I tear my gaze away from Rett, frowning at Tristan. “How what is?”
He just smirks, tapping the side of his nose. “Nothing. Nothing at all.” He grabs an apple from the fruit bowl, taking a loud bite. “Just observing the fascinating dynamics of our little household.”
Diego rolls his eyes, flipping a pancake. “Ignore him. He thinks he’s much more perceptive than he actually is.”
“Excuse you,” Tristan protests around a mouthful of apple. “I’m incredibly perceptive. I’m like... a perception... person.”
“Eloquent as always,” Dane murmurs, earning a glare from Tristan.
I can’t help but smile at their bickering. It’s become so familiar.
My gaze drifts back to Rett, only to find him still watching me. There’s something in his eyes that makes it hard to breathe. A heat. A kind of hunger. And the memory of his mouth on mine, his hands on my skin, floods back with startling clarity.
“Plans for today?” Diego asks, setting a plate of pancakes in front of me. “Besides making Rett jealous with his mug?”
I blink, dragging my attention away from Rett. “Um, not much. Maybe catch up on some reading. See if I can help with the gallery investigation from here.”
“I have back-to-back meetings at the office,” Rett says, his tone clipped and professional, though his eyes are still fixed on me. “Tokyo conference call all morning.”
Diego and Tristan exchange a look I can’t quite interpret. “Both of us will be at the office as well,” Tristan says. “Board prep.”
“I’m working from here today,” Dane adds quietly, not looking up from his plate. “Coordinating with my security contacts. Reviewing footage.”
I nod, trying to ignore the flutter in my stomach at the thought of being alone in the penthouse with one of them all day. After last night, I’m not sure I should be alone with any of them.
“Well, don’t mind me,” I say, aiming for casual and missing by a mile. “I’ll just be here. Reading. Like a normal person who doesn’t have a multi-million-dollar company to run.”
Tristan snorts. “Reading what? The back of cereal boxes?”
I stick my tongue out at him, a childish gesture that makes him laugh. “I’ll have you know I have plenty of books. Some of us actually read for pleasure.”
“Oh, I read for pleasure,” he says with a waggle of his eyebrows. “Romance novels, mostly. The steamier, the better.”
“Why am I not surprised?” I mutter, but I’m smiling despite myself.
Diego slides a bottle of maple syrup across the island toward me. “Don’t encourage him,” he says, but there’s a warm, easy humor in his eyes.
“Oh, she can encourage me anytime,” Tristan says, his voice dropping to a low, suggestive purr. His dark eyes meet mine, and the look in them is anything but platonic. “In fact, I insist.”
A hot blush crawls up my neck, and I take a large gulp of coffee, the heat scalding my tongue.
The air is suddenly thick, and I risk a glance up to find that all four of them are watching me. But it’s Rett’s expression that makes me swallow hard. In his eyes is a raw, stark, and deeply possessive hunger that mirrors Tristan’s own.
CLINK.
The sound of Rett’s heavy ceramic mug hitting the marble countertop is the only thing that breaks the spell.
“I have a meeting at nine,” he says, his voice a low, rough growl. “I need to go.”
That seems to be the signal. Tristan grabs another apple to go, his eyes still holding a spark of that earlier, wicked heat as he gives me a slow wink. “Don’t have too much fun without us,” he says, his voice a low purr meant only for me.
Diego just offers me a small, almost apologetic smile before he follows Tristan toward the door.
Rett is the last of the three to leave. He pauses at the door, his blue eyes finding mine.
“Zoe,” he says, my name a low rumble. “About last night...”
“It’s fine,” I cut him off, not ready to have that conversation, especially not in front of Dane. “We don’t have to talk about it.”
