Page 7 of Love, Honor, and Ink

That’s when he noticed the beer bottle in her hands. He raised a brow. “Beer, Ari, really?”

She grinned up at him and leaned into his side. He lifted his arm so she could sink into him. “You know I hate wine. People say it’s fruity or whatever, but all I can taste is chemicals.”

“You just aren’t drinking the right wine.” He ran his hand down her side, and she sighed. The little sound went straight to his cock but he’d long since learned how to control his physical responses around Ari.

At least he tried to.

“Shut up, Harper. You don’t like wine either.” She brought the beer up to her lips, and he patted her thigh.

“True. I’m more of a beer man myself.” With that, he took the beer out of her hands and took a sip.

“Hey, that’s mine.” She slapped his stomach, and he grinned around the bottle. “Why is your stomach so hard? I think I hurt my hand.”

He sucked in a breath and told his dick to calm down. She was drunk, and he wasn’t an idiot.

“What? It looked good,” he teased.

She smiled at him, and for once, it looked like a true one. He relaxed somewhat. If she could still smile at him, then all was not lost.

“Get your own, thief.” Her smile wobbled, and she leaned her head on his chest.

He set down her beer and wrapped both arms around her, pulling her closer. “Tell me what’s wrong, Ari.”

“Don’t you already know? That’s why you’re here, right? I figured Holly or Colleen called you.”

He kissed the crown of her head. “Justin called me to tell me the news, but I wanted to hear it from you.”

She pulled away and narrowed her eyes at him. “What did the bastard say?”

He cupped her face and used the pad of his thumb to brush away her tears. She leaned into his touch, and it took all within him not to pull her closer and never let go.

“Just tell me what happened.”

She pulled away and took her beer back, chugging the rest before letting her shoulders fall. “Well, first I thought I was getting a promotion.”

“I remember, you said your father was retiring.” He ran his fingers over her knee, needing to touch her.

“Well, he is retiring, but he’s taking everything with him when he goes. Apparently, I suck, and I’m not good enough for his company. So either he sells it to our rival, or I marry your brother. Because, you know, it’s the Regency era and all that. So instead of doing either of those things, I quit my job. So now, I’m poor, jobless, soon to be homeless, and hopeless.”

Harper took a deep breath and prayed for patience, rage consuming him. What the fuck were Xavier and Justin thinking? They wanted to control her so they did something like this? “Why don’t I go to Justin’s and beat the shit out of him?”

Ari raised her brow before weaving. He pulled her onto his lap so she wouldn’t fall. Though she felt nice where she was—really nice—she was drunk, and there was no way he’d take advantage.

“Stop trying to fix everything for me, Harper. I’m a big girl.”

Harper pushed her hair from her face and kissed her forehead. “I know you are, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to kick his ass anyway. I’m sure I can find another reason in a jiffy.” He snapped his fingers. “Ha. Already thought of one.”

She snorted then sighed, her breath tingling his neck. “This sucks.”

“I know.”

“What am I going to do?” she asked, her voice so small.

God, he’d never heard Ari this fragile, this broken before. He’d rather have her fighting back and telling him where to shove it rather than asking him what to do.

“You’re going to do what you always do when your father acts like an asshole. Pick yourself up and plan weddings. You’re freaking awesome at it, and we both know it. You don’t need King’s Weddings to live your life.”

“But I’m a King. Well, not according to my father, but damn it, I’m a King. I was supposed to take over and do what I was born to do and actually do it my way. Instead, I ran away from it all.”

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