The house is a home. Well, it’s getting closer to a home with my furniture in place. With all the men, it only took a couple hours, not even long enough for me to pull out all the stuff I bought for sandwiches for the guys to eat.

As soon as the last box was placed in the kitchen, all the men left. All except for Carter, who’s been unrolling glasses and mugs, setting them in the cabinet. After that, he moved on to the plates and silverware, to which I needed to direct him on where things went. The funny thing is, I didn’t know where they went, just made it up along the way.

“You don’t have to stay, you know,” I tell him as we finish yet another box. He’s been here for hours without his guys; surely, he needs to get going to do something else rather than help me unpack.

“I’m good,” he responds, opening another box and pulling out my toaster. I direct him to the counter by pointing. “What are your plans while here?”

“I’m not sure. I need to get my computers up and running, and WI-FI going for my work. Other than that, relax.”

He pauses, his brows coming together in thought. “Why do you need computers to work?”

“I’m a software designer. I create new programs or alter ones already in use to suit my clients’ needs.”

“Come.” He takes my hand and leads me to the brown leather sectional couch where we sit. “And you can do all that from up here in the mountains?”

Happiness fills me that he’s curious about what I do. I love it and can talk about it for hours. The last guy I was with told me it was geeky, and he didn’t want to hear another word about it, so I didn’t mention it. “I can do it anywhere I have a computer and WI-FI. It’s the best part of my job.”

He clasps his hands. “I take it you like it.”

“Absolutely. It’s challenging, and I’m good at it.”

He puts his knee on the couch, facing me, and I mimic his stance, garnering his full attention. I suck it up.

“What do you do?” I ask.

A sexy as hell smile rolls over his lips. “A business man. Run my family’s company.”

“Doing …?” I encourage him to continue.

Carter smirks. “We have several businesses that we keep in line. The bakery in town is one that we own, as well as one of the diners.”

“Ah, so the donuts were a because-you-had-them thing.”

He leans over and grips my leg. “No, it’s a we-were-hungry-and-thought-you’d-like-them-too thing.”

“It was nice.”

He gives me a squeeze then releases me as a knock comes to the door.

“Who in the world is this? I barely know anyone, and it’s like Grand Central Station here.”

I make a move to get up, but Carter says, “I’ll get it,” holding out his arm for me to sit.

“Really …”

“Really.” His tone is curt, forcing me to listen.

He comes back with Owen on his heels.

“Hey, Owen.”

“Hey, Izzy. Good to see ya.” He’s so easy going.

“Same. You missed all the fun,” I joke, not missing the tension between the two.

He chuckles. “Place looks good.”

Carter clears his throat.

“Right.” Owen reaches into his pocket and pulls out a manila envelope.

“Everything there?” Carter asks.

“Yes.”

“Go,” he orders rudely.

“You don’t have to leave, Owen. It’s okay.”

Carter’s eyes shoot to mine as he comes back and sits on the couch. “Now,” he growls to Owen, who gives a chuckle and a flip of his hand.

“You really need to be nicer to the people around you. They’re all going to walk away one day if you keep treating them like that.”

“No, they won’t.”

I let out a frustrated sigh, looking at the envelope in his hand. “What’s that?”

“Something that we need to discuss.”

“Since we just met yesterday, I’m not seeing how we’d have anything to discuss, Carter.” Curious, yes. Very much so.

Carter pulls out some papers and hands them over to me.

“Care to explain why and how you got these?” I ask, looking at the front cover of my contract for this house that was signed on the dotted line yesterday. I didn’t even think the lawyers got it yet to file appropriately, let alone for Carter to have a copy.

“Because I got a copy, too.”

I sift through the pages, noting my initials—I.B.—on the bottom of every page. “Why would you get one?”

“Because I’m part of the arrangement.”

Surprise flares in my eyes as my heart picks up a thumping pace. He’s so wrong. My lawyers or my realtor would have caught that. There’s no way.

“Wait, what arrangement?”

“The house and me—package deal.”

“Right, so you want me to believe that these papers”—I hold them up, giving them a shake—“contain a section that says, ‘hot guy comes with the house for free?’ No. Not buying that one bit. One of my people would have caught something like that. Not to mention how crazy that is.”

He leans over and takes my hands in his. There’s still the spark, but the ease from before is a little more difficult to find.

Carter squeezes, getting my attention. “There in black and white. Read it.”

“Where? Show me.”

Only then does he release me and sift through the papers, pulling one out. I look at the bottom first to see if my initials are on it, and they are. Then I take the paper from him.

Upon agreement to reside in said above property, you agree that Carter Masters will reside with you in the home. You will cohabitate for eternity.

There is no way that I’m going to “cohabitate” with a man I don’t know.

“This wasn’t there when I signed the papers. Is this some crazy joke, Carter? Because, I’m not laughing.”

“It’s not a joke. It’s an agreement. You and me.”

“Why on earth would you even want this? I mean, for eternity? What’s that about?”

“Exactly what it says.”

Dumbfounded, I just stare at him, wondering where I fell off the loony train and into this world.

“You don’t even know me. I mean, whoever bought this house was going to spend eternity with you? Seriously? You can’t be that hard up for a date.”

He chuckles. Yes, chuckles.

“Not hard up for a date. And no, if it were anyone else, not a chance in hell.”

I shake my head, trying to compute what he’s telling me. It’s not working.

“So, you had this put in the contract before you even met me?”

“Something like that.”

“I don’t understand this, and I know I didn’t sign anything that states we will be living together for the foreseeable future.”

“Go get your copy of the contract and we’ll compare them.”

It’s a good idea, but hell, I can’t believe I’m even entertaining this—any of it.

Getting up, I go upstairs to my bag that was tossed in my closet. Not waiting to get down to Carter, I thumb through the documents and stop dead.

Holy shit.

It’s there, in black and white, and I signed it. How did this get missed? There’s no way my lawyers saw this. I pay them exceptionally well for me not to get screwed on things. They’ll be paying for this big time.

Climbing down the stairs, Carter meets me at the bottom, a sexy grin on his face. “I see you read it.”

“We’ll get it amended. I’ll have my lawyers draw up the contracts and get this taken off the house.”

He steps closer, getting well into my space. I can’t step back because the stairs are there. Plus, the smell of him overwhelms me.

“Give me a month. Thirty days here with you. After that, we’ll talk about amending the agreement.” Carter inhales deeply, rubbing his nose along the tip of mine. It feels so good that tingles go through my arms and my stomach clenches.

“Why would you want to do this, Carter?”

“Time will tell.” He leans over and kisses my cheek. “As much as it pains me, I’ll leave you tonight. But tomorrow starts our thirty days. I’ll have the guys bring my things, so make room, baby.”

“Carter, this is so … wrong on so many levels. How can you want to do this?”

“Time will tell. Get some sleep.” With that, he turns and leaves.

I fall to the steps, elbows on knees.

What the hell just happened?