As if summoned, her eyes snap to mine. She gives me a once-over, stare snatching onto my gray suit, brow lifting in slow assessment. The feline smile that has my cock stirring to attention spreads across her full, cherry-painted lips.
Hungry?She mouths before tossing me a wink.
Like a sucker punch, all of the oxygen is swept from my lungs, and I begin to choke on nothing. A moment later, a crash echoes, startling me and breaking my stare. I glance down to find shattered glass around my feet and whiskey soaking my shoes.
My gaze snaps to Elena again, and she’s smirking at me before turning toward the bar and sliding into one of the stools.
“Fuck,” I mutter, squatting as I begin to pick up the broken glass.
“How did she get here?” Leo asks as Everett murmurs, “Why is she wearing a fucking loin cloth?”
Leo huffs, kissing his wife’s ankle before standing and setting her feet in his seat, Everett trails behind him as they go in search of their sister. The view of them walking away is blocked by Carter as he bends to his knees in front of me with a small trash bin, plucking shards from the ground.
“Sorry.”
“No worries, man. Happens.” His lips tilt slightly as he pauses, studying my face. “I know she’s their sister, but where do you fit into the equation?”
“I don’t, really,” I lie. “She’s my roommate.”
He cocks his head. “That it?”
“We used to be friends,” I murmur. “When we were kids.”
“Used to be?”
I grunt in confirmation, and as we finish picking up the glass, he drags a rag across the floor to soak the spill before tossing that in the bin.
“I get it.” He smirks as we stand.
Across the gallery, Leo, Everett, and Elena speak in hushed tones. My attention is pulled away when Dahlia steps up behind Darby’s chair, saying, “You know, Penelope told me that the rooftop has a gorgeous view of the city. I was going to see if I could sneak Everett up there for sex.”
Darby’s nose scrunches, lip curling as she gazes up at her sister, offering a perplexed and disturbed expression.
“Um…why don’t I give you my key, then?” Carter says awkwardly. “Door locks from the outside, and that way, we can make sure you don’t accidentally traumatize any of my other tenants.”
“That would be great.” She smiles, snatching it from his outstretched hand with zero shame. “August.” She turns her eyes to me. “We should be about a half hour or so. You know…”Dahlia shrugs. “In case you’d like to have any conversations out of the eyes of nosy, overprotective brothers.”
“Coincidentally, I was just going to ask Leo if he could come help me with a few boxes I left in my apartment,” Carter adds.
Dahlia winks before striding across the showroom floor and intercepting Everett as he and Leo walk back toward us. She whispers something in his ear, and a grin spreads across his face. He spins on his heel, and follows her like a damn dog through the backdoor and into the stairwell.
Carter stops Leo before he reaches us, nodding in the same direction Everett and Dahlia just disappeared. “I need you to help me get a few things upstairs.”
“Oh.” He pauses, glancing back and forth between Carter and his wife. “But Darby…and her feet…”
“I’m fine.” She waves him off. “I can survive fifteen minutes without you.”
“I got her.” Penelope smiles as she returns from walking a number of buyers through the gallery.
He sighs, relenting as he steps up to his wife and plants a quick kiss on her lips, hand on her belly. Carter winks at me before they both head toward the apartment units above the gallery’s main floor.
“Go say whatever it is you need to say.”
“I have nothing to say,” I mutter, glancing down at Darby.
“That’s not true. You both have left far too much unspoken, and I know for damn sure she didn’t wear that dress for anyone else tonight.”
I exhale a heavy breath as my gaze darts back to Elena. She leans over the bar, arms propped on the counter, sparkling eyes and a beaming smile fixated on the bartender. He studies her, open with interest, his gaze lingering on the soft skin spilling from her neckline. Nausea rolls in my stomach as I watch the encounter.
