Their Fairy Princess (Office Intrigue Book 7)

by Nicole Edwards

  “You know what, Danny?”

  “What’s that, babe?”

  He referred to me like that always, and I was starting to think he’d forgotten my name.

  “I think it’s time we called it quits.”

  He was silent for a beat. “You don’t mean that, Heaven. Look, I’m sorry. I’ve got a lot of shit going on right now. I’ve been busy. No need to be a bitch about it.”

  “It’s cool.” There was no heat in my words, no anger. I was simply done. And breaking up with him left me feeling freer than I had in a long time. “I’ve got a life, too. I’ll get on with mine, while you get on with yours.”

  “Whatever, Heaven,” he snarled. “I don’t have time for your passive-aggressive bullshit right now.”

  I laughed. “Okay, Danny. I’ll let you go.”

  Disconnecting the call, I took a deep breath, exhaled slowly. Yep. Free. That was the feeling that fluttered inside me.

  “Everything okay?”

  I looked up to see my sister standing in the doorway, wiping her hand on a kitchen towel.

  “Peachy,” I said with a smile. “I dumped Danny. Feel much better.”

  That familiar line appeared in her forehead, a sure sign that Honor was worried about me. Before she could launch into a spiel about love and life and happily ever after, I shot to my feet.

  “I just remembered…” I shuffled around the room, snatching my overnight bag and my purse. “I’ve got a paper due next week.” I pretended to look for something in my bag. “Forgot my book.”

  “Heaven,” Honor said softly. “Please don’t go.”

  “It’s fine,” I assured her. “I’ll stop by later in the week. We can have lunch.”

  When I looked up, Honor was staring at me, that motherly look on her face. I hated that she felt the need to take care of me. I was a grown woman, had been taking care of myself for a while now. Ever since our mother died, Honor had taken on the role of surrogate and she seemed to forget the fact that I was twenty-five.

  “You can’t go home,” she said firmly. “What if that guy comes back? Attacks you this time?”

  Pain lanced through my insides. Everly had been attacked and whoever had done it thought she was me. I’d been the target, yet I had no idea why. It had been dumb luck that I’d forgotten my phone and had gone back to get it. If I hadn’t…

  I shook off the thought because I was not about to think about the possible outcome if I’d had my phone or decided I didn’t need it.

  “I’ll be fine,” I assured her. “I’ll lock the doors. He won’t come back this soon.” At least I hoped he wouldn’t.

  Fifteen minutes later, I was pulling up to the redbrick house I lived in with Dante and Everly, parking beside a black Escalade. I climbed out just as the hot twins from that party were getting into the SUV.

  The man on the passenger side paused, stared over at me. “What are you doing here?”

  My eyebrows shot to my hairline. “I live here?”

  “I thought you were staying with your sister.”

  I shrugged. “Change of plans.” I leaned back into the car, dragged my overnight bag over the center console. “Broke up with my boyfriend,” I continued, “don’t care to be around anyone right now.”

  “You can’t stay here,” he said simply when I turned back to face him.

  “I’d beg to differ.” I held up my keys. “I’ve got a key. I signed a lease. I think it’s a fair assumption I can stay here.” I gave him a sassy smirk. “And I will. You guys have fun.”

  Just as I was about to walk toward the house, the back passenger window rolled down, the soft whirring sound drawing my attention.

  “Everly.” I dropped my bag, moved over to her. “Are you okay?”

  The bruise on her face had already formed, the skin swollen and red, with black rimming the bump. There was a small scratch over her eyebrow and another on her puffy lower lip.

  “I’m fine.” Her hand settled over mine on the door. “You broke up with Danny?”

  “Yeah. No biggie.” I glanced around the interior of the SUV, not looking at the driver for too long. “Where’re you going?”

  “To stay with Isaac and Ian for a couple of days.” She motioned toward the house with a slight tilt of her head. “You know. Just in case he comes back.”

  “Ah.” I stood tall, pulled my hand from beneath hers. “Dante going, too?”

