Page 12 of Filthy Rich Temptation
I step inside, straight into what looks like a toddler boot camp designed by chaos theorists. If the rest of my place looks bare, it’s because every last toy, book, blanket, squeaky thing has upped and landed here. All except the narwhal-slash-stress ball still clutched in my hand.
‘Uncle Feo!’ Lottie’s straight ahead of me in the en suite, perched in front of the toilet on a potty, a book in her lap, and stickers –so manystickers– everywhere. The glossy tiled floor, walls, sink, her hair, her cheeks…
Welcome to the Ministry of Mayhem.
Population: one very small dictator, complete with throne.
Where in the hell is Sadie?
‘Wan’ one?’ Lottie says, lifting out a sticker-clad finger.
‘Remind me again why she couldn’t stay at Axel’s?’ I murmur into the phone as I give Lottie a grin as tight as my grip.
‘Are you really asking me that again?’ Taylor says, coming back on the line.
‘Sure am.’ Because my question is perfectly reasonable. Axel’s the muscle. The protector. The human equivalent of a security system with abs. If anyone should be keeping Sadie and her kid safe from her walking-red-flag of an ex, it’s him. Not me.
‘I thought I’d explained that well enough.’
Oh, she has. Repeatedly. With charts, probably. The thing is, Axel isn’t just our best friend and business partner, he’s also the biggest player known to man.
‘He wouldn’t touch her,’ I say, while telling myself to listen up. ‘She’s your sister.’
Taylor gives an unladylike snort. ‘She’s a woman first.’
Yeah, and don’t I know it.
‘What did you just say?’
Fuck, did I say that out loud?
I drag a hand through my hair. ‘You act like he can’t control himself.’
‘Have you ever known a woman not to fall into bed with him?’
She has a point, but… ‘You haven’t.’
‘Because I know better.’
‘Ri-ight,’ I drawl.
‘AndI know better than to risk a lifelong friendship for what can only be a few minutes of fun.’
Hell, I should be taking notes and reminding myself of the very same, daily if not hourly. Along with the hefty reminder that Taylortrustsme because I’mnotAxel.
But what if she knew that Sadie was the one woman capable of making me be more Axel…
‘A few minutes?’ I say, moving forward to take the sticker Lottie’s now frantically waving at me before she tumbles off the potty. ‘I’ll tell him you said that.’
‘You wouldn’t dare.’
‘Said what?’
I release my grip on the narwhal as Sadie steps through the dressing-room doors to my right, and the toy lands with a silent thud that mirrors the dive my gut just took.
For the first time in a week, I curse my penthouse for all things noise-cancelling and cubby-holing because she must have been in the room all along. And now I can’t remember what I’ve said on this side of the convo and what she’ll infer and…
‘Gotta go, Tay.’
