As soon as we end the phone call, I wrap the black satin bed sheets around my naked body. Before leaving the room, I spot my Little Sinner dagger on the bedside table and strap it to my thigh, knowing I’m safe within The Scarlet Mirage but loving everything the dagger represents. Power and independence. This underworld of Felix’s has now become mine and Tyler’s world too. Danger can present itself at any time. I want to always be prepared to defend myself and my men.
Once I leave the confines of the bedroom, it doesn’t take me long to find Felix and Tyler, hearing them inside the office. The door is ajar. Through the gap, I see Felix leaning over his desk, pointing at something on a largesheet of paper. Tyler stands beside him. They’re laughing, looking like the close brothers they used to be.
“You want to build a voyeurism room?” The left side of Tyler’s lips slant up. “We can definitely make that addition. Let me guess, you want Harper to have the audience she’s always fantasized about?”
“Of course.”
My tummy leaps, hearing their conversation. I’m reminded of the first time I saw a public display of sex. It was a threesome between people unknown to me, at a party Felix threw when I was eighteen. A crowd of men were watching, getting off on the sight. The display unleashed a fantasy to recreate the scene with Felix and Tyler in front of an audience.
For me, there’s nothing more erotic than being watched while doing something so depraved. Perhaps it’s because I grew up with strict values, always needing to be a good girl, denying my sexual urges because they weren’t “normal.” The thought of people watching me do something so incredibly dirty, with Felix and Tyler of all people, is the pinnacle of my fantasies.
They tried to make the fantasy a reality when I was eighteen, throwing a party filled with masked strangers in the hedge maze at the Blackwood beach house. The night turned out differently.Horrendously, with Felix taken to Westbridge. Since then, I’ve dismissed the fantasy, not thinking about it much over the years.
A delicious shiver runs down my spine, hearing the discussion of a voyeurism room. My men want to make the fantasy come true for me. But something else comesto mind—a realization of what I’m witnessing in Felix’s office.
Felix is discussing business plans with Tyler.
I push the door open with excitement. “You two are working together?”
They both look up, smiling at my arrival. “Yes. Come here, baby,” Tyler says.
I’m overflowing with happiness, seeing them like this, working together after so many years of bitterness, when it was always a dream of theirs.
I greet each of them with a good morning kiss. Felix sits on the desk and pulls me onto his lap, pausing when his hand brushes against my thigh, feeling the dagger beneath the sheet I’m wrapped in.
He hikes the sheet up my leg, finding the blade in its sheath. “You’re wearing the dagger right now?”
“What dagger?” Tyler asks.
“I bought Harper a dagger as a safety precaution. Protection against Ferguson.”
“You told me to always wear it,” I say.
“Yes, when your life was under threat. There’s no need for you to wear it anymore.We’re all safe. Theo gave me confirmation of Ferguson’s death.”
“Really?” I chew my bottom lip, processing the information. The news is a relief; I just don’t know if I’ll ever truly relax. At least not so soon after Tyler was shot.
“Yes. I promise, we’re all safe.”
I smile and shrug. “Okay, but I like wearing the dagger. It was a gift from you. Plus, it makes me feel powerful. I can strike the next time anyone threatens us.”
“There won’t be a next time. I’m involved in illegaldealings but rarely do I come face to face with danger anymore. I have men who do all the heavy lifting for me. Ferguson was a rare exception. Bodyguards will still be shadowing you.”
“Then consider the dagger a piece of jewelry. There’s no harm in me wearing it.”
“Fine.” Felix releases a breath of laughter, letting the topic slide. He looks me over, pleased by my disheveled appearance. “It’s a good thing no staff are here. Your hair is a mess. You look freshly fucked. How are you feeling after last night?”
“Incredible.” I slip my hand into Tyler’s, drawing him closer till I’m wedged between the two again. “This, right now… It’s everything I’ve ever wanted. Tell me this time we’re forever.”
“We are.” Tyler kisses my lips, wrapping my legs around his waist while I remain on Felix’s lap.
“Nothing is going to ruin us this time,” Felix murmurs along my cheek. “We’ve already made every mistake possible. We’ve changed from the people who made those mistakes. I promise you, Harper, from here forward, it’s you, me, Tyler. Our child.”
I inhale quickly, looking back and forth at them. “What?—”
Felix presses a finger to my lips. “Tyler and I have discussed everything. The child will be all of ours. There will be no paternity testing. No marriage. Just the bond we’ve shared since childhood.” Felix opens each of my palms and runs a finger along my two scars. One scar for Felix and a second for Tyler.
I frown, lowering my head. “I love everything you saybut… I don’t think I can get pregnant. There’s something wrong with my body.”