  “Yes.”

  Well, then. Looked as though I was on my own.

  Not that it mattered. I was familiar with being by myself.

  In fact, it seemed to be the story of my life.

  THREE

  ISAAC

  From the driver’s seat, I watched the interaction between Everly and Heaven. When I wasn’t observing them, I was watching my brother. Ian was standing outside the Escalade, his full attention on Everly.

  I found it interesting, especially since he liked to give me shit about how I was head over heels for her. Right there in front of him was a very attractive brunette he should’ve been charming, yet his attention was snagged by the one woman who had changed my entire world simply by breathing. If my hunch was right, Ian was trying to figure out how to protect her and I didn’t need the twin bond to know that. He looked pained, almost at a loss, and it made me curious.

  His eyes shot to mine. I nodded.

  “We need to get out of here,” Ian told the girls. “Why don’t you come stay at our house for a couple of days? Just until we’ve had time to figure out who this guy is, what he wants. We’ve got plenty of room.”

  Heaven pushed away from the back window, disappearing into the blind spot between the doors. I glanced at Everly because I couldn’t seem to stop looking at her.

  “I don’t want to impose.” That sassy voice floated in through the open window.

  This woman had an edge to her. Very standoffish, almost volatile. I wondered what had prompted the behavior. More importantly, I wondered how two obvious submissives had ended up with a friend who was, for lack of a better term, dominant. And I wasn’t referring to her sexual desires. Heaven just seemed like the type who wanted to be in control of her decisions.

  “You aren’t,” Everly and Ian said at the same time, making me smile.

  Heaven reappeared outside Everly’s door. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes,” she said quickly. “Please. Come with me. I’ll feel better knowing you’re safe.”

  With far less argument than I’d expected, Heaven nodded. Before she could reach for her bag, Ian was hefting it toward the back of the SUV.

  “What about my car?” she asked, her gaze swinging around.

  “We’ll bring you back here when it’s safe,” Ian said absently.

  I reached back and tapped Everly’s knee. “Sit up front.”

  Her eyes met mine. “Yes, Sir.”

  Passing a look to Heaven, she opened the door. They traded places, Everly relocating to the front passenger seat. She buckled herself in while Ian got into the back behind me.

  It had taken far longer than it should have, but a minute later, we were on the road, the Camry behind us.

  “Whose Camaro is that?” Ian asked.

  “Dante’s,” Heaven offered. “But he didn’t drive it. Said he hates that car.”

  I glanced at Everly to see if she had something to contribute, but she was staring down at her hands.

  Ian and I lived roughly forty-five minutes outside of Chicago in a rambling ranch house in the middle of a subdivision parsed into narrow, five-acre tracts. We’d bought it a decade ago, rehabbed the interior over the course of a couple of years to turn it into exactly what we wanted. Five bedrooms, six bathrooms, formal dining and living room, workout space, along with a huge den, where we spent most of our time. On one end of the house was a guest suite, complete with separate living area and spa bathroom, though no one had ever stayed in that space. The basement had been converted to our office, the attic into what would pass as a fairly decent library.

  Alth
ough we were rarely home these days, I still loved that house, longed to be there for longer than a couple of days at a time. Having taken jobs with Ransom Bishop and the security division he was running for Trent Ramsey’s talent agency, we found most of our time spent these days with A-listers who were in need of personal protection. This was supposed to be our downtime, after having spent the past two months in Los Angeles, and to ensure that happened, I’d cornered Ransom back at Zeke’s, informing him of what was going down. He’d agreed to keep us out of the rotation for as long as he could, or until we found the fucker who’d attacked Everly.

  Which meant we had roughly two weeks to get the job done.

  “Wow. This is impressive,” Heaven said from the backseat as I pulled down the long dirt drive leading to the garage.

  The big metal door opened when the sensor hit the answering one on the front of the Escalade. My cell phone buzzed, notifying me when the motion was detected. I didn’t release Everly’s hand, simply waited a moment before pulling into one space. Ian exited first, motioning for Dante to pull into the only other empty space in the five-bay building.

