Page 84 of Fall of a Kingdom

“They have everything they could ever want,” Flynn pointed out. “I just don’t understand why they’re not happy. Especially if it has nothing to do with their marriage.”

“They have everything, huh? They’re in love. They have a family. Maybe they’re afraid it can be taken away from them.”

“It’s possible. It’s definitely possible that’s all it is.”

“You think it’s more.”

“Aye, I think it’s more.” He paused for a moment and then said, “I’ve been thinking a lot about you. And about those first few weeks when you worked in the burlesque club. I’d come into the club under the guise of watching the show, but really it was to watch you. You moved like you’d been born to it. And the cigar girl outfit you wore… God, woman, there were nights I went up to my penthouse, took myself in hand and thought of you bent over with your nylons around your ankles, your skirt flipped up. You made me ache. You still make me ache.”

“I never stop wanting you, Flynn. Never. Not after all these years, not after four babies. Not after all that life has thrown at us.”

“Promise me you’re happy,” he said suddenly. “I couldn’t take it, Barrett. If I thought you were unhappy.”

And with those words, he split open my heart and almost made me weep.

“I’m happy,” I promised, my throat thick with emotion. “I swear it. We have Piper. We have the boys. We have each other.” It was the truth. I was happy. I had everything I wanted, but it was smudged with darkness.

Igor’s ghost still haunted me though I’d let him go.

“What about you?” I asked. “Areyouhappy?”

“Aye,” he murmured. “The happiest I’ve ever been.”

“And Sasha?” I prodded. “What’s going on with him?”

“I got the feeling he was mulling over something disturbing.”

“Interesting.”

“You don’t have any idea what it’s about?”

“No,” I lied, feeling more than a twinge of guilt. “What about Ramsey? How is he?”

“Restless. Despite what he says, I think he’s sick of the endless parade of women. None of them have managed to hold his interest long-term.”

“What’s the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?”

“One day, there will be a woman who crosses his path, one he can’t live without, and one he will do anything to possess.”

A flash of jealousy pierced my soul. There was something about having the horizon of possibilities in front of you that was lost when things were set in stone after a marriage.

“It will be fun to watch. I can’t wait to meet her. Whoever she is.”

Flynn let out a long sigh. “She’ll have to be strong enough in her own right not to let him tread all over her.”

“I can’t imagine Ramsey winding up with a milquetoast.”

“He won’t,” Flynn predicted. “She’ll have some fire. And what she doesn’t know, she’ll learn from you.”

“About how to handle a strong-willed Scotsman?”

“You do have years of practice, hen.”

I laughed. “I do, indeed.”

“I’ll try and be home by dawn.”

We hung up and I set my phone down on the nightstand. I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. When I climbed into bed, I made sure to sprawl diagonally and buried my head into Flynn’s pillow.