by Ivy Layne
Anyone else would have pressed for more information, but Mrs. W was the soul of discretion. She’d pull out her own fingernails before she’d ask any of us a personal question. And even without poking at us, she managed to know every detail of our lives. If she was curious about Violet, I knew she’d satisfy that curiosity without upsetting Violet or interrogating me.
All she said in response was, “Do you know how long she’ll be staying? Will she be with you, or should I prepare a guest room?”
“She’ll stay with me. As for how long she’ll be here, that depends.”
Mrs. W said nothing, only raised an eyebrow. To her, I said what I wasn’t ready to admit yet to Gage, or to Violet. To anyone else for that matter. “If I get my way, she’ll stay forever.”
Mrs. W pressed her lips together in a tight line and gave a nod. She could be impossible to read. I knew she’d make up her own mind about Violet. If she decided Violet didn’t measure up, she’d never say a word. I was sure she’d hated my first wife, Elizabeth. Sure because everyone had hated Elizabeth, and because Mrs. W’s response when I told her Elizabeth would be leaving was a simple and quiet, “It’s about time.”
I wasn’t worried. Knowing Mrs. W and Violet, those two would be peas in a pod. Everyone else would be fine, too. Gage was the only Winters living in the house that worried me. The last thing Violet needed was my cousin giving her a hard time.
I headed out in Violet’s car and called Gage on his cell.
“Hey,” I said when he answered. “Violet’s sleeping. I’m going to get her stuff. When are we meeting with Chase?”
“Tomorrow morning. Nine. He was a mess after you left,” Gage said. “I feel bad for the guy.”
“I’m not admitting it to Vi, but yeah, I hear you.”
Gage gave a knowing laugh. “If anyone would be on his side, it’s you.”
“Don’t start with me. Look, I’m calling because Violet feels like hell. I want her to stay with me. If you’re going to be an asshole, tell me now and I’ll check us into a hotel. I’d rather have her at Winters House, but not if you’re going to make her feel unwelcome.”
Under his breath I heard Gage swear. “Fuck me.” Louder, after an exaggerated sigh, he went on, “Fine. I’ll be nice. I’m still not sure about her. But I’ll cut her some slack for major family drama. I’d rather have her in Winters House where I can keep an eye on her.”
“I’m asking you to be truly nice, not be fake nice and then glare at her behind my back,” I clarified.
“I can be nice. What, you’re the only one who gets to look out for his family? She didn’t exactly have the best beginning—”
“I know. I was there. But we’re past that now and I’m asking you to do me a favor and be nice to my girlfriend. Please. I want her to like my family, not think you’re all a bunch of jackasses.”
“I said I’d be good.”
“I’d settle for you keeping your mouth shut and letting Sophie do the talking. She’s an angel. You’re like the troll under the bridge.”
“Fuck off. I’m the one with the gorgeous wife. You’re the dumbass hooking up with a potential criminal.”
“She’s not—” I started to say before Gage cut me off.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. We’ll see. In the meantime, you get her moved in where we can keep an eye on her.”
“Somehow,” I said dryly, “that’s not all that comforting.”
“Wasn’t meant to be,” Gage said, cheerily, before he hung up.
I loved my family. I’d die for anyone of them. But sometimes they were a royal pain in my ass.
The security gate to Chase’s underground parking opened as I approached in Violet’s car and the card on her key ring gave me access to the elevator. I knocked once on the condo door before I let myself in.
Chase Westbrook was sprawled across the couch, a half-full tumbler of bourbon balanced on his chest. He sat up awkwardly when he saw me, sloshing the liquor on his shirt. With a nearly silent curse, he set his tumbler on the coffee table and lurched to his feet, his eyes searching over my shoulder for his sister.
“Where is she?” he demanded. “What did you do with her?”
“I didn’t do anything with her,” I said, my voice as close to soothing as I could get. “I took her home—”
“This is her home,” Chase interrupted.