  “A Stingray?” Heaven asked.

  Ian was the one to respond. “My baby.”

  Heaven chuckled. “Doesn’t surprise me. Boys and their toys.”

  I could’ve told the woman there wasn’t a boy amongst her, but I refrained. Not to mention, our toys came in the human form, not vehicle.

  I didn’t think she’d care to hear that, either.

  I glanced over at Everly. “I’ll get your bag. You sit there until I get your door.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  If I hadn’t known Everly, hadn’t interacted with her so much at the club, I wouldn’t have been quite so demanding with her. Not this early in a relationship, anyhow. But I’d gotten to know her, and I wanted to think I understood her needs. She craved dominance, appreciated it even. That was evident in every Dom she interacted with at Dichotomy, male or female. From what I’d seen, she gravitated toward those who didn’t waffle, leaving the passive ones in her wake. Perhaps because her needs aligned with my own, every second I’d spent with her over the past six months, I’d done so with the intention of connecting on a different level from anyone she’d ever known. And I had never been the sort to let a perfect opportunity pass me by. I wasn’t about to do so now.

  Ian took Heaven’s bag while he waited for Dante to join us. I grabbed Everly’s, then moved around to the passenger side, opening her door. I did my best to ignore the bruise that had turned an ugly purple over the course of the past few hours. It pained me to see her hurt, made me want to rip someone’s throat out. I fought back the anger, knew it wasn’t necessary right now.

  I led the way into the house, set Everly’s bag on the kitchen island. “Anyone hungry?”

  “Starving,” my brother noted.

  Not surprising. He was always hungry.

  I glanced at Everly, warmth filling me when she smiled. “I could eat.”

  “I’ll cook,” Heaven offered.

  Four sets of eyes turned to her.

  “What?” she asked, glancing between us. “I like to cook.”

  “Is that true?” Ian asked, looking to Dante for the answer.

  “Yes, Sir. She loves to cook.” He smiled. “And she’s quite good at it, too.”

  “You do much cooking for five?” I asked.

  “From time to time. I’m sure I can make it work.”

  “Let me show you your room first,” Ian said. “Then the kitchen’s all yours.”

  I watched as Heaven’s eyes tracked Ian when he moved. I could see her interest and it made me curious. While I knew Everly was a submissive and I highly suspected Dante was, I didn’t get the same vibe from Heaven. However, the way she looked at my brother told me there was a spark there.

  This just might take a turn not even I could’ve seen.

  Everly

  When Isaac took my hand, I followed him through the door separating the garage from the house, into the elaborate kitchen, past the stainless-steel appliances, the miles of glossy countertops, the large island that stood proudly in the center, then beyond to a series of floor-to-ceiling windows and bifold glass doors. We passed through a large den, complete with oversized furniture and a wall dedicated to the entertainment system, including what was likely an eighty-inch television.

  We ended up in a long, narrow hallway that branched off to the left and to the right with doors down one side as well as one on each end. Isaac went to the left, while Ian and Heaven went to the right.

  The sexy man holding my hand stopped at the first door we came to, opening it into what appeared to be a guest room.

  “This is all yours,” he said, stepping back so I could go in.

  As I entered the beautiful space, the first word that came to mind was soft. Not quite feminine, but not masculine by any means.

  The walls were what I’d describe as a light apricot, the color carried throughout the decor in varied tones. The king-sized bed with its large headboard and four thick posts sat along one wall, flanked by two tall windows with vintage night tables in front of them. At the end of the bed was a bench as wide as the footboard and topped with a cushion slightly darker than the walls. The wall to the right of the bed had two doors and a squatty four-drawer dresser between them. A tall chest stood catty-corner on the farthest end of that wall. One door led to what I could see to be a bathroom; the other I assumed was a closet.

