Too Much Information

“What are you doing?” Talon entered the library to see Wren vacuuming.

“What? No good morning?” Wren asked as she continued to vacuum. “I am cleaning.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to. I need something to do. I have had an itch to do this since I first arrived. Call it OCD if you want, but I like to clean when frustrated.”

“I thought that was what the piano was for.”

“I can have more than one way to release my stress.” Wren shrugged a shoulder. “I like physical work as well.”

“I thought that was what your training was for.”

Wren sighed. She could not explain this to him.

“I needed a change. Just leave it at that.”

Talon leaned against the door of the library and watched Wren as she moved around the room, cleaning.

Her movements made her seem like she was almost dancing, and not for the first time, he wondered what her life had been like before she had come here.

He knew that she had taught music, but she seemed to have boundless energy, and her movements had always had a grace about them.

“Did you dance?”

“What?”

“Did. You. Dance?”

Wren rolled her eyes at him. “A long time ago. Why?” she asked suspiciously.

“You have a dancer’s grace about you.”

“How would you know something like that?”

Talon shrugged. “They made us learn to dance at the orphanage.”

Wren stopped vacuuming, shut off the machine, and looked at him.

“You…know how to dance.”

“I used to…a long time ago,” Talon said. He could not quite meet her gaze. What was so strange about being able to dance? “It is no big deal.”

“Impressive.”

“Shut up,” Talon said. He shut himself up before he said something else she could use against him.

Wren tucked that tidbit of information away and started up the vacuum once more.

***

After the initial cleaning, Wren moved on to the mounds of books that never got put back where they belonged. Talon continued to watch.

~You could help too.~ Wren really wanted to drag him into helping her, but that would mean giving away that she was enjoying his presence, and they could not have that.

She was still reeling from the conversation in the garden the night before.

***

Talon sighed as she stretched, trying to replace the book on a high shelf. Once she failed, she looked for something to climb on.

Enough. He could no longer just watch.

“Let me,” he said. He plucked the book from her hand and reached up above her to put it away, forcing her to press up against the bookshelves so as not to touch his body.

Talon noticed her movement and felt her reaction to his closeness. He wanted to press his body against hers but controlled himself and stepped back.

“Any more?” he asked.

Wren could only nod and point to the stacks she had accumulated.

“Keep cleaning, I will put these away,” he said. He started in on the pile. “You do know that it will only get dirty again. That is why we have people who do this for us.”

“I know, but I like to clean, and besides, they only do the basics. This way, I know that it has been done properly.”

Having Talon mention others reminded her.

“I plan on cleaning the house from top to bottom before the others arrive home. They called about half an hour ago and said to expect them right about six-thirty.”

“I thought that I had heard the phone,” he said.

They fell back into silence.

Talon watched her as he put books away. She was quick and efficient.

The difference was noticeable compared to what the normal crew did. Within minutes, she had moved to the next room.

Talon found himself following along and helping her out. They systematically went through the ground floor.

Wren grabbed the clean laundry to place in each bedroom as they headed to the top floor.

“Why the top floor?” he asked.

“I told you. I am cleaning from top to bottom,” Wren said, giving him a cheeky grin.

Talon groaned at the stupid pun.

“All right. Fine. You got me on that one. But we already cleaned the ground floor.”

“Yup. I had to get myself grounded before taking on the rest of the house,” Wren said, grinning impishly at Talon.

Talon felt his heart flutter, actually flutter, at the sight of it.

“That is so bad.”

“But it puts a smile on your face,” she said. That was as close to a compliment as Wren was willing to say out loud at the moment.

The man had a devastating smile.

Talon grinned and shook his head.

“You are such a dork.”

“A dork on a mission.”

***

Wren opened the door to Eric’s bedroom and froze. ~The man is a slob! Wait, is that…~

Wren dropped the laundry basket and covered her mouth in shock.

Eric’s room was strewn with every type of porn tape and magazine out there.

“What in the world…”

Talon started to laugh.

“Well, well, well,” Talon said. Eric had really outdone himself this time. “You did ask for it.”

“For what?” Wren asked as she took a closer look, blushing a fiery red.

The man had some questionable taste.

“With that comment you made the other day about not leaving their porn out,” Talon said.

Wren stared at him, completely distracted by the sound she had just heard from him.

“You laughed.”

“I did.”

“I have never heard you laugh before.”

~Didn’t he say those very words to me last night?~

“I believe a lovely lady told me recently, ‘Is there anything around here to laugh at?’ or something like that,” he retorted.

He had her on that one.

“Fine. I will concede. You are…right,” she said, pointing a finger at him.

“Do not get used to hearing that phrase from me often.”

“Do not forget the porn.”

“Oh no, that was not you, that was the others.”

