“What?I didn’t know you were down here.You’re usually in your wing.”
“That’s convenient for you.”
“Sorry, Ares,” Logan’s deep timbre cut through the tension.
Josie stared at the floor, not wanting to see Logan’s sculpted naked body again.Or Xander’s sleek muscled form.It felt very wrong to see her friends naked somehow.
Ares stepped out of the way, Logan held the door, and Xander led her friend in, tugging on her hair.“Here we are, Angel.Forgive the interruption.”
“I’m so sorry, Josie,” Ares pressed his hand against the small of her back.“Can I get you a drink?”
“You did say there was never a dull moment around here,” Josie tried to give him a smile, but her voice wobbled.
What was the big deal?So she saw three people naked?Why was she thrown off by it?
“I did.”Ares gave her a small smile, but it didn’t quite meet his eyes.
“I think I want to go home.”
“Next time, I’ll make sure we have the place to ourselves,” Ares squeezed her hand.
“Okay, it’s not your fault.”
But she needed to get out of here and didn’t know why she felt unsettled.In a far corner of her mind, she could see this as amusing, Ares being cock-blocked by his brother after finally being on a date with her but right now, all she wanted was to get as far away from all of this…the intensity, the gorgeous dungeon, in a gigantic but kind of cool house, the man that looked at her with heat and desire, the naked men and woman she’d known for years.
“Here, let me help you,” Ares held out her boot to her, as Josie balanced with one hand on the wall.
“I can do it myself.”
“Josie, sit down.”The way he growled out the words made her sit on the chair without protest.
“This wasn’t how I wanted the night to end, but I am not going to stop caring for you, because of my brother’s thoughtlessness.”Ares held her boot, and she slid her foot in, then he held out the other one and it made her feel cherished.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”Ares held out his arm, and she grasped it with shaky fingers.She didn’t know what to think of everything that had happened, but she knew this evening had changed everything between them.
8 ARES
“Fuck.The guy wasn’t bullshitting us.Have you seen the numbers?Did you watch that video?I don’t regret bringing Drustan in on this project after all.It’s like a Christmas surprise.”Xander thumped his desk so hard that the elf that was fornicating with the doll toppled to the floor.
“Stone’s people report that other than going to work, the guy’s quiet.Maybe he really is one of the decent ones.”
“Yeah, the numbers are great,” Ares tapped the file on the tablet, to read through it mostly to ignore Xander.
“Can you get over it already?”A foil wrapped chocolate hit the back of Ares’s tablet.
Ares tossed the tablet on the desk.“You’re the only one who gets to hold grudges?You didn’t even apologize.”
Ares stood and paced behind the leather club chairs.It had been a week since his date with Josie.Logan tried to initiate a conversation about it, but Ares brushed off his attempts.Why he was angry that Xander didn’t bring it up when he was unwilling to hash it out with Logan was a question for his shrink.
“Apologize?For being naked inmyhouse, withmysubmissive, on the way to usingmydungeon?”Xander raised an eyebrow.
“I thought it wasourhouse.”
Xander threw his hands up.“Forgive me for not putting a sock on the door.You haven’t brought anyone home before, not since Harper’s lived with us, and you haven’t dated seriously for a long time.Not since Trixie.”
Ares glared at this brother.Xander knew how to open the wounds, but he didn’t want to think about the woman who broke his heart.
