5. Lucian
5
LUCIAN
“ L ucian.”
Fuck me. Nobody had ever spoken my name the way Ivy did. She turned it into a song. A prayer she repeated like a litany as I worked my way in and out of her, giving her all of me.
She curled my wet hair around her fingers, holding my head close to her neck. Warm breath tickled my ear before her tongue danced over the lobe. “Lucian,” she rasped as she moved with me, sliding up and down the tile wall.
“So good,” I gritted out, fighting the urge to let go. The temptation was almost too much—the promise of release and losing myself in this woman who had given me everything worth possessing. “Fuck, Poison. You feel so good.”
“The feeling of you inside me, it’s…” She trailed off, her head falling back. I pressed my mouth to her throat, took it as the offering it was, and felt how her pulse pounded under my tongue, the vibrations of every moan, every sigh.
It was like two of us becoming one. I didn’t know where my body stopped and hers began. I only knew I needed more of whatever this was. I needed it for the rest of my life.
She opened her eyes and looked into mine, her gray orbs swirling with lust and pleasure. “I love it when your cock is buried deep inside me,” she whispered, thrusting her tongue inside my mouth in a deep, all-consuming kiss that almost made me forget to move. Her teeth grazed my bottom lip, then she sucked it hard, drawing a long groan out of me as I slammed into her again.
“Oh, God,” she breathed out, dragging her nails over my back, the sting from the water making me groan through my teeth. I thrust into her harder, driving deep the way I knew she needed it—the way we both did.
“Yes… yes… f-fuck me, Lucian.” She held my head close and whispered in my ear, “Harder. I-I I’m almost…”
She didn’t need to tell me. I knew she was almost there, her cunt clenched around me as she sank her teeth into my shoulder. “Let go,” I growled out, almost crushing her between me and the wall with every unforgiving stroke. She let out a high-pitched whimper between helpless gasps, and I relished her sounds of pleasure—pleasure I was giving her. “Let me feel you fall apart around me. Cream on my cock, Poison.”
“I… oh fuck… Lucian!” She bit my shoulder again at the last second, stifling what would’ve been deafening in the shower stall otherwise. The tingle in my spine and the heaviness of my balls wouldn’t be ignored. I closed my eyes, letting go, filling her.
By the time I finished, my ears were ringing, while Ivy’s breathless whimpers faded until she let out a soft chuckle and touched her mouth to my sore muscle. “Sorry,” she whispered, kissing the spot where her teeth had dug in hard. “I don’t know what got into me.”
“Last I checked, it was my dick,” I reminded her. She only rolled her eyes at my corny joke, then sighed in what sounded like disappointment when I slid out of her pussy. I understood the feeling all too well. There was always a sense of loss when I left her.
Without saying a word, I pulled the showerhead down from the mount and trained it on her sensitive flesh. She leaned against the wall again, eyes closed while I cleaned her up. “We’re going to have to hurry now,” she whispered, running her fingers through my wet, tangled dark hair. “I hope nobody minds us being so late.”
“I doubt anybody will.” Who wanted to follow a rigid schedule at a time like this, anyway? I never did understand that. An itinerary was one thing, but filling every minute with activities? Especially with the mood everybody was probably going to be after last night. I would just as soon have skipped out on fishing.
“Either way, we better move. I need to try on more dresses today with everybody else. It’s such a shame.” She sighed. It wasn’t the first time she’d said it since we stood in silent shock along with everybody else last night, staring at what used to be an impressive storefront.
Once I finished cleaning her up, she rewarded me with a deep, long kiss that almost made me consider going back for round two. The refractory period was a real thing, though, so I settled for kissing her back and returning the showerhead to its place. “Come on, if you can walk,” I teased, earning a laugh.
We wasted no time drying off, and instead of taking the time to dry her hair, Ivy opted to rub the towel over it, then clipped the nearly platinum locks in place. “If anybody asks, we overslept,” she whispered after we finished getting ready, and even though it was only us in the bedroom, she blushed. “I mean, your parents are down there. Hell, my boss is down there.”
