Page 60 of Shattered Hearts
When I think of that sweet smile that graces Riley’s face when she speaks to her colleagues or the way she patched me up when all I’d done the day before was act like a giant prick, rage sizzles in my chest.
The man I’ve been reporting to all this time sold his daughter to an abusive asshole. And when that bastard hurt her, she came to her father for help, and he told her to suck it up.
Fuck.
I thought I’d go put Goatee through some more pain, but my current appetite for violence is focused on Riley’s father. If I can’t use it onhim,what’s the damn point?
I’d rather get back to my aching cock, which has been chanting Riley’s name since she locked her lips to mine a few hours ago. I skip Goatee, leave the Interrogation Unit behind, and resurface on the upper floors of the mansion.
Outside the door to my suite, I hesitate, imagining Riley inside. My heart is doing something in my chest, something it absolutely shouldnotbe doing.
Riley moving in with me was a spur of the moment solution. It’s definitely the right answer for her safety, but otherwise, I didn’t think this throughat all.
Obviously, my bed is big enough for both of us, but after the way we kissed back there at Riley’s apartment? I can’t afford any more mistakes. Any more distractions. Not with Red Hill Mafia members running around trying to kill us.
Besides, she’s my future sister-in-law.
The thought sours my stomach.
I key into my suite and glance around. “Riley?”
Silence.
I remember that face she made in the garage. Pink cheeks and horror hiding between her quizzical eyebrows.I can’t just walk into an enforcer’s suite.
What are the odds she’s downstairs waiting for me to finish up because she’s too weirded out by the idea of coming up here on her own?
I’m out the door, down the hallway, and hurrying down the central staircase when I find myself standing eye to eye with Cian.
He hides it well, but I can tell he’s distracted.
His eyes flick toward the window beside us and then to me. “Where you headed?”
“Nowhere.” I try to mask the urgency in my voice.
He raises an eyebrow. “Did you lose your wife?”
Wife.
Heat rises to my neck, but I will not fucking blush. “Umm…”
The asshole grins. “Think I saw her heading to her old bedroom.”
Her room?I squint at him.
Oh, right. Riley’s in her sister’s suite.
I don’t know how Cian knows the whereabouts of my fake bride, but as long as he doesn’t find out her identity and blow our cover, I don’t care. “Probably for clothes. She’s always telling me my closet’s too small.” An idea hits me, and I stride past Cian into the second floor hallway. “Actually, I should help her.”
Cian doesn’t say anything as I jog down the hall and turn left, headed toward what we call the children and family wing. The kids of the Gallagher elite usually live in the apartments in this region of the mansion. I know where Harper’s room is, but as soon as I get to the door, I panic, spin around, and head back upstairs to my own suite.
The first reason is because I don’t have a key or the code to Harper’s room. Despite our impending nuptials, she and I arenotclose enough to have shared that information, so getting inside on my own would require me lurking in the hallway, knocking on her door like a jackass.
If anyone saw me, rumors would fly tomorrowabout my marriage with Harper being on the rocks.
Second, when I’m alone with Riley, my sense of reason goes out the window. And I don’t want to wind up fucking her on her sister’s—my fiancée’s—bed.
By the time I get back upstairs to my empty apartment, I’m actually happy I’m alone. Because my suite is only a few degrees from a pigsty.