Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
KIERAN
G iven what just happened, washing the dishes at her side feels incredibly domestic.
The tension from earlier is gone. Maybe the key to keeping her docile is making sure that she has plenty of orgasms. Things could certainly be a lot worse.
Given the circumstances, Ada’s warming up to me far more quickly than I intended. It feels like a truce. I never thought that my spontaneous seduction would work quite as well as it did.
I have no objection to repeating that performance with every meal. It just means that I’ll have to develop a whole other kink that I never knew I had. For her? I’m more than willing to put in the work.
My gaze drifts to the way the hem of my shirt just barely covers the curve of her thigh, where her leg meets her ass. It’s so tempting to grab her.
I could lift her right back up onto this kitchen counter and have my way with her. It’s a dangerous trap. She’s occupying all of my thoughts, and something as simple as cleaning the dishes with her should not feel so peaceful. It’s a chore, that’s all it should be. Yet, here we are. I’m almost afraid of breaking the silence lest the mood between us change again.
The doorbell does it for me.
The dish that Ada’s in the process of drying nearly falls from her hands as she whips around in shock. I catch it before it can fall and shatter, setting it on the counter gently.
I can tell from the way she’s breathing that she’s frightened.
She doesn’t need to be. There isn’t anybody that knows the location of this house that would ever do anything to her. Liam’s the only one that I’ve trusted with this knowledge. I’ve gone to great lengths to make sure that it’s unplottable.
I dry my hands quickly and head to the door, placing my hand on the keypad to open the locks with an electric beep. Liam is standing there in the doorway with an infuriatingly dopey grin and his arms laden with designer bags. If I hadn’t been the one to order everything, I would have thought that he had spent the day at the mall.
“Found these on the doorstep. Figured that they might be for your… guest,” Liam says sarcastically.
“Ah, so you’ve seen the charges?”
Liam’s smile flattens comically, leveling me with a too serious glare that I can’t help but laugh at.
I take the bags out of his hands and carry them into the kitchen where Ada is pulling on the hem of her shirt to try to make it longer.
Thankfully, Liam isn’t the sort of person to actually get angry or hold any type of grudge. He’s already looking at Ada with a glint of mischief. I can tell that he wants to tease her, but doesn’t know if she would receive it well. He and I went through a similar phase after Patrick accepted me into their ranks. Liam and I fought many times until I realized that his particular brand of hazing is all in jest.
“Liam, this is Ada,” I say, gesturing to Ada. “Ada, this is my cousin, Liam.”
Liam gives Ada a charming smile. I’ve seen women swoon over him for a lot less. I didn’t think that Ada would, but my ego is pleased that she doesn’t seem affected by his charms.
“Pleasure to meet you, Ada,” Liam says as he holds out a hand.
Ada accepts, still holding down her shirt with the other hand. She gives him a polite but guarded nod as he kisses the back of her hand in greeting. He invites himself to sit, hopping up onto the counter of the island and grabbing a pastry. I wonder if he would hop right back down off of that counter if he knew what I was doing on it just a few minutes ago.
I give him a warning look to stop him from saying anything stupid. But Liam being Liam, he pretends that he doesn’t see me.
“So, Ada,” Liam starts, giving Ada a very thorough look over. “How are you finding your little vacation? It must be a nice, quiet change from the glitz and glamor of the runway life.”
“Vacation?” Ada says, narrowing her eyes at Liam’s poor attempt at small talk. She surrenders the pretense of modesty and crosses her arms across her chest. She doesn’t remark beyond that one accusatory word meant for me before settling into a steely silence.
“No?” Liam smirked. “Like there’s anywhere else you would rather be.”
He lets his eyes rake over her long legs, and I have to staunch the urge to remove those eyes from his very head.
She shifts her weight over onto one foot, chewing on the inside of her cheek.
“Well, if you don’t talk to me, then how am I ever supposed to get to know you better?” Laim teases. “What topics would help loosen your tongue? Or, do you just need Kieran to do that?”
I punch him for that one. Square in the shoulder, hard enough to hurt. Liam rubs it, chuckling.
“I deserved that.” Liam’s grin only seems to widen. “Don’t wanna talk about your career? What about designers? We could talk about your experience… you could give me the phone numbers of your fellow models. All of the above?”
Ada slides into a seat and crosses her legs. “Why would I tell you anything when you’re clearly in on all of this?”
“Because I brought you such pretty presents?” Liam tries to joke with her, but she’s having none of it.
“Are you saying that I am the kind of girl that can be bought, Liam?”
Her tone could have withered flowers on the spot.
“What? No!” Liam whistles low. “Wow, tough crowd. What sort of things would you rather talk about?”
Ada clearly doesn’t want to continue any conversation with him at all.
I know that he’s trying to break the ice but it’s not going to get him anywhere. If there is anything that I have learned about Ada it’s that she’s more than a little stubborn.
I can tell that this conversation’s about to take a turn for the worst. I step forward, ready to pull Liam into another room so that the pair of them don’t start to actually argue or something worse.
I know that Liam’s trying to find common ground with her. But to Ada, since we’re family, we are both enemies to her brother. She has no reason to trust him. She doesn’t even technically have a reason to trust me, but I know that our situation is slightly different.
Likewise, Liam has no idea that the way Ada is speaking to him is likely because of his relation to me. Her veneer or politeness is only going to last so long.
Liam slaps his thighs and then stands up abruptly. “Anyway, I have the information on Rizzo’s location, so we ought to get going.”
I freeze. Ada’s eyes widen in surprise.
“Rizzo? What Rizzo? Who are you going to go see?” Ada stands, staring at the two of us.
Liam clearly didn’t know that I wasn’t planning on saying anything to her about it.
“Jeremy? Is that who you are going to see?”
Liam gives me a pleading look, wanting to get out of this conversation quickly. Good. I want to throw him out on his ass right now.
“Enough, Liam. Get out,” I say in a low voice.
“Kieran, we have to-”
“I said get out.” I say as I grab him by the arm and practically shove him toward the door.
Liam stumbles. I didn’t mean to be so forceful, but he needs to get out right this minute. My cousin gives me a look that’s both surprise and amazement at how I’m handling the situation. “Alright, alright, I’m going,” he says as he lifts his hands up in mock surrender. He glances back over his shoulder as I wrench the door open for him. “Nice meeting you, Ada.”
His voice is barely a whisper at the end.
I’ll feel badly about how I treated him later, but right now I need him to have just a little bit more common sense than he usually does.
The moment he’s out, I shove the door shut behind him with a resounding thud.