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“For ten minutes, then three-fifty for twenty.” She slapped my ass, and I inhaled sharply. The flesh there was still slightly tender after the luscious punishment Cian had given me.
“OK, sorry, Mommy.” I batted my eyelashes at her.
“Has anyone ever told you guys your friendship is very, very strange?” Eros chuckled as he leaned over the kitchen counter, watching us as we prepared for dinner. We typically got together every Sunday, but since Halloween was this weekend, we decided to move it up.
“Yes,” Juliet and I said in unison.
“Eros, be a dear and grab some more wine bottles from upstairs.” Juliet winked at him, and he straightened his back.
“And what do I get in return?” He arched an eyebrow, a playful grin spread across his face.
“I’ll tell you what you won’t get—a kick in the ass. Now go.” She turned him around and pushed him towards the stairs.
“Are you ever going to tell me what’s going on between you two?” I leaned against the counter and grinned into my wine glass. She froze for a moment, her cheeks flushing. “It’s so obvious, Jules.”
She blew her golden-blonde bangs out of her face, scrunching up her nose. “Nothing is going on.” Oh, God, she was a terrible liar, and I told her as much. “I’m not lying.” She couldn’t even keep a straight face. “OK, not that he hasn’t tried, but nothing’s going on. Anyway, enough about me. Have you heard anything else from Delove?”
I paused for a moment, my smile slipping from my face.
“Crap, Nova. Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. We shouldn’t talk about that shit tonight.”
“Don’t apologize.” It wasn’t like I hadn’t been obsessing over the whole situation myself the last few days. What, were we all supposed to pretend that there wasn’t some psychopath out there waiting to kill me? Well, Dr. Loomis would say yes. But after the dress incident, it was almost impossible. “It’s OK. No, I haven’t heard from him.” Not that I was expecting any kind of good news from him, anyway.
“From whom?” Cian came around the corner dressed in a tight white T-shirt and low-slung jeans. His hair was wet from the shower and the greedy part of me wanted to kick everyone out right at that moment so that I could have my way with him. My eyes ate him up as he stalked closer and wrapped me in his arms. He lifted my chin up, kissing me. “If you don’t stop that, I will make everyone leave right now,” he murmured.
I smiled against his lips, kissing him back. “Promise?” I whispered, and he groaned.
“Delove,” Juliet chimed in right at that moment and we both turned to her. “I was asking if she had heard back from him about the handwriting.”
Cian tensed under my palms, our little magic spell broken in an instant. “I just spoke with him,” Cian grumbled and opened the oven to check on the casserole.
“You did?” I sat next to Jules at the bar and sipped from my glass.
“He said any day now we would get the handwriting analysis back.” Cian braced his hands against the bar top. “I don’t want you to worry. Or you.” He glanced between me and Juliet. “It’s under control.”
She knocked her leg against mine and we both nodded. I had a feeling things were far from under control, but I also had a lot of faith in Cian to keep me safe. Keep us all safe. Just like he had been doing. I still hadn’t mentioned the Voledetti knife or the pictures and news article I had found a few days ago to Cian. Funny how it felt like I was the one keeping a secret now, even though it might have been the other way around. But I wasn’t going to push open that door if he didn’t want me to. He would have to crack it open first. There was too much going on right now, and I didn’t want to open old wounds when it was probably unnecessary.
Valik burst through into the kitchen with a big bowl in his hands, Thora trailing right behind him. “Party’s here.” He raised the bowl over his head and swiveled his body around in a weird dance.
Eros came down the stairs with a box of wine bottles and chuckled. “Dude, you need to work on your dance moves. Let me show you.” He placed the box down on the dining table and moonwalked backwards toward Valik. “Trust me.” Eros spun around and swiveled his hips. “This will get you all the ladies.”
“Jesus,” Cian muttered under his breath and took the box of bottles out to the terrace. We all burst out laughing as Eros tried to get Valik to mimic the moves he was doing. Valik’s big bulky body wiggled around and, when he couldn’t do the moonwalk, he resorted to doing the robot, which he was also terrible at.
“You guys.” Thora clapped her hands together and jumped up on the bar top between Juliet and I. “You’re not going to believe this. I just got off the phone with the senior buyer from R.L. Hemingway’s.”
Juliet and I straightened our backs and glanced at each other. R.L. Hemingway’s was a top luxury retail brand that focused on mostly jewelry for women. Cian had gotten me several pieces from them, including a diamond-encrusted snake bracelet that wrapped around my wrist and up my forearm. They were unique in their designs and had a months-long waitlist, unless you were a VIP client.
“They want to set up a meeting to discuss collaborating on a piece specifically for them. She didn’t give too many details, but they seemed interested in a version of the Octopussy.” Thora threw her hands up and grinned. “This is huge.”
“Oh, my God, they want the Octopussy?” Juliet grabbed my shoulders. “They want the Octopussy, Nova.” She shook me.
Thora wiggled her finger at us. “Ah-ah, a version of it. She said something ‘discreet and classy,’ whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean.” She chuckled.
We squealed and hugged each other, squeezing Thora between us. Holy shit, that would be beyond incredible to have our product in a store like R.L. Hemingway’s. That would be life-changing.
When we were all sitting around the dining table out on the terrace a short time later, Thora repeated what she had told us. A collective applause came from everyone, and my heart thumped with happiness.
“Good job, little star,” Cian whispered into my ear as the table erupted in conversation.
