Page 26 of Nothing to You (Nothing to… #7)
“ARE YOU SCARED?”
“No,” Roxie said to Jane after dinner. Outside at the patio table, the women sat opposite the men. “I’ve seen it.”
“Are you scared?” Jane asked Zairn.
“I wake up scared every day, Jane,” he said. “That’s what being married to Lola means.”
“You’re not married yet,” Jane said, her wide smile brimming. “I can’t wait for the wedding. It will be magnificent. I’m pulling out all the stops. Roxie said carte blanche.”
“Anything you want,” Zairn said. “We want it to be perfect and this isn’t our field.”
“I promise you won’t be disappointed. It’s so exciting.” Jane grabbed Roxie’s arm but leaned toward Zairn. “She looks amazing in her dress.”
“She’ll look amazing out of it too,” Zairn said.
Roxie laughed but was quick to stroke Jane’s hair. “Don’t upset her dream. Weddings are her catnip. She will breathe in every second.”
“I’m sorry, Jane.” So smooth. The ease of Zairn’s honeyed words, the smolder with their confidence. She couldn’t look away. “I’d love to hear the details.”
That was the ticket to getting Jane going. The woman started talking so fast that it was difficult to pick one word from another.
Her phone buzzed, and she turned it over as she picked up her wine.
HOTSHOT: Feel like getting wet?
Oh, they were playing this game? She didn’t even look at him and typed a response.
FIREFLY: Uh, we’re entertaining. Don’t be rude.
HOTSHOT: The pool’s right there. I know you’re thinking about it.
FIREFLY: And how would your friends like that?
HOTSHOT: Maybe they won’t notice.
FIREFLY: Us stripping off and going at it? We’re talking about weddings and romance. Nice things. Not s3x things.
HOTSHOT: Aww, look at you censoring yourself.
FIREFLY: We’re on Huddle.
HOTSHOT: We’re on a blind server. Private to me. Run by me. You don’t think I yanked your restrictions the minute I put a face to the name?
FIREFLY: So I can call you an asshole?
HOTSHOT: If you want. And you can send me pics sans clothes. I’ll add them to my gallery of your naked and asleep pics. Will be novel to have some with your eyes open. I get a lot of requests for those. Now I can charge more.
FIREFLY: Private means I can tell you that you’re an arrogant pig who doesn’t deserve to kiss a woman’s feet, let alone slide himself into her body.
HOTSHOT: I knew you were thinking about it. After tonight, you’ll never be able to look at a swimming pool again without thinking about me fucking you.
FIREFLY: You haven’t fucked anything yet.
HOTSHOT: I’m ready to go right here. Right now.
FIREFLY: Oh, yeah? You risen to the challenge already? What do you need me for? Go screw yourself.
Peeking up from her phone, she arched a probing brow when his eyes met hers.
“Anyone else feel like they’re in a porno?” Roxie asked.
Everyone was looking at them. When had the others stopped talking?
“What?” Rourke asked, putting down his phone. “Nothing to see here.”
“Not if you have your way,” she said.
Rourke blew her a kiss with just his lips.
“You’re circling each other.” The corner of Roxie’s mouth curled. “You don’t even realize how you heat up a room when you’re sparring with each other.” Her friend sighed and looked at Zairn. “Have we lost our spark?”
Zairn laughed. “I’m ready to spark any time you are, Lola.”
“Which leaves Jane and I to entertain each other,” Lilya said.
And Rourke wasn’t going to let that one go. “Maybe Kintyre should check whose kid that really is.”
If there was something to throw at him, she’d have taken aim, but the wine was too good to waste.
“We should go back to Dyce’s, Jane.” Lilya relaxed. “I think there’s still packing to do.”
“She’ll never fall for that.” Roxie drank some wine. “We’re leaving in a matter of hours. She’s packed and repacked for everyone several times. Astrid doesn’t know what to do with herself.”
“You think I upset her?” Jane asked, obviously worried. “I didn’t mean to offend her.”
“You couldn’t offend anyone, honey.”
“Except Radley,” Rourke said. “She offends easy.”
“Because I don’t subscribe to your religion that all men are gods?”
“Feel free to worship,” he said, sliding down in his seat, linking his hands on his head. “Thou shalt not worship any god other than me.”
“Thou shalt not worship. End of sentence.”
“Everyone has the freedom to choose their own god.”
“And it doesn’t surprise me that you’d pick yourself.” She sat up straight. “Were you dropped on your head as a baby?”
“Could be,” he said with a shrug, though his hands stayed interlinked. “Maybe that’s where the genius comes from.”
“Learn a little humility. You’d be far more impressive if you practiced modesty.”
“This is modest, Babycakes. I’ve got the goods to back it up and more than enough cash to sweeten the deal.”
