Page 30 of Devoured By You
It was as if I hadn’t spoken. Blay made a frustrated noise, glaring at his cousin. “Okay, that’s it.” He gripped Aspen by the arm and frog-marched her to the door. Opening it, he guided her into the corridor. “Go get a drink or a massage. I need an hour.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Make that two.”
Shutting the door in her face, he activated the deadlock and combed his fingers through his hair. He pivoted slowly. A veil of unease washed over his face as he slowly lifted his eyes to mine, a sheepish tilt to one side of his mouth.
“I’m so fucking sorry. I got caught up in you, and then having to leave you to go fix some diva’s nonissue, it slipped my mind that Aspen was sharing this suite, too. She wasn’t even supposed to fucking be here. I’d never have put you in that position if I’d known she’d find you.” He palmed his neck. “Say something.”
“I tried. Three times. But you and your cousin were far too busy taking chunks out of one another to hear me. She’s… feisty.”
“Yeah. Aspen’s a woman in a man’s world. She’s been around tough men all her life, and she knows how to handle them better than most.” He strode over to me and sat in the seat Aspen had vacated when she’d jumped up to punch him. “I’m surprised you haven’t walked.”
“Do you want me to go?”
“No! Christ, no. The whole time I was dealing with Scarlett, I couldn’t stop thinking about you and all the things I’d do to you when I got back.”
I frowned. It couldn’t be… could it? “Scarlett? As in Scarlett Rose?”
“One and the same.”
“Wow. I adore her movies. I can’t believe I’m sailing with Hollywood royalty.”
“More like royal pain in my ass. Don’t believe the public image. She’s a fucking diva.”
“What a dis—” My phone rang. I cursed. “Hang on.” Reaching into my bag, I retrieved my phone. Addison’s name scrolled across the screen. “It’s one of my friends. Can you give me a sec?” Rising from the couch without waiting for an answer, I padded into his bedroom, my stomach clenching at the sight of the ruffled bedsheets. “Hey,” I said into the mouthpiece.
“Oh, how disappointing. You answered, and you’re not huffing and puffing. I take it you and Mr. Alpha didn’t work out? Where are you?”
I couldn’t help grinning. “In Mr. Alpha’s bedroom.”
“Has he fucked you already? Doubly disappointing. Looking at him, I’d have thought he had more staying power than that.”
Now wasn’t the time to repeat what had happened with Blay tying me up and his cousin discovering me. And knowing Addison’s big mouth, there probably wouldn’t ever be a time to repeat it.
“We haven’t slept together.”
“Trebly disappointing.”
A laugh fizzed in my throat.
“Well, if you’re not getting thoroughly shagged, you might as well meet us for dinner as planned.”
“Um…” How did I manage this? “Hang on a sec.”
I put the phone on mute and returned to the living room. Blay had poured himself a drink. Something amber. Whiskey or brandy, maybe. He glanced up at me as I appeared.
“You don’t have to say yes, but—”
“Yes.”
“That’s a dangerous response. I could have been about to ask you to sign over your fortune to me.”
“I would, as long as you signed over your life to me in return.”
I poked my tongue into the side of my cheek. “Smooth. Also a lie.”
He hitched a shoulder. “Gotta give me credit for effort.”
“Three out of ten.”
“Harsh.”