Ivy: No, it’s a concern. I’m worried you won’t be able to get it up again when you get home, old man, and I’m wet and waiting.
I’ve a good mind to bend you over the bed and smack your ass for your cheek.
Ivy: Is that a promise?
The sexy little wench.
What are you doing?
Ivy: Lying in bed…
Don’t even think about touching yourself. Or you won’t be tied to the bed post, you’ll be tied to the kitchen table so the staff can see what happens to people who misbehave.
I smirk, taking another sip of whiskey. Ivy probably wouldn’t care who saw if she got to come at the end of it. My woman is insatiable, and I love it.
‘Okay, who the fuck put hearts in your eyes?’ Dermot’s staring at me like I’ve grown two heads and a pair of tits.
‘What?’ I stuff my phone into my pocket, ignoring as it vibrates with another message. My fingers itch to pluck it out and read Ivy’s text, but if Dermot so much as suspects I’m flirting with his sister, he’ll saw my cock off like a wronged Samurai.
‘The woman texting you.’ His cobalt eyes gleam with interest. ‘Who is she?’
‘No one.’ A stab of guilt pierces my chest. Not because Ivyis his sister, but because I said she was no one, and that’s the biggest lie of all.
She’s not no one.
She’s the woman who’s bringing me back to life. The woman whose smile stirs something in my chest that I never dared to dream I’d feel again. The woman who I see every time I close my eyes.
‘No one you need to worry about,’ I correct myself.
‘Ah ha! I knew it.’ His palm hits the table with a loud thwack. ‘Is it someone you met in Monaco?’
‘What makes you think that?’
‘Because you looked tired and guilty the other week when I called in and you’d only been back a matter of hours.’ He points an accusatory finger in my face, but he’s grinning from ear to ear. ‘Now stop deflecting and answer the question.’
‘Look, it’s still very new, but there is someone.’ I shrug.
‘That’s amazing!’ he says with genuine enthusiasm.
Rian chooses this moment to grace us with his presence.
‘Hey, Baby Beckett, congratulations on the club,’ Dermot stands and extends his hand in greeting.
‘Baby Beckett?’ Rian huffs. ‘Please! I might be the youngest, but have more experience than the rest of my brothers put together.’
Rian accepts Dermot’s hand and shakes it vigorously. I roll my eyes.
‘The real baby of the family is our sister, Zara. You might have met her?’
A devilish smirk lifts my little brother’s lips. ‘Don’t you have a sister too?’ He drops Dermot’s hand and motions for him to sit back down.
‘Yeah, Ivy. She’s actually nannying for Caelon at the moment.’
Rian clicks his fingers like he’s just remembered. Thelittle fucking punk. ‘Oh, that’s right. I met her at the beach before with the kids.’
Yeah, then you took her out to lunch and asked her what her favourite sexual position was. A vein pulses in my temple as I shoot Rian a look deadly enough to kill.
None of my brothers would ever tell Dermot about Ivy and me. Our loyalty to each other runs deeper than the ocean, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t take pleasure in tormenting me.
