Page 48 of Smith

Zane was wherever Zane did his plotting, making us wait for him to grace us with his presence so we could get downto business. Knowing the man, this was on purpose. He knew women, he especially knew his wife. Ivy Lewis was friendly, she was interesting, she was smart, and she was the leader of the girl posse. If Ivy liked you, she pulled you in, never to escape from the blanket of love and loyalty she’d shroud you in. Like husband, like wife.

Then there was Kira—the little sister my team adored. The woman who had lost her family yet still had the strength to move on. The little sister who poked her nose into our personal lives but most of the time understood not to step over the line into private. But the longer she was around Zane the more she blurred that line.

The level of screw I was now in was off the charts.

I knew this because Kira was tossing sidelong glances my direction while talking to Aria. And those glances were coming more frequently. It was no surprise Kira like Aria. There wasn’t much not to like—actually, I hadn’t found a single thing that didn’t appeal to me. Except her being her normal funny, witty self with Ivy, Kira, Jonas, and Cooper. I didn’t find that appealing. I found that to be the death blow I could’ve done without.

I didn’t have to look to know Jonas had initiated his superhuman radar. I could feel the weight of his stare as he sat quietly watching my reaction to the women. This being after he’d assessed the women and come to the same conclusion I had—Aria was in the fold.

She’d be around long after whatever we had ended.

Fuck, yeah, this was messy.

“Finally,” I grumbled under my breath as Zane walked in with a baby strapped to his chest.

Then I made the grave mistake of looking at Aria. Her eyes hit my boss, dropped to the little girl he carried on his chest, and she smiled so huge it lit her beautiful face.

There were only a few times she’d looked more stunning—right after I slid inside her, right after I made her come, and when I was working her up. The filthier my mouth the hotter she got, the more gorgeous she became. I could add when she laughed but that was a different kind of pretty. It was the same kind as when she flirted, just giving a tease of that beautiful she had to give.

“Aria Taylor,” Zane greeted.

“Zane Lewis,” she returned. “The man, the myth, the legend, in the flesh.”

Christ.

This was worse.

Zane’s gaze bounced around the room before landing on me and narrowing.

“On a scale of one to ten how fucked am I?” Zane asked.

“Seven-million-five-hundred-twenty-eight,” Jonas answered.

My boss’s attention skidded to Aria then back to me, then to Kira.

“Don’t scowl at me, boss, I wasn’t in charge of prophylactic distribution.”

“KK,” Cooper mumbled.

Kira shifted slightly to look at her husband.

“I’m not getting thrown under the bus because Smith’s playing hide the rocket.”

Jesus Christ.

“Sorry, brother, I tried.” Cooper conceded defeat.

Zane pinned a scowl on Jonas. His hands lifted off the table and he shook his head.

“Don’t look at me. You sent me in late, Z. By the time I showed up, she’d already cast her net and our boy here had happily tangled himself in it. Not much I could do.”

“Here’s a suggestion,” I cut in. “How about we get down to business so I can get Aria to work.”

“Figured you’d already got the business this morning,” Jonas unhelpfully egged on the ribbing.

He wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t now nor would I ever openly discuss my sex life with my teammates.

“It’s cute how y’all think the coded innuendoes are going over my head,” Aria joined.

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