Page 99 of Worth Every Risk

And best of all, Aries. The salty tang of her skin after a day in the sun. The warm sweetness of her kisses. Her soft curves… the stolen whispers and orgasms that blazed a path through my entire body. Aries’ stifled cries as she came undone. It was divine.

“I cannot believe you wouldn’t let me bring a date when you spent ten days secretly screwing the nann—” Seb falls silent as I raise my eyebrow. We’re in my office, both more tanned than any Caucasian British man has any right to be. “Aries,” he corrects as he runs his fingertip along the edge of my desk. “You should lock her down, you know.”

“Huh?”

“She’s smart, funny. Gorgeous. Great with the kids. And she likes you. She must be mad, but”—he lifts his hands in agesture of helpless confusion—“what are the chances of that combination coming along in one hot package?”

“I’m not locking anyone down, ever. I’ve spent my adult life in the shackles of marriage. I’m done.”

“Fair,” Seb concedes. “I guess you’ll have to stick to ‘nanny-with-benefits’ then.” He scratches his temple, then his eyes spark and I know he’s had some new, probably inappropriate, thought. “There’s a latent market there. I could start a side hustle pairing up single dads with hot nannies. It’s like a two-for-one deal. Childcare and bedroom—”

“Shut the fuck up and get out of my office.”

Seb chuckles, straightening his tie as he paces towards the door.

“Oh, and Seb?”

He pauses, his hand on his tie knot, the other in his perfectly coiffed hair, checking his reflection in the window to put a strand back in place. “Yeah?” he says, without looking away from his own reflection.

“If you don’t grow up, you aren’t going to find anyone to lock down.”

He looks affronted for all of half a second before he grins at me. “Who says I want to lock anyone down? I’m free as a bird, brother. Free as a mother-fucking bird.” He puts his hands on his hips and lets out a peal of laughter so wholesome that even I want to join in. “Want to come for a beer?”

I shake my head, and he tilts his as if to say, ‘fine, you old bore’. The door closes behind him, and I glance out the window. We’re pretty high up here on the twentieth floor. High for London, at least. It’s still light, given it’s mid July. I glance at the time. 8 pm.

Lucie will be asleep. We’ve been home for five days and Aries and I haven’t had sex. We’ve barely even kissed. I can’t with Charlie in the house. I don’t know why the boat seemed better.Maybe it was the sun or the salt air, or the fact the kids were in their own section and there was the noise of the engine, the sea. The house is fucking quiet at night by comparison.

I pick up my phone and call Aries. She answers on the third ring.

“Mr Hawkston, what can I do for you?”

The sound of her voice makes me smile. “Dinner. Have you eaten?”

“No.”

“Do you want to go out?”

She’s silent a moment. “Like, on a date?”

“Yeah. Tonight. Can you come?”

She’s quiet again, and I can almost hear her thinking. I know she wants to say yes. I canfeelit. “Who’s going to look after the kids?”

“Ask Alec. Scratch that.Tellhim. He’s there, isn’t he? Get him to wait in the main house. I’ll pay him extra.”

“You want the chef to babysit so we can go out?”

“Yes. Don’t say that though. Tell him you have to run an errand for me. I assume Mrs Minter’s left already?”

“Yeah, she left half an hour ago.”

“Okay. Tell Alec I’ll pay him five hundred quid—”

“Woah. You rich people have no idea about the value of money, do you?” I cringe at the shock in her tone. “He’d do it for fifty.”

“Whatever. He’s there making dinner now, isn’t he? Tell him I’m eating out and he can sleep on the sofa if I’m back late.”

“You sure?”

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