“I’m sure Dad doesn’t think of himself as your boss all the time. I mean, after us being together for two years? Besides…” I reminded her as we left the guest room at the far end of the east wing, “… last time I checked, we’re not working right now.”
“You know what I mean. It’s weird.” She was still a good girl at heart and always would be. Put her in a conference room in front of a team, and she was tough as nails. Woe to anyone, man or woman, who thought they could intimidate her into silence. Yet, put her in a real-world situation like facing her boyfriend’s parents, and she turned into a blushing virgin.
With a grin, I said, “I hate to tell you, but as far as I’m concerned, we have a lifetime of that to look forward to. And I’m not going celibate anytime soon.” She was giggling when I pulled her close for a quick kiss before we descended the winding staircase.
A lifetime. There was a point in my past when I would have choked on the word. I couldn’t have imagined tying myself down, even after witnessing the commitment between my parents—unusual in our world, where marriages so often broke or were only an act presented to the public. Yet, from the beginning, it was clear to me that Ivy was it. That finding ‘the one’ was more than a myth pushed by the wedding industry. We’d talked so many times about our future like it was a done deal—one of those things two people understand instinctively.
At the sound of laughter coming from the kitchen, Ivy pulled me up short in the foyer. “What’s going on?” she whispered. It sounded like everybody was in there, friends and family, parents, the entire group. And it was deafening. I shrugged, took her by the hand, and lead the way.
“There you are!” Mom shook her head at me when we reached the group. For some reason, she was holding a glass of champagne. Everybody was.
“What did we miss?” I asked, looking around while my Aunt Lourde thrust a champagne flute into my hand.
“We’re not going through the whole song and dance again.” Sienna laughed. She was beaming, clearly over the moon with happiness. “Long story short, we’re engaged.”
Ivy let out a screech, grabbing Sienna’s hand to ogle the diamond solitaire sparkling on it. “Are you kidding? When? This is amazing!”
I turned to Noah, who lifted a shoulder. “We weren’t going to tell anybody, but it seemed like the right time.” Clearly, he was right. I had expected everything to be dull and depressing this morning, but instead, there were happy tears and smiles.
“This is so terrific.” There were tears in Ivy’s eyes when she looked up from Sienna’s ring. “I am so, so happy for you.”
If she only knew. But no, that would go against the point of keeping it a secret. My thoughts went to the box sitting in my safe at home. A box that had sat there for months, ever since we started planning the trip to Europe in July. I had been thinking about proposing for ages, practically since we first got together as a couple. I had known she was the one for a long time, no question about it. I couldn’t imagine life any other way.
Was she thinking about us now as she pumped Sienna for the details of Noah’s proposal? Was she wondering if our time would ever come? It was almost enough to make me want to end her torment and ask her then and there, but she deserved the whole thing. Me on one knee in a romantic situation. She deserved the fantasy.
“I hate to break this up, but we do have somebody waiting for us at the marina.” Colton patted me on the back on his way past, muttering close to my ear, “Maybe next time, wake up a little earlier so you can get off without holding us up.”
“Fuck off,” I replied, laughing as I shoved him out of my way so I could grab something quick to eat from the counter.
“Sorry to have missed the festivities,” Spencer announced, jogging down the stairs as we entered the foyer. “I had a few calls to make. Thursday is still a workday for a lot of people,” he pointed out with a sigh. I happened to look his way in time to notice the troubled glance he exchanged with Miles. Like there was something unspoken between them. Come to think of it, they had been doing a lot of that since last night. I’d forgotten about it since the fire happened.
After that, I couldn’t help but pay closer attention to Miles as I went through the motions of participating once we were on the yacht, baiting my hook and busting balls with everybody else the way we normally did.
The whole time, though, I noticed how quiet Miles was. Nerves? Cold feet? Maybe, but why would Spencer have anything to do with it? Unless Miles had confided in him, which he might’ve done, seeing as how they weren’t as close as he was with the rest of us. Sometimes, it was easier to unload on a warm acquaintance rather than on a close friend.
