Page 23 of Brutal Ice

“You didn’t quit your extracurriculars, did you—” An angry, male voice. Snarling. Only that voice broke off in shock. “Fuck, Royal.”

“Out!” Royal thundered. “Get your ass out, now!”

“This is why you should knock on closed doors.” A woman’s voice. Much softer.

Two people had seen her sprawled out beneath Royal?

The door slammed closed. Humiliation burned through Violet. The humiliation replaced the pleasure she’d felt only moments before. Her hands shoved against his chest. “Off. Now.”

He immediately pulled back. “I’m sorry. They shouldn’t have come in. My brother can be an ass.”

She sat up. Shoved down the skirt of her dress. His brother?

“I didn’t lock the door because I was trying not to scare you. Don’t actually try that shit a lot. It’s new for me.”

Not scaring people was new?

She jumped from the desk. Her bare feet hit the floor, and her jelly-like knees promptly decided they weren’t going to help her stand upright. She would have slunk to the floor right then and there, but he grabbed her. His hands locked around her arms and held her up.

“I didn’t realize things would go that far, that fast,” Royal told her.

“I need to get out of here.” Escape. That was her goal.

“No. No, we aren’t done.”

Her head whipped up. She stared into his eyes. Saw the lust still burning. No, wait, did he seriously think they were going to finish? Now?

“Yeah, the mood is gone for you. I get that. But I meant you and I aren’t done. We have to talk. Stay here. Let me get rid of that interfering prick, and I’ll be right back.”

All she wanted to do was run away.

“Stay here,” Royal urged her. “You are safe here.”

Grudgingly, she nodded. But mostly just because if she ran out of his office right then, anyone who saw her would realize what she’d been doing. Especially Simone. Simone could read her like a book. Violet knew she had to get her control back and she had to—jeez, where were her panties?

“Good. Thank you,” he added grimly. His lips parted, as if Royal would say more, but then his jaw locked as he turned away. He hadn’t lost any of his clothing, so he could just stalk right out. And he did. All aggressive and determined-like.

Meanwhile, she found her panties on the floor. Picked them up. And realized they’d been ripped in two.

Royal jerked his office door shut behind him. He rushed forward and caught sight of his brother’s head as the guy climbed down the stairs. “Beau!” A bellow.

Beau’s head whipped toward him. Even from the distance, Royal saw Beau wince.

Royal crooked his finger at his brother. “Up here. Now.” He knew Beau would be able to read his lips.

And even if he didn’t, the lovely lady on the step below Beau had already elbowed him. His brother’s fiancée, Avalon Trahan, appeared particularly disgruntled with Beau. Not that the disgruntlement would last. With those two, it never did.

Mostly because Beau was wrapped around Avalon’s little finger. The man would do basically anything for her.

As Beau and Avalon climbed back up the staircase, Royal’s fingers clenched around the railing in front of him. Punishment had been a spur-of-the-moment investment for him. Beau tended to prefer more sophisticated venues—places where the best whiskey was always flowing. But Royal had known the city was ripe for something different. Something that would let the crowd roar and go wild.

Violet went wild for me.

The lights rolled over the partiers below.

Beau stepped off the stairs. His gaze shot toward Royal’s closed office door, then back to Royal. “Uh, yeah.” Beau scratched his jaw. “Didn’t realize you were entertaining. Would have watched my mouth better.”

And Royal remembered the words that his brother had fired off. You didn’t quit your extracurriculars.

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