“You are screwed,” Liv finally says and then we laugh again, both of us knowing that I’ve already been screwed, twice, by Dec. “Just be careful,” she tells me and whilst I want to wave away her warnings, I can’t because I share them.
Dec could be the biggest mistake of my life and the fact that we’re linked through my sister’s marriage to his brother it will be further complicated for everyone if we make the wrong choices, and I am done with wrong choices.
A dance track suddenly sounds around us and in the blink of an eye Liv is up on her feet and dragging me off to the dancefloor where she manages to dance and move in a very seductive way, even in her wedding dress. She is attracting lots of attention as she moves to the music and at one point even Jimmy, Mase and Dec’s dad joins her. He dances for a few seconds before whispering something to her and then with a kiss to her cheek he leaves to return a few minutes later with Dec, both of whom are behind Mase. He is heading straight for his wife who I remember was told not to dance alone but once he reaches her, he simply pulls her to him, takes her in his arms and dances with her.
I smile at the picture of them in love until I look beyond them and find Dec. His eyes, dark, intense, conflicted, and fixed firmly on me.
Chapter 5
Declan
I am trying to get away from Christian who has popped in. Although, I know, we both know that’s crap because he never pops anywhere. He is my stepsister’s husband and was Liv’s boss, but was a total knob to her, always had been. However, once she and Mase got together he became worse until my sister-in-law resigned.
“I’ve gone solo,” he says as he follows me through the club I am checking on before I go out for the evening.
“I’d heard,” I reply without explaining that I know Mase bought his shares in the interior design company he once co-owned with my former stepfather and Christian’s father-in-law, Nathan, and together with my brother’s own shares he is gifting them to Olivia making her the majority shareholder.
“Hmm,” Christian says and then begins to look around speculatively. “Have you thought of an update, a revamp for your interior?”
Suddenly the reason for him popping in is clear. He is touting for business.
“Not really,” I reply shortly and hope he will take the hint and sod off.
“I could put some ideas together,” he offers. “And a quote,” he adds, presumably not wanting me to misunderstand his offer as anything other than a business deal.
“Christian,” I say, checking the time that suggests I am now running late. “I really need to go. I have plans, but in terms of a design job, I’m not really thinking about it right now, but if I was, I would be inclined to go to Liv first.”
He looks genuinely shocked that she would be my first port of call, but she would as she is seriously talented and to the best of my knowledge Christian hasn’t designed for several years. I am thankful that Mase is nowhere within earshot when he continues to run his mouth.
“Why? Because she has managed to fuck her way into your brother’s bed? That he has set her up in my business because she knows her way around the male anatomy? She was my fucking receptionist and don’t think Mase was the first man she tried to use to advance her career,” he accuses, and I am tempted to hit him myself.
Mase wouldn’t hesitate and Christian deserves to be punched for his whole attitude towards Liv, but right now I have the other Carrington sister on my mind.
“Christian, don’t be such a dick. If, when I decide to go for a design job, I will go to Liv first, but for no reason other than the fact that I like her work and she understands the name, brand, and ideas I want to use here. You really do need to stop this hating on Liv shit though because if you don’t you are going to burn a lot of bridges and if Mase hears you talk about her that way he will fucking flip and he may not hold any interest in your business anymore, but you know he could make your life very difficult,” I warn him. “And you are putting your wife and kids in the middle of this.”
“Women like her…” is as far as he gets when I interrupt him.
“For fuck’s sake, Christian! Women like her! She is Mase’s wife. She should have been and will be in the future the mother to his children. You are barely related, buddy, so if I was you, I would shut the fuck up and back off.”
He winces at my comments but recovers quickly enough that he turns back to his near obsession with hating Liv. “Was our absence noted at the wedding? I did call Mase, it was last minute though,” he sneers.
“Oh right, yeah, you didn’t make it, did you?” I say as if I had only just realised. “Christian, I really have to go, but think about what I’ve said if only for Imelda and the kids.”
I am already leaving the club and Christian follows me out onto the street, but I now feel agitated and antsy after defending my brother’s wife. This is why relationships are not worth it, they need commitment to love, support and defend, which is fine except the way I do things I can still support and defend, with sex rather than love but the expectation for it isn’t there. Hopefully, Anita and I can get on the same page because right now she might be the only thing that can restore my equilibrium.
~~~
Anita and I exchanged numbers the morning after the wedding. I was a little disappointed that she wouldn’t come back to my room with me, but then I can see why that would have been a bad idea with her room being next to her parents and mine being next to Sara and Jed’s. Mase’s words about no more sex until deciding what I was going to do as far as Anita was concerned also rang in my ears and I know he was right. With hindsight it was probably for the best because it was hard enough to get through breakfast with Anita opposite me without her having shared my bed, plus Liv also warned me off. After she and Mase had finished their shagging to music routine or dancing as they call it, she essentially told me that her sister deserved far better than a man whore to mess her around so to think very carefully about my next move. She had then kissed me rather than punched me, so I think she approves if I don’t fuck it up.
I sigh loudly as I consider my own thoughts about not fucking up because that would suggest I want more than the usual fuck buddy I go for, but what does Anita want? I suppose I will find out soon enough I realise as I pull up outside the restaurant where we have agreed to meet.
I enter the restaurant and nervously adjust the tie I’m wearing which is something of a novelty. I don’t really do shirts and ties unless I must and tonight, I think I do. I want to do it right. For everything to be right for Anita who has just arrived herself. I can feel her presence before I turn and find her looking perfect in a royal blue off the shoulder lace dress. I am staring at her, powerless to speak as I fully take her in; the hollowed out effect that leaves her neck, collar bone and shoulders all on show. I am on my second or third rake of her body and allow a small smile to curl my lips at her sexy little legs that are bare from the mid-thigh down and her sexy little feet that are strapped into sparkly blue, heeled sandals. My eyes roam back up over her full hips, nipped in waist and lace covered chest that is heaving in what I think are nervous and anticipatory breaths. Even her arms are sexy, encased in yet more lace. Fuck she is gorgeous and standing there with her hair curled and cascading loosely down her back while she casually licks her pouting glossed lips all I can think about is fucking her and making her scream my name or calling me stud. She really is the image of redemption and sin rolled up in one perfectly beautiful package.
Anita smiles and then laughs with a flush to her cheeks as she speaks, and I realise that the maître d’ has appeared and probably already spoken to me.
“We have a table booked,” she explains and with meback in the roomI take over.
“Yes, a reservation, Harding, Declan Harding.” I am praying to everything I hold dear that they haven’t lost my reservation.
