1
I knocked on the guest room door as I opened it and walked in. “Darby, the work guys are going to be arriving soon and…” I trailed off as my eyes landed on him.
Naked.
Completely fucking naked, water dripping down his body as he’d just gotten out of the shower. He only had a small towel in his hand and he was drying his hair with it.
“Like what you see?” he taunted, narrowing his eyes at me. “Just because I’m staying with you doesn’t mean you get a free peep show, Tamsin.”
I dragged my eyes away from his ripped body to meet his gaze. He wasn’t big like muscles on muscles, but every inch of him was sculpted, as if someone had airbrushed him. I licked my lips and glanced at his groin again, smirking when his dick twitched as it filled more.
“I think every woman would love to see what I am, but you apparently like I’m seeing you,” I threw right back, noting that there was a larger towel on the floor at his feet.
Oh, that dick dropped his towel when he’d sensed me.
“You keep teasing my dick and you’re going to suck it,” he warned, his voice full of heat and with a bit of a growl.
I met his gaze again and raised an eyebrow. “No, I’m not. I’ve never done that and I’m certainly not going to start with a guy who’s playing games with me like I’m a game to him.”
I felt better when he frowned as if he was finally realizing he wasn’t making his intentions clear and being an ass.
Yeah, idiot. If he wanted to play like I did with Craftsman—or even Hudson—I was cool with that. But my games weren’t mean in the same way he was sort of being.
Just to push his buttons back, I walked across the room and moved in front of him, smirking when his cock twitched again. I caught a drop of water off his chest with my finger. I brought it to my lips, his eyes glued to what I was doing, and moaned as I pushed my finger in my mouth.
“Too bad it’s only water and not something sweeter on your skin.”
His nostrils flared, hearing my innuendo loud and clear. Whether it was him kissing me or eating me out, any wetness from me would be sweeter.
I leaned in until we were almost kissing. “If you want to taste that sweetness, you know which room is mine, if you’re good though.”
He seemed under a spell when he leaned in too, but I turned on my heel and headed for the door.
“Mel and I have to be the adults so we were hoping you’d wanted to go with Izzy to get supplies. We only brought what we had at school that would go bad so we don’t have much.”
“Anything you need,” he offered.
I snorted as I looked at him over my shoulder. “You don’t really mean that or you’d smile more often and know I was well worth taking the leap.”
I left, not wanting to hear any more or whatever was next in his game. I had too much already going on and not in the mood. I was still fried from yesterday with Izzy’s family and waiting for the other shoe to drop.
And so was she, from the way she’d come to breakfast with a red nose and swollen eyes. I had no idea what to do to help her, but Mel just shook her head to leave it alone. It seemed the right move as Izzy acted like nothing was wrong or different.
If that was how she wanted to play it, I was down with that.
What I wasn’t down with was how things were going to go. Well, more like I didn’t fucking get it. Mel had been ordering appliances and whatnot we needed to replace, but I didn’t realize she hadn’t accepted delivery.
“You kept saying you and Craftsman were going to work on the barrier and we’d do more over break,” she explained when I met her in the kitchen and asked her what I was missing. “So I scheduled it all for now. You opened the door in the barrier or whatever?”
I nodded. “And made sure the energy reads not fairy. Or at least in the front. I can’t guarantee any of it, Mel, and certainly not if people are going to be snooping.”
“That’s why I hired people we know,” she said as she headed for the front of the house.
Huh?
I didn’t get a chance to ask as deliveries started showing up. Mel had them put it all in the first garage, saying we had a crew coming. So she knew how to handle this part, awesome.
Next, that crew showed up… And with a familiar face among them.
“Natalie?” I asked as she got out of the first van.
She snickered as she glanced at Mel. “You really didn’t tell her anything?”
I sighed. “No, Mel gets her jollies from my confusion and being behind.”
“I do not,” Mel growled. “I like surprising you with the cool. Trust me, you’ll think this is cool. If I told you Natalie would be part of it, you’d demand to know why.”
True, but I still wasn’t in the mood for any more surprises.
“There’s a reason I’m so good at the runes to change things,” Natalie explained, gesturing to the van. “My family business is home renovations and contractors.”
I put two and three together and still came up short. “And I’m guessing it’s not like humans do it?”
“Not even close,” a man chuckled as he approached us. I saw the same amber eyes Natalie had and realized he was family. “Marc Higgins, owner of Higgins Remodels and Expansions.”
“And my uncle,” Natalie added.
“Oh, cool.” I extended my hand to him. “Tamsin Vale, nice to meet you, Mr. Higgins.”
His eyes flashed shock but he smiled, shaking my hand. Did kids of elites really call adults by their first names because they weren’t rich? Or was it just that I was in college?
Probably because I was the boss.
I didn’t want to be the boss.
“I wish we had more together but there’s been a lot of crazy at school and with her being an unknown,” Mel explained after shaking his hand as well. “So let’s start with the kitchen and utility stuff and go from there.”
“Sounds good. You got us for your whole school break so we’ll get a lot done,” he promised.
“Thanks for this,” Natalie said under her breath as we followed the adults. “Work’s been kind of light since my family won’t kiss ass or kneel before the elites. My dad’s co-owner with his three brothers and a lot of shit started when me and my cousins hit college age and got scholarships. I’m sure you can fill in the blanks.”
I winced. Yeah, that would really be some shit and people using them for… Everything. If most of the elites were like the majority of people at school, they would use the Higginses for everything they could.
Assholes.
We headed into the kitchen, where Craftsman was introducing himself.
“Your niece is a shining example of what a witch can become if she applies herself,” he told Mr. Higgins. “I’ve never heard anything but praise from the faculty, and the dragon ice sculpture she designed floored more than those at Artemis.”
“Yeah, it was amazing,” Mr. Higgins agreed.
Right, Natalie had won Hudson’s competition and Darby had gotten third, the rest deciding to pick it up after midterms and the break.
“Thanks, Dr. Craftsman,” Natalie said, her face flushing at the praise. “I’m actually planning on joining my family’s company but focusing on that sort of creative aspect.”