Page 306

Scarlett’s phone buzzed on the table beside her. She glanced at the screen and sighed.

“Lucian wants to know if we’re drinking too much.”

Lacey laughed. “Nik has checked on me twice already.”

“Seriously?” I asked.

“They do hover,” Scarlett said. “You get used to it.”

I took another sip of champagne. “Lachlan’s actually been better about that than I expected. When he was in Boston, he gave me space.”

Lacey and Scarlett exchanged a look.

I lowered my glass. “What?”

“He gave you space,” Lacey repeated carefully.

“Why do you say it like that?”

Scarlett pressed her lips together, trying not to smile.

“All right. What do you two know?”

Lacey gave in. “He had DarkMatter keeping an eye on you while he was gone.”

I stared at her. “Keeping an eye on me how?”

“Nothing too invasive. He wanted to know where you were, that you were safe, and whether anything unusual happened.”

“How often?”

Lacey hesitated.

“Lacey.”

“Every hour.”

I slowly set my champagne on the table.

“He had DarkMatter send him a report on me every hour?”

Scarlett finally laughed. “Apparently that was his version of not hovering.”

I should have been more irritated than I was. Instead, I pictured Lachlan sitting in Boston, pretending to concentrate on whatever meeting he was in while waiting for confirmation that I was safe.

Ridiculous, overprotective man.

I clicked my tongue and put on my sweetest, most patronizing tone. “I’ll have to scold that bad boy like a naughty little child.”

Lacey’s brow lifted. “I’d be very careful trying that attitude on him to his face.”

“Why?”

Scarlett’s smile turned wicked. “Because you may discover he enjoys correcting you. Talk to a man like Lachlan as though he’s a naughty little boy, and he may decide to remind you which one of you is in charge when he gets you alone.” Her smile widened. “And with men like ours, punishment has a funny way of becoming foreplay.”

Heat touched my face.

Unfortunately, that sounded promising.