Page 15 of Sweet Wicked Vows
“Close. Frederic,” Evelyn said softly. She reached for a glass of water, her slight fingers trembling as she brought it to her lips and gulped half the glass in one go.
“It’s the strangest thing. Have we met before?” Lexington asked. “I feel like I know your face.”
It’s because I look like my father, youbâtard.
I gripped the knife in my hand tightly until my knuckles blanched white.
“Maybe you read about him in a magazine,” she said. “Jaxon wasForbes Man of the Yearfor two years running. You love to readForbes. You’ve likely seen him there, Dad.”
It was enough to plateau him, turning back to being fed his dinner.
Me and my brothers decided to forgo our father’s family namethe second he stopped trying to keep his family together. He was as much of a parent to us as a fucking tree.
We took ourmaman’sfamily name in her honor.
Also, we did not wish to build a business, a new legacy with the old name and its failures attached to us.
I wondered if Lexington knew my former surname, would it click or had the bastards’ health declined so much that his mind was as useless as his body?
“How is your little company going, anyway?” Lexington asked, water dribbling from the corner of his mouth. “Last time I bothered to check in on our ‘competitors’, you were making a bit of a splash in the South American market.”
“I guess you could call it a bit of a splash,” I said with a clippedtone. “But I believe it’s impolite to discuss such manners at a dinner table. Business is for the office,non?”
Evelyn cleared her throat. “Dad, there’s actually something I need to tell you.”
Lexington weakly threw his hand up. “Impolite? Nonsense. We are both businessmen, are we not? Our lives are our business. Tell me, did you ever manage to secure that sponsor with that Dubai firm?”
“Dad…” Evelyn tried again.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I feigned boredom.
“Don’t act coy,” Lexington said. “Last I heard, you or your brother flew out to Dubai nearly five times last month.”
I took a sip of myMerlot. “Seems like you’ve been keeping an eye on ourlittlecompany.”
Lexington laughed, the noise rattling in his chest. “I merely like to keep up to date with the market.”
The other male at the table, who spent the entire time staring at me with equal parts of disgust and curiosity, slammed his hand down on the table. “For crying out loud, Dad. Evie is trying to talk to you. Could you shut up about business for more than five seconds and listen?”
Silence fell across the table.
Evelyn’s cheeks flamed.
“I’m sorry,” Lexington sighed. “Tell me what’s going on in your life, my darling Evie.”
She cleared her throat. Her eyes drifted up from her plate. Her shoulders drew so tightly together that it was any wonder her bones weren’t snapping.
Without thought, my arm lounged across the back of her chair, fingers brushing against her exposed neck. Evelyn’s entire body turned to stone. Her hair was bundled up, curls trying to break loose from the gold clip. She suited her hair down. However, the sight of her bare neck and the smoothness of her skin was abeauty no man could deny.
What sound would she make if I drove my teeth into her supple flesh? Would she moan as my tongue stroked the pain away? Would she beg me for more?
Blood surged straight to my cock.
“Please, do not get mad or stress out,” she said quietly. “I wanted to tell you for quite some time, but you got sick, and I didn’t feel like it was important.”
Her brother scoffed. “Oh yeah, because getting married isn’t important.”
“Who is getting married?” Lexington frowned. “One of your friends? Lola? Is she finally marrying that nice ice hockey player?”