Page 18 of Charming Deception

“Hey, I’m just checking in for the family, making sure you’re okay.” He gives me a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. Kinda like the Grinch.

God, he’s a liar.

No one would send Harlan to “check in” on me, much less make sure I was toeing the line.

If this family has a black sheep, Harlan is the monster who ate it alive.

And if Harlan is the beast of this family—he is; we literally call him that—then like he said, I’m the prince.

Would anyone really care if the fifth in line for the family treasure lost his share? Would it make any difference?

This is the kind of thinking a visit from Harlan brings about.

I hate that he’s making me sweat.

I need to get rid of him.

I need to go outside and see what the fuck is going on, and why Cole didn’t tell me his sister was coming.

And get a look at her again.

“Well, I’m fine. And I’m telling you the truth. You know I couldn’t lie to a master of deception like yourself. You’d know.”

“Probably. Just depends how bad you want to have your cake and eat it, too. ‘Cake’ being pussy and ‘too’ being your inheritance, in case that wasn’t clear.”

“I’m not having any cake, okay?”

The truth is, I’m not even licking any icing.

I don’t need the tease, or the risk.

The night I opened that gold envelop and read my challenge, I’d walked out, angry.

The next day, I’d gone right back to Graysen’s, had him gather the rest of our siblings on a conference call so they could decide what the hell “no sex” even meant.

And decide they had. With great amusement, on Harlan’s and Damian’s parts. Savannah had hung up on us as we debated the finer points.

Obviously, fucking in any form is out of the question. But what about blow jobs?

Ha. No.

Hand jobs?

Try again.

Happy endings of any kind?

Nope.

And I definitely won’t be finding any loopholes—getting a woman off, using an object between us to buffer actual touching, touching over clothes. Absolutely anything that’s sexually gratifying or results in an orgasm in a woman’s company—hers or mine—is a no-go.

Can I kiss and touch a woman? Sure. As long as I keep my naked sex parts off hers and no one comes.

Fun times.

Can I jack off? Absolutely. If I’m alone. The challenge isn’t about deprivation. It’s about not having sex with women.

So it’s me, myself, and I for ninety days.

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