Charlie took another, smaller drink. It wasn’t her problem. Aiden might need her help with Dmitri, but he couldn’t have made it clearer that he had no interest in her meddling with the family. She had to remember that.
Focus. Keira asked you a question.She and Aiden had come up with an origin story that seemed plausible enough. Now it was just a matter of selling it. As off-center as she felt after crossing the line with Aiden last night, the fact that he’d had his hands and mouth all over her body would only help legitimize the whole thing. “I run a backroom poker game—high-stakes.”
Keira studied the smoke swirling from the end of the almost-depleted joint. “Is there any other kind of backroom poker game?”
She laughed. “No, I guess there isn’t. Your brother attended a few times, and the second time, he stuck around and we had a few drinks.” Keira’s hazel eyes started to glaze over in a way that had nothing to do with the pot she was smoking. Charlie raised her eyebrows. “And then we fucked on the poker table.”
“Magical pussy.” Keira snapped her fingers. “I knew it. It’s a very rags-to-riches story, because, God knows, you didn’t buy those clothes with your money.”
She’d expected this, which was part of the reason she’dresisted the shopping in the first place. Aiden had turned around and argued that being a gold digger was a motivation people would understand more than love at first sight. “What we have works for us.”
“I’ll just bet it does.” Keira shot her a look. “You’re nuts for voluntarily coming into this life, and I think you have no idea what you signed on for, great sex or no. But I get it.”
There was something there, something beneath the words. Charlie studied her, wondering where she’d come across a man who’d turned her head enough to make her question everything.If she runs off with him…it would be a disaster.
But telling her that—reminding her of her duty—was just going to spur Keira into actions she might not have otherwise done. She seemed contrary like that.
Her thoughts must have shown on Charlie’s face, because Keira rolled her eyes. “Trust me—I’m not going to break rank. I’m destined to marry the monster in the castle, except I’m not beautiful or virginal enough to tame him, and this isn’t a fairy tale, where my wit and charm are going to see me into a happily ever after.” She sounded so defeated, Charlie had the intense urge to hug her.
“It’ll be okay.” She said it out of habit, but the truth was that no one—not Aiden, or Charlie, or Keira—could guarantee that it was the truth.
“You keep telling yourself that. You’re the only one in the room with a magic pussy that makes men lose their minds.” Keira rolled onto her side and took another puff of her joint, finishing it off and tossing it into the ashtray perched precariously on her nightstand. “But I’m tired of talking about me and my pathetic life. You said you run a poker game—teach me to play.”
***
“You can’t be serious.”
Aiden looped the tie around his neck. “It’s the best opportunity we’ll have.” He watched Charlie in the mirror as he tied the knot. It was strange getting dressed while talking to her. He’d stayed away from her as much as possible the last few days, though they were required to put on a good show during dinner for whoever attended.
But he hadn’t let things get intimate since that first night.
“You want to talk to the Eldridges at a party you’re throwing for Dmitri and Keira? That’s reckless. Do you know what those women are capable of? Not to insult your manliness, but they make the O’Malleys look like schoolgirls by comparison.”
“It’s important to the greater plan.” Romanov thought the Eldridges would ascribe to the theory that the enemy of their enemy was their friend—or if not a friend, at least a useful tool. Aiden wouldn’t have to fake his hatred of the Russian, and they both believed that Alethea would approach him as a result.
Charlie crossed one long leg over the other and cocked her head. The move sent her hair, pinned to one side, cascading over her shoulder. “You’re playing a dangerous game.”
“I know.” He finished with his tie and shrugged into his jacket. “Desperate times.”
“Very.” Charlie rose, and he caught his breath all over again at the sight of her. She wore a silver dress that just about hit the floor, a slight flare in the fabric drawing attention to her hips and narrow waist and how well her breasts filled out the beaded bodice. As she turned to the door, hestaggered to a stop. The dress dipped down to just below the small of her back. Any lower and it’d be indecent, and he couldn’t stop staring, anticipating the fabric shifting just a bit.
She looked over her shoulder. “Marvelous, isn’t it?”
“That’s one word.” He cleared his throat, tamping down the need to tell her to put on a wrap or, even better, change. She wasn’t his. Walking into that room and drawing every male gaze was the intention. If the men were so busy thinking about her, they wouldn’t be watching their words as closely as they should.
Knowing that still didn’t dampen his desire to toss her on the bed and fuck her until his scent clung to her skin, so that every man she’d come into contact with tonight would have no doubt as to who she belonged to.
“Aiden?”
He blinked, finding her watching him with concern in her blue eyes. “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” She took a half step toward him before she seemed to remember their relationship wasn’t the kind that allowed for comforting. She gave a faint smile, something melancholy flitting across her expression before she shut it down. “If it’s any consolation, I have a large amount of respect for the lengths you’re willing to go for your family.”
John Finch had failed her horribly if she thought what Aiden was doing was admirable.Probably after she was labeled a dirty cop.In the research he’d done on the man, the FBI agent didn’t seem like the type to allow for gray area. Either a person was a criminal or they weren’t. To have his daughter labeled as one of the people he hunted had to have shaken him to the core.
Anger rose, threatening to melt the cold wall he kept around himself. It shouldn’t fucking matter if Charliewasa dirty cop. She was the last living member of Finch’s immediate family—hisdaughter. It wasn’t like she’d been accused of murder. The charge had been accepting a bribe, which was the very definition of petty shit. For her to be turned out after that…
It made him want to orchestrate a private conversation with John Finch that had nothing to do with the O’Malleys, and everything to do with the daughter he’d hurt so spectacularly with his callousness.
