No fucking shit, Sherlock.
‘Anyway, it’ll be no harm to spend some time together. After all, you guys are going to be family soon.’
Don’t remind me.
The following afternoon I’m lazing on a poolside lounger with my MacBook on my lap while Kim, my feisty no-nonsense PA, works in my home office. Kim’s been with me for years. With a quick, dry wit and bigger balls than most men, she’s easy to be around.
Colton, my silent and brooding security detail, is the total opposite. If he has a sense of humour, he’s yet to find it beneath his bleach blond shaggy locks.
Busying himself installing a new elaborate home security system, he’s barely said two words today. Thankfully, he’s not here for his personality. Like the twelve cameras surrounding my property, he’s a necessary evil when your brother’s a rock star.
Is it any wonder I prefer backstage to centre stage? Where Ryan was created specifically to shine under the harsh glare of the limelight, and to be devoted to one woman, I was created for drinking whiskey in dark bars with scores of women. Sadly, the media didn’t get the memo and have plastered us both over every tabloid at any opportunity.
Kim stalks out of the house, hopping onto each decorative but impractical stepping stone that lines the pathway from the house to the pool.
‘Declan’s on his way over,’ she says, biting her lower lip in an unusually serious fashion.
‘What’s up with him?’
Declan’s one of the few childhood friends I kept in touch with. He moved to LA from Ireland five years ago, setting up a top secret, but highly lucrative business for celebrities and high-fliers, who pay him huge amounts of money to find something, and even more when they want something hidden. Declan’s methods aren’t always legitimate, but he always gets the job done.
Wisps of her blonde shoulder length hair catch in the light breeze, whipping across Kim’s lips. ‘He finally found her.’
She doesn’t need to say who. The solemnity of her tone tells me everything I need to know. I’ve been searching for Lula Flores for almost nine years. For nine long years she’s managed to stay out of every system Declan’s capable of hacking.
My throat tightens. I lurch forward, placing my laptop down beside me. ‘Is she alive?’
Kim nods curtly. ‘She was working illegally in a Mexican restaurant when the place got raided. She needs a place to stay and a visa ASAP. She was close to being deported before Declan intervened.’
I swallow the lump in my throat.
‘Is he bringing her here now?’
Kim nods again. ‘They’ll be here in just over an hour.’
‘Will you ask Sara to make up the guest room?’ Sara Garcia used to be Ryan’s housekeeper. When he moved back to Huxley Castle, I snapped her up. Sara’s loyal, discreet, and she makes the best steak sandwiches this side of the Atlantic.
‘Sure.’ Kim squints at her watch. ‘Don’t forget you’ve got that Zoom meeting with Ryan and the Sexton sister in ten minutes.’
My eyes roll skywards. ‘Don’t remind me.’
Today is shaping up to be one hell of a day.
I text my best friend, Gareth, to cancel tonight’s drinks. We meet most Thursdays to shoot the shit and, more often than not, pick up women. Tonight, though, I’ve got more important matters on my mind.
A million questions for Lula buzz through my brain. They’ll have to wait.
I have a date with the ice queen and her silver spoon.
I log on and wait for my brother to let me in from the waiting room. When he does, an image of Chloe Sexton’s glowing face appears on my screen. My chest involuntarily tightens.
Light freckles adorn classic high cheekbones, dazzling cyan eyes pop against her sun-kissed skin. Thick chestnut hair, which was so gorgeously free-falling at Christmas, is twisted into some sort of elaborate knot on top of her head, bar a few loose tendrils framing her heart-shaped face.
The top half of her dress visibly clings to her womanly frame without revealing a millimetre of skin. She’s as stunning as ever. It’s just a shame she’s a complete and utter pain in my ass.
My brother’s grinning face takes up the other side of the screen. ‘Hi guys. How are you both?’
‘Fine.’ Chloe glares at me.
