12. Dev
twelve
dev
I Do Like To Swallow
M y eyes have a hard time figuring out what to land on when I swing my door open.
They first halt on Piper, taking in her cascading brown hair that could double as a scarf over both her shoulders, before flicking to the boy of about five or six in a short-sleeve polo and shorts, who’s clinging to a hardback book as though he’s keeping it from flying away. But what truly captures my attention, making me wonder if I’ve stumbled onto the set of a low-budget reality show, is the sizeable cage she’s clutching on her other side.
That’s right, a cage. Complete with two very exasperated-looking rabbits.
My brows rise in question, but before I can voice my confusion, she waves her free hand, gesturing to what I think is my home. “You realize there are countries that are smaller than this house alone, right? Like Google Earth would need to zoom out a few times to capture it. And we just walked past an infinity pool in your courtyard that could double as a small lake. Should I expect a helipad too, or do you just park your flying car in the garage like the rest of us peasants?”
Suppressing my smile, I bite the inside of my cheek. “Yes, there is a helipad on the premises, and a landing strip in the back.”
A sly smile stretches across her lips. “Well, I guess I have something in common with this house, then.” She leans in, whispering against the shell of my ear, sending a zap of electricity down my spine, “Except my landing strip is in the front.”
My jaw clenches, and I swear to God if there wasn’t a kid—and two caged animals—staring at us, I’d have grabbed her by the back of the neck and demanded proof.
Clearing my throat, I welcome them inside, casting a furtive glance at the portable travel zoo in her grasp. “Is this all you brought with you?”
After signing some non-disclosure paperwork, along with a prenup that my legal team required after our chat at the restaurant a few days ago, Piper mentioned that she’d be bringing along “a few essentials” for her extended stay, but she definitely hadn’t prepared me for a kid and rabbits.
She waves a dismissive hand in between us. “Oh no, I have about six other suitcases, a couple boxes of shoes, and a few more full of knick-knacks that your chauffeur is bringing by later.” She must see the look of shock on my face because she continues, “I didn’t want to have to keep schlepping to my condo every time I needed clean underwear, you know? So, I brought a few extra things to make it feel like home around here. Just the essentials, like I said.”
“Right . . .” I say, hesitantly. “Just the essentials.”
Gently setting the cage down in my foyer, she introduces the boy beside her. “This is Rome, my best friend Sarina’s son. He’s off school today for one of those mystery teacher work days, and since both my besties had to be at the salon, I told them I’d watch him. But truthfully, I’ll do just about anything to hang out with this kid.” She looks at Rome adoringly, making him blush. “You’re excited about spending the day helping your aunt move in, aren’t you, Romeo?”
Rome nods enthusiastically, his eyes gleaming behind his glasses. A light blue strap secures them to his head and his frames have tiny Saturns depicted on them. Lowering his book, the kid shoves his hand out at me for a shake. “I’m Roman Kabir Arora-Weston, but you can call me Rome. I’m six years old, and my mom says I’m going to be a ‘new clear’ scientist because I like space stuff.” He proudly displays the cover of his hardback. “See? This book is called Cool Space Facts for Kids .”
I take his small hand in mine. “Space facts, huh? What’s the coolest one you know?”
Rome thinks about it for a moment, his mouth twisting to the side. “That a million Earths could fit inside the sun!” His eyes go wide. “A million! Can you believe that?”
I shake my head. “That’s pretty unbelievable. Want to know my favorite space fact?”
Rome’s brows shoot up, his glasses shifting on his face as he nods.
“Did you know that the moon is actually shaped like a lemon?”
Rome’s mouth hangs open. “No way! Really?”
I nod, feeling satisfied having impressed the kid. “Really.” I grin. “By the way, you have a pretty impressively long name, Roman Kabir Arora-Weston.”
He beams with pride before sticking out his right hand enthusiastically. “It’s cuz I’m half Indian American, like my mom,” he declares, before sticking out his left hand, still holding the book, as if literally showcasing his dual heritage. “And half Caucasian American, like my dad. See?”
“I see.” I chuckle because the kid is cute as fuck. “Well, guess what?”
“What?” he asks, leaning against Piper’s leg .
Smiling down at him, she absentmindedly brushes his hair off his forehead, and for reasons I can’t quite comprehend, the gesture tightens my chest.
I clear my throat, sticking my left hand out and mirroring his enthusiasm. “I’m also half Indian American because of my dad.” I throw out the other arm. “And Caucasian American because of my mom.”
“Whoa!”
I raise a brow, placing my hands inside my pockets and rocking back on my heels. “Looks like we have a lot in common, kid.”
