Cillian grunted, and I shook my head. He wouldn’t be functional until he’d gotten more caffeine in his system, especially not after the huge chase we’d had yesterday.
“The boss has given me permission to use the boat,” I said quietly, grabbing my phone before scrolling down my emails to where Sloan had passed along the information. I glared at the cracked screen and considered giving Cillian shit for it, but I would save that for some other time. After I’d made sure Cillian was settled last night, I’d gone downstairs to call Sloan and update him on things from my point of view, and we’d had a conversation that ended with the boss telling me he would sort out the staff to help on the luxury yacht. It was a reward, he’d said, for our hard work yesterday, and I wasn’t going to say no. I didn’t know how to drive a yacht and I doubted Cillian did, either.
Jamie blinked. “And?”
I quirked a grin at him and shrugged, causing him to frown.
“Come on now. Give me something here.”
Cillian snorted out a chuckle. “He’s a man of few words. Probably why I like him more than ye.”
Jamie’s mouth dropped open and his eyes bugged. “Oof. You’re in a right mood this morning.”
“He’ll be fine once he has breakfast and more coffee,” I said.
“Only drinking it because they don’t have a proper tea here. But I suppose caffeine is caffeine. I’m more used to this coffee bullshite since Vail. He loves it. I also haven’t gotten laid in two weeks.” Cillian took another long sip of his coffee, then sighed. His tense shoulders relaxed slightly.
“Whose fault is that? I could fuck you.” I smirked when he flipped me the bird.
“Feckoff.”
I grunted out a soft laugh as two women walked in carrying large silver platters full of food that they rested on the table in front of us. The blonde glanced at me again as she set the dishes out, stepping in closer than necessary. She bumped her hip against my arm and winked, and I stared at her face in disinterest. The moment I glanced away from her, she did it again, this time with an added giggle that caught Jamie, Corbin,andCillian’s attention.
“Sorry,” she whispered, voice low and seductive.
I cleared my throat and raised my eyebrows at her, but when she went to bump meagain, Cillian shot to his feet and grabbed her arm. His grip wasn’t tight enough to leave bruises, but it made her gasp and look up at him in surprised fear.
“Touch him again and I’ll rip off every one of those long fingernails of yers.” He smirked, and I blinked, glancing down at her hands. I hadn’t noticed the pink nails, but I didn’t know how I’d missed them because they were fluorescent and bright. The old Aspen might have cared because I enjoyed a good set of nails to scratch my back, but my interest in other people outside of our love nest was non-existent. I had Vail and Fallon now, and in a way, Cillian and Rowen, too.
The blonde stumbled a step backward, yanking her arm out of Cillian’s grasp. “I’m sorry, sir. I hadn’t realized....” Her attention shot to me. She ducked her head, rushing out of the dining room with the empty platter in her hand. The other servant followed her.
Cillian growled out a strange sound, the kind he made when he was frustrated, and I patted his arm, startling him into looking at me.
“She meant no harm, and I wasn’t interested.” I shrugged, but the truth didn’t seem to soothe him. He narrowed his gaze on me and ripped his arm away from the touch of my palm, then reached over the table and grabbed some toast before stalking out of the room.
Jamie whistled, while Corbin finally closed his newspaper to smirk at me.
“What?” I frowned at them.
“That’s what I call a jealousy strut. That bloke’s jealous.” Corbin snatched an apple from a basket and took a big bite. When he was done with the piece in his mouth, he said, “Your boy didn’t like her touching what belonged to him, hm?”
I glanced in the direction Cillian had left. We weren’ttogetherin any traditional way, and while we shared partners there was never any possessiveness between us. There didn’t need to be. We transcended sex. We’d been each other’s support—emotional and physical—and we were just fine with the way it was. But like with everything since Vail had come along, that had changed, slowly but surely. Cillian had jerked me off. I’d eaten his ass out. We’d even fucking hugged in the bed. And now he had a reason to not want a woman flirting with me?
I stood and left Jamie and Corbin to their own devices. The trip across the hallway to the stairs, then up to the second floor didn’t give me enough time to think. Like I’d expected, Cillian was inside his room cursing and mumbling under his breath as he shuffled through the clothes hanging in his closet.
I leaned against the doorframe and crossed my arms, my black T-shirt pulling at my biceps and across my chest. “Want to tell me what that was?”
Cillian stilled, his spine straightening, but he didn’t look at me. “Fecking nothing.”
“You can bullshit whoever you want, but you can’t with me. I know you.” I cocked my head. “How about you tell me what your problem is? It was harmless flirting. I wasn’t interested.”
He finally spun toward me, jaw ticking in irritation. He prowled forward until we were inches apart, his chest rising and falling fast. “I don’t care if it was harmless or that ye weren’t interested, ye belong with Fallon and Vail, and no one should be flirting with ye, should they?”
I blinked, and he growled, throwing his hands up. He went to walk away, but I grabbed his wrist and yanked him back. I slammed him against the wall near the door, and he groaned in pain. I’d forgotten about the sunburn, but it didn’t seem to worry him as I grasped his throat tightly and pressed against him. His breath tickled my face when I leaned in closer, our lips a whisper away from each other. He shuddered against me when I jammed my thigh between his legs, rubbing his growing boner with my knee.
The world around us disappeared, and all I could feel and hear and focus on was him and the warmth of his body pushed against mine. I tilted my head and flicked out my tongue, catching barely a taste of his mouth. He dropped his hands on my chest, holding them there for a second before he shoved me—or made an attempt. I tightened my grip on his throat, and he let out a long breath, body shuddering under the press of mine.
“I don’t belong to Fallon and Vail. They belong to me, just like you do,” I murmured in his ear.
