by Nora Ash
“Would you like a cup of tea?
Neither man managed to hide a look of surprise as I stood up from the sofa and offered each a genuine, if somewhat tentative, smile.
“Uh. Sure. Thanks.”
“It’s the least I can do, for all the work you’ve done for me,” I chirped, suddenly in a much better mood. Perhaps it was because it was my first positive interaction with another human being in weeks, but the simple act of putting the kettle on and getting the fancy china out I’d bought a few days ago made me feel like a different person. Or a real person, I should say, rather than a depressed captive with access to the Internet and a shopping addiction.
I made the tea in my new pretty, pink-and-green pot and arranged three cups on a silver tray. Then, thinking about all the hard work Greg and Rob had been doing all day, I threw together a few sandwiches as well, but when I went to put them on the tray I realized that I likely wasn’t going to get many other chances to break out my Butterfly Bloom afternoon tea set.
Fifteen minutes later, I’d set up the three-tier cake stand and filled it with sandwiches, store-bought scones and some cakes I’d planned on eating later in my room, and the kitchen breakfast bar had been transformed into a full-on tea party.
“Tea’s ready,” I yelled up the stairs, where I’d last heard the two bodyguards bump around with yet another piece of bulging furniture.
From the looks on their faces when they entered the kitchen thirty seconds later, they hadn’t expected the colorful spread.
“This is for us?” Rob’s one eyebrow was quirked in what I could only assume was mild disbelief.
I felt my face heat up a bit. Okay, so maybe I’d gone a bit overboard. “Yeah… I figured you might be hungry, and…” And it wasn’t like I would be able to invite anyone else over for tea and scones anytime soon. Not that I was the most social of people, but a full week in near-isolation had apparently made me pretty starved for company. I sat down on the bar stool farthest left and grabbed a sandwich triangle—crust free. “Help yourselves.”
Both men sat down with some hesitation, which only emphasized how much their rough appearance clashed with the delicate porcelain.
“You don’t like afternoon tea?” I guessed, doing my best to keep the disappointment out of my voice. Just because I was desperately lonely enough to try and socialize with Blaine’s hired goons didn’t mean that they had any interest in making even the most basic of smalltalk with me.
“No, it’s fine. Great, even,” Rob hurriedly replied, and I got the feeling I hadn’t kept my disappointment very well-hidden. He grabbed a sandwich himself and took a big bite. His hum of enjoyment seemed more genuine.
“We’re just used to Blaine,” Greg said, a wide grin spreading on his face as he picked a buttered scone off the cake stand. “The most you get out of him is a lukewarm beer after a hit.”
I paled at the reference to the other part of their job, but caught myself before I could freak out. I knew what they did—being a delicate flower about it wasn’t going to do me any good right now.
Rob gave him an elbow to the side. “Don’t talk about that in front of a lady, eh? She don’t wanna hear it.”
“It’s not like she doesn’t know,” Greg muttered.
Rob rolled his eyes—a move that looked surprisingly comical due to his general physique. It’s not often you get the delight of seeing a six-foot tall, four-foot wide criminal wearing a leather vest roll his eyes like a teenage girl. “You’ll have to excuse him. He’s never held on to a lady friend long enough to know the basics.”
Greg gave him a baleful glare and muttered what were undoubtedly profanities under his breath, but I latched on to the conversation changer with both hands.
“And you? Have you got a girlfriend?”
“A wife, going on five years now.” His face lit up with pure reverence, and I found it impossible not to instantly like him a whole lot more. A man who lit up like a Christmas tree at the mention of his wife had to have some good qualities tucked away, no matter his chosen profession. “And two wee ones, four and two.”
I smiled at his obvious pride. “Boys or girls?”
“One of each.” Rob took a sip of his tea and his gaze turned somewhat sly. “What are you hoping for? Once you and Blaine get to the baby-making?”
I choked on the tea that’d been on its way down my throat. Greg helpfully thumped his fist against my back, making me cough and spit the offending liquid up.
“Uh… yeah, I don’t think there’ll be any babies in our near future.” I got up to get a paper towel, using the spillage as an excuse to turn my back on them while I got my breathing under control. Just the thought of raising a child with Blaine made every hair on my body stand on end. It wasn’t that I didn’t want kids, per se, but in a forced marriage to a criminal I was planning on running away from the first chance I got? No thanks.
“Pity. I’d like to see Blaine with a couple of rugrats.” Rob chuckled and winked at me “Think it’d do him some good.”
I managed a smile. “I take it it straightened you right out, then?”
Greg guffawed. “I don’t know about straightening him out, but he did blow a big heist because he insisted on swinging by a pharmacy for the kid on his way to the checkpoint. Months of planning down the drain. Blaine nearly took both our thumbs for it.”
Rob’s ears reddened until they were nearly the same color as his ginger hair. “Penny had an ear infection. What was I gonna do, not get her the meds she needed? Just you wait until a lady is dumb enough to let you put a baby in her. You’ll see your priorities straightened out right quick, too.”
