Page 45 of Trouble

She giggled and made a face at me, and I bent to kiss her, hoping to break her interest in my missing scar. It worked, thankfully, and I felt a wave of relief when she flicked her tongue against my lips, obviously well and trulydistracted.

“If I fuck you again while we’re up here, I’m not sureI’llbe able to climb down again before dawn,” I mumbled against her mouth when her hands began to search for mycrotch.

She broke off with a small laugh. “Okay, good point. But can we stay for just a little longer? I don’t want this evening to endyet.”

I nodded, bathing myself in the love from her eyes. As far as I was concerned, I could have stayed up there for the rest ofeternity.

* * *

“Ican’t goto Perkinson’s thingtomorrow.”

It was the first thing I’d said to my twin since he slammed the door on me more than a week ago, partly because he’d ignored me since then and partly because I’d felt guilty as fucksince…

Since I’d betrayedhim.

The irony that I’d been scared of Audrey coming between us because he was falling for her, and now knowing thatIwas the one to let her split our unbreakable bond, wasn’t lost on me, but I wasn’t ready to dwell on it. Not yet, when there was so much at stake. No, I might as well enjoy the constant sensation of bliss in my chest whenever I thought about her for a little while longer—the stars should know she was the only ray of light thesedays.

Liam looked over his shoulder at me from the mug of coffee he was brewing. The dark, haunted look in his usually so silvery eyes cut me like aknife.

“He’s expecting us to show up,” he said. Even his voice was off, though I doubted anyone but I would ever notice. “There’ll be a few key players who need to see his Steelconnection.”

Fuck, was this still about Audrey? Or was it everything else getting to him? Brian had asked us for quite a few favors since that first hit, and we’d both been working hard to make absolutely sure it stayed below the radar. There was only so much pull we could wield without our dad finding out. He wouldn’t mind us “bettering connections” with an old, wayward ally, which was what we’d write our presence at Perkinson’s party tomorrow off as, but the second he found out we were siphoning any sort of resources… We’d suffer the same fate as Jeremyhad.

“He’ll be happy enough as long as just one of us shows. I’ve promised to show up to this thing, but…” I bit the inside of my cheek as I looked into my twin’s eyes. He was hurting, bad. As much as I didn’t want to stand Audrey up, I couldn’t turn my back on him, either. “But I can cancel, if you need methere.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” Liam turned his back on me once more and finished making his coffee. “I gotthis.”

“You sure?” I asked as he turned to leave the kitchen, mug inhand.

“Yeah.” He left without another word. The sound of the door to his room closing behind him was the last I heard of him for the rest of thenight.

23

Audrey

“Well,well, Miss Waits. I had my doubts about you, but this isn’t looking tooshabby.”

I managed a stiff smile in acknowledgement of Gregory Perkinson’s praising tone as he took in the venue for his much-anticipated vodka launch. I say “much anticipated” mainly because I was anticipating the hell out of getting it over with and hopefully never having to work with him everagain.

“I’m glad you are pleased so far,” I said as two poker dealers with only tassels covering their nipples walked by on their way to the casino section of the warehouse I’d managed to transform into a suitable party venue. Finding twenty-five staffers willing to work in their undies had almost been a breeze in comparison to getting the concrete-and-steel building turned glamorous enough to not get mefired.

“People should start arriving in twenty minutes or so, and we’ll pull the curtains from the stage for the grand reveal of your vodka,” I began, wanting to make sure my difficult client wasn’t going to mess up my carefully madeschedule.

“With thePlayboygirls?” he interruptedme.

“Yes, with Lianne and Suzette.” I was pretty sure my stiff smile was slipping into a pained look, but he was too busy eying the two poker dealers as they set up behind their tables at the other end of the large space to pay my facial expressions any mind. “You’ll let everyone know the casino’s open and we’ll let people mingle and play. The caterer will serve everyone canapés and vodka throughout the night, and the… thedancerswill be performing on the five platforms you can see spread throughout the room.” I nodded to indicate the nearest platform adorned with a pole. “And the jazz band is just setting up now. Is your security team ready?” He’d insisted he’d hire his own security for the launch. I was pretty sure he was having delusions of grandeur about his vodka debut, the way he’d been so insistent that he “needed to trust the men on the door with his life, so he’d take care of it,” but with the kind of money he was pouring into my company, my bosses had told me in no uncertain terms to give him whatever hewanted.

That was also the explanation for the rehearsals I’d sat through to find sufficiently “classy strippers” while my lucky colleagues had enjoyed their business reports and meetings back at theoffice.

Not that I was bitter, no siree. Just because I’d spent years of blood, sweat and tears, first in school and then working my way up in Caslik Consulting, only to find myself relegated to errand girl for an overgrown teenager who wanted the “best strippers in town” for his stupid vodka party. Which businesswoman didn’t dream of finding herself surrounded by pasties in order to advance hercareer?

“They’re checking the perimeter as we speak and will set up before everyone starts arriving,” Perkinson said, with an air of importance that had me biting my lip until I tasted blood to keep from eye rolling. “I’ll best get ‘round back to set up and see the girls. I’ll catch up with you later, MissWaits.”

I managed to force my cheeks into another smile when he turned his attention back to me. “Sure thing, Mr. Perkinson. I’ll do the last rounds outhere.”

* * *

The next houror so was so hectic I barely had time to breathe. There was a reason I hadn’t gone into event planning after university, and it wasn’t just because you apparently risked hosting launch parties with more naked breasts than a maternity ward. Only the knowledge that Liam had promised to show up kept me from going crazy while the hundreds of guests filed into the warehouse as I dashed around, making sure the serving girls had the right amount of vodka in every glass, the pole dancers had chalk readily available, and the loo was stocked with toiletpaper.

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