“If it pleases milady.”
His tone was light and teasing, his eyes sparkling and bright. I couldn’t look away, my heart speeding up at the raw intensity I saw lurking just beneath the surface. The world around us seemed to slow, and then it dropped away entirely—his focus applied solely to me, and mine to him. Heat blistered through me before pooling down low, pounding. Aching. Manifesting from those suddenly intense, beautiful cobalt-blue eyes.
“I never did take you on that perfect date we talked about,” he said softly, his sweet breath dusting my lashes.
Only then did I realize I’d leaned toward him. I found myself remembering the feel of his palm on my side. On my back. I loved the way he always gently steered me into the path of safety when we walked somewhere together. I loved that he was always respectfully aware of me and the world around me. It felt like being pampered for some reason. Like he was freeing me from all of life’s little trials.
“Okay, then.” I let out a deep breath and tore my gaze away from his. With effort, I turned to face my glass. “Yup.” I was just saying words to fill the silence. It wasn’t even an uncomfortable silence, which somehow made things worse. This guy needed to come with an emergency brake.
I probably needed to start dating again. Sure, I hadn’t sealed the deal with the handsome gargoyle who’d spent a short time at Ivy House, but that didn’t mean I should stop trying. I needed to end the dry spell before I embarrassed myself and leaned any closer to Austin.
“Drunk already?” I heard the laughter in his words.
“You’re as bad as Niamh. I’ve had, like, two sips. No, I am not drunk already.”
“So you’ve just taken to voicing your thoughts on the regular now?”
I froze, my eyes wide. “What? Why?” I asked, flustered. “What did I say?”
His dark chuckle brought on a rush of embarrassment that likely showed on my face. I’d clearly voiced the bit about the dry spell. Dang Ivy House for having a personality and seeming like a real person—I constantly talked to her, out loud, and clearly the practice had carried over into the parts of my life where I’d do better to keep my thoughts and feelings bottled up.
Not that I hadn’t always had a propensity to think out loud, but I usually had a better grip on myself when in public.
“I am from a long line of prosperous alphas, yes. On my mother’s side,” he said, then tried his newest pour of wine, wincing with the effort. “I’m a trust fund baby at this point, since I’ve done very little for myself. So far. The money’s been sitting there, collecting interest, waiting for me to rise to my potential.”
“What if you never did?”
“My brother’s kids will get everything when I die. If I don’t use it, they’ll be set for life, even if something happens to my brother’s territory. If I can create and run a prosperous territory, they’ll get even more. Can’t lose.”
“Oh cra—” I’d taken a sip of the new wine while he was talking, the taste of this one setting off a party of awful in my mouth. I swung the glass his way, not wanting to suffer alone. “So now that you’ve claimed your title, you’re going to buy up some businesses?”
“Yes. It’s time for me to invest in the territory. I’ll also need to help more of our kind obtain seats of power. I need to build a pack from scratch. It would’ve been easier to move into a place already structured for our kind.” He shrugged. “I wanted a challenge—I got it.”
We received our next pours, and I eyed them dubiously. “Can I be in your pack? I promise I won’t bring Mr. Tom.”
When the silence stretched, I glanced over, only to be caught in his gravity and intensity. Desire moved within his gaze, unfurling a luscious and luxurious and horribly uncomfortable feeling within me. This wasn’t good. He was supposed to be off-limits. Permanently friend-zoned. Anything physical would ruin this easiness that we had. It would add strings neither of us wanted. No, a friend was all Austin Steele could ever be, mouth-watering smile and hypnotic stare be damned.
Need that emergency brake!
“I was just kidding,” I whispered, my mouth suddenly dry, my stomach flipping.
He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a money clip stuffed with cash. “Let’s move on. I’ve got what I needed. Let’s day drink down the way, then we’ll go pick out that TV. When are your parents coming again? I want to make sure I’m around to watch the fireworks.”
Three
“Please, miss, stop obsessing. Everything is going to be just fine.”
I laid a blanket across the seat of the comfiest leather chair I could buy. Well…that Mr. Tom could buy. He had wrestled me away from the cashier again so he could pay. He was starting to give me a complex by not letting me buy things for myself.
The chair faced a large TV mounted on the wall, the cords hidden within a little white plastic strip running down to the ground. Eventually I’d get an electrician in here to put a plug in that spot so the cables would be hidden.
The rest of the furniture that had already filled the room, not matching the new leather chair, was resituated so other people could sit in here and watch TV, too.
We hadn’t been able to get a quick enough appointment for proper cable, but Niamh’s bar connection had outfitted us with a somewhat obscure black box. Given these were desperate times, I hadn’t asked questions, just hoped it was magical rather than illegal. I’d go the traditional cable route when there was time.
I’d deliberately chosen a sitting room close to the kitchen so my father wouldn’t have far to go for a snack.
“I know, I’m just…” I straightened up to make sure the furniture looked okay and not like a collection of flea market items haphazardly placed around the room.
“It’s not cold enough for a blanket anyway.” Mr. Tom moved to grab it.
“No, no.” I put out my hand to stop him. “It’s the fart blanket.”
Mr. Tom yanked back his hands. “I beg your pardon?”
“I think he uses a blanket so he doesn’t stick to the leather, but it also contains all the farts.”
A look of horror crossed Mr. Tom’s face. “Who are these people?”
“These people are my parents, and they’ll get weirder, don’t worry.”
I clicked on the TV, nodded when the picture came on, clicked it off again, and laid the remote on the chair arm. I pointed at the empty space to the right of it. “Where’s that end table? He needs a place to put his drinks. And the iPad. Put the iPad on the table.” At least we had Wi-Fi. It was one less thing to worry about.
I made my way to the kitchen and found Jasper loitering near the wall. He wasn’t on duty, but he also didn’t have a life other than watching over me. He could be found hanging around most times.
Jasper’s brow furrowed when I pointed at him. “We need to come up with a reason you’re always just standing around.” He watched me silently. “Or maybe you can just stand around outside? Normal homeowners don’t have bodyguards loitering around.”
“You are not a normal homeowner,” Mr. Tom said, catching up to me.