Page 38 of Her Devil

With a shrug, I make my excuses to Tamsin and link my arm through Leo’s as he guides me down a couple of wooden stairs and around the edge of the pool. If Nick is anywhere to be seen, I can’t find him, my gaze flicking over the groups of people gathered around the pedestal we were seated on. Because of course we were.

“I can’t believe your house is just the other side of here,” he comments. “You’ve been right under my nose the entire time.”

“Yep,” I agree with a small smile.

“You look a little stressed out. I just want you to know that I’ve spoken with Spencer, you won’t have any more problems with him, and he won’t be showing his face here tonight either, so you can relax and enjoy yourself.”

“Know me that well, do you?”

“I don’t need to,” he replies, adjusting the back on one of the sun loungers before pressing me down onto it and taking my shoulders in hand. “I can see it all over your body language.”

His skilful hands work along my shoulders, massaging into the sides of my neck in a blissful way that has my head rolling forwards whilst I do my best to not let a moan tumble from me.Yeah, it feels that fucking good.

“You’re confused and scared, you can’t sit still for all that fidgeting you’re doing. You’ve barely looked at Nick since we arrived, and you’re completely on edge,” he rattles off, smoothing the words with the artful way he plies my body. “You just need to relax a little and enjoy the party. It’s for you after all.”

“It is?”

“Yes, your introduction to the world of the elite. Nobody steps foot in Pendleton Prep without a huge chunk of money behind them, but money only gets you so far in life, Ivy. Some things have to be given, others taken.”

The rough tenor of his voice elicits a response I wasn’t expecting, heat pooling low in my belly as goosebumps break out down my arms. We’re once again beside a pool, alone but not alone, a party going on around us as we slip into another world together. His breath caresses my neck, his lips must be barely inches from the shell of my ear as anticipation twirls around us, his hands continuing to work along my shoulders, building me up whilst simultaneously calming me down.

Nick was quick to lock me up, to think so little of his brother and housemates that they might take something that isn’t theirs, or that I might offer something that isn’t his to keep. There’s power in his belt, not just for the man that holds the keys, but for the woman he’s so afraid of slipping through his fingers.

It’s the cough from behind us that breaks the spell, Leo’s tongue swiping along the outside of my ear before he stands to his full height, turning to give whoever it is his full attention. “They need you for Truth and Dare,” Nick says, the words innocuous enough, if it wasn’t for the tone with which they’re delivered.

“Remember what I said, Angel. You can relax now,” Leo says before his hands disappear and his steps retreat across the pool and back to the cacophony of the party.

“That’s two other men that have touched you tonight. That have whispered words in your ear and turned you on.”

I could have guessed who it was just from Leo’s reaction, but the vague threat in his words annoys me almost as much as it turns me on.

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“I bet you’re fucking soaked, again.” His rough chuckle holds almost as much menace as it does amusement, but he’s not wrong. With no fabric to soak up the evidence, my sticky arousal is obvious, to me anyway.

“I need the bathroom,” I declare, not willing to give him anything. Least of all admit that he’s right.

“Be my guest.”

“The keys?” I ask, turning to look at him as I place my hand out.

It’s hard to admit how good he looks in that suit as I press my lips together, standing from the lounger to take him in. I never understood waistcoats on people like Spencer—tall, angular, slender—but that taper against the offset of his broad shoulders is enough to make any woman think twice about walking past and sliding her hands across the hard expanse of his chest.

His dark chuckle caresses my skin before he shakes his head and turns, making his way back to the house. People part like the Red Sea as he approaches, one hand thrust in his pocket, the other still nursing the beer I haven’t seen him drink as I wave at Tamsin, letting her know where I’m headed.

The music in the house is muted, background noise for the people in there laughing and getting to know each other, the copious amounts of free booze clearly doing their job. Just when I think there must be toilets by the entrance, Nick turns and heads upstairs, the plush carpet eating any sound as he goes.

It’s not quite what I had in mind, but I’m here now, committed, and a bathroom break whilst it’s an option really wouldn’t be a bad idea. Who knows when and where he might disappear again? I follow him up the stairs silently, down a corridor and through a heavy wood door as he holds it open for me.

But it’s not the bathroom I expected, it’s their bedroom. His oaky cologne fills the space, except it’s mingled with the fresh salty smell of Wyatt’s.What an interesting combination. The rough and the smooth, the demanding and the easy-going, the one who offers and the one who takes.

“The bathroom is through there,” he states, gesturing to the door opposite as he pulls out a chair, popping the button on his dress shirt as he drops into it.

“Keys?” I ask again, holding my hand out impatiently and reminding myself not to leave this to the last minute. If he’s going to drag out every last second of control that he can, I better not leave this until I’m doing a little dance.

“Not required.” My mouth pops open to speak, but before I can argue the point, he continues. “If you’d taken the time to look at the belt I bought for you before discarding it like trash, you’d have noticed there’s access for waste to flow through. You don’t need to take it off to relieve yourself in that manner.”

“That’s disgusting. What about being clean? And dry. Surely that can’t be done through this damned contraption,” I bluster.

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