I lost track of time as I sat with the two bodyguards. They told me a few stories about their crew, and despite knowing what they did—even if they spared me the illegal details—I found myself genuinely enjoying the chat. Perhaps it was because I‘d been so starved for company, but the more I listened, the more I realized that both men were actually decent people. They were warm and sometimes funny, and it was obvious they saw each other and the rest of their crew as family.
Despite having grown up in a family similar to the Steels, I’d never known this type of bonding to occur within the ranks. It had always seemed like my father ruled his employees with fear and threats, and every one I’d met before I ran away had been mean and scary.
It surprised me to find that Greg and Rob obviously had plenty respect, and perhaps even a measure of fear, for Blaine and his family, but both seemed to have a loyalty to the Steels that went beyond the threat of their power.
A point that was proven just before six when the sound of the front door opening and shutting made both men reach behind them to what I guessed were their concealed weapons, but when Blaine appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, they both returned to their tea and cake with a casual “Hey, boss.”
Blaine took in the scene in front of him with first one, and then—at the sight of the now raided cake stand—both eyebrows raised. “I see you’re having a tea party, rather than guarding the front door.”
Rob shrugged and swallowed the final bite of his cake. “You said to look after the lass. Ain’t no reason we can’t do it from in here.”
“I offered them tea,” I added. “They’ve been helping me carry all the furniture in.”
He turned his head then, and I swallowed automatically under the weight of his full attention. It was the first time we’d even been in the same room since we shared that pizza and agreed to try to get along, and it would seem all the time apart had made me forget just how intense his presence was.
After everything that happened with the wedding and the night that followed, I’d been too emotionally unstable to dwell much on our drunken mistake. But seeing Blaine now, after a week of getting to terms with my current situation, brought everything that had happened that night rushing to the surface. Every touch of his hands against my skin, every moan and every thrust played out for my mind’s eye in high-definition while I stared at him, until I coul
d feel my own pulse in my cheeks, my blush was that impressive.
Why, why, had I not just left the bed before things got out of hand? It had been hard enough to deal with him when I could still deny my rampant attraction to him—now that he knew just how much my body reacted to his, I found it near-impossible to look him in the eye.
Blaine seemed to notice my flustered state, because his soft lips pulled up in a devious sort of smirk. “So I see.”
What was that supposed to mean? I rubbed at my neck, irritated that I let myself get so affected by him. With as much dignity as I could muster, I turned away from him to face the two bodyguards. “Do you guys want to stay for dinner? I was going to make lasagna.”
“No thanks, love.” Rob stretched his arms out before getting off the bar stool he’d been perched on for the past few hours. “The missus’s expecting me home soon, and Greg’s got another job to get to. Thanks for tea, though.”
I tried to hide my disappointment. It had been so nice not being alone all day. “Well, thank you for helping me today. See you tomorrow, then.”
I walked them to the door and sighed when it closed behind them, leaving me alone in the hallway. Guess I could always spend the night reading. Again.
“I’ll have a bite of that lasagna.”
Startled, I spun around and blinked in surprise at the sight of Blaine’s looming figure. He was leaning against the doorway to the dining room, with the same little smirk playing on his lips. “That is, if you don’t mind the company.”
* * * *
Chapter 11
Mira
“I thought you’d gone upstairs.”
It wasn’t the brightest of comments, seeing as he obviously hadn’t disappeared up to his room as he usually did the second he got in the door, but it just flew out of me before I managed to stop myself.
“Well, I didn’t.” He crossed his arms over his chest as he straightened up a bit, making the leather of his black sleeves tighten over his muscles. “So maybe we can give the new dining table you bought a spin, eh?”
Huh. I nodded and attempted to straighten out my frown. It was funny, really. I’d found it easy enough to relax around Rob and Greg today, but something about Blaine just put me on edge, as if his mere presence disrupted the magnetic charges in my body, yet I was pretty sure my two bodyguards had just as horrible crimes on their consciences as my new husband did.
“Okay, I’ll… call you when it’s ready.”
“Need a hand with anything?”
I blinked twice before I managed to pick up my jaw. Had Blaine Steel just offered to help me? In the kitchen, of all places? Not at all something I would have expected from the bad boy stereotype he otherwise seemed to fit so perfectly.
“Er, no thanks, that’s all right. It won’t take me long,” I finally managed. “Thank you, though.”
He shrugged and turned around, leaving me to stare after him as he disappeared up the stairs.
As much as I’d been surprised by Blaine’s offer, I desperately needed some time to get myself together again before I spent any length of time with him. This was the first time I’d get a chance to work on getting him to eventually trust me, and I needed to keep my wits about me for that.
I spent the time the lasagna was in the oven on setting the new dining table as prettily as I could. I was pretty sure Blaine’s offer of eating together came from seeing my efforts to decorate the house and be a good little homemaker, so I wanted to nurture that part as much as possible. Thankfully, I’d bought some really pretty plates from an antique store with an online shop to go with the tea set, so the table had a nice splash of color even though I’d not thought to get any flowers. I briefly considered popping into the garden to cut a few of the last autumn blooms I’d seen through the window, but decided against it since it was already too dark to see much.
Instead, I placed some of the candles I’d bought around the window ledges and on the table. Once they were lit and the food was on the table, I stepped back to admire my handiwork.
