Charlie didn’t jump, but it was a near thing. She glanced over her shoulder at Aiden, noting that he stared at her and pointedly didn’t look around the room she stood in. It didn’t matter that he gave nothing away with his expression or body language—the information was as clear in what hedidn’tdo as what he did.So much baggage there.“I was curious.”
“Curiosity killed the cat.”
She snorted. “And satisfaction brought him back—which isn’t quite the same kind of warning.”
“Funny.” His tone said he found her anything but. He stepped backward, a clear demand for her to join him in thehallway. That was all she needed to confirm the room had belonged to Carrigan.
Charlie closed the door softly behind her. The move left her close enough to touch Aiden, but she hesitated, not sure where they stood after last night. He’d driven her to ecstasy more times than she could count…but he’d never kissed her.
Makes sense. Kissing is far more intimate than sex when it comes right down to it.
Being logical did nothing to dull the sting—and neither did knowing she had no right to be hurt. He wanted her body. He didn’t wanther. Which should suit her just fine. She liked the way Aiden filled out a suit, but she couldn’t pretend there was a path that ended with them together. Dishonored or not, she was a cop in a long line of cops, and he was a mob boss who wasn’t suddenly going to go straight.
She needed to remember that.
“Snooping?”
She shrugged, doing her best not to stare at his mouth.Just sex…Right.“I got bored. I’m not used to sitting on my hands.”
His green eyes softened, just a little. “I have just the thing.”
Or maybe she was imagining things.
“Oh? More shopping?” She didn’t need or want more, and if he suggested such a blatantly bullshit activity, she’d have to start some trouble on principle.
“Hardly.” Aiden shook his head and turned, waiting for her to fall into step next to him before hewalked down the hallway in the opposite direction from the stairs. “You met my sister last night.”
“Which one?” But she knew which one he meant as they took first one turn and then the next. “Keira.”
The youngest sister, the one who’d fled at the sight of her.Promising.
Then again, she was preferable to Carrigan, who seemed inclined to go for her throat. Charlie had a significant amount of training, but she couldn’t say beyond a shadow of a doubt that she’d walk away from a violent encounter withthatwoman. Carrigan had the feel of someone who fought dirty and fought to win.
“Yes. Keira.” Aiden paused in front of the last door. It faced the front of the house, and Charlie nearly rolled her eyes. The window opened tobotha tree and a fire escape.Convenient way for the twenty-one-year-old woman to escape whenever she saw fit.
“Why don’t you move her room if she’s causing such issues?”
His mouth thinned, the slightest of tells. She’d bet a ton of money that his little sister followed the tradition of little sisters everywhere—giving their older brothers no end of trouble. “It’s complicated.”
Obviously, he wasn’t going to bend over backward to explain things to Charlie.Fine.She didn’t need to know about the inner workings of the O’Malley family or details about the wounds than ran so deep they seemed to be splintering the siblings apart. She wasn’t really engaged to Aiden. It wasn’t her job to fix the broken people in this house.
She wouldn’t be here long enough to try, even if she was interested.
Charlie knew what it was like to have a family fall apart, but it still seemed like such a waste. She’d never had siblings—she’d never had anyone but her dad. Aidenhadfiveliving siblings and he seemed to only have regular contact with two of them. She couldn’t help comparing their situations. Even with the limited information she had, it was clear Teague, Carrigan, and Sloan had more or less fled the O’Malleys because of their father.
Aiden could mend those fences. Carrigan, especially, wouldn’t have been so furious about his getting “engaged” to Charlie if she didn’t still care about him.
But he didn’t seem interested in even trying.
She just didn’t get it.
“So what is it that you need from me?” There. That made her sound just as perfectly polite and disinterested as he was acting.
From the sharp look he sent her, it wasn’t quite what she was aiming for. “My sister is a key part of keeping Romanov occupied while we get the other pieces into place. She can’t do that if she’s trying to sneak off every time I turn around.”
Comprehension dawned. “You want me to babysit your self-destructive sister?” She wasn’t sure what she found more irritating—that he wanted her to play babysitter or that he hadn’t just come out and asked her in the first place.
He sighed. “I want you to talk to her, to spend time with her and, yes, to keep her from getting in over her head in the meantime.”
