THIRTY-FOUR
MOST OF THEIR LIFE together, alone together, was spent in bed. And she would never take a second for granted.
Lying facing his profile, she scrutinized the features the world thought they knew. They didn’t. No one did. If anyone thought Struan resembled his brother, they were beyond wrong.
“You can never belong to me,” he murmured.
They’d been snoozing a while, not really sleeping, just relaxing in comforting silence.
“What?”
Even her voice was deeper, sleepier, if only they could live in that moment forever.
“You said you could never belong to me,” he said, shifting his head to meet her eye. “‘Cause the world thinks you’re with him.”
“When did I say—that first day?” In the foyer, she remembered. “It was nothing, I was hurt that you wanted me to be his.”
“You knew from the beginning that I was making a mistake letting you be with him, even as a ruse. You knew this was forever.”
Just how deep did he want to dive? “It’s stupid.”
“It’s not stupid. Tell me.”
“We’d only known each other for a few hours, but seeing you come down those stairs in the mansion that first day…”
“You knew it was forever.”
Maybe not exactly, but she’d known it wasn’t nothing. “I didn’t want to be with him. I never wanted to be with him.”
“And I forced you to do it.”
“You didn’t force—” Sudden hammering on the front door interrupted. Recovering from the initial jump scare, she relaxed. “I’m surprised it took them this long.”
“Ignore it.” He found her hand in their sheets and rested it on his mouth. “They’ll go away.”
“Is that what we want?”
“I want to be alone with you.”
Until they confronted the world with their unity, they’d never be fully together. It wouldn’t be fun, but it was necessary to prove they held no shame.
“This won’t fix itself, beau.”
“Will screaming and shouting help?” The knocking kept going; one person didn’t have that many hands. “That’s all they’ll do. Scream shit at us. We have to figure this out for ourselves first.”
“Figure out what we want from each other?”
He didn’t know already? She did. Maybe it was her small-town roots, or her gender, but honestly? It didn’t take long to reach a conclusion. What was the usual course for a man and a woman in love… He had to know she was in love with him, didn’t he?
The knocking stopped to be quickly followed by a half dozen clear pounds.
A man hollered from the hallway. “Some guy showed me how to bust through one of these once!”
Struan was up and dragging on his sweats in an instant. “Shit.”
She boosted onto her elbows. “That wasn’t Roman.”
Or Magnus.
“It’s Tripp.”
Hurrying out of the room, he wouldn’t make his best friend wait. Allies were better than the opposite. Quickly getting out of bed, she threw on some shorts and a tank. In the bedroom doorway, she got her first look at their visitors. Three of them. Tripp, Zairn, and…
“Roxie.” Rushing to her newest friend, she welcomed her hug. “Thank you for coming.”
“What are you doing here, Bambi, honey? Why didn’t you come to Jane’s?”
Tripp fielded that question. “Let me think, two horny as fuck people finally getting a chance to be alone… do they choose an apartment with a bed, completely alone, or show up where there are people waiting to bombard them with questions…?” The mischievous heir landed his focus on Zairn. “Your woman needs an education, and I’m not the man to give it.”
“It doesn’t matter, we’re here now.” Roxie smoothed Bambi’s hair. “How are you doing, honey? Are you okay? You’re so precious.”
“How did you know we were here?” she asked. “That anything happened?”
“Mieux went looking for you at the house. You weren’t there and there was a big to-do.”
“Mieux?”
“She went to Brooker, to tie some things up.” Despite not knowing exactly what that meant, she didn’t ask. “By process of elimination—”
“You avoided the hotels, that’s good,” Zairn said. “But your vehicle is parked downstairs. It’s registered to you.”
“Not like I’ve never taken my brother’s cars before,” Tripp offered.
And Roxie wouldn’t let that one just slide by. “Your chauffeur driven limo fleet used by you and all your family?”
Struan came to curve an arm around her. “The press don’t care about my car.”
“Oh, you think, big boy, do you?” Roxie mocked with an exaggerated nod. “Hmm, is it possible something happened last night?”
“God, what did he do?” she asked. “Was it at the party? Something that happened after he left us?”
“She’s talking about the kiss.” Struan didn’t appreciate filling her in. “The press will want more.”
“And coming from the Empress of More, they feed off that shit,” Roxie said. “It’s not an easy appetite to satisfy.” The blonde twisted to look at her own love. “Want to do something crazy?”
