Now it was Miles' turn to blush. He'd had no idea that Raul and Penny had ever been in that sort of a lifestyle. He turned an appraising look at Penny, but she just grinned mysteriously in return. "So, you've already been dosed, as you indicated earlier," Miles reiterated, turning back to Jan. "Are you feeling any pressure, or would you prefer to wait until after we get the kids to bed?'
Jan looked thoughtful for a moment. "I won't lie. I could jump you right here in front of God and everybody. But that's more because you always get me like that. Not because of the serum." Miles' eyebrows attempted to crawl into his hairline at this news. Jan noticed his reaction, and continued with a slight grin, "I think I can keep it under control until later this evening. That would probably save us from having to explain to Trent why mommy had to take a nap, and how she can't be disturbed."
Miles and Penny agreed that this was a good plan. He stood and hugged both women in a big group hug, kissing each on the forehead. Penny, however, was not to be denied and stood up on her tiptoes to give Miles a full-on kiss, ending it with a loud 'mwah!' and turning her head to grin at Jan. Mirroring her grin, Jan did likewise, stretching up and pulling Miles down slightly so she could also give him a kiss. It occurred to Miles that Jan was slightly shorter than Penny when he had to lean down a bit to allow his new partner to give him a warm, wet kiss of her own. His thoughts were knocked askew when Jan grabbed his ass, turned to Penny and gave her the same sort of kiss.
****
The welcome-aboard behind them, Miles offered to give them both a walk-through of the house, doing as Penny had suggested yesterday. The house had changed in subtle ways during the years since Beth's passing - much of the woman's touch had been erased, as the menfolk had left their marks. The house had been custom built a decade earlier, allowing Miles to ensure certain requirements and specifications were met by the builders. It was basically an L-shaped two-story home, the kitchen being the mid-point downstairs, with rooms extending in either direction, with most of the rooms on the ground floor. The downstairs rooms included a very large master suite, which included an en-suite, extra-large walk-in closet - Miles saw Penny jotting something down in a tiny notebook, and grinned to himself, recalling how Beth had described her as a ferocious note-taker and list-maker - French doors that led out to the pool enclosure, and a large, attached den which served as Miles' home office.
Leaving the master suite via the den, they passed the entrance foyer, the front doors on the left and the living room on the right. The living room held a large L-shaped couch, Miles' chair, and a big flat-panel TV mounted on the wall opposite the master suite. It also had French doors that opened out to the lanai and pool enclosure.
Past the living room was the formal dining room to the left with a big cherry-wood China Cabinet and large dining table capable of seating twelve. To the right was a large pantry concealed behind a sliding barn door. Both women had to poke their heads into the pantry, Penny again jotting down something in her notebook, before continuing with the tour, taking them to the right, into the kitchen. The kitchen was quite large - quartz countertops, stainless steel appliances, a center island as well as a table that could seat ten with the leaf put in - and flowed into the other half of the home. Jan spent a moment checking out the commercial grade side-by-side refrigerator, then hummed a bit in approval.
Passing through the kitchen toward the back of the house was a large family room with a fireplace and a large flat panel TV over the mantel, an overstuffed sofa, loveseat, and chair - all with reclining seats - arranged for viewing the TV. To the left was a small hallway that led to a pair of bedrooms separated by a Jack-n-Jill bathroom. The right-hand wall held a third set of French doors leading out to the covered lanai and pool enclosure.
Penny noticed that the outdoor eating area and kitchen had been replaced sometime in the past year or so with an outdoor exercise area, seeing multiple exercise stations as they walked past.
Finally, to complete the downstairs, an in-law suite just beyond a pocket door on the far end of the family room, having an attached bathroom which also had a door that led out to the pool enclosure. The in-law suite downstairs had originally been used as Beth's craft room, but since her death it had been remodeled to become a guest room-slash-library. The room contained a king-size wall bed concealed behind large sliding bookshelves.
