He took a step back, keeping his hands on her shoulders. Trying to browbeat her into submission wasn’t working—hadn’t been working for a long time—so it was time to try a new tactic. “We’re in a precarious position with negotiating, and I need you to be on your A game. I can’t have you doing anything to jeopardize my negotiations with Romanov.”
Her eyes shone, though she blinked back the tears before they fell. “You’re a real asshole, you know that?”
Damn it, shewouldtake it as criticism instead of as an olive branch. “I’m better than our father. At least I’m giving you a seat at the table. He would have locked you up, and you damn well know it.”
Keira laughed. “So I should be grateful? You’re two sides of the same fucking coin. Just because you pretty it up doesn’t mean anything. I’m still being sold like a cow to the slaughter.” She shoved to her feet. “Don’t worry, Aiden. I’ll be a good little puppet. God forbid someone shoot me like a dog in the street the way they did Devlin, because I didn’t listen to my older brother who thinks he knows everything.”She gave a mock gasp. “How would you live with yourself then?” Keira strode out of the room before he could come up with a fitting reply.
Not that he had one.
Some days it was like dragging his naked body over hot coals to stand here and appear unaffected while the seas of change raged around him. One wrong step and they could lose everything.
He wouldn’t let it happen.
Not on his watch.
Aiden glanced at the clock on the wall and cursed. It was damn near midnight, and he’d left Charlie unattended. If she wanted, she could have spent the last few hours exploring the house to her heart’s content. There wasn’t much in the way of incriminating evidence left sitting around in the open—even their files were digitized and encrypted thanks to Cillian—but that didn’t mean the thought sat well with him. He rolled his shoulders to relieve some of the tension.
Liam met him at the door. “You need to sleep.”
“Speak for yourself. You’re running on just as little as I am.”
Liam fell into step beside him as they headed down the hall. “Mark will take over for tonight. We don’t expect trouble, but with the new face in the house, I’m not taking any chances.”
Aiden wanted to ask Liam what he thought of all this. Once upon a time, they’d been good friends—they werestillfriends, he thought. But when he’d made the changeover from heir to the head of the O’Malley family, a new distance had cropped up between them. He didn’t know how to fix it or even if it should be fixed. Too manylives rested on Aiden’s shoulders, Liam’s included, and he was required to play his cards close to his chest.
So all he said was, “Good.”
He headed upstairs, not stopping to think about the fact that Charlie would be sleeping inhisroom until he was through the door, and nearly tripped over a massive pile of shopping bags on the floor. A light was on next to the bed, bathing the room in a golden glow, but Aiden had eyes only for her.
She looked so deliciously rumpled, her blue eyes hazy with sleep, her hair less than perfect for the first time since they’d met. Charlie frowned. “What are you doing?” She shook her head as soon as the words were out of her mouth. “Silly question. Of course you’re sleeping here. We’re engaged after all.” Her lips twisted into something vaguely resembling a smile.
It was the first time they’d been alone since he brought her to orgasm in the office, and he didn’t know what to say. Explaining what he’d been doing was out of the question—sharing his concerns over Keira even more so.
She seemed as at a loss as he was. “I don’t know what side of the bed you slept on. I just chose one at random.”
“It’s fine.” It struck him that he’d never had a woman in this bed. He’d been in serious relationships, but they’d always played second to his family, and so he’d never brought the girls home. That was ultimately why each relationship failed—no woman wanted to be with someone whose top priority wasn’t them.
This isn’t a relationship. It’s an alliance.
That didn’t stop him from liking the picture of Charlie in his bed, or keep the possessive instinct he’d fought so hard to subdue from raging to the forefront. He wantedher naked and beneath him and coming on his cock with his name on her lips.
He had no business wanting those things from her.
Sex was on the table. She’d put it there.
Possession was not. He wouldn’t allow it to be. Aiden realized he was staring at her, and cleared his throat. “I’m going to take a shower.” Maybe that would give him back a modicum of control.
“It doesn’t have to be weird.” She made a face. “Okay, so this is the very definition of ‘weird.’ But we’re both adults—adults who have a healthy attraction to each other. There’s nothing wrong with you fucking my brains out while I’m here. I won’t let it be a distraction.”
He went rock-hard at her words, and it was everything he could do not to fall on her there and then. Aiden took one step back and then another. “You’re playing with fire, Charlie.”
“Maybe I like the burn.” She slipped out from under the covers, and he saw she was wearing an artfully slouchy shirt with only a pair of panties. “The truth is that I’m feeling out of sorts and twitchy.” She crossed her arms and pulled her shirt over her head, dropping it on the floor as she kept walking toward him. Gone was the strange hesitance he’d seen in her earlier today. There was nothing but lust in her blue eyes. “I don’t want to think about tomorrow or what I’m risking by being here with you, and you look about half a second from trashing the room because you can’t risk showing any of that pent-up emotion to them.”
She went to her knees in front of him, as graceful as a dancer. “Let me make you feel good. Let me make usbothfeel good.” She gave a tentative smile. “If you let that ice-king facade slip, I promise not to tell a soul.”
He allowed her to undo the front of his slacks, stifling the voice that said this was a mistake—just like earlier in his office had been. She stroked him through his boxer-briefs, licking her lips, but he laced one hand through her hair and held her immobile until she looked at him. “If we’re doing this, Charlie, there are two things you need to know.”
“Yes?”
