“There’s a nice open room back this way, which can easily be used for conferences, dances, or whatever form of entertainment you would like. It features this beautiful chandelier from Italy they had made specifically for the home,” she continued talking as they walked from room to room. Jasmine was thinking the chandelier was probably worth more than her house.

“There are separate living quarters above the garage that many people like to use for either guests or for relatives to live in. It has its own separate entrance for privacy,” she said as she looked at Derek. Jasmine could feel her face heating with anger as she realized she was listing a secret place he could go to for an affair as a selling point. She no longer liked the real estate agent at all and glared at her back as they continued.

“Along this hallway are several bedrooms, suitable for children or visitors. Jacob can explore if he’d like but please don’t touch the owners items,” she added as he dashed down the hallway. “Through this set of doorways is the master suite. You step through here and you have a sitting room, with another door leading into the master bedroom. It features two full size walk in closets, with beautiful cabinets in them. The master bathroom has a Jacuzzi tub, separate walk in shower and steam shower, as well as a sauna. The room has its own private balcony with a gas fireplace, both in the room and on the covered balcony. I’m sure there’s so much more I’m leaving out but if you’re interested I can give you the full listing, which has everything on it,” she droned on.

The woman did know when to talk and when to be quiet though, because she stepped out of the room and let them take their time looking around. Jasmine hated to admit it but she was impressed. The home was palatial but it had a lot of touches that made it feel more like a home than a hotel and she liked it more than any of the others. She just wished it wasn’t quite so large.

“Mom, my room is so cool. It has a huge closet, that’s as big as my old bedroom and I found a secret doorway that led somewhere. It was dark and I didn’t have my flashlight, so I couldn’t go in but I really like it mom. I could get so many more posters cause the walls are way tall,” Jacob said as he came running into the room completely out of breath and beyond excited. Derek took one look at Jacob’s face and she could see he had made his decision.

“This is the one I want,” Derek said as he turned towards the real estate agent, who was practically drooling on his shoes. Her face lit up with total joy, as she pulled out a stack of papers for him to fill out. Jasmine was sure the woman was glad she’d decided to take a last minute call on her weekend.

Derek filled in the necessary information, while the agent talked animatedly to Jasmine and Jacob. The woman probably couldn’t wait to get out of there and go celebrate.

“Tell the sellers I will give them a hundred thousand dollars over their asking price if they can be out within a week. I will also pay all closing cost and pay for professional movers to take their things anywhere they wish. They won’t have to pack a single thing; it can be done for them in one day. I want their answer by nine tomorrow morning and I want it in writing. If they can’t meet those terms I will find another place,” Derek told the woman, whose eyes had widened. Jasmine was sure she wasn’t used to dealing with clients like him. She also knew as much as he liked the house, if his terms weren’t met, he’d walk away. She was sure that’s what made him such a fierce businessman. Once he decided on a course of action, he stuck with it, even if that meant he may not always get what he originally wanted.

“I will let them know but I’m not sure if all the necessary inspections and escrow can get everything done in that amount of time,” she said, afraid she was going to lose the huge commission.

“I will speak to my people and there won’t be a problem getting the necessary stuff done. I will be paying cash for this house, so there will be no financing issues. If the sellers agree to my offer, I can have this place ready to close in three days maximum. I was being polite offering them a week to move,” he said, in his authoritative voice. The man had a way of speaking that made people want to jump to do his bidding. He was just so powerful; there was no other word to describe it.

If he would’ve lived in the past, he would’ve been one of the Gods people idolized, as he wouldn’t have settled for anything less. A shiver ran down her spine as she realized she was going to be marrying him. She’d have to always remember who she was and not fade away behind his shadow. She also had to admit he was incredibly masculine when he asserted his unflinching authority.

“Okay Mr. Titan, I have all the necessary paperwork to get this started. I will get ahold of the selling agent and hopefully the sellers, this afternoon. I will notify you as soon as they have given a response but I know they have been eager to sell, so there shouldn’t be a problem,” she said, looking more like the confident agent she had appeared to be when they’d met her a few hours before. She really was trying to maintain her professionalism, which couldn’t have been easy around Derek.

“I appreciate it and will be waiting,” he said as if waiting wasn’t something that was easy for him. They parted ways and headed back towards Jasmine’s home.

As they pulled up in front of her house, it looked smaller than it ever had to her. She squared her shoulders as she walked in the door. It may be able to fit into the living room of the other home but she’d made it a great place for her and Trevor and there was nothing wrong with it.

