lurks
Night Finds
Night Rises
Nyx Slaughter: Books 1-7
More Books
Searching for Home
Between Blood
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