Rome grins up at Piper. “Aunt Piper, can I stay here with you sometimes?”
“Um . . .” Piper hesitates, glancing from him to me. “Well, that’s up to Mr. Dev?—”
“You’re welcome to stay here anytime you want, buddy. Maybe you could even teach me more about space.”
Rome gives me a toothy grin before his gaze drifts to my living room, where something has caught his eye. “You play with Legos?”
I follow his gaze to the small shelf with some boxes neatly stored in them. “Yeah, sometimes when my ten-year-old sister, Deena, comes over.” I tilt my head to the shelf. “I’ve got bracelet-making kits, cross-stitching kits, tons of art supplies, and Legos. Want to go check them all out?”
Before I’ve even finished speaking, Rome has toed off his shoes and is rushing to the living room with his book. I turn back to see an indiscernible expression on Piper’s face. The rabbit cage is now next to her feet, and the rabbits themselves have huddled together in a corner, their chests quickly rising and falling with each breath.
She pulls all her hair over to one shoulder and for the first time, I notice that she’s wearing some sort of off-the-shoulder faded pink shirt, revealing the strap of something black and lacy underneath along with the constellation of moles traveling down her collarbone.
And not for the first time since I’ve met my stunning fake fiancée, my dick hardens inside my pants at the thought of ripping that lace off her to lick and suck each one of those tiny moles down her body.
“Thanks for letting me bring him over,” she says, making me rip my eyes from her smooth skin. “He’s pretty easy, but I’ll warn you, once he’s done with that book, he’ll literally repeat each fact until you have blood coming out of your ears.”
I chuckle. “He seems like my kind of kid.”
Piper pulls her bottom lip in between her teeth, but I see a smile lurking behind it.
I raise a brow in question, waiting for her response.
She shakes her head, her eyes tracking down my face to catch at my lips. “You’re pretty damn good with him for a guy who probably barks out orders to his scared minions all day.”
Smirking, I say, “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t go around ruining my supervillain reputation. I need to keep those minions on their toes.”
She places her index and thumb on the corner of her smiling lips and pretends to zip them. “Your secret is safe with me, Lex.”
“Lex?”
Piper gives me a derisive gasp. “Yes, Lex. As in Lex Luther , the wealthy archenemy of Superman?” When I pretend ignorance, loving the way she gets worked up, she continues with a huff, “Jesus, Menon, I truly expected better from the future ruler of the world. You’ve disappointed me.”
I smile. “Have I?”
“Yes.” She nods, gesturing to the large modern chandelier in my foyer. “This massive house with its glass walls, decorative infinity pools, and sprawling terraces . . .” Her eyes gleam with mischief, a playful glint I’ve come to recognize. “The way you just interacted with my sweet Rome, and that . . .” her eyes drift toward my left cheek before coming back to my lips, “that dimple of yours you keep so well hidden . . .” Her voice drops to a whisper, sending a chill down my spine. “It’s all so very disappointing.”
I take a step toward her. Why? I couldn’t tell you.
Hypnotism, maybe?
Magnetism, perhaps.
Optimism, altruism, botulism? Sure, add those in, too.
My voice is low, challenging, even to my own ears. “Is that so, Peter?”
“Yes,” she murmurs almost inaudibly. I watch her throat work on a swallow, her eyes flaring as I close the rest of the distance between us so my face hovers inches above hers. “All so underwhelming, really.”
“You’ve noticed my dimple, have you?”
She shakes her head, her long hair swishing over the gentle slope of her breasts. And I can bet every fucking dollar in my bank account that her nipples are stiffened peaks behind that curtain of hair. “It’s certainly very unremarkable.” Her eyes lock on my lips. “Unimpressive.” She licks her lips. “Un . . . un?—”
“Peter?” I ask, my senses filling with her citrus scent.
“Yes,” she responds, her chest falling on an exhale.
“Are your rabbits fighting or fucking?”
“Yes,” she croons. “Fucking.”
My lips twitch, knowing she hasn’t registered a thing I’ve said. “Piper?”
“Yes.”
“I’m asking because they look like they’re about to rip each other’s throats out.”
Her brows furrow, and for a second, it’s as if she has no idea where she is. Suddenly, she pulls away with a yelp and falls to the floor in front of the cage. “Oh my God!” She looks up at me, her face pale. “Dev! Natalie Nutbottom is trying to kill Kevin!”
Not a moment later, she opens the cage and manages to pry the weaker rabbit out, cooing at him . . . or her, I can’t tell. She’s just about to lower the cage door when the other one hops out, and before either of us can react, it’s tearing through my house with all three of us—me, Piper, and Rome—hot on its tail. Yes, pun fucking intended!