Derek came up behind her and laid his hand on her shoulder. “Jasmine I’m really not trying to put your home down, I just do a lot of business from home and need more space. Jacob will also need added security once the press realizes he’s my son. I have a lot of friends and even more enemies. When you take over companies for a living, you make a lot of enemies. I won’t let something happen to my son because some disgruntled person decides to hurt me through my child,” he said, trying to reason with her.

“I do understand,” Jasmine said. She didn’t want to talk about it anymore, so she went off to her room to be alone for a while.

The real estate agent called a couple of hours later and was practically giggling as she explained the sellers agreed to his offer. She said she could meet him anywhere he liked the next day to get all the paperwork filled out.

Derek made an appointment for her to meet them at the offices and Jasmine’s head was practically spinning with how quickly things were moving. It was a Sunday afternoon and Derek had inspections arranged for the following day and escrow scheduled for Friday. They would receive the keys to the house before the following weekend.

Jacob was squealing in delight at having his own swimming pool, among many other things. He called his best friends up and told them all about it and asked Derek if he could have a party so they could all see his new room. Derek, of course said yes but at least he Jacob to wait a couple of weeks so they could get settled in first.

Derek offered to have a moving company box up her things and she put her foot down. She didn’t want a stranger to go through her belongings. He actually had the gall to roll his eyes at her. She knew he was thinking she didn’t have anything that they would want but that wasn’t the point. Her things were personal to her and she didn’t want it tainted by a bunch of strangers putting their fingers all over it.

She knew most of her furniture would end up being donated and that was fine with her. The things she wanted to keep she was keeping and there was nothing he was going to do to stop her.

The next morning Jacob came rushing back into her room first thing in the morning. She was starting to get used to it.

“Why don’t you and dad sleep in the same room? I thought when moms and dads were married, they wanted to be together?” he asked her.

“Your dad and I have been apart for a long time, that’s all,” she told him.

“Does that mean he won’t stay?” he asked with his big scared eyes.

“No Jacob, I’m not going anywhere, your mom just has too girly of a room, and too small of a bed for your big dad. We’ll share a room in the new house,” Derek said, as he walked in to join them.

She didn’t like how he kept walking into her room, as if he had every right to. Once again she wasn’t going to argue in front of her son, though.

“Okay, Dad,” Jacob said, as if everything the man said was gold.

They all got ready together and Derek insisted on taking his car in the morning. He told her it was ridiculous to take two vehicles. She once again just went with it, since Jacob was so excited to be taken to school by both of his parents.

“I need to go by my place and gather a few things, since there won’t be time tonight before we have to pick Jacob up,” he told her.

They pulled up to the luxurious condo complex, which even had a security guard at the front door. Jasmine was ever intimidated by the amount of money Derek had. She missed the boy who used to wear second hand jeans and always had a smile on his face. This new man was so much more cynical of the world around him and took for granted things that the young teenager would have been awed by.

They walked into his huge condo and though it was nice, it was so cold. There was only one picture in the entire place and it was a much younger version of him with his arms slung around his two cousins. She remembered them well from when they were teenagers. They’d always been able to make her laugh. She smiled at the fond memories.

“How are your cousins doing?” she asked him. She imagined they were doing as good as him, because the three had been almost inseparable and there was no way he wouldn’t share his success with them.

“They’re doing great. I just saw Drew the other day and Ryan is off in some other country right now. We all need to get together, it’s been too long,” he said, letting his guard down for a moment.

“They always made me laugh,” she said with a fond smile, still looking at the photograph.

“They’re great guys,” he agreed. He packed up some clothing and then led her back down the elevator. They went out to the garage and instead of getting back in the Porsche; he walked up to an SUV. She was a bit jealous as he unlocked it and opened the back end to put his things in. It was a really nice vehicle. She didn’t understand why the man needed two expensive cars when it was just him.

“I figure we should switch vehicles. The sports car is fun but this has far more room for Jacob,” he said. “Do you mind driving. I have some work I could do on the commute,” he asked, as he tossed the keys to her. He asked but he expected the answer to be yes. She wanted to drive it really badly though, so she didn’t complain. She stepped inside the luxurious interior and noticed there were hardly any miles on it at all.

“You must have gotten this pretty recently,” she told him.

“I had it delivered yesterday. I figured we would need it for Jacob and my office manager said this was rated at the top for safety,” he said as if it was no big deal.

“You purchased a vehicle without even looking at it?” she asked him.