After an hour of observing his strange, standoffish attitude, there was no staying quiet. “Are you okay?” I asked him as we settled in with our rods, the yacht bobbing peacefully on the gentle ripples. The sun beat down on us, but it was pleasant rather than harsh, and the presence of a fully stocked bar had everybody in a good mood.
Everybody but him, it seemed. “Everything’s going to be all right,” I offered, in case that was what was on his mind. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. I didn’t want to think he was holding something back from us.
“Sure it will be,” he replied, and I had the feeling the words came out without any forethought. He wasn’t really listening, just like he didn’t see anything in front of him as he sat with his fishing rod in hand, staring over the water.
I decided to join in on busting Noah’s balls for a while instead, laughing at his story of almost dropping the ring in Lake Michigan when he proposed. Even Spencer laughed with us, though Miles barely chuckled.
Leaning in and lowering my voice, I asked, “What’s going on?” With a glance toward everybody else to make sure they were occupied, I muttered, “It’s obvious there’s a problem.”
“Of course there is.” Miles lifted a shoulder, wearing a smirk. “We were all there last night. We saw what happened. Aria is devastated, and there’s not much I can do about it, but I hope she finds a new dress she loves enough to make her happy.”
“I’m not talking about the fire.”
He arched an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”
“Come on,” I urged. “I know you and I haven’t known each other as long as the rest of us have, but it’s been a couple of years now. I’m not blind. I know what it looks like when you’re not yourself.”
He followed the direction my attention shifted to, and we both watched as Spencer poured himself a drink at the bar rather than waiting for one of the staff. For the first time, it hit me that any stranger could look at us and imagine Miles and Spencer were related, with their dirty blond hair and light-colored eyes so unlike the dark looks I shared with my cousin and friends. “Is everything going okay with this patent you two are working on? Because every time you guys are talking, it looks like you’re ready to rip each other’s heads off or throw up. Either way.”
“We’re fine. Really.” Everything about his body language screamed the opposite. His hunched shoulders, the way he clenched his jaw, the jerky way he reeled in his line.
After another few moments, he sighed, angled himself toward me and turned away from the group. The stony, blank mask dropped away. His brows knitted together over the frame of his sunglasses. “I was going to approach you about this later. Tonight, maybe.”
I glanced over his shoulder to where the guys were now talking about baseball. Spencer was a Dodgers fan, which, of course, earned nothing but scorn from a bunch of diehard Yankees fans. “We can still talk later,” I offered. “After we get back if you want. We don’t have to wait.”
“That would be good.” Some of the tension drained from his shoulders, which now lowered to a more normal position. “And for now… keep it between us, would you?”
“Of course. Don’t worry about it.”
He nodded firmly and turned around. A change came over him when he did. It reminded me of how he had convinced us that he was nothing but a good guy with good intentions when we first met him. Over the course of two years, the rest of the story had eventually come to light. As it turned out, he had entered our lives with the intention of destroying Magnus, Evelyn, and the twins after being fed lies virtually since birth. It had taken falling in love with Aria and learning the truth behind his late mother’s lies to turn him around.
He had proven from the beginning that he was able to compartmentalize in a way that probably helped a lot when it came to business. He had to be cold as ice, able to conceal his thoughts under an expressionless facade at the drop of a hat.
Me, on the other hand? I wasn’t nearly as skilled. I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon wondering what the hell he was hiding and whether whatever it was would end up biting Aria in the ass. I hadn’t known about his intentions when he first came to town from London, so there hadn’t been a reason for me to feel protective of one of the girls I had grown up with.
Now? Knowing what he was capable of and he was due to marry Aria in a couple of days made me look at him through new eyes. I must’ve managed to play off my concerns well enough since nobody seemed to notice.
It was lunchtime by the time we docked and disembarked in the boathouse at the rear of the Goldsmith estate. We crossed the beach, and voices floated our way from high up on the terrace. One in particular left me in a hurry to get up there.
