Page 5 of Sugar (Gilded #1)

Life of Crime

MADDIE

W hile Eve spoke, Easton’s dark eyes went over her head to land on me. To lock with mine. He held the intense contact for a long moment before a hint of a smirk played at his mouth.

Shit .

If I had even the bare minimum of coolness, I could’ve played it off by slowly sliding my eyes away like I’d just been scanning the room. Or maybe I could’ve offered my own smirk as I pretended not to care that I’d been caught checking him out.

Either were valid options that I didn’t take.

Instead, I doubled down on the awkward moment and quickly averted my gaze to study Greer’s phone like her messages with Josh were the most interesting and pressing matter in the history of the universe. My cheeks flushed.

A blushing, silly girl.

“Will you be staying for pizza and movie night?” Eve asked Easton, unaware of the game of chicken I’d just horrendously lost.

Please say yes.

I mean, no.

No, no, nope.

Movie nights were usually just the OGs and us. It was rare that any of the dads joined our chaos, but especially not Doug. On the infrequent occasion he was home at the time, he stayed locked away in his office.

He certainly never leaned against the counter, settled in like it was business as usual for him to be there.

When he shook his head at his wife, relief and disappointment swirled in my stomach even before he spoke. “I tried to lure him into sticking around for dinner, but he said he has an early?—”

“I changed my mind.”

At Easton’s interruption, Doug stammered, “W-what?”

“I can’t stay long, but a man’s got to eat.” Easton gestured to the spread of food. “And who could resist this?”

Doug’s brows shot up, and for a moment, he looked stressed. Or maybe it was just surprised. Either way, it was gone in a blink when a smile spread across his face—one that seemed to show all his gleaming teeth. “Perfect. Let’s get these bad boys going.”

Ogling portion of the evening forgotten, Wren and Greer ignored the additional guest and talked like nothing was amiss. Like there wasn’t a GQ model standing nearby.

They didn’t even watch when he shrugged off his jacket and hung it over a barstool. Or when he undid a set of gleaming cufflinks and pocketed them before rolling his shirt sleeves.

Why is that so sexy?

And how have I not learned my lesson?

I was already caught staring at him once. Do I really want a repeat?

Easton rubbed a hand along his strong jaw as he nodded at whatever Doug said.

I guess the answer is yes, I do want a repeat because I can’t stop.

Eve offered the distraction I needed as she handed out circular trays of personal-sized pizza dough.

Ignoring the handsome man—and everyone else in the room—I put the entirety of my focus into making the world’s most pristine pizza. I added each item with meticulous precision, like one wrong move would result in an explosion.

The sound of the door opening and closing cut through the chatter, and Greer let out a happy squeal as she tossed her tray down with a clang.

“That must be my daughter’s boyfriend,” Doug said.

After a long minute—and likely several stolen kisses in the entryway—Greer came into the kitchen, hefting a giant bundle of roses.

“For my apartment,” she choked out.

Roses were her least favorite flower in the universe, but the gesture was still there. And he’d really gone overboard with it, so I smiled at her doting not-boyfriend when he followed her into the room.

“Those are gorgeous.” Eve’s sentence ended in a happy gasp when Josh presented her a smaller bundle from behind his back. “You’re so sweet.”

“And making me look bad,” Doug joked with a chuckle as he moved to grab a crystal vase from a high cabinet for his wife.

Since I was doing my best to avoid another disaster, I kept my distance at the farthest corner of the island and returned to the imperative task of making my perfect pizza.

I was so locked in, I didn’t even realize anyone was nearby until a warm hand lightly pressed against the bare skin of my exposed lower back.

I inhaled sharply. Rather than the acrid body spray most guys bathed in, the cologne that filled my nostrils was mellow and smoky with subtle hints of vanilla. Or maybe caramel? I didn’t know, but I wanted to bury my nose in the scent to find out.

There was no way he didn’t notice me jolt at his touch. Or feel the tremor that went through me when his rough voice rumbled in my ear. “Excuse me.”

His arm reached around me to grab the serving dish of pepperoni. Other than the barely-there graze of his palm, he didn’t touch me anywhere else. His body wasn’t even that close to mine. But it seemed like it. My breath froze in my lungs at the sensation of being surrounded.

Of being vulnerable.

