Page 87 of Moonlit Thorns

I smile at Nero, and he seems to look grateful for it when he notices. He then looks at Asher. “I know her background check came back clean, otherwise you would’ve already told me to stop seeing her.” It’s clear that he wants the approval of his eldest brother.

Asher sips his coffee. “How do you know I ran a background check on her?”

Nero scoffs. “Because I know you.”

Asher shrugs. “Just because it came back clean doesn’t mean there aren’t any skeletons in her closet that wouldn’t show up on a background check.”

He rolls his eyes. “Well, she and her mom and sister will be at the ball as my guests, so you can make your determination there. But unless there’s a major red flag, I’m asking her.”

I don’t know what masquerade ball he’s talking about. Asher hasn’t mentioned anything about it to me. If he were planning to take me, wouldn’t he have mentioned something by now?

Asher doesn’t say anything, instead finishing his green juice before looking at me. “You done? I need to get ready for the day and get into my office. It’s an exciting day for me today.”

“What have you got going on?” Sid asks.

Asher grins at me when he says, “Today is the day I get to fire Preston Wallace from the board of his own company.”

Chapter

Thirty-Six

ASHER

Iclose the office door behind Anabelle. “If you hated eating with my brothers that much, we can have breakfast in my room from now on.”

She’s been quiet since we left breakfast, and I can’t figure out why. Did my brothers make her uncomfortable? Was it the little tiff we had about me trying to control her emotions? I can’t be sure.

A crease forms between her eyebrows. “What? No, it was fine. A little uncomfortable at first, but it got better.”

“What’s going on then?” I take her waist and pull her toward me. She’s wearing a navy blue dress with white polka dots that flares out at the waist and ends at her knees.

“Nothing, what do you mean?” Her lips say that, but the way she’s ever so subtly pulling away from my embrace tells me I’m not imagining things.

“You’ve been quiet since we left the dining room.”

She rolls her eyes at me, and it makes me want to drag her over my knee and spank her ass until it turns red. “You’ve barely seen me. I went to my room after we ate so I could get ready. We’ve walked through the manor, and here we are.”

“Doesn’t matter, I can tell something is running through this gorgeous head of yours.” I tap her temple with my finger. “Now what is it?”

She sighs and pulls away from me. “It’s silly. Or maybe it’s not, I don’t know. I don’t know what this is, so maybe that’s the real issue.”

I frown. “Keep going.”

Anabelle bites her bottom lip. “Nero mentioned something about a masquerade ball. It seemed like it’s a big deal.”

I push my hands into my pockets to keep from reaching for her. “It is, I guess. It’s an annual event that Voss Enterprises holds to raise money for the charitable portion of our business, but why would that make you want to pull away from me?”

She fists her hands at her sides. “Are you going with Madeline Ridgeway? I know you took her to some other event not that long ago.”

“Why would you think I’m bringing Madeline?” My head tilts as I study her shifting in place, seeming less sure of herself.

“I don’t know… you haven’t mentioned anything to me about the ball, and I assume you would have if you wanted me to go with you. You just said yourself that it’s a big deal… maybe you want to bring her. She’s a big deal in social circles. Maybe the two of you… you know.” Her arms flail wildly in front of her.

It’s then I realize that she doesn’t get it. I step up to her and take her chin, forcing her to look up at me. “I will not be taking Madeline. I’ll be taking you. I haven’t mentioned it for no other reason than I have a thousand other things going on that need my attention, and the fact that you even think I might take another woman tells me you don’t understand that since the second you walked into my office and insisted there was something you could do to keep your family estate, I’ve been obsessed with you.”

She swallows hard, looking up at me with wide eyes.

“And not the boyish kind of obsession where I think about you as I lie in bed at night. The kind of obsession that permeates my thoughts all day. The kind of obsession that won’t even let me think of being intimate with another woman.” I let my hand drop from her face and push it through my hair. “Do you know why I was drunk the day you ran into me on the path near the family graveyard? Besides it being the anniversary of my bastard father’s death?”

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