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His warm breath fluttered against my neck as goosebumps spread up my arms. Great. Apparently, my body hadn’t gotten the memo that this was the enemy. No, she was a traitorous bitch who only had one thing on her mind. And that thing was pressed firmly against her ass.
He inhaled and pulled me tighter against him. Had he just smelled my hair?
“Get your damn hands off of me.” My voice was husky, and I wanted to slap myself for sounding so needy.
He chuckled, the rumble of his chest vibrating against my back. “Ask nicely.” He loosened his grip, but didn’t let go.
“Please,” I huffed, and laid my hands on top of his.
“Please what, Nova?”
If I turned my head just a little, his lips would be right there waiting for me. The same lips I had imagined many times while testing out the rose toy.
“Let me go.” I gripped one of his fingers and bent it backwards slightly.
He yanked his finger free and spun me around. My back was pressed against the door, his hands next to my head, pinning me in place. Heat was rolling off his body, and I couldn’t tell if it was from anger or from something else. It was too dark to see his expression, and that was freaking me out even more.
“Careful, Nova. I bite back.”
He didn’t have to remind me of that. Visions of him marking the inside of my thigh with his teeth flooded my memory, and I squeezed my legs together. A involuntary moan escaped my lips and he let out a deep breath. Damn my traitorous mouth.
“Nova, why are you here?”
Great question. Now if I could only remember the reason I had decided it was a good idea to come bang on his door. Oh, yes. I was a lioness. That was the reason. Not a horny teenager, but a fierce, unbreakable lioness. “I’m here to tell you that you need to unlock my side of the shared bathroom. Or else.”
He flipped the switch that was next to my head, and the room flooded with light. “Or else what?”
I narrowed my eyes and poked at his chest. “Or. Else.”
He threw his head back and let out a deep chuckle, which only irritated me further. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. Did he think I was joking? His eyes were on me again, but I couldn’t make out his expression. Amusement? Arousal? Whatever it was, I’d only come in here to make my point, and if he would not unlock the door, then I would.
I ducked under his arms and went straight for the bathroom, where I flicked the lock to the right. He didn’t follow me in there, and I debated if I should just leave through the bathroom door, but answering to Ryzen right now didn’t sound any more appealing than dealing with Cian. I walked back into Cian’s room, where he stood with his arms crossed, a grin over his face.
“Don’t do that again.” I bent down and picked up my clothes and threw the door open.
“Nova?” Cian called out to me when I was a few feet away. “Forgetting something?”
I turned to look, and he had my pair of granny panties dangling from his finger.Oh, well, that’s great. Nova La Roux, queen of grandma underwear.I kept my face neutral and walked back to where he stood with my hand out. He dropped them in my hand and smirked.You know, let him think what he wants. So what if I wear big underwear? They are comfy. Comfier than a string riding up your butt all day.I turned my back on him with as much dignity as I could muster and marched down the hall.
When I got back to the room, Ryzen was already gone. There was a note on the bed to head down for breakfast when I was ready, along with an itinerary. I was to have morning tea with some of the Covington women while Ryzen did business, and then in the afternoon we were teaming up for a family bakeoff and carnival. It was kind of strange. I had been under the impression that this was a week full of business dealings, but apparently Covington wanted to see how much family spirit we all had. Well, if he wanted family spirit, he was going to get it.
So long as I didn’t have to deal with Cian anymore.
I had half an hour before I was supposed to be downstairs. There were butterflies in my stomach. I wasn’t sure if it was because of Cian, Ryzen or the fact that I was being dumped at a tea party with a group of rich women that I would have absolutely nothing in common with. Ryzen had told me repeatedly that I was to play a part. And that part didn’t include being my fun, outrageous self who loved to talk about the benefits of using anal beads. No. I was to be proper. Classy. Boring.
Blah.
With twenty minutes to spare, I did what I should have done months ago. Google loaded onto my phone, and I punched in “Cian Blackwood.” My palms were sweating as I swiped through picture after picture of him. Unlike Ryzen, none of the pictures were in cheap tabloids. There were no pictures of him with women wrapped around him or calling him a “billionaire playboy.” Most of the articles were about his real estate business. Successful acquisitions, the expansion of his company. He was the owner of the Hellfire Club, the club I had met him at, along with another bar, the Heathens’ Lounge.
On page four of my Google search, I found a picture that made my breath catch. It was a picture of a smiling Ryzen and Cian, and they both had their arms wrapped around a woman in between them. They looked—happy. It was strange to see them that way. I scanned the article, looking for any clues to what was going on, but nothing popped out. There was no other mention of the woman, other than her name in small print under the picture—Gretchen Mastillo. This had to be the ex-fiancée. Cian seemed closer to her than Ryzen, which was a red flag in itself. I guessed men didn’t think about those things though. I shook my head and closed out of the browser. Every time I thought something nice about Cian, I had to remember what kind of person he was. And it wasn’t the good kind.
A few hours later, I was beginning to realize that I shouldn’t have judged a book by its cover so quickly. Because not only were the ladies at teatime hilarious, they were very much interested in my sexual wellness shop.
“You know that stick you’ve had up yer ass all your life, Lorraine? Well, Nova here has some lube she can sell ya to unstick it,” Betty yelled over a platter of cucumber sandwiches. The table filled with an uproar of laughter and high fives, while I tried not to spit out my mouthful of tea.
“Your husband didn’t seem to mind my uptight ways when he was chasing me around town, begging for a kiss.” Lorraine drank a sip of tea and winked at me as the group of ladies hooted and slammed their hands against the table.
“Ex-husband, ya heifer. Ex.” Betty placed her hand over her heart. “God rest his soul.”