He quickly moved out of my space again, taking his touch with him, but my reaction was slower to fade. My heart hammered in my chest. My brain buzzed. I had the irrational urge to demand he move back into the spot, but thankfully I wasn’t that far gone.

I stood with a slice of mushroom gripped between my thumb and index finger as I worked to shake off the inappropriate result of his innocuous action.

“Madeline.” Easton’s voice was quiet, but there was a bite to the single word.

I dropped the mushroom and twisted to look at him.

There was no matching sharpness in his blank expression. “I asked what you’re majoring in.”

God, could this get any worse? I’m acting like I’ve never interacted with another human before.

“Oh, sorry. Journalism.”

He gave a low whistle. “A competitive field.”

“And one that pays tens of dollars. Inconsistently. For hours of work that could end up in a shredder.” I lifted a shoulder. “Who wouldn’t want that?”

His mouth curved, and I realized that other than the trace of a smirk he’d given me earlier, it was the first time he’d smiled. It wasn’t even a full one, but it still skyrocketed his looks into the god-tier category. It made me wonder what he would look like if he truly smiled.

“Your friends, too?” he asked, likely fishing for information to help secure what was surely a hefty retainer.

I respected the hustle, but I wasn’t about to word vomit more than the bare minimum info. “Wren is going for early childhood education, and Greer’s wrapping up her business administration degree.”

He jerked his chin to where the family still spoke together. “Planning to take over her father’s practice?”

I bit back a laugh at the idea of them working together.

They would drive each other insane. My dad was one of the calmest people I knew, and even he got annoyed at his partner.

Doug was a skilled surgeon, and his charming personality brought in a lot of new patients, but his organization—and I used that term loosely—left a lot to be desired.

Greer and her type-A personality would probably beat her dad over the head with a surgical tray on the first day.

Before lunch.

“That’s a definite no,” I said.

He didn’t get the chance to ask more before Doug cut in with a proud smile. “You talking about my Greer getting ready to kick ass in the corporate world? I tried convincing her to take pity on her old man, but she has no interest in whipping my practice into shape.”

“Because I’m not a miracle worker,” Greer teased.

“It was a few centuries ago,” Easton deadpanned, “but my BS was also in business administration from Coastal. Do you know what you want to do once you graduate?”

The fact that I knew her better than I knew myself made it easy to hear the tight strain in her voice that the others missed. “I haven’t landed on a career path yet.”

If I didn’t know any better, I would think Easton caught it, too.

His expression was still stoically blank, but there was a softness to his tone.

Or maybe I was hearing things. “There’s time.

Let me know if you want some guidance or advice.

Even if you don’t want to sell your soul by going into law like me, I have some connections. ”

Man, he must really want to land Doug as a client.

“Thank you,” Greer said with a polite smile.

“I didn’t realize that was your alma mater.

She’ll definitely take you up on that.” Doug had far more enthusiasm than she’d been able to muster.

His eyes grew bright, and he looked two seconds away from scheduling a dozen meetings between the pair so he could set his only child on a path to success. “In fact?—”

“Dad, it’s movie night,” Greer cut in, her tone holding a hint of warning.

“Right, right.” He gave her a placating smile before shrugging at Easton. “We’ll have to have you over for a proper dinner soon. Or maybe you two could meet up for coffee once she’s settled. Or an office tour.”

“Dad.” That time there was no hint. It was all warning.

He held his hands up in mock surrender.

“I’ll leave you my card,” Easton told her.

They talked about her remaining courses while everyone finished preparing their food.

Once we were done, we carried the trays out to the built-in pizza oven.

Doug got the first two going before giving Easton a tour of the expansive setup.

The OGs took their drinks across the yard to the patio, stealing the best seats as Eve used the controls to lower the screen and start the projector.

We did our usual job of manning the oven, pulling pizzas out before starting the next batch. In between, Greer and Josh hung on each other, and Wren and I did our best to ignore them.

“Let me see your nails,” I said, belatedly noticing they’d changed from a couple days before. She’d been doing her own nails since we were kids and could do intricate designs better than I could simply paint mine.

She held out her hands. One had different color tips with a strip under to kind of resemble crayons. The nails on the other were lined like paper. “I figured school themed for our last first day. Too much?”

Too much panic at that thought?

Yes.

Too much otherwise?

“Not at all,” I said.

She moved away to nudge one of the pies over so the side didn’t char. “Are you packed?”

“Yup.”