Page 19 of King of Temptation

From the office space he’d rented in the building across the street from Goldie’s apartment, Brody watched her make her way down the sidewalk toward Rev and Roll.

But that wasn’t right. In the nearly two months he’d been watching her—since before she’d made herself a pain in his ass, though he’d never actually admit that to anyone—he’d never seen her make two trips to the bakery in one day.

So what was the special occasion?

Only one way to find out.

Tucking his laptop away for later, he locked the office door behind him and jogged down the steps rather than wait for the elevator. The building was still under renovation, and clearly the old, slow-as-molasses-in-December elevator was toward the bottom of the list of things to upgrade.

Unlike that time he’d caught Goldie tailing him, Brody kept a respectable distance from his target, watching her from nearly a block away as she did indeed stop in front of the bakery, her head on a swivel as she scanned her surroundings.

Waiting on someone.

A date?

Jealousy clawed at his insides at the mere thought of another man putting his grubby hands on her. On what was his. No matter how many different ways he tried to remind himself that she wasn’t now, and would never actually be his, it didn’t seem to matter. She invaded his every thought, his every dream, an obsession he couldn’t shake.

An obsession that had only grown worse now that he knew exactly what she looked like when she came all over his hand with her bottom still pink from his discipline.

Fuck.

It took all of his considerable willpower not to march right up to her and demand an explanation for this deviation from her routine. Only the knowledge that he’d be tipping his hand and she’d know he’d been watching her kept him from doing exactly that.

Instead, he made his way over to a little children’s clothing boutique and pretended to browse the racks of onesies and other ridiculously tiny clothing while he watched.

And waited.

Even from across the street, he could see the way her whole face lit up when she spotted her date. When he finally got his hands on whoever she was grinning at like that, he⁠—

Aria?

The jealous monster inside him settled down as he watched his cousin’s wife embrace Goldie like they were old friends. Which, considering everything they’d been through together in the short time they’d known each other, he supposed was fair enough.

Trauma had a way of binding people together, for better or worse.

Pulling his phone from his pocket, he glanced down just long enough to send a message before refocusing on the women as they made their way into the bakery.

* * *

[Brody: Where’s Aria?

Killian: What the fuck do you mean where’s Aria? She’s with you.]

* * *

That explained why she didn’t have a security detail with her. Sneaky brat.

* * *

[Brody: She’s not, but I’ve got eyes on her. Was just curious if you knew she was wandering downtown Charleston without a guard.

Killian: I swear to god she’s trying to give me a fucking heart attack. Keep an eye on her for me.

Brody: Already on it.]

* * *

Mentally shaking his head at Aria’s antics, he plucked a couple cute dresses from the rack and made his way to the counter. Aria kept referring to the baby as a ‘she’ even though they hadn’t officially announced the gender yet, but he could always exchange it for something else if it turned out she was wrong.