“Fair enough.” Talon grinned and started to pick up the tapes and magazines scattered all over the floor and bed, putting them in a neat stack on the night table.

Wren put stacks of clothes on his dresser.

“Want to make a wager?”

“On what?”

“On how many of them have a porn collection left out for you.”

Wren let out a snort.

“You would lose.”

“If you are so sure about that, then what is the harm in placing a wager?”

“What do you want to wager?” Wren asked, enjoying this new side of Talon.

The man could joke, laugh, and was a great help. He was a triple threat to her emotions.

“If you win, I will do all of the cooking and eat every meal with everyone for one whole day, you pick the day.”

“That sounds like a good reward. Deal,” Wren agreed.

“What if you win? What is your reward?”

~What does he want from me?~

“Mmmm, let’s see… I know. Since you are good at cleaning and cooking. You have to be my personal maid for a week.”

“No way.” Wren entered the bathroom, glad to see no more surprises there.

“Why not?” Talon asked as he started to clean the toilet.

Wren stepped into the shower.

“A week doing whatever you say? Not going to happen.”

“Why?”

“First, a week is way longer compared to your one day, and second, there are things that I will NOT do. In the end, I would break the deal anyway.”

“I can see your point,” Talon agreed, stopping short as he watched her clean the shower.

A mental image of her wet body covered with soap, pressed against the wall as he drove deep inside her, suddenly popped into his head, and he had to stop himself from acting on the impulse.

“How about”—he swallowed hard—“three days and I will only ask that of you that you are willing to do.”

“No good. You are only cooking one day, so I will only play maid one day.”

Talon did not think that was enough time.

His mind put her in a maid’s dress as he drove into her, water streaming down his back, soaking the flimsy material of the dress.

“All right… How about a week of meals for a week of work? Is that fair?” He had to turn his body away from the shower to hide his erection.

“As long as I am allowed to refuse certain things.”

“What is considered unreasonable?”

“Anything I do not want to do,” Wren replied.

“That is not specific at all.”

“And that is the way I like it,” Wren sighed.

“If you actually win, we will hash out the details, agreed?”

“You think I will not win?”

“Of course.”

Talon thought for a moment.

“Agreed.”

“How many?”

“What?” Talon’s mind was on how he could escape the room without her seeing.

“The wager? How many will have porn in their room.”

“Just the guys.”

Wren raised an eyebrow at him.

This poor man was about to lose, and he did not even know it. Talon only shrugged in response.

“And you?”

“Every. Single. One.”

She moved next to him, aware of the heat radiating from Talon’s body as she wiped the mirror and he wiped the counters.

Wren could feel her body starting to respond to his heat. This bathroom was too small.

She noticed a bit of lint in his hair, and, swallowing hard, reached up and pulled the lint out of his hair very gently before quickly moving out of the small bathroom.

Talon stopped. What was that? He reached up and touched his hair.

~Did she just run her fingers through my hair? What the hell?~

“Wait a minute! What was that?”

“That?” Wren turned around. “You had a piece of lint in your hair.”

“You could have warned me you were going to get it.”

“I did not want you to get the wrong idea.”

“How the hell was I not going to get the wrong idea if you did not tell me what you were going to do?”

“Sorry,” Wren said, looking down. The easy banter was gone in an instant.

“It is all right. I just did not know what was going on. My first instinct is to fight, then question. I apologize as well.”

Without a word, they headed to Lily’s room.

At the door, Talon commented, “At least there will not be any porn in here.”

“I bet there is.”

“No way. Girls do not need porn.”

“Some girls like porn or even toys to help them…” Wren flushed. “Umm, pleasure themselves. I bet she found out what Eric was doing and…sure enough.”

On the bed was a towel with what must have been freshly washed toys laid out to dry. Talon could only stare.

“Really?”

“Really,” Wren said, noticing Talon’s cheeks start to flush. “Wish to revise your guess?”

Talon shook his head. “Nope. This was not even a wager. You win.”

They finished quickly, not disturbing the toys, and moved on to Michael’s room, where there were more porn movies and magazines strewn about.

Eric’s stash was impressive, but Michael’s was more varied. Wren was never going to be able to look at the two of them again.

Evan’s room followed Carrie’s, where, surprise, surprise, they had found more toys and even a few unmentionables that Wren was sure should not leave the bedroom, even if they were undergarments.

Talon gave her a wink and a smile, setting her heart beating rapidly, as they approached Evan’s door.

“I bet he is the worst offender.”

“I doubt he even knows what porn is.”

Talon let out a laugh. “Oh, he does. I remember that age well. I know for a fact Michael and Eric sometimes borrow from him.”

“I do not want to know.” Wren stopped in her tracks at the sight before her.