“All exaggerated, I’m sure.” He releases her hand. “You’re sitting with us tonight?”
“She’s in the suite,” I answer for her.
Koda glances at me, raising an eyebrow, then looks back at Tilly with approval. “Good. He fights better when he’s got his people watching from the top.”
Charlotte bounces over, abandoning the blocks. “Finally! I’ve been dying to meet you.” She pulls Tilly into a hug before Tilly can react. “Audrey said you own a fragrance shop? I have so many questions.”
Tilly smiles back, but I can tell she’s overwhelmed. “I do custom blends, yes.”
“We need to talk. After the fight, I want the full tour.” Charlotte links her arm through Tilly’s. “Come on, I brought a dress that’s going to look amazing on you. Let’s go look at it while the boys grunt at each other about strategy.”
Tilly glances at me, checking in.
“Go,” I say, squeezing her hand. “I’ll find you in a bit.”
Charlotte steers her toward the living room. I watch them go, feeling the knot in my chest loosen completely.
“Alright, loverboy.” Koda claps me on the shoulder. “Coffee first. Then we talk strategy. You’ve got one more war to win before you get your happy ending.”
Chapter Six
TILLY
The guest roomat Audrey and Reign’s ranch has been transformed into a tactical command center for beauty.
Every surface of the antique dresser is covered in curling irons, palettes of eyeshadow that shimmer like crushed jewels, and enough hairspray to punch a hole in the ozone layer.
On the floor, in a makeshift playpen constructed of pillows, two babies are currently having a summit meeting. Elaine, Charlotte’s daughter, is furiously chewing on a rubber giraffe. Beside her, Leo watches her with wide, solemn eyes.
“Alright, chin up, buttercup,” Charlotte commands, tilting my head back with a makeup sponge. “If you squirm, I’m going to get contour on your collarbone, and then we’ll have to start over.”
“I’m trying,” I mumble, my lips barely moving. “But my nerves are shot.”
And they are. Not just because of the fight tonight, but because I can’t stop replaying this morning. The way Ben pulled me against him before I could even think about getting out of bed. The way he pressed his mouth to my ear and said, You’re mine.
I came here expecting a one-night stand. One wild, reckless night before I went back to my careful little life. Instead, I woke up pinned beneath a man who looked at me like I was something he’d been waiting for. Something he had no intention of letting go.
Mine.
The word keeps circling in my head, and I have no idea what to do with it.
“That’s not nerves,” Audrey says from the doorway, where she’s leaning against the frame, watching us with a smirk. “That’s the glassy-eyed look of a woman who was thoroughly ravaged.”
“I wasn’t ravaged,” I protest weakly.
“Please.” Audrey snorts, walking over to check on Leo. “You’re walking like you rode a horse for three days straight.”
I don’t say anything, mostly because she’s right.
I am sore. Every time I shift my weight on the plush vanity stool, I feel that delicious, heavy ache between my thighs. And instead of being embarrassed—which I probably should be, given that I’m sitting in a near-stranger’s guest room letting another near-stranger do my makeup—I find myself pressing my legs together just to feel the friction again. To feel the ghost of him.
I’ve never been like this. I’ve always been practical, logical, too focused on formulas and inventory to think much about sex. But Ben has turned me into someone new. Someone insatiable. I feel like I’m just biding my time until I can get him alone and have him peel this dress off me.
“But this is crazy, right?” I start, my voice jumping a little. I shouldn’t be saying any of this out loud. I barely know these women. I met Charlotte for the first time a few hours ago in Audrey’s kitchen, and she’d taken one look at my face and declared my skin “criminally underhydrated” beforevolunteering to do my makeup like we were already friends. “I mean, I’ve only known Ben for one day. And he’s already talking about the future and building a life. He keeps calling me his.”
I expect concern. I expect someone to tell me to slow down, to be careful.
Instead, Audrey and Charlotte exchange a look. It’s a look of profound, terrifying amusement.