How fortunate was I that I could recognize the woman I loved just by hearing her laugh? She did so much of it that I would know the sound anywhere.
“Laughter is a good sign,” Colton pointed out as we walked up the long flight of stairs leading from the beach. “I didn’t get any emergency texts, so I’m hoping that means everything went well.”
“Either way, I plan on telling Valentina she looks incredible in whatever Ari was able to dig up. Not that she wouldn’t,” Evan added. “She could wear a shower curtain for all I care. She would look just as good.”
“Wow…” Noah snickered behind us. “I don’t know if I can handle all this romance in the air. You better be careful, or I might just want your cock soon too.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Evan fired back over his shoulder. “You know what I mean.”
I knew I did. We were halfway up the steps when I blurted it out. “I’m proposing to Ivy when I take her to Europe next month. In Paris, specifically.”
Evan gave me a light punch on my shoulder. “Wait. Seriously?”
Everybody stopped, even Spencer. “I don’t know what made me say that,” I admitted with a laugh when all eyes were on me. “But yeah. I bought the ring. I have it all planned.”
“Shit,” Spencer murmured. “It’s like a contagious disease around here. I’m glad I’m flying home Sunday afternoon, or I might end up engaged.”
“That’s great news.” Colton was the first to shake my hand, laughing off Spencer’s joke like we all did. “How are you going to do it?”
“Now I wish I hadn’t said anything.” I ran through my hair, chuckling nervously. “I’m thinking of taking her to the Eiffel Tower.”
“Aw, really?” As usual, Evan was the first to bust balls. “Come on, man. That’s been done a million times.”
“Not for Ivy,” I reminded him. “It’s one of the places she really wants to go, and she’s never been. Why not give her the whole fantasy come to life?”
“We can’t all propose while our girlfriend is in the middle of pushing out a baby,” Miles pointed out with a smirk, referring to Evan’s proposal. “That was peak romance.”
“I think it sounds great,” Noah told me, clapping me on the back. “And she’ll love it.”
“Yeah, congratulations.” There was still a shadow that passed over Miles’ face, which took a little of the sincerity out of his friendly smile. I was more interested than ever in whatever it was he had to tell me.
“This is between us,” I reminded the guys as we continued up to the terrace, where the girls waited with an enormous lunch set up and waiting.
“There you are! We thought somebody got hurt on the way up here.” Ivy practically skipped my way, wearing a light sundress that floated around her legs. “You smell like sunshine,” she declared, touching her nose to my chest and inhaling deeply.
I lowered my head, murmuring in her ear, “How did it go?” From what I could see, everybody looked like they were in a decent mood. There were no tears, and the energy seemed positive overall.
“Pretty well,” she said. “There were a few gowns they really liked. It’s just a matter of how much tailoring can be done by Saturday.”
I knew the twins. They were still disappointed, though they tried to play it off. “It’s not quite the same,” I heard Aria tell Miles, and he rubbed her shoulders. “But it’s gorgeous. I might even have chosen it if I had seen it before the dress I picked out. Maybe this is how it was supposed to be.”
Ivy softly clicked her tongue as we approached the big table filled with so much food that I was surprised it didn’t buckle under the weight. “They’re really trying,” she whispered, and I noticed the look she and Sienna exchanged. It was obvious they had worked together to keep things positive.
Rose had her own reasons to be upset. She exited the house with her phone in hand, and the way she frowned told me she hadn’t gotten good news. “The fire chief says it might take a little more time to figure out the cause,” she told Colton, raising her voice so the rest of us could hear.
“I hate to think it had something to do with the wiring,” Colton mused, wrapping his arms around her when she leaned against him. “Who knows? An animal could’ve gotten in there, like a mouse or a squirrel, and started chewing. It happens.”
“There’s never been any history of shoddy work in the family’s business,” Sienna pointed out. She was trying, and the grateful look Colton gave her said he noticed and appreciated it.
