Page 90 of King of Temptation

After he whipped her ass for whatever this little stunt was.

With much more stealth than his babygirl had managed, Brody slipped into the bushes behind her. The mulch crunched under his foot a bit, but she didn’t so much as flinch and he mentally added another two strokes of his belt to her tally for not paying attention.

Once he was in position, he reached for her, covering her nose and mouth with one hand while his other arm snaked around her midsection, yanking her back toward him. Goldie froze, other than the tremor that racked her body, and maybe it made him an asshole but he couldn’t help but feel a bit smug about scaring her.

“Don’t move,” he growled low in her ear, and she instantly relaxed against him. “I’m going to pull my hand away, but if you make a single sound I will drag you back inside and let my family watch while I whip your ass. Nod once if you understand me.”

At her single nod, he slowly pulled his hand away from her mouth. True to her word, she didn’t make a peep, though she did shoot him a glare that would have left most men bleeding out on the ground.

Lucky for him he wasn’t most men.

Pulling his phone from his pocket, he opened his notetaking app and tapped out a question before handing the device over to her.

* * *

[What are you doing?

Eavesdropping on Rowan, duh.]

* * *

Even in complete silence she was a mouthy fucking brat. He kind of loved that about her.

* * *

[Why?

He’s talking about taking down Killian.]

* * *

Fuck. Was Rowan their mole? It might actually kill Murphy if he was.

* * *

[What did he say?

That’s all I heard. I was TRYING to get more info when you decided to give me a fucking heart attack.

If you’d stayed where I put you, that wouldn’t have happened.

If I’d stayed where you put me, you wouldn’t know your cousin’s son is a traitorous bastard.]

* * *

She had him there, not that he was going to tell her that.

Before he could type out another response, Rowan let out a loud, annoyed huff. “Can’t it wait? I’m supposed to go make nice with Killian. My dad’s up my ass about it, and⁠—”

Turning toward the bushes, Rowan scowled, and Brody held his breath. He wasn’t afraid of his cousin’s punk-ass son, but his instincts told him Goldie was right. Rowan was up to something, and if they got caught sneaking around and spying on him, they might never find out what it was.

“All right, all right. I’m on my way, just hold your fucking horses. I’ll be at the docks in ten minutes.”

Swearing loudly, Rowan flipped the phone closed and shoved it back into his pocket. Without bothering to return to the house and let his father know where he was going, he strolled down to the excessively flashy car he loved more than his own mother—not that Brody could really blame him for that given how shitty his mother had turned out to be, but still, the car was gaudy as fuck—and peeled away down the driveway.

Grabbing Goldie’s hand, Brody yanked her up and toward his own vehicle. “Come on, menace.”

“Where are we going?”