Exiting the kitchen in the other direction - toward the front of the house - was the entrance to the mud room which contained the washer and dryer, a large upright freezer, a mud-sink, and the door out to the garage. The garage - oversized, extra-deep, extra tall with 4 extra-wide bays - only housed Miles' SUV, a blue-jean colored late model Ford Expedition he called the Beast. Beth's car had been totaled in the accident, and Miles had not planned to get a second vehicle until next year when Marcus would have been old enough to drive.
The bottom of a staircase was between the kitchen and the mud room, rising up to the right, which led to the second floor, containing another pair of bedrooms separated by a bathroom that mirrored the pair below, plus a bonus room that served as a game room, hosting a large wall-mounted TV, game system and an old oversized sectional couch occupying the half facing to the rear of the house - currently occupied by the three children as they maintained unwavering focus on a racing game.
At the far end of the windows was what had originally been an upstairs master suite - including large walk-in closet and attached bathroom - which Miles had converted into a home theater. Penny paused to look around, making more notes as she went, clicking her tongue as she mulled over private thoughts. Jan just walked around the large space, taking it all in, a look of wonder on her face.
Back downstairs, Miles led the girls out through the in-law suite bathroom, then left to exit via the rear door of the pool enclosure, out to the back yard, where another large two-story building that appeared to be a large garage or mancave was located. Inside the ground floor of the outbuilding was a large workshop with one long bank of windows that looked back toward the pool. The room itself had a poured concrete floor, as well as several work benches containing wood-working equipment and power tools, a full bathroom to the right, and a doorway that led to an equally large hobby room that included a full-sized computer-guided machining rig and a large rack of 3D printers, as well as another work bench with a laptop, extra-large monitors, and drafting table next to it.
Upstairs were two finished bedrooms, each containing a small walk-in closet, separated by another full bathroom, as well as a large common room that had not been furnished, complete with kitchenette and living area. The rooms all had ceiling fans and window blinds but were otherwise unfurnished.
The building was air conditioned by a dual unit HVAC system, similar to the house, but with one key difference. Miles pointed out that this building was not connected to city power, but instead had a battery closet in the back, along with an inverter and control board, all supporting the solar panel array he'd placed on the roof. In addition, this building was not connected to city water or sewage, but instead connected to a well and septic tank. Miles had designed and built the whole building to function entirely off-grid as an experiment.
Back outside, he showed them around the property perimeter - including the third structure, his small 15' x 15' shed where he kept the riding mower, his and the boys' bicycles, lawn tools, various parts from projects not-yet-started, spare PVC and lumber.
The edges of his yard were marked on three sides by a heavy tree line starting about 50 yards from the house, with the front open, facing the south, and a long black-top private drive leading out to NE 53
rd
Avenue. His actual property line was somewhere back in the trees, but he'd deliberately chosen to leave the remaining growth in place.
Miles had purchased the acreage after researching future zoning and building plans, deliberately choosing a site where he would have no neighbors for the foreseeable future. Both women were impressed that his property was so large, and yet he had no neighbors. Clearly, the man liked his privacy.
"Jesus, Miles, how were you able to afford all of this?" Jan finally asked
Miles looked a little embarrassed, hesitating for a moment before he responded. "Before I got married to Beth, I was pretty frugal. When I got my commissioning bonus, I invested the whole shebang into the little-know startup called google, based on the advice of one of my mentors. This was a venture cap move - pre-IPO. Did the same thing a few years later when I got my Nuclear bonus. Turned out to be a pretty fucking successful gambit. I've made a few additional investments since then - they've all added up. Oh, and technically, I don't own any of this. All of this," he held his arms out wide and turned to encompass all of the property, "is owned by an LLC, which in turn is managed by a holding company, which is managed by a revokable living trust... it's all a bit complicated, but suffice to say I do alright, between my state income and reserves income, but my trust is fucking loaded."