“I took her to my home. I tucked her into bed, where she cried herself to sleep. Is that what you wanted to hear? I came to get some of her things.”
Chase deflated with a long exhale and sank back to the couch, hanging his head for a moment before he picked up his tumbler of bourbon and drained what was left.
“I should have told her,” he said.
“Yeah, you should have,” I agreed.
“Are you going to tell me what an asshole I am, too?”
“Nope.” I stared down at Violet’s brother, Anna’s son. Half-brother to my cousins. He wasn’t related to me by blood, but that didn’t matter. Whether we wanted it or not, this man was family. Even without his connection to Anna Winters, he belonged to Violet, and Violet belonged to me.
No matter how I looked at it, Chase Westbrook was a part of our lives now. I couldn’t leave him alone and miserable. Not like this.
I grabbed the tumbler from the wet bar in the kitchen and helped myself to some of the bourbon he’d left on the counter. Sitting in a chair opposite the couch, I sipped the bourbon and thought about what to say.
Finally, I went with, “I have a little sister, too. And on top of that, I have two younger brothers, and four younger cousins. I’ve been the head of the family since I was twenty and my parents died. I know all about doing the best you can to keep them safe and happy. And I know all about fucking up in the process. Violet’s hurt. She’s pissed. But she’ll forgive you because she loves you.”
Chase shook his head, his blonde hair falling in his eyes, reminding me so much of my cousin Vance I felt for a moment like I’d stepped into an alternate universe. Add a few inches to that hair and slap some more tattoos on him, and Violet’s brother turned into my cousin.
At that thought, it occurred to me that we needed to have a family meeting, and despite Violet being angry with Chase, we’d have to orchestrate introductions. There was no way the rest of my family would be willing to wait once they found out Chase existed. It had only been a few months, but it felt like we’d been looking for Anna’s missing son forever.
He was the last piece in the puzzle of their deaths. Finding Chase, bringing him into the family, would let us finally put the past to rest.
“You seem pretty sure about that,” Chase said, turning his empty tumbler in his fingers.
“I am. She just needs time.”
“I wanted to tell her for so long. After they kicked me out, I wanted to tell her, but she was still living at home, going to school, and I didn’t want to do anything to fuck that up for her. And then they tried to force her to marry Walters and she was just fucking destroyed.” Chase raised his head and his blue eyes were wide with outraged fury. “They tried to fucking sell her to a man old enough to be her father and when she had the nerve to object they booted her out. Haven’t spoken to her since. She called me collect from a gas station in the middle of the night. I was two states away. Do you have any idea how helpless I felt?”
“I can imagine,” I said quietly. I could. I would have been sick to be that far away if one of my family had needed me. All I had to do was imagine Charlie or Annalise on a payphone at a gas station in the middle of the night. Yeah. I understood.
“I never should have left her with them. I had the money by then. I could have put her through school, but she wanted to prove something. That she could do it herself. That she could be the daughter they wanted. It was bullshit. She shouldn’t have had to be anybody but herself. And they never really saw her. They never saw either of us.”
“They didn’t try to find her? They never called? Sent a letter?” I couldn’t imagine it. I couldn’t
fathom that they let their daughter walk out the door in the dark of night and never bothered to find out what had happened to her.
Chase got up and carried his glass to the bottle of bourbon where he refilled it. “Not as far as I know. They didn’t really want children. They wanted, I don’t know, pets, or robots. They wanted to be able to tell us what to think and who to be and what to do. What they got were two human beings with thoughts and feelings they couldn’t control. Once they realized what being parents was about, they lost interest. I was done trying to win their approval long before I found those files in the basement, but Vivi never gave up. Not until fucking Walters almost raped her and she found out her own father had set it up. That was enough to break anyone’s heart, even one as stubborn as Vivi’s.”
I gritted my teeth at the way he laid it out. If I couldn’t understand her parents tossing her out the door and letting her go without a second thought, I sure as hell couldn’t make sense of her father whoring her out to his friend. It didn’t make a fucking bit of difference that he’d intended for the friend to marry her.