Rose gasped, shaking her head hard. “I would never blame you,” she insisted, looking up at Colton. “I know all of those guys did the best work possible. That’s never crossed my mind, I swear.”
“You’re going to be beautiful brides either way,” Spencer assured the girls. “Nobody will be able to take their eyes off you.”
“I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m starving.“ Sienna grabbed a plate and began loading it with salad and grilled chicken. “You all had better hurry up if you want any of this.”
“You’re starting to sound like me,” Valentina joked. Evan threw an arm around her, and she chuckled. It had to be a good sign, the fact that she could make a joke.
“How was the fishing?” Ivy asked, changing the subject as we got in line behind Sienna.
We managed to carry the conversation pretty well after that, and before long, the girls were laughing at the story of Colton’s big catch turning out to be a discarded boot.
And while most of my attention was with them, a small part of me kept looking at Miles, waiting for him to give me a hint of when he wanted to talk. “You okay?” Ivy whispered at one point, touching her leg to mine under the table.
“Keep touching me like that, and I’ll get pretty fucking uncomfortable,” I murmured and grinned at the way her fair cheeks went pink.
“You look upset, is all.”
“If I’m upset, it’s because I didn’t get a single bite on my line all morning.” She seemed to accept that, going back to her lunch and making plans to visit the salon the following afternoon. Aria was going to dye her amethyst locks back to their natural brown for the wedding, something the girls assured her would look great and make her mom happy.
The staff started clearing our plates, which was when Miles looked my way and ever so slightly tipped his head toward the inside of the house. “Someone will need to direct me to the powder room,” he announced as he stood. “I’m not very familiar with this palace.”
“I’ll show you,” I quickly offered, and Ivy gave me a funny look that made me think I’d spoken too loudly. She didn’t say anything, though, settling for watching us as we crossed the terrace and entered through French doors leading into the kitchen.
As soon as we were inside, away from the others, he let out a sharp breath. “I need your word on something,” he muttered as we crossed the kitchen, steering clear of the staff cleaning up after our feast.
“Sure. What is it?”
“Do not breathe the word of this. I don’t want anything getting in the way of the wedding.”
“Then you might want to brush up on your acting skills,” I offered. “It’s obvious there’s something wrong.”
“I’ve done my best to play it off,” he insisted, looking over his shoulder as he went on. “But it seems like shit’s getting worse all the time. I won’t be able to keep this quiet for much longer. I only hope nothing comes out until after the wedding.”
“Comes out?” There was nothing like finding out my suspicions were true when that was the last thing I wanted. Right away, images of a distraught Aria filled my head. Were we wrong to trust him after all the lies he had told in the beginning?
As soon as we were past the kitchen and in an empty hallway, I took him by his collar and pushed him against the wall. His eyes flew open wide before he shoved me away. “What the fuck?” he demanded.
I grabbed hold of him again and held him in place this time. “What did you do? I swear to God if you hurt her?—”
“Enough, already.” He held his hands up like he was surrendering. With his large frame and the skill he’d exhibited with his fists in the past, he could’ve easily taken me if he felt like it, but he gave up instead. “I didn’t do anything to Aria, and I never would. This doesn’t have to do with her directly, but I’m afraid it will affect her. I know it will.”
I released him, backing up a step and folding my arms. “Talk. What is it you’re hiding?”
A soft, familiar voice floated our way. “You know something?” Ivy asked as she rounded the doorway from the kitchen. Her arms were folded like mine, her jaw jutting out the way it sometimes did when she was irritated. “I would like to know that too.”
Fuck. “Poison, we were?—”
“Spare me.” She sighed, her level gaze never leaving Miles. “I might not have been around when you originally came on the scene, but I know all about it, and I know how much that girl loves you. By the way…” she added with a roll of her eyes, “… you really suck at trying to be discreet. You both do,” she finished, giving me a withering look.
“It doesn’t matter,” Miles said with a sigh of defeat that reflected in his troubled green eyes. “If anything, you might be able to help. Right now, I need all the help I can get.”