Amelia stiffens beside me.
My hand quickly moves to cover my mouth, trying to smother the grin breaking free, but it’s useless. I shift in my chair, elbows braced on my knees, pretending I’m studying the papers when really I’m watching her.
Amelia looks at Maggie and nods in agreement as she walks toward the stairs, again.
“Dollface, want your wedding present now?” I call after her.
She’s already walking away, hips swaying, completely ignoring me on purpose. My grin widens as I lean back against the chair, spreading my legs wide in a shameless invitation. My hand drops lazily to my thigh as my fingers drum against my joggers, but my eyes stay locked on her.
“Bet you’d love it,” I add with a wink, shifting just enough to make the insinuation crystal clear.
Her shoulders stiffen for a beat before she flips me off without looking back, and I can’t help the laugh that rumbles out of me.
Maggie finally leaves, and I do what any reasonable man does.
I text my brothers.
Maverick
HELP
Reed
What
Carter
I don’t have time for your bullshit today.
Maverick
Amelia is making me spiral, how can a woman be so goddamn gorgeous
Reed
No comment
Carter
K.
Maverick
Chill daddy Hayes
I’m still grinning at my phone as I walk up the stairs and push the door open to my room, expecting it to be empty.
It is not.
It is, in fact, very much not.
Amelia is in the middle of putting on a pair of jet black leggings, one leg already in. Her shirt is off, leaving her in a black lace bra, her bare back arched as she adjusts the leggings, revealing every inch of skin covered in ink.
Her left arm was shrouded in shadow, completely black from her shoulder to wrist, a bold, unapologetic sweep of ink that made her seem lethal and untouchable.
My eyes traced across her back, where her other armtold a different story. A mixture of detail, florals, and monarch butterflies intertwined, inked with such precision. The petals curved along her shoulder blade, trailing softly and dangerously down to her wrist.
One side darkness, the other a garden.