He’d treated her like a piece of property. Sent her to that man’s house knowing his friend expected to fuck her, and not only did he not warn her, he’d punished her for resisting. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to hunt down the people who’d raised Violet and make them pay for what they’d done.
I tossed back the rest of my bourbon and stood. “I’m going to get some of Vi’s things. Gage says we have a meeting tomorrow?”
Chase nodded. “I’ll be there.” He held his half-full glass in the air in a wry salute. “I’ll even be sober.”
He didn’t say a word as I went down the hall to find Violet’s bedroom. I located a suitcase under her bed and filled it with everything I thought she might want or need for an extended stay at Winters House. I did my best with her makeup and toiletries. If I missed anything she could always come back while Chase was at Winters, Inc. for our meeting.
Chase’s glass had been topped up in the short time I was in Violet’s room. He was going to feel like hell when the liquor wore off. Not my concern. Violet was my concern. Chase would have to take care of himself.
On my way to the door, Violet’s suitcase in hand, I stopped and turned. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Chase’s eyes were a little unfocused when they met mine. “Take care of her. Promise me you’ll take care of her.”
When I said, “I will,” it felt like more than a promise. It felt like a vow. A vow I planned to keep.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Aiden
The house was still empty when I returned. I carried Violet’s suitcase into my suite to find her curled up on the bed in an old flannel robe she must have dug out of the back of my closet. A gift from some forgotten ex-girlfriend, I doubted I’d ever worn it. I wasn’t a robe kind of guy.
Spotting the suitcase, she said, “I got your note. You didn’t have to do that, but I appreciate it. Thank you.”
“Not a problem. I doubt it helps, but your brother is miserable.”
Her eyes went stormy and she shook her head. “You’re right, it doesn’t help. And he should be miserable.” Under her breath she said, “Jackass.”
“I know from experience, older brothers can often be jackasses.”
A ghost of a smile curved her lips. “I bet you do.” Standing up and straightening the robe she said, “I don’t want to stay with Chase right now, but I can’t impose on you. I’ll change, and then I’ll see about finding something.”
“I’d prefer you stayed with me.”
“I appreciate the offer. I really do. But I don’t want to make your family uncomfortable, and I don’t want to take advantage of your hospitality.”
“You won’t make my family uncomfortable. Gage already promised to behave. And you can’t be taking advantage of my hospitality when I’m offering it freely.”
“It’s too soon. This is all going so fast, and it’s too soon.”
I rolled her suitcase to the door of the walk-in closet, taking a quick detour to set the tote bag with her toiletries and makeup on the bathroom counter. Violet watched, slowly shaking her head at the way I was ignoring her, until I came to stand directly in front of her and pulled her into my arms.
She smelled like my soap, woodsy with a hint of spice. The masculine scent shouldn’t have been so appealing, but as it rose from her skin I knew I’d never shower again without thinking of Violet. Of the way she fit in my arms, of how beautiful she was just like this, her face bare of makeup, her hair wet, her body warm.
“I know it’s fast. But I know what I want, and I want you. If you need to slow this down, I can do that. But I don’t want to. I want you here, with me. I want you in my bed. I want you at my breakfast table.”
Violet’s mouth dropped open in surprise. I had to stop myself from kissing her. Those pink lips, her wide lavender eyes. She rarely looked so unguarded. So open.
“I don’t know what to say. I—”
“Say you’ll stay with me.”
The absent shake of her head belied the words that came from her mouth. “Just for a few days. Then we’ll see.”
It wasn’t a wholehearted agreement, but I’d take it. Assuming Gage didn’t run her off, all I needed was a few days to convince Violet she belonged by my side.
Giving into my impulse, I lowered my head and took her mouth. I wasn’t ready for her response. She melted into me, her full breasts pillowing against my chest, her tongue reaching for mine, driving me straight from arousal to desperate need.
