Page 52 of Hush Money

“Absolutely not.” His jaw tightens. “And you’d better not have seen anything you shouldn’t have seen. I don’t want you making eyes at my brother.”

I did get a glimpse of an impressive dick, and I do enjoy the flinty light of jealousy in Lucien’s eyes. But we’ve got enough drama around here already without anyone throwing any more logs onto the fire. “Absolutely not. There’s only one dick in my life, and I’m very happy with it.”

“Smart girl,” he says, bringing me in for a quick kiss before taking my hand and starting to lead me out of the room. “Let’s go.”

But a sudden flash of white at the tree line behind the pool startles me. “Wait,” I cry, pointing. “What’s that?”

He quickly looks, but it’s already gone. “I don’t see anything. What was it?”

“I don’t know,” I say, now starting to doubt myself. Did I see anything at all? There’s no sign of movement out there. Just black and an impenetrable wall of trees that looks like the leading edge of the forest in all those nightmare fairytales. “I just saw something white dart by.”

“It was probably a white-tail deer,” he says, his expression clearing. “We have them around here.”

“You think?” I say, peering out again. “It seemed bigger than that. I thought it might be a person.”

“A person?” He shakes his head. “I beefed security way up. No one can get on or off the property without us knowing about it. Don’t worry.” He eyes me closer when I nod without saying anything. “You didn’t think it was Ravenna, did you?”

“No,” I say, determined not to let my vague and hovering fears ruin our evening. Even though I kinda did think it might be Ravenna out there. I force myself to smile. “It’s fine. I’m good.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“You just wanted an excuse to take another look at Roman’s dick,” he says darkly.

That gets me. I laugh, anxieties forgotten. “I did not! So he’s never been married?”

“Nope. And I don’t want to talk about him.”

“Where are we going?” I say when he leads me away from the front door and toward the door that leads to the wine cellar. “I thought we were going out to dinner?”

“I’ll take you out some other time. Not tonight with the press and paparazzi lurking around outside the gates.”

“Oh, true. So you’re taking me to the dungeon?” I say, eyeing the craggy steps and relative darkness leading down below with healthy trepidation.

“Not if you behave.”

I gasp when we get to the bottom. Not because of the presumably thousands of bottles of wine honeycombed into the racks on the other side of the sliding glass doors, but because of an enclave off to the side. He’s had his staff set up a romantic little dining area amidst all the stonework, with wingback chairs, a white-clothed table and dozens of flickering candles. Amidst all the gourmet offerings on display, I see lobster, thinly sliced beef, all sorts of cheeses and breads and a fantastic display of pastries and fruit. The whole setup reminds me of the night he treated me to a surprise dinner in his cabin back on the cruise, and I can’t contain my girlish excitement.

“This looks amazing, Lucien.”

He seems pleased with himself. “You like?”

“I love. It’s like the world’s sexiest man cave down here. I see you’ve been keeping your house elves busy again.”

A flash of amusement as he holds my chair for me, and I sit. “House elves?”

“It’s a Harry Potter reference.” I laugh as I watch him sit and reach for the bottle of champagne chilling in a nearby bucket. “I can see you’re deficient on your pop-culture references.”

“You’ll have to help me with that.” He quickly pours us both a glass and raises his in a toast. “To…?”

I give it a quick think. “Me eventually seeing all the hidden corners at Ackerley?”

“Nice. To you feeling at home at Ackerley. I plan to take you horseback riding next. Show you the barn.”

I nearly spit out my refreshingly crisp swallow of champagne. “Your barn?”

He gives me a funny look. “Where do you think I keep my polo ponies?”

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