And wouldn’t you know it, Piper insists I call the blasted creature by its full name, but not too loudly because it may get scared. Which is why, a few minutes later, I’m sprinting around my house, whisper-yelling, “Natalie Nutbottom,” like a certified lunatic.
My fingers are pressed under my brows, my elbows digging into my thighs as I try to even out my breaths.
What a fucking disaster, and that’s not counting the five-thousand-dollar table lamp shattered on my bedroom floor, the two-thousand-dollar vase that’s now cracked on my kitchen countertop, or the Hermes blanket adorned with rabbit shit.
No, the disaster I’m referring to comes with the name of Piper Parker. A calamity I seem to both be drawn to and afraid I’ll drown in.
She’s been in my house barely an hour and already, it feels like a tornado has swept through it, leaving both destruction and a newfound dread in its wake.
I’ve asked myself the same question no less than a hundred times as I’ve crawled through every room and inspected the space under every piece of large furniture, playing hide-and-seek with the horrible creature masked as an adorable rabbit: What the fuck was I thinking when I asked her to move in?
No joke, her fucking rabbit literally hopped through every one of my downstairs rooms, and for a while, every time one of us tried to catch her, it seemed we were breaking or toppling something else in the process.
It was Rome who finally found her behind a box of blankets in the guestroom closet—the room I planned to have Piper stay in. It took a bit for Piper to catch the beast, but thankfully, she got her back inside her cage. She placed a make-shift cardboard barrier between the furry savages to keep them away from each other for the time being.
“There’s no way Jackass Thumper and Asshole Roger are staying in my house,” I growl from my perch on the sofa across the overturned coffee table in my previously pristine living room.
Two gasps resound inside my ears.
“Mr. Dev said bad words!” Rome says, sounding both astonished and impressed.
“Their names are Kevin and Natalie Nutbottom, and they are staying where I am staying. So unless you’ve changed your mind about me living with you, they’re staying right here.”
That from my tornado of a fiancée.
I lift my head from my hands, glaring at her across the overturned coffee table in my previously pristine living room. “Peter, I swear?—”
“Remember that legal paperwork you made me sign yesterday?” she asks, interrupting me.
I slow blink, trying to stay calm. “Yes.”
She examines her fingernails as if suddenly concerned with the magenta polish on them. “I might have added a little amendment in there while your lawyer was using my bathroom, indicating that my pets are allowed to live in your home as part of this arrangement.” At my gaping mouth, she adds, “And I may have initialed and dated it, too, you know,” she shrugs, “for consistency’s sake. I’m nothing if not consistent and law-abiding.”
I run my hand down my face as Piper high-fives Rome. And even in that movement, it’s not my impending demise I note, but the way her pink shirt drops further down on one side, revealing more of that silky skin and the lacy strip of fabric underneath.
I place my head back inside my palms.
God, I’m so fucked.
A few seconds later, Piper’s giggle has me lifting my head from my hands once again. Her hand covers her mouth as she shakes with laughter, tears running down her cheeks. Her gaze darts between me and Rome, and when he sees her laughing, the tension melts away completely. A smile stretches across his face and before he can help it, he bowls over, joining Piper in laughter.
I’m glad someone finds this funny.
Although, even as I shake my head, not wanting to acknowledge the past hour, I recall the way we were all frantically running through the house looking for her damn rabbit, and I find myself chuckling under my breath, too.
Jesus Christ, what have I gotten myself into?
Piper wipes the tears from the bottom of her lids, a smile still stretched across her face, while I struggle not to let those plush lips assuage my irritation. “I was going to ask for a house tour, but it seems we don’t need one anymore.”
I manage to keep my tone neutral. “How very fortunate for me.”
She composes herself, her eyes narrowing. “Oh, and since I was forced to vacate my home for this dump, I think it’s only fair I get to have my pick of rooms.”
I take a deep breath. “Let me guess . . . ”
She lifts a hand. “No need. I quite loved your spacious bazillion-dollar closet and bathroom, not to mention that enormous bed that could comfortably fit a family of elephants. So, when Ralph comes in with the rest of my stuff, I’ll just ask him to leave it all in your room.”
My jaw ticks. “There are eight other rooms in the house. You can’t just?—”
“Oh, but I can, can’t I, dear husband-to-be?” she interrupts, resting her chin on her intertwined fingers. “Because what’s mine is yours, and what’s yours is mine. Isn’t that how marriage works? But don’t worry, I’m not kicking you out of your space. I’m happy to share it with you, and you’ll be happy to know, I don’t bite.” She winks before dragging her teeth over her bottom lip with all the innuendo. “But I do like to swallow.”