I tugged at the belt of her robe as her busy fingers pulled at my tie. A button popped and rolled to the carpet. I don’t remember stepping out of my shoes and pants. Just Violet pulling back, then pushing on my shoulder, nudging me to the bed. I tried to take her with me and she ordered, “Sit.”
I wasn’t going to argue. I stripped off my socks and leaned back against the headboard, taking my hard cock in hand and stroking, watching her loosen the belt of my plaid flannel robe and slowly peel open the lapels. She was naked beneath, and she dropped the robe back off her shoulders, letting it fall to the floor at her feet.
I gripped my cock hard, struggling to stay where I was. I wanted to touch. I wanted my hands all over her body. I wanted to spread her legs and fuck her hard. To fill her with me. To own her.
My head wanted to court her.
My body wanted to claim her.
Her eyes moved from my hand on my cock to my face and back again, her bare pink mouth curving into a knowing smile as old as female desire. She knew—or thought she knew—exactly how much I wanted her.
If she could see inside my head, if she knew the ferocity of my need, she’d probably run screaming.
Instead, she strolled to the bed, hips swaying, and climbed on, straddling my lap and putting her perfect round breasts right in my face. I released my cock to cup them in my hands, rubbing her hard nipples with my thumbs.
She spread her knees, dropping her hips until the heat between her legs grazed the head of my cock. I sucked in a harsh breath. Her pussy already slick with arousal, she stroked over me, spreading her desire, teasing us both.
She swayed forward, letting the head of my cock dip the tiniest bit inside her, clasping me with sweet, tight, wet heat before she swayed back to stroke me over her clit. Then it was her turn to gasp.
I gave myself over to her sweet torture, distracting myself from my cock’s demands by pulling first one nipple, then the other, between my lips, nipping and sucking until Violet couldn’t take anymore and sank all the way down my length.
Her head dropped forward as she watched my mouth on her breasts. Eyes half closed, she rose and fell on my cock, grinding her swollen clit into the base on every down stroke with a little moan of pleasure.
I sank my fingers into her ass, holding her down as I surged up, dragging the orgasm from her, throwing my head back as her pussy clenched and released around me, almost pulling me over the edge along with
her.
I wouldn’t last much longer.
Couldn’t last much longer.
Flipping her to her back, I pressed her knees to her shoulders and braced my weight on my elbows, hands on her arms, holding us both motionless as the echoes of her climax faded. Her eyes were dark, almost midnight blue and dazed with pleasure, her mouth open, bottom lip so plump and pink I had to sink my teeth in for a taste.
I kissed her until she squirmed beneath me, rocking her hips up the little bit she could move. I kept her there, knees high and spread wide, arms pinned, and took her mouth with mine until she gave a frustrated, keening cry and bucked up hard.
I let go of everything. Her arms. My restraint. Her legs wrapped around my hips, hanging on as I plunged into her, losing myself in her body, in her pussy, her mouth, the scent of her hair, and the silk of her skin.
Losing myself in everything that was Violet.
Imprinting myself on her.
Absorbing her into me.
Making her mine.
The orgasm surged up my spine, exploding from my cock, detonating in my brain as I spilled myself inside her.
It wasn’t until I rolled to my back, taking Violet with me, my cock sliding from her pussy, that I realized our mistake. For the first time in my entire adult life, I had completely forgotten a condom.
Not wanting to freak her out I said, quietly, “We didn’t use protection.”
Laying half on top of me, Violet went stiff. Before she could pull away, I wrapped my arm around her and held her close. “I had a physical six weeks ago. I’ve been tested, so you don’t have to worry about that.”
“I get the birth control shot,” she said in a thin, anxious voice. “I won’t get pregnant, but what about since your physical?”
She went rock solid at the chuckle that tumbled from my lips. I knew laughing was the wrong move but I couldn’t help it. “My physical was the day before we shared the elevator. Since I saw you, I haven’t even looked at another woman, much less fucked one.”