“Paying for it won’t keep you warm at night.”
“That’s why I’ve got you. Why else would I keep you around? I’ve got to look after you and I have to be paid for the pleasure.”
“Half the time I’m lucky if you’re paying attention,” she said. “I like it when you get like this. It reminds me how important contraception is. We have too many men like you.”
“You need men like me. Men like me keep the world turning, Babycakes. And it’s up to women like you to fulfill your role.”
“Which is?” Lilya asked.
She held up a hand, eyes still locked on his. “Don’t engage him when he’s like this, Lilya, please. Be glad you found yourself a real man who knows how to treat a woman like a human being.”
“Lilya’s fulfilling her role, her biological imperative,” Rourke said. “Carrying a man’s child. His son. Making a man for a man.”
“Oh, is that what she’s doing? Not maybe that she has hope for the future? Hope that she’ll be able to raise a man aware of his limits and equality to all other living things?”
“You think I’m equal to all living things?” His laugh was a blast of incredulity. “Sweetheart, I am the center of the fucking universe.”
“Damn,” Lilya said. “Now I want to punch him.”
She sighed. “Unfortunately, I want to jump him.” Her fist met her chin to catch the weight of her head. “He comes to heel so quick for pussy.”
The heat in his playful, arrogant eyes rose with the slant of his lips.
“And that’s our cue.”
“No!” she said, grabbing Roxie’s hand before she could stand. “You’re leaving tomorrow. Damn champagne and caviar.”
Glaring at Rourke didn’t lessen his swagger. “And cock. You prioritize the Cs. Champagne, caviar, cock, and coffee.”
“Not necessarily in that order, but for maybe the first time ever, you might just be right, Boy Scout.”
A phone rang in the kitchen.
Jane jumped up. “Oh, I—”
“Go on, honey.” Roxie’s calm permission prompted Jane to rush inside. “And she believed there was a chance she wasn’t crazy in love with him.”
“I’m desperate to meet this Knox and Kintyre too.
He seems saintly,” she said, crossing her legs beneath the table.
“Unlike some people at this table. I have no idea what you two talk about, if he’s so perfect and you’re so not.
” She drew her eyes off Rourke to focus on the others.
“Though Hotshot isn’t the only one at this table with explaining to do. ”
Roxie, Zairn, and Lilya got the evil eye next.
“What did we do?”
“No one told me that my Boy Scout was related to wealth and beauty.”
“You’re obsessed with my brother,” he muttered.
“Dyce,” Zairn said. “You didn’t tell her?”
“Uh, you didn’t tell me, Casanova. I didn’t know they were related. Who’s older—wait, how do they have different last names? Oh, was there a sexy, salacious affair?”
“Rourke’s mom married Dyce’s father.”
“Stepbrothers,” Roxie said and looked at Lilya. “Did you know?”
“No, but being honest, it’s not the kind of thing I would ask either. Zach and I don’t spend a lot of time talking about Rourke’s family… or Rourke in general.”
Their host clucked his tongue. “That’s ‘cause you’re busy making babies, Sweet Thang.”
“Insult the woman one more time and I’ll use my teeth tonight,” she threatened his smirk.
“Your fangs? Better than your talons.”
“I like leaving scars. Deep, deep scars.”
“On my heart, Babycakes. You can have that; I’m keeping my cock.”
“That’s unfair,” she grumped. “It’s the only part of you that works… and the only part of you I like… sometimes.”
“All the time, baby, don’t kid yourself. You want it.”
“Your cock? Yeah, and I’d want it more if it wasn’t attached to you. I guess God had to give you something to work with, or you’d never have a chance of touching a woman in my league.”
Roxie laughed. “Neither of you can help yourselves!” Her eyes met her fiancé’s. “Is that what we sound like?”
She and Rourke weren’t the only ones heating things up. When Roxie and Zairn made eye contact, their conversation was entirely silent, but no less potent.
“Do you really have to go back to LA?” she asked, interrupting their foreplay. “You’re the sane voice around here. You can’t leave me here with Rourke. That’s cruel and unusual punishment.”
“I’m sorry, honey,” Roxie said, lacing their fingers together.
“The first part of the documentary airs tomorrow. We have a watch party and reactions. Streaming. Comments. The whole deal. It’s press, press, press for a while.
But we’re in LA for almost three weeks, you can come hang out whenever you want.
Jane has a big LA mansion. Superstar stuff. Lots and lots of space.”
Her head tilted. “I didn’t know she had money.”
“Oh, yeah. Jane is loaded,” Roxie said after finishing her drink. “She has a bunch of money. Bags and bags of cold, hard cash. It just happens to be in Knox’s bank account.”