“Why? Is it a regular Tuesday?”
“Shut up, you might get laid out of it.”
“I got my future planning this morning, and the press know we have sex. That’s not front page news,” Zairn said, pausing mid reach into his inside pocket. “Unless you want to do it on the sidewalk?”
“Outside Bambi’s place, next to Struan’s car?” Tripp asked. “Shouldn’t you at least go a block over. Point is to divert attention.”
Roxie shrugged. “Whatever works. We could go visit our embryos. A visit to the fertility clinic always gets them going. Oh, oh, or… I could go with Tripp. Then it’s like cheating on you without the intercourse part.”
“Thanks for the offer, but we’re fine.” Struan strengthened his hold. “We’re figuring this out.”
“What does that mean exactly?” Wearing judgment, Roxie folded her arms. “I don’t like wishy-washy statements; say what you mean, Lowe. I won’t let you hurt one of my girls or make a fool out of her. Did you just drag her here for sex? Are you going to dump her with that cret—”
“Still his brother,” Tripp hummed, leaning into the line of sight between them.
“Maybe, maybe not. What happened today?” This time Roxie wanted an answer from her. “Was Roman an asshole? I swear if he touched you, I will send Ballard over there to—”
“Get charges for assault?” Tripp asked. “You know Roman’s the type.”
“So we should let it slide?”
“No, we send someone over there he can’t identify. Someone who won’t leave enough of him to report anything.”
“Still his brother,” Roxie parroted, mocking her friend’s previous assertion.
“No one put their hands on me,” she said then her shoulders rippled. “No one except the guy I want touching me.” She chose not to remind Struan of the brief incident in the closet. “This is Roman’s doing.”
“He told you to leave?”
“He didn’t appreciate us being together in what he called his house,” she explained. “So we left.”
“Together,” Roxie said. “You left together. To be together?”
That was a question she couldn’t answer. When she looked up at Struan, she assumed the others would too.
“We haven’t figured out the details, but I’m done watching her with Roman. I’m done with her being out there where I can’t protect her.”
In real time. He was always good at the aftercare, he just wanted to be around for the “ during care” too. Hopefully, there wouldn’t be much more of that on the horizon, if he meant what he said about keeping her and Roman apart.
“That’s progress.” Though Roxie attempted to subdue it, she quickly lost the battle and burst with excitement. “You broke free, Struan!” Leaping over, she yanked the man down to hug him tight, quickly looping Bambi into the embrace too. “I am so proud of you. I knew beautiful Bambi would be enough. When I saw you looking at her, oh, Struan, I know a man in love.”
Okay, that may be a little awkward. They hadn’t exchanged those words and she didn’t want him strongarmed into anything.
“You need a plan,” Zairn said. “Are you going public? You’ll have to tell them the truth, all the times you stepped in to take Roman’s place.”
Couldn’t they be together without cracking the crystal of previous illusions? No. Not if they told the truth that Struan was the man on the tape and not Roman. Without a great story, just admitting that would be enough to have everyone, press and industry alike, questioning which brother was where in the history of, well, ever.
“Don’t you worry…” Roxie pulled back and laid her certainty on each of them in turn. “We’re excellent at plans. This is when we’re at our greatest. Oh, love…”
Throwing her arms wide as she whirled around, it was Zairn’s smile that betrayed the stars in Roxie’s eyes. He cleared his throat, though it did little to hide the laugh trapped in it.
“Because I’m so good at it…” His smooth charm made even her quiver. “Baby, you want it bad.”
“Moment’s over.” Roxie spun on the spot. “Now, together foreverness, let’s figure this out.”
Another knock. Not as insistent as before, but it wasn’t like she had friends who’d drop by, especially when she hadn’t been living there.
It might be her door, but if someone on the other side needed to be dealt with, she doubted Struan would stand by and let her handle them alone.
“If that was Roman he’d be shouting, right?”
“It’s not Roman!” the call from the other side of the door showed how thin the walls were, and that their visitor was Struan’s uncle. “We have to talk about this.”
At least he sounded calm. Yeah, okay, that could be a big fake out. What else could they do? Ignoring him might be easier, but it didn’t exactly scream confidence in their decision or relationship.
Tripp was the one to break ranks and answer it. He swung the door wide, putting all the players on the board. This was it. The moment of confrontation. Would it be a fight? Would it be possible to reach an agreement?