Page 56 of Vicious Heir
“Alright. I’ll make us some sandwiches, and we can talk. You can tell me about what happened when you’re ready, or we can talk about something else.”
“I—” Annie bites her lip. “I’m going to shower, actually. If that’s okay. And then we can eat?”
I nod. If anything, I could use a few minutes alone to get a grip on my own chaotic emotions. “Alright. I’ll meet you in the kitchen, then.”
I go out to the car and get my bag, then leave a change of clothes on the bed for Annie—another pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt until I can find a way to get her some of her things. I change into a pair of black joggers and a T-shirt myself, and then go to the kitchen to start making food. Anything to keep my hands and mind busy, so I’m not thinking about Annie in the shower, naked with soap and hot water dripping down her smooth skin.
Fuck.
Twenty minutes later, Annie walks into the kitchen, her copper hair damp and in a bun atop her head, wearing the clothes I laid out for her. The sight of her in my clothes, baggy as they are, sends another ripple of desire down my spine.
I have two sandwiches ready for us by the time she walks in—ham and swiss melts on sourdough with caramelized onions—and I put a handful of chips on each plate, setting hers down in front of her with a glass of water before joining her.
Annie picks up the sandwich, takes a bite, and lets out a moan that makes me harder than I ever thought I could be from a woman eating. “God, that’s good, Elio. I didn’t know you could cook.”
“Well, they weren’t paying me that much at first in Chicago.” I chuckle. “It was good to learn. Besides, I don’t know if it’sthatgood, I think you’re just hungry.”
“It’s delicious,” she insists, taking another large bite.
For a few long minutes, we just eat. I give her time, not wanting to push her. Finally, when she’s halfway through her sandwich, she sets it down and takes a long drink of water before putting her hands in her lap and looking at me.
“It was Desmond,” she says, and I nearly choke on the bite of food in my mouth.
I can feel my blood going hot as I swallow. “Fucking hell,” I swear, my jaw tightening. “I knew it was him. Fucking—goddamn liar! A fuckingkitten?—”
Annie looks at me as if I’ve lost my mind, and I quickly relay to her what happened in Ronan’s office today—how he’d called Desmond in to question him when he’d found out Desmond was the last one to see her, and Desmond’s alibi for why he was covered in scratches. Her face goes pale as I speak, and anger flashes in her bright blue eyes.
“That bastard,” she whispers. “I can’t believe he used his fuckingsisteras a cover story. Poor Maeve?—”
“It sounds like she’s had a tough time of it.” I try to clear the impatience from my voice—I’m sorry for whatever’s happening to Desmond’s sister, but that’s not who I care about right now.
What I care about is finding out what happened to Annie, and then putting Desmond Connelly in the fucking ground for it.
Annie nods, then swallows hard, looking down at her lap. “I made a lot of mistakes,” she says softly.
My instinct is to immediately tell her that none of this is her fault, but I force myself to keep quiet. I need to let her tell this at her own pace, without interrupting her. To say what she needs to say, and then I can respond.
“I should have told Ronan I was seeing Desmond.” She bites her lip, and I can see tears misting her eyes. “He knows now, doesn’t he?”
I nod. “He does. He wasn’t happy about it. But I think he was more angry with Desmond than with you.” I pause, consideringhow much to say. “He believed Desmond’s story,” I say finally, and Annie’s head snaps up.
“Good.”
For a moment, I think I’ve misheard her. “Good?”
“Desmond was our brother-in-law,” she says, looking past me to the window that looks out over the backyard behind the cabin. “Ronan was married to his sister, Siobhan.”
I nod. “I remember the name from the wedding announcement. And they talked about it briefly today in his office. It’s clear they’re… not friendly.”
“Siobhan and Ronan had a bad marriage. He didn’t really get along with Desmond, either. I tried to be kind to Siobhan, a good sister-in-law to her, but she wasn’t kind to me. Desmond and I didn’t see a lot of each other, but we saw each other at events sometimes, and there was some… flirtation.” Annie chews on her lower lip. “There was some chemistry there. But I didn’t want to get entangled in a marriage. My father was surprisingly not pushing me to marry, and I was focused on my work for the family. Desmond didn’t approach me, and I decided not to pursue it beyond the little bits of flirting we did at parties and such.”
I try to ignore the way the thought of Desmondflirtingwith Annie makes me feel, or worse, her flirting back.
“There was… something there,” she repeats. “We ran into each other again at a party, not long ago. And that little bit of a spark was still there.” She looks away from me, as if she can’t make eye contact while talking about being attracted to another man. At least, that’s what I want to think it is. “We talked about going on a date. And eventually we did. I didn’t want to tell Ronan.” Annie lets out a sharp breath and finally looks up to meet my eyes. “Not until I knew if it was actually going to turn into something serious. He’s only just recently started to heal from what happened with Siobhan. Leila helped him so much,and he’s been so much happier in the last couple of months. After everything—Siobhan’s death, and Rocco, and Leila being in danger, and what happened with our father… I didn’t want to dredge it all back up for nothing.”
“And it was nothing?” I can’t help the tinge of jealousy that creeps into my voice, no matter how hard I try. I don’t want to make Annie feel ashamed, but at the same time, I hate that another man was even a possibility for her.
You’re a fucking hypocrite, I tell myself. I’ve had plenty of women in my bed over the last eleven years. But they were all just sex. Just warm bodies to lose myself in, pleasure that I couldn’t deny myself when there was no chance I’d ever be with the woman I really wanted. There was never any spark beyond the physical. Never a date. Never anything serious. The thought of Annie considering pursuing arelationshipwith Desmond makes me want to wipe him off the face of the earth until no one even remembers who he is. What he’s done to her only intensifies that desire a thousandfold.