“Let me help,” Erin offered as she chased after him.“I’ll get a bin bag and tidy up.”
“I guess I’ll just sit here, then.”Laughing at my inability to do much else, I watched as they both left the room.
I’d appreciated everything Owen had done for me and I’d make the most of his hospitality, but it would be a cold day in hell before I trusted him.
Chapter Sixteen
Spiraling Sentiments
Erin
Glancing up from Owen’s laptop, I watched as Eli flexed his injured arm and splayed his fingers.It had been two days since we’d landed at my brother’s door; time that had allowed his body to start healing and his mood to improve.I was pleased to see his ease of movement was increasing, but I also sensed his hesitation at remaining at Owen’s.One day had bled into two, justified mainly by his pain and the multiple funeral arrangements I was helping Owen with.I’d called work to tell them about Mum and ask for time away from the office, and I’d been busy supporting Owen with registering her death and choosing a funeral home, but I could tell my lover was itching to get away.
I understood his reticence.We hadn’t really planned to go there.It had been a last-minute decision of mine after he’d been shot and his symptoms exacerbated, and in pain, Eli hadn’t been in a position to argue.Owen had helped him, and Eli had expressed his gratitude, but Eli would obviously have preferred to leave.The news about Mum’s passing, though, had given me another problem.
She hadn’t been a young woman, but I hadn’t expected her to pass.Apparently, it had been an aneurysm that had snatched her away, and according to Owen, no one could have anticipated the outcome, but his logic did little to console me.She’d been on her own when she died, maybe confused and in pain.That thought slashed at me, hurting more than even her loss.I’d been angry that she’d been ‘ignoring’ my message when, in reality, the poor woman had died.The simmering guilt gnawing at me was difficult to disregard.
Perhaps Eli sensed the weight of my stare, but he peered up, his tantalizing eyebrow arching.
“Something I can help you with, little girl?”
Hearing my pet name, my focus flew to the open doorway, panic surging that Owen might have been in earshot.Given recent circumstances, there hadn’t been much inclination for carnality since we’d arrived, but I wasn’t ready to explain our less-than-conventional dynamic to my brother.
Relieved to see Owen wasn’t loitering in the doorway, I looked back to the man who’d ripped a huge and enticing hole in the world I’d known before the hike in Niantes.
Eli.
Looking at him then, it was difficult to remember a time he hadn’t been in my life.Usually so strong, capable, and larger than life, he seemed to have become the center of everything.Even then, when I should have been helping Owen with the funeral arrangements, it was Eli who’d stolen my attention.He’d admitted that he used to kill for a living and also shared some of his ongoing mental health issues—two concessions I knew it wouldn’t have been easy for him to make—yet still, I yearned for him.I wanted to discover more, to devour as much knowledge about him as I could to help me understand who he was.It made me wonder if there was anything he could tell me that would quell my ardor.
“I didn’t think you were going to call me that here.”My voice was an embarrassed whisper.
We’d had the conversation about how we’d refer to each other around Owen that first night after taking over one of my brother’s guest bedrooms.
“Did I agree to that?”Eli’s tone was sardonic.“I don’t think so.”
“Well…” I shifted awkwardly on my seat.
It was technically true.He’d been in so much pain at that point that he probably didn’t even recall the conversation, but I had made my case.Owen and I had a great relationship, but he didn’t need to know about my newfound kinks.I wasn’t sure I’d ever want to have that chat with my brother, but I needed time to accept who I was before I contemplated it.
“Well?”His echo was knowing.
“Please, sir.”I lowered my voice, throwing another anxious glance toward the empty doorway.“I need to deal with the funeral before I can even think about how he’d respond to our dynamic.”
“I know.”Eli’s expression softened.“That’s why you’re getting a reprieve, little girl, but it only applies when he’s in hearing range.You’re still mine.”
He mouthed the final three words, the dangerous gleam in his gray eyes the surest sign yet that he was recovering well.
A thankful smile rose to my lips at the same moment I squeezed the muscles at the apex of my thighs.For all of the trauma of the last few days, the terrible things I’d seen and experienced, and my own awful culpability, Eli’s allure wasn’t lost on me.My savior and my dictator; he was still the most complicated, fascinating, and tempting man I’d ever met.
“So, which one do you like?”Owen wandered in from the kitchen, placing his almost empty cup down on the table between me and Eli.
“Which what?”Flustered to be thinking about the sizzling sexual chemistry between Eli and me in front of Owen, my attention flitted to my brother.
“The flowers.”Owen gestured to the selection on the screen in front of me.“We need to let the funeral home know by the end of today.”
“Right.”Blowing out a breath, I scanned the choices again.“I like these, but none of them are cheap.”
“Forget about the money.”Owen walked behind me to check the ones I preferred.“I’ll pay for now, and we’ll make it up from probate.Mum’s house will sell for at least half a million.”
