Page 31 of Trouble

I huffed. As far as I was concerned, bankers were about the only people more corrupt than my Family. “Ah. They don’t appreciate a man who can give their daughter multiple orgasms, then? Pity, I was gonna lead withthat.”

Audrey’s smile vanished, a look of abject horror taking its place. “Don’t even joke about it. Liam, you can’t say stuff like that to them, okay? They’renot…”

“Fun?” I finished, arching an eyebrow at her. “Concerned about yourhappiness?”

She flushed a light shade of pink and looked down. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to push all my issues onto you. I know it’s ridiculous—I’m thirty-two years old and I still crave my parents’ approval. I just never lived up to their expectations, or to my sister’s golden life, and it still messes with mesometimes.”

I took one hand off the steering wheel to brush her cheek. “Hey, calm down, love. You’re fucking amazing, and if they can’t see that, they’re right thick. I don’t care if they like me or not—but I do care that you’re happy. I’ll be on my best behavior,promise.”

The corner of her lips quirked up, and my heart gave a happy spasm. Fuck, she was so goddamn beautiful when shesmiled.

“You know, the thing I love about you is that you’re exactly the opposite of what I was brought up with. I don’t need you to be on your best behavior—I just need you to be withme.”

My heart pounded harder in my chest once more, and I sank back in my seat with a soft sigh. It’d been a week since we’d started an actual relationship, and every moment we’d been together had been so fucking easy. When I was with her, even the shit going on with Perkinson and the plotting with Blaine and Louis felt like a distant nightmare. Audrey was my safehaven.

If impressing some pricks who thought their daughter needed to fit into some godawful mould of mediocrity would make her happy, then I didn’t mind playingalong.

The Waits’ house was a detached villa like all the others in the neighborhood, with green privet hedges surrounding a lush garden. I pulled up in front of their driveway and parked the Jeep within view of the villa’s large windows. Telling Audrey to wait, I slipped out of the car and walked around to her side, opening the passenger side door and offering her myarm.

She giggled as she let me help her out, flashing me a happy smile before we turned toward the house, and my heart did an odd flip in my chest. I might just be fronting to give anyone looking a good impression, but being like this with Audrey… like an actual couple… it felt amazing. Like everything was justright.

She rang the doorbell once we made it to the front door, and it was opened so quickly I knew the woman opening it had been looking out the window at us as we approached. Nosybird.

She looked a bit older than Audrey by a couple of years, with the same dark hair and brown eyes. Her sister, I guessed, even though they didn’t share the same amazingarse.

“Hey, Mel.” Audrey leaned in to give her sister a cheek kiss. “Mel, this is Liam. Liam, Mel. Mysister.”

“Melissa,”her sister corrected as she shook my hand. “Forgive my sister, she’s not always good with properintroductions.”

I arched my eyebrows a millimeter at the unnecessary insult, but before either I or Audrey could say anything, another woman came fluttering into thehallway.

She was older still, with immaculately cut shoulder-length hair in what would’ve looked like a natural blonde, if it wasn’t for her age. She was small and thin with features like Melissa, but the smile on her face was all Audrey. Their mother, Iguessed.

“Mum,” Audrey said, confirming my suspicion as she hugged her. “I want you to meet Liam Steel. Liam, this is my mother,Margaret.”

“Ah, the boyfriend?” Margaret extended a hand and I shook it, stopping myself from giving her a sturdy“business”greeting the second before I closed my fingers. The only time I was usually shaking hands with people was during meetings with other mafia Families. They usually involved quite a bit of strength—another way of displayingdominance.

“Yes,” Audrey confirmed. Her slight hesitance and the quick sideway glance she gave me made me fight back a smirk. Yeah, I wasn’t used to being called“the boyfriend,”and we hadn’t put what we were into exact terms. It was obvious Audrey wasn’t quite sure what I’d think of being labeled her boyfriend, but—somewhat to my own surprise—I didn’t mind it onebit.

“A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Waits.” I noticed Audrey’s impressed side-glance. Someone clearly didn’t expect me to be the kind of guy who knew how to kiss up to my girl’s parents. I gave her mother my best smile as I patted her hand still resting inmine.

“Oh, please, call me Margaret.” A faint flush warmed her cheeks, and she pulled her hand back with a slightly jolted movement. I shot her a wider grin, suppressing the urge to give her a knowing wink. Somehow I doubted Audrey would appreciate me teasing her mum about falling for the infamous“Steel-twin”smile. It wasn’t often on purpose, but quite a few women we’d shagged over the years had fallen into our beds because of it. And more than one had been at Audrey’s mother’sage.

“Come in, Peter and Sally are here, and the Joneses and Smiths.” Margaret seemed to have regained her bearings and ushered us into the living room. “Phil? Come greet your daughter and herfriend.”

I arched an eyebrow at Audrey upon hearing her mother’s title for me in the slightly larger group of people filling the living room. She shot me a grin in return. “I’m too old to have boyfriends. Women over the age of twenty-seven havehusbandsorfriends,”she explained in a hushed tone as a balding man about Margaret’s age made his way toward us with a jovial smile and a glass of amber liquor in hishand.

“Audrey.” He hugged her with his drink-free hand before looking at me, his smile fading somewhat. “Mr.Steel.”

“Mr. Waits,” I greeted, offering him my hand. The handshake I got in return made my bones groan. Apparently it wasn’t just in the mafia world you displayed your dominance with a handshake. Clearly Audrey’s dad was somewhat less enthused about meeting me than her mother hadbeen.

“My daughter tells me you own a couple of businesses,” he said, and I got the distinct impression of getting evaluated by an opponent. “Aren’t you a little young to run abusiness?”

I ignored the dig at my age—no wonder Audrey’d been focused on the few years’ age gap between us if this was where she came from—and gave him my best smile. “Audrey’s been much too generous. It’s a family business—I only own a part ofit.”

“Oh,” he said, a slight gleam of interest showing in his gaze. “So you come from a good family, then? What do you tradein?”

I suppressed a snort at the suggestion that my family was any kind ofgood.Sure, we might still have a tentative grasp of London’s underworld’s throne, but I was pretty sure no man would be thrilled to know his daughter was dating a mafia son. “We do a few things. I’m mainly involved in the nightclubs andbars.”

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