Page 51 of Hush Money
“Right,” Cato says, a stiff smile on his lips.
“Cool down,” Julian growls at me under his breath. We pose for what feels like four hundred photos, any sense of a genuine smile diminishing with each one. When we finally get back to the main hall, I plop down in the seat next to Evie, my shoulders immediately lowering.
She reaches a hand up and cups the back of my neck, pulling me down to her.
“Why don’t we take a quick break?” she whispers. I raise an eyebrow. She bites her lip. “I might not be wearing any panties.”
I can’t fight the smile.
This girl.
I look around. People are finishing their food and starting to mingle more. The room is getting more crowded, and more importantly, my brothers are preoccupied with entertaining other people. I stand up, take her hand, and practically yank her from the table.
I lead her out of the main hall, smiling and nodding at people as we go, then turn down one of the longer corridors that heads to the family wing. My grandfather had the family wing renovated when he decided to open the house up for tours so that we always had a place in Bedell House that was just ours. But I’m skipping the sentimentalities tonight. I bypass our wing, heading up one of the side staircases until we reach the west garden doors. I type in a code before exiting so the alarms don’t trigger, and we slip out. I lead her out onto the terrace then down the big stone steps to the garden path. I bend down to scoop her up, and she giggles.
“Careful!” she cries. “I’m not as light as I used to be.”
I glare at her in my arms.
“You’re gonna pay for that comment,” I tell her before busting into a light jog through the
garden until I reach my destination: the pool house.
I type another code in on the door, open it, and step inside, bolting it behind us.
I set her down, eyeing her fully for the first time. I let my eyes scour her body from head to toe again, really taking her in, letting myself revel in just her—no cameras, no Cato, no anybody else.
“Now,” I say, taking a step toward her, “what was that you were saying?”
She swallows, biting her bottom lip.
“Just that I…I’m not as…” she says, her throat bobbing. I step closer to her so our chests are touching. I bend down so my lips are just centimeters from her neck. I cup the back of her head, tilting it back farther.
“Not as…what?” I ask. I drag my lips up and down the length of her neck without letting them touch her skin. She swallows again but doesn’t speak. “That’s what I thought,” I tell her. “Stop talking about my woman the way you’ve been talking about her. Do you understand me?”
She looks up at me, eyes wide.
“This body,” I say, my hands moving up and down her sides, her hips, her ass, “thisperfectfucking body, belongs to me. And no one, not even you, will talk about it that way. So now, you’ll sit here while I take every inch of it, until you see it the way I do. Understand?”
She nods again slowly as I reach up and grab the skinny little silk straps of her dress, tugging them down her shoulders. I spin her around, undoing her clasp and zipper slowly, leaving little kisses down her spine that make her bend backward.
When I get the zipper to the tip of her ass, I realize she wasn’t bluffing. No panties on my girl. Easy access.
“That’s my dirty little girl,” I whisper in her ear as I tug the fabric off over her hips. “No panties for me? Were you hoping I’d get you alone like this?”
She doesn’t say anything just lets out a quiet moan and nods.
I spin her back around, reaching to unclasp the strapless bra she’s wearing. Her perfect tits spill out, and I reach a hand up to cup one, squeezing it so I can gently suck her nipple into my mouth. She moans again, biting her bottom lip.
“I’m thinking I might need to teach you a lesson for that little comment you made,” I say, moving over to her other breast,nibbling on her nipple before sucking it into my mouth. “What do you think?”
She nods again.
I take her hand gently, leading her across the room to the large couch that sits in the center. I take a seat, then I pat my lap.
“Lie down,” I tell her.
She swallows, but she listens.