The lasagna smelled gorgeous, and the candles sent a warm glow through the room, emphasizing the colorful plates and intimate atmosphere I was hoping to bring out. Yup, this looked exactly like something a dedicated wife would set out for her hardworking husband. Part one of my plan was complete.
I went to the stairs to call for Blaine, and then went back into the dining room and took a seat. I felt oddly nervous as I waited for him—but of course, my entire future did depend on this going right. I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans just as Blaine came in, and offered him a smile I hoped didn’t reflect my nerves.
He looked around the room slowly, from the candlelight reflecting off the dark windows to the set table, and finally to me.
“I got a few things,” I said, worried he’d mind all the money I’d spent on decor. “To make it more homey.”
“Yeah, I saw the credit card statement.” He sat down on the opposite side of the table. “Food looks good.”
Of course he had checked what I bought. I bit my lip, suddenly regretting my week-long shopping spree. “I’m sorry if it was too much.”
“It’s fine.” Blaine grabbed the serving knife and cut a large slice out of the lasagna. He followed up with a generous helping from the salad bowl and then handed me the plate. “To be honest, I’m surprise there’re not any expensive handbags or shoes on that statement.”
I took the plate he was handing me, too surprised with his statement to wonder why he was plating my food for me. “Uh, I’m not expecting you to pick up the bill for my clothes shopping.”
Blaine sighed, pausing with his hand on the serving knife in the middle of cutting out his own slice of lasagna. “Can we please not have another fight about how you want to be independent? I’m your husband, and you can’t work—I’ll be paying for your clothes, along with the household supplies and anything else you’ll need.”
“Oh.” A part of me did want to argue, to lament on how this whole arrangement was fucked up and how I wanted to be able to support myself. But that would have defeated the purpose of the night, so instead I just sent him a sweet smile. “Gotcha. I’ll be sure to add a few pairs of Louboutins to next week’s shop. To make you happy, of course.”
Blaine snorted as he returned to filling his plate. “Cheers, love. Appreciate it.”
His dry tone made an unexpected snicker burst out before I could stop myself, but when I glanced at Blaine’s face, a mildly teasing smile touched his soft mouth.
“So you do laugh. I was beginning to wonder.”
I raised my eyebrows at him. “Yes, I’ve been dragging your good mood right down with my sulking, haven’t I? And you, who are nothing but easy smiles and giggles.”
The corner of his mouth quirked up higher. “Sassy ‘til the end. If you’re not careful, I’ll start to enjoy your lip.”
“Hmm,” I hummed, returning my focus to the food when I could feel my face heating up again. Getting any sort of proper conversation started was going to be really difficult, if I couldn’t even keep eye contact without lighting up like a fluorescent tomato. Not for the first time, I silently cursed at my inability to control my ovaries’ inexplicable freak-outs around Blaine Steel.
But if I wanted to get him to trust me, then I needed to talk to him.
After about five minutes of the only sound in the room being the scraping of cutlery against plates, I looked back up at my dinner companion. He didn’t stop eating, but I could tell from the way his eyebrows shot up that he was aware I was looking at him.
“So… are any of your brothers married?” It was the first thing that popped into my head, partly because the only time he’d been even remotely open with me before was when he’d mentioned his family in our session.
“Didn’t take you for the smalltalk type, Mira.” He didn’t look up from the meal as he spoke, but his voice didn’t carry any note of warning, so I figured it was a green light to proceed.
“You said yourself we should try to get a
long, and it’s a lot easier if we know a bit about each other, don’t you think?” My own tone was light and calm. Why was it so much easier to act like an adult rather than a hormone-addled teenager as soon as he wasn’t looking at me? “Besides, it doesn’t have to be small talk. I may not know much about you, but I do know your family is important to you.”
He finally looked up then, a sharp gleam of something dark in his storm gray eyes, but it was gone before I could fully process it.
“You know how it is. Family is everything in this business. And no, none of my brothers are married. I was the first to be sacrificed on the marital alter. What about you? Any of your brothers married?”
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “It’s not like I’ve kept in touch. If you don’t mind, I’d rather not talk about them.”
He nodded, picking at his salad with his fork. “Sure. Guess you’re pretty pissed at them for making you get hitched, huh?”
I shrugged, opting to deflect rather than respond. “So I take it you’re the oldest, since you’re the one who got chosen to get married off for the business’ sake? You said you had five brothers, right?”
Blaine grunted. “I’m the third oldest. You would have seen Marcus and the twins at the wedding—they’re all younger than me. Jeremy and Isaac were… indisposed, so I was up.”
“Oh.” Something he’d said in our session together niggled at the forefront of my mind, and I frowned. “You said one of your brothers went to prison. I assume that was either Jeremy or Isaac, then?”
He finally looked up from his plate then, but the anger that flashed in his steely gaze made me wish he hadn’t.
And then it dawned on me—I’d referenced something from probably the only time in recent history that Blaine Steel had allowed himself to be vulnerable. I had witnessed a rare slip in his carefree, all-powerful façade, and it didn’t take a psychology degree to know that he’d regretted it the moment it happened, the way he acted toward me after. And now I’d been stupid enough to remind him.