“I like the way that sounds.”
The corners of his eyes crinkled. “I like the sounds you make while I’m doing it.”
And just like that, he worshipped her again from head to toe, and she made all the sounds he might ever want to hear.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Hands laced together, Jules and Rhys ambled down the corridor. Most of the people who had been in her parents’ living room had probably left. At least, that was her hope. A nap with Rhys had done more for her mental health than she could have expected, but even with that, she didn’t want to face a dozen attorneys.
“We’ll go this way.” She led him from the upper floor to a back stairwell that connected the living quarters to her parents’ offices and the kitchen. Abigail always joked that the back stairs were there for cheaters to sneak people in and out without anyone the wiser.
Raised voices slowed their descent. Rhys tucked her to his side, both of them eavesdropping. It didn’t sound like her parents. They didn’t bicker or fight.
“That’s Tabitha.”
He nodded, pushing his lips together to silently shush her.
He’d never struck her as the nosy type before. If anything, he wanted nothing to do with the behind-the-scenes gossip that so often crossed their paths. Jules avoided it as well. That they were still standing here, still listening, needled her. Tabitha’s bitchy moments weren’t new, and she wasn’t in private, but hovering close by didn’t sit right. “We really shouldn’t—”
Rhys held up a hand.
All right.Rhys was breaking character and eavesdropping. Jules didn’t know what to do with that, but her curiosity was piqued. “Who’s she fighting with? Is that Abs?”
“What the hell are you bitching about now?”Thatwas Abigail, and she’d interrupted Tabitha and…Who?
Rhys tugged Jules. “Let’s join the party.”
They rounded the corner to find Abigail scowling at Sloane and Tabitha. Why would Tabitha have been arguing with Sloane?
Jules tried for nonchalance, like they hadn’t just been spying on her cousin. “Surprise, surprise. It’s a hallway hangout.”
No one smiled at Jules’s banter.
“Tough crowd. What’s going on?”
Tabitha matched Abigail’s scowl, swinging her nasty expression from Sloane to Jules. “Not everyone can run upstairs for a loud screw.”
“Whoa, Tabs. What the hell is your problem?”
“Oh, look. The perfect princess grows a spine.”
Rhys’s hold on her arm flexed. Jules had had so much of Tabitha’s passive-aggressive fuckery over the years that this, graduating to face-to-face shit talking, wasn’t much of a leap. But her saying it in front of Rhys, with everything that had happened with them over, and Abigail, who had sworn Tabitha was a first-class problem, was like pulling up a front-row chair to a trainwreck.
“Consider me shocked,” Tabitha kept going, “after all the bending over backward you’ve done to make everyone love you—”
“Have you been drinking or something? What is your problem?” Jules needed Tabitha to shut up before Rhys threw her out on her whiny ass.
“Or maybe that lack of a spine is what everyone loves.” Tabitha tilted her head to Rhys. “Is that how you got her on her knees so fast?”
Jules swatted her hand against Rhys’s chest to keep him from removing Tabitha with force, but she focused her laser-like gaze on her cousin. “Get out.”
“This isn’t helpful,” Sloane said to Tabitha at the same time.
Tabitha pushed toward Jules and Rhys. “This isn’t your house. You can’t tell me to leave.”
Abigail matched Tabitha’s movements. “It’s sure as shit not yours.”
“I’m more welcome here than either of you.”