  On the left side of the room was a single door and a fancy canvas painting of some mosaic design that covered a large area on the otherwise empty wall. The furniture was a distressed white, French country by design. It all matched, including the nine-drawer dresser with the large mirror on the wall opposite the bed.

  “This is beautiful,” I whispered as I turned back to Isaac.

  “Bathroom.” He motioned to the far side of the room, then shifted to the right. “Closet.” His arm swung toward the door beside the painting. “My bedroom.”

  I smiled. “It’s connected?”

  “It is.” He stepped closer, tilted my chin up. “Do you wonder why that might be?”

  Heat curled deep inside me. “It’s so you have access to your submissive at all times.”

  He smiled and I thought my knees would buckle.

  Although nerves stirred in my belly, they had nothing to do with fear and everything to do with my craving for this man. It sometimes shocked me with its intensity. During the drive to their house, Isaac had held my hand the entire time, making me feel as though I belonged to him in some way. I found myself craving that feeling, eager to explore what it might possibly mean. I tried not to think too long or hard on that, though. For one, I’d spent months attempting to keep myself distant from them and in the matter of a few hours, I was already looking forward to more.

  “Thank you for letting us stay here,” I told him, keeping my eyes on his.

  His thumb brushed the sensitive skin beneath my bruised eye. “I’m glad you’re here. Sorry it’s under these circumstances.”

  Yeah, I was, too. The last thing I wanted was his pity.

  “Why don’t you take a shower, get comfortable. Come back to the kitchen when you’re ready.”

  Although I wished he would, Isaac didn’t kiss me. He merely smiled, then walked back out into the hall, closing the door behind him. I forced my feet to move, grabbing my bag on the way to the bathroom. The space was about five times the size of the one I shared with Heaven at Dante’s. Plus this one was updated. The mirror over the sink matched the furniture in the bedroom. The glass doors on the shower were so clear they were almost invisible.

  “Shower,” I muttered to myself, setting the bag on the vanity table beside the sink.

  I managed to pass a good thirty minutes while I cleaned up. I changed into a T-shirt and shorts, leaving my feet bare. After unpacking the few things I’d brought, tucking the clothes into the dresser rather than the enormous closet, I couldn’t resist taking a peek in Isaac
’s room.

  It was probably an invasion of privacy, but I found it intriguing that he’d had the forethought to connect the two rooms. As though he’d always anticipated having a submissive in his home. Perhaps he had. I knew from the rumors around the club that the Stokes twins were looking for two submissives they could share between them. When the stories were told, no one ever mentioned whether they were looking for a male and a female, simply two.

  Since the rooms connected, did that mean he intended to have a submissive who wouldn’t sleep in his bedroom? But still be accessible?

  While some would’ve thought it off-putting, I didn’t. In fact, I purposely made no judgments on others. It wasn’t my place. I preferred they didn’t judge me, so knew I had to offer the same in return.

  I opened the door and stepped from my room into Isaac’s. The difference between the two was drastic. There was nothing soft about this room. Light furniture and dark blue walls gave it a masculine vibe. The ceiling was brilliant white, far taller than the one in the room I was staying in.

  The bed was the centerpiece. The headboard was a rectangle comprised of many single pieces of wood woven together but not quite connecting. The footboard was even with the mattress and thick. I’d seen something similar on one of the HGTV shows. I was pretty sure there would be a television that rose out of it.

  The nightstands were chests with three drawers, a lamp and clock on one and nothing on the other. The wall to the right of the bed was floor-to-ceiling windows with doors that appeared to open all the way back. The navy curtains were open, revealing the concrete porch that led to the shimmering swimming pool and the circular hot tub, a bit higher and connected, the water pouring out of it into the pool.

  There was a click behind me, and I turned in time to see Isaac coming out of what I assumed was his bathroom, a towel wrapped around his lean hips, another he used to dry his hair.

  He smiled. “Taking a tour, I presume.”

  “Yes, Sir. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to invade your privacy.”

  “No apology necessary. You’re welcome anywhere in my home.”