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Slowly, our laughter died down, and we all finished our meal.
“Go put it in the sink,” I asked Bella once she was done and already slipping out of her chair.
“We have a person for that,” Lux said quickly.“Don’t tell me you’ve been making her do it.”
I raised a brow.I knew she probably employed someone to clean the house, but I’d never seen them.
Regardless, in my world, cleaning up after yourself was an important skill to learn.Lux could insist that Bella didn't do the dishesafterI left.While I was here, she would be doing it, and I would be doing mine as well.
“It’s polite,” I argued.“And I’m not making her do anything.It’s a suggestion.”
“I’ll take yours too, Juliette,” Bella said, then paused to look at Lux.“Notyours.”
A shocked, exaggerated laugh pushed itself from my mouth at Lux’s gaping mouth.
“Rude,” Lux muttered under her breath, though all of us could hear it.Bella let out a smallhumphand took her things to the kitchen sink.
Lux leaned back in her chair, watching her niece at the kitchen sink while completely ignoring her aunt.
“I’m gonna go play!”she announced after she was done and ran out to the backyard without casting so much as a glance at us.
It took her maybe about three minutes to wash the dishes, so I knew I would have to go finish it, but at least she tried.And she was finally joking around with Lux.All of it a step in the right direction.
“Be inside in twenty to finish the rest of your math!”I yelled after her before getting up and heading to the sink.Yep, not washed properly.
I heard Lux’s chair scraping against the floor and listened as she walked toward me, carrying her own plate.I could feel her standing there, so I moved aside so she could put it down.
She didn’t move back.She stayed there, hovering over me, my back to her front.I could feel her warmth.She felt good, and we weren’t even touching.
I turned my head to look up at her, my lips still quirked into a smile.
“What?”I asked, noticing the frown that was somehow still marring her gorgeous face.“Don’t like a bit of teasing with your dinner?”
“If I knew you were going to gang up on me, I would have skipped dinner entirely.”
But even as she said it, there was a lightness to her tone.She might have had a frown on her face and a grumble in her voice, but there was a spark in her eyes as she looked out at Bella.
Dinner may have started out rough, but it was a success in my book.
“She just wants people around,” I said, turning around to look at her.“She’s lonely.You having dinner with us means a lot to her.”
Bella didn't need to say—she probably didn’t know how to—but I was there to interpret it.She loved Lux.That point was undeniable.But I was stuck between two very hardheaded people: a child who didn't know how to express her emotions and an adult who might know how to express her emotions but just didn't want to.
Her eyes cast down to me, and all of a sudden, I was taken back to when she had me against the desk.
I need her again.Desire shot through me so suddenly, I had to grip the counter.Her being so close only made it worse.
Her smell.Her heat.Her.It was not supposed to be like this.It had never been like this with any other family.
And while no other person had ever paid a million dollars to givemethe night of my life, there was more to it than that.
“I know,” she whispered.“I just don’t know how to fix it.”
The vulnerability in her voice had my throat constricting.It was so hard to see someone like Lux look so… helpless.I wanted to make her feel better.I didn't know her very well, but I knew that she didn't deserve to feel this way.
Neither of them did.
Silence stretched out between us, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.It was… charged.