Page 520 of Lodestar

Inessa’s lips twitched. “I don’t mind that last part. I took him to a club with me and Lisandra two weeks ago. We didn’t get hit on once. She complained but I loved it.

“Dancing with a two-feet wide barrier around you makes it so much easier. And less stinky. What is it with men who don’t wear deodorant, huh?”

“They’re lower forms of humanity,” Savannah drawled, pinkie extended as she took a sip of her coffee.

Me being me, I snagged her finger in a mockery of a pinkie promise. “Since when do you drink coffee like you’re the queen?”

“It’s the china,” Savannah said unapologetically. “It gives off different vibes than the ‘My husband is a serial killer’ mug Aela got me.”

“I didn’t get you anything. I made that for you, hag.”

Savannah bared her teeth in a smile. “I can feel the love across the table.”

“My heart’s doing something right now, and it’s not beating for you.” Aela softened it with a wink though.

“What’s this about Eoghan?” Aoife queried carefully, the only one who hadn’t gotten distracted from the original theme of the conversation.

“Star started this little get-together for her ex-soldier buddies. It’s a poker game and I whooped soldier ass,” Savannah explained.

“Lies,” I retorted.

“Why the hell were you there if it was for soldiers she served with?” Aela demanded.

“Because Star plays poker like a card shark?—”

“And you don’t?” I retorted.

“Exactly. It’s not often I get to cut my teeth on a game with you.”

“Who won?”

Savannah pouted at Camille. “She did, but I beat everyone else. Eoghan included.”

I didn’t bother bragging. “I’ll teach you all I know, young grasshopper.”

Savannah flipped me the bird. “You’re kindness incarnate.”

“I know. It’s a weakness, really.”

Aoife chuckled. “You two are more like sisters than you know.”

“Oh, we know it,” Savannah retorted. “No one else would put up with her ass if we weren’t related.”

“I feel this,” Inessa teased, elbowing Camille in the side.

“Shut up, brat,” was the older sister’s response.

“Mostly, after that poker game, I’m just left reeling from how hot everyone is there. If I didn’t have Aidan…” Savannah whistled. “I’m not sure who I’d have hit on.”

“Let’s see, the Consigliere’s bodyguard, an assassin, a sniper, your sister, or your brother-in-law,” I mocked, grabbing a red-velvet cupcake with buttercream and eating it in one bite.

Seriously, how small did they make this shit?

“He wouldn’t be my brother-in-law if I wasn’t with Aidan, now would he?”

“Hey, he’s mine!” Inessa groused.

“And you’re not a skank who steals other women’s men,” Aela pointed out.

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