Biting my tongue, I removed all emotion from my face.
“Maybe I should make you deliver. Louie does like to watch,” he whispered in my ear.
Heat slowly crawled up my neck and I desperately fought to keep my heart rate steady. Holy shit!
In that moment, the veil that protected our friendship blew away, tumbling in the wind, and I was suddenly in unknown territory. My impassive mask was crumbling fast. I needed to turn this around because unlike my body, my mind knew he wasn’t serious. “I’ve never been one to back down.” I leveled my eyes with his. “And I’m pretty determined to keep her away.”
“You’d let me fuck you?” His tone was harsh. However, the way the words fuck and you rolled off his tongue made my temperature rise. Could I? Would I?
“I…” His grip tightened around my hair, turning all my rational thoughts to mush. A gasp escaped me. My control slipped. The heat creeping up my neck flushed my cheeks.
Something shifted in his eyes as he took in my reaction. Surprise, maybe? It only lasted for a second before they darkened. His gaze moved to my lips, lingering. I wet them with the tip of my tongue, and he inhaled sharply.
“Stop teasing me,” I ordered in a confused mixture of angry and breathlessly wanton.
He bent forward, brushing his nose against mine. My fingers fisted around his shirt of their own volition, holding him in place. “I don’t think you want me to stop,” he whispered. He was so close, his breath tickled my lips.
Unable to take the intensity, I leaned forward, embracing the sting of his unforgiving grip pulling at my hair. I felt his body go so still the moment my lips lightly touched his that I wasn’t sure if he was even breathing.
I didn’t understand his reaction, but with the lack of reciprocation, I pulled my head back. His arms tightened, making it difficult to breathe.
“Maura, I—” he started, only to be cut off when the dining room door swung open. He quickly released me, stepping back, eyes dropping to the floor. To hide my flushed appearance, I gave my back to whoever walked into the room and tried to busy myself by topping off my coffee.
Rourke stepped beside me and took the coffee pot from my hand. “It’s none of my business, but you look like a couple of guilty teenagers,” he said, amusement lacing his tone.
I peeked at him out of the corner of my eye. He had this annoying smug look on his face, eyes sparkling with mirth as they traveled from Jamie to me. “You look a little flushed, cousin.” He was laughing at us.
I grabbed my coffee and bolted. Like a coward, I didn’t return to the dining room.
What the hell just happened? I kept repeating in my head as I retreated to my bedroom.
CHAPTER 14
I spent all morning in my room overthinking and slightly freaking out. Why did I kiss him? I groaned. I'd crossed the line and now things were going to be awkward between us. What if things don’t go back to the way they were?
I needed to get out of my room to clear my head. It was mid-September, still warm enough to go swimming. Unfortunately, there hadn’t been anything swim related in the big clothing haul I’d received last night, but I was sure I still had an old suit still lying around. With my mind made up, I started digging through my closet. I found a robin’s egg blue bikini in a drawer along with a white cover-up. As I was tying it on, I was reminded again that my assets were bigger. I ran into my bathroom to use the mirror to help me stuff my boobs behind two triangles of fabric. It didn’t look bad. A lot more voluptuous versus the full coverage I was used to. My hips and ass looked amazing as they flared seductively from my small waist and bubbled tastefully in the tight bikini bottoms.
I pulled my hair up in a messy bun and put on my white cover-up. It was sheer with an open front and dolman sleeves that cut off just before they met my wrists.
I strolled through the house without seeing a single soul. Annoyingly, that didn’t mean no one saw me. I passed camera after camera. I was sure one or two goons were currently monitoring them. That was, until I walked into the kitchen. Three of Stefan’s goons were sitting at the island eating their lunch. Their conversation stopped abruptly as I entered the room. I didn’t recognize or know any of them. Fresh meat.
I wasn’t fond of Stefan’s goon squad, be it grounds security or personal. Some were distant blood relatives, others were friends of and vetted by someone in the family. Regardless of how they'd joined or what type of security they did, all of them were obedient soldiers eager to move up the ranks. Grounds security for this property, or any property the family owned, was the bottom of the totem pole. It was where everyone started, apart from a few exceptions. The next step up was personal security. Who each goon was assigned to protect depended on how loyal and trustworthy they’d proven themselves to be. I was pretty sure Jamie had gotten to skip being a goon entirely and gone straight to shadowing Stefan. The same could not be said for Louie. Jamie had vetted him and he'd had to start at the bottom, walking Quinn Manor’s property line at seventeen. He was the only goon I’d ever actually liked and that was because he'd been my friend for years prior.
Staring at these three new faces, an evil urge bubbled within me. Whenever new goons started working at the house, it was always a joyful pastime of mine to mess with them.
Walking to the other side of the island, directly across from them, I blatantly stared, taking in each of their appearances without saying a word. Each stared back at me with varying expressions. It was easy to tell who knew who I was and who didn’t. The one sitting on the far right checked me out, while the one in the middle regarded me with respect. The last one on the left clearly had no idea who the hell I was because he glared. He was probably trying to intimidate me, which made me smile brightly. This is going to be fun.
“Ma’am,” the one in the middle greeted. I ignored him. Without removing my eyes from the goon who was glaring, I leaned over the top of the island and rested on my forearms in front of him.
“You got a name, handsome?” And he was handsome. He had a sandy colored crew cut and milk chocolate eyes. From what I could tell, under the grounds security uniform consisting of a black long sleeve Henley, black cargo pants, and steel-toed boots, he was very fit. The sleeves of his shirt were stretched tight around his biceps. He was definitely eye candy despite what seemed to be a permanent scowl.
His glare shifted to disgust. “Don’t you have a bed you should be warming?”
The guard in the middle winced. “Dean, that’s—”
“Dean, is it?” I interrupted before he ruined my fun. “I’ll make sure I remember that.” I shifted my attention to the other two. “What are your names? I make it a point to know who’s in my house.”
“Your house?” Dean scoffed at the same time the others answered.
“Josh,” the middle goon answered.
“Blake. You got a name, gorgeous?” the one on the left asked.
I gave him a fake smile. “I do, but I don’t know if you’ve earned it yet. How long have you all worked for Stefan?”
“Seven months,” Blake answered.
“Just over a year,” Josh said, glancing nervously at Dean, who caught him doing it. His brow furrowed in confusion.
“Maura?” someone called out to me. The three goons shot up from their chairs as a formal greeting. Louie strolled into the kitchen. He glanced from the goons to me and shook his head. “Babe, it’s not nice to antagonize the guys even if you’re giving them a great view of your rack.”