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and there.
    I made myself take a breath and pretended it didn’t shudder as it came in.  It was no longer just my knees that were quaking.  It was all of me.
    Teekay finally released me.  At least physically.  His heated gaze still held me for several seconds more.
    “All right,” he said. “Inside. Before we both fucking freeze.”
    He didn’t take my hand as he led me to the front door.  I don’t even know why I expected him to.  And I wouldn’t admit that I felt so let down by the fact that he didn’t.  In a moment, it didn’t even matter – my disappointment became secondary to my awe as we stepped into the house.
    The entryway was jaw dropping.  Like something out of a movie.  The ceiling was cathedral high and the side walls were glass.  An impossibly huge, crystal chandelier hung over the centerpiece of the room – a trickling, marble fountain.
    The area was bigger than my entire beach bungalow.
    And it serves as nothing more than a place to drop your coats and shoes. And impress your guests.
    And I was impressed.  By a million-dollar closet.
    Teekay’s voice cut through my stupefaction. “You like it?”
    “It’s beautiful.”
    “When it’s sunny, it looks like a unicorn shit out a rainbow all over the goddamned place.”
    In spite of his not-so-elegant description, I had no problem imagining it.
    One side of the entryway faced east, and the other west.  When the sun was setting or when it was rising, it would shine right through those floor to ceiling windows.  It would hit the chandelier and send a cascade of color through the whole room.  It would be stunning.
    “My dad and his damned showmanship,” Teekay added.
    “Your dad?”
    He laughed. “Yeah, my dad. Can you imagine me building something like this? Everything in here is courtesy of Big Ted. The prettiness. The fucking fountain. Me .”
    My forehead creased at his acidic tone. “You’re a person. Nobody owns you.”
    “If only you could tell that to big ol’ Southern Ted.” He laughed again, this time with far less acrimony. “Now that’s something I’d pay to see. Meek little you telling my dad he couldn’t own something.”
    My face was warm yet again. “It’s still beautiful in here.”
    “Come over by the fountain and I’ll show you my one tiny contribution.”
    I followed him to the edge of the pool at the bottom of the decorative structure.  Teekay pointed up.  Just underneath one of the spouts was a piece of chewed up bubble gum.
    “I put that there when I was twelve,” he told me proudly. “No one’s ever taken it out.”
    “Ew.”
    He grinned. “Tell me what you really think.”
    “I really think ew. But aside from the gum…It looks like you could throw a penny into it and make a wish and it would have no choice but to come true.”
    I flushed as the ridiculous statement finished making is way out of my mouth.  But Teekay’s smile just widened.  His hand shot out, and before I could blink, he’d reached into the coat of my borrowed coat and fished out a coin.
    “Will a quarter do in place of a penny?”
    I stared down at the silver in his palm and blurted, “Does that line always work?”
    “Work for what?”
    “The girls you bring home.”
    “What are you suggesting? That I’m some kind of man-slut?”
    “No!”
    But Teekay didn’t look offended at all.  In fact, he looked amused.
    “They don’t usually see the fountain. I bring them in the back door.” He winked and held up the quarter.  “I take them out that way, too. Make your wish.”
    “I’m not really going to throw that in there.”
    “Yes you are.”
    “I can’t.”
    “Are you arguing with me?”
    His smile turned devious as he closed his hand over-top of mine and swung our arms back and forth together.
    “One.” Swing. “Two.” Swing. “Three!”
    On the last pass forward, he pinched my rear end with his free hand.  I squealed and released the quarter involuntarily.  It flew through the air, landed on