Caleb is bending down, letting Beth climb onto his back. The pair of them laugh when Beth pretends to whip reins and screams,Yee haw!
Isabelle’s head starts to feel heavier against my back. “Hey,” I call gently.
She lifts her head, opening one eye, and I bend down. “Hop on.”
Her knees come around my sides, and I hook my hands behind them. Once she leans forward, letting her arms drape over my shoulders, I stand and call Caleb to start following me. I only take a few steps before I realise Isabelle’s breasts are pressed against my back. Heat explodes over my cheeks, through my chest, and all down my arms. Her hands are criss-crossed over my front, one palm pressed directly over my heart. Can she feel how fast it’s beating?
“Did your piercings hurt?” she asks over my shoulder.
Pain is measured against the hardest thing you’ve endured. After losing someone I haven’t yet figured out how to move on from, I don’t think much more would be worse than that.
“No.”
“One. Two. Three-Four-Five,” she says as her fingers gently touch on each of the rings threaded through my lip, nose, and ear. “Are you hiding any more?”
“Where would I be hiding more, Buttercup?” I ask, looking over my shoulder into her blue eyes and knowing exactly what other piercings I’m hiding.
Her cheeks blush before she whispers, “Some men have their nipples pierced, or—” I see her throat bob as she swallows, and my tongue aches to reach out and follow the motion. “Their downstairs.”
She buries her face in the crook of my neck as she laughs. My stomach takes flight, and I smile at how cute she is.
“What about you? Any piercings you’re hiding?” I ask. She shakes her head, making the long chain earrings threaded through her ears jingle.
“I have a tattoo, though.”
“Where?” I demand, desperate to know where on that pure, creamy skin lies an ounce of rebellion.
“A butterfly on my hip. It’s only small, nothing like what you have, Grim.” With her confession, she brings one hand up to trace the lines of ink on my neck.
My hands, where they hold under her knees, grip tighter, desire stealing my breath.It’s the alcohol.I’m never out of control with my actions or my needs, but this proximity to her is like an itch I need to scratch. A song I need to scream from the top of my lungs. A fire I need to let burn and consume me. It’s untouched lands that I need to conquer and—
“Taxi’s here!” Caleb’s voice pulls me back. He’s pushing Beth into the back seat, lifting one foot in at a time. It looks like she’s already passed out.
I stumble over to the car in a daze, mind stuttering on everything Isabelle. I crouch down so she can hop off my back, and I’m hyper aware of every inch of her body as it slides against mine. It’s as if time slows, and it’s impossible to think of anything else. I’m too inebriated to stop the wayward thoughts, like moving her body against mine without any clothes on.
When have I ever wanted a woman like this?Never. But I can’t want her. She works with my brother. She’s working on my new business, and I willnotmix business with pleasure. Caleb already had experience with how that can go wrong. Besides, I can’t be in a vulnerable place again. I won’t. Definitely not with her. Light can’t survive in the darkness, and Isabelle is incandescent.
I slide into the taxi. Caleb is sitting in the front, directing the driver, while Beth is lying along the back seat, her legs stretched over my and Isabelle’s laps.
The High Rollers plied us with endless alcohol. I was able to keep drinking water, but the shots wouldn’t stop, and those fuckers made sure to look each of us in the eye to make sure we joined in. My stomach swirls and my head pounds as we drivethrough the streets of Royal Harbour. I have to shut my eyes to ward off the bright lights of the sleepless city. Thankfully, it’s a short drive back to our hotel.
I open my eyes once I feel the car stop and hear Caleb exchanging words with the driver. Isabelle has her head resting against my shoulder, and Beth’s head is thrown back against the window, snoring so loudly that I’m actually shocked by how aggressive it sounds.
Caleb pulls our baby sister from the car, draping her over his back to carry her inside.
“Isabelle.” I nudge her arm with mine, but she only mumbles something incoherent at me. Pushing my door open, I step out of the taxi, then pull her out, hoisting her into my arms.
Caleb waits in the hotel foyer, and I reach him just in time for the elevator doors to ring open.
“What time are we checking out tomorrow?” I ask.
“Eleven,” Cale says, his eyes shut as we ride up.
I manage to move my wrist enough to read the time on my watch. 3:52. No wonder I feel like shit. That was almost eight hours of drinking and socialising.
I follow Caleb out of the elevator once we reach the eighth floor.
“Can you help Izzy to her room? I’ll take Beth through the interconnecting door in my room,” Caleb says, balancing our sister where she’s passed out against his side.
