Young, Allyson - Absolute Perfection [Aspire 3] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Allyson Young

  He pulled some socks on and decided his choice of clothing was suitable for a stalker. He shrugged into a light jacket and shoved his phone in a pocket. As he made his way through the house, he noted how sterile it looked. But Iris would change all that. His face set and he remembered his decision to sell the place if she’d prefer to live elsewhere. But despite the horrible scene in the dining room, Iris had fit into his bedroom as though destined, and the bathroom was perfectly appointed for her. George surveyed the piano and wondered if he should call somebody to dispose of it. Jane had never even played the thing but wanted it as part of her decorating scheme. But Iris played. He remembered her talking about it. He knew a great deal about her, and she was going to find that out in the coming days.

  George drove back to the house he’d taken her to for succour and safekeeping. If he had his way, there would be no one else, ever, to provide that for her again, except him. And he wouldn’t ever again be the cause of such a need, he hoped. He stopped to pick up another coffee and added bottled water and some energy snacks. He was no stranger to stakeouts, and if Iris left her sister’s house, he wanted to know about it and provide the transportation or at least know where she was going. He couldn’t dismiss a faint hint of concern for her, beyond the shock she’d received this morning, and never dismissed his gut instinct whether he could decipher it or not. He pulled up just in time to see the flower delivery arrive.

  Chapter Seven

  Iris huddled into the thick robe Haley found for her. It obviously belonged to one of the men in the household because it trailed on the ground no matter how firmly she wrapped it around her waist and tied the sash. The sleeves were turned back several times so she could actually use her hands. It made her want to go back to her hotel and find her own things. But the robe was warm and comforting, so she thanked Haley and followed her downstairs. The medication had settled her stomach and allowed her to sleep for an hour or so, if fitfully. Iris worked hard at packaging up all the thoughts and memories of the past week and kept her mind on the future. She had a job to do, a job she really liked, some great supports, too, and things could be a lot worse. She wasn’t sure how, but surely they could be.

  The table was set for four, and Iris recognized Haley’s handiwork. She had wondered how her sister could so easily give up her stellar career and merely consult to restaurants instead. But the reason for her choice was holding out a chair, and Iris slipped into it. One of the reasons. Gordon was settling Haley into another chair.

  Warren said, “You’re probably hungry, Iris. Haley’s appetite tends to improve in the middle of the day and diminish again around dinner time. So we eat around her schedule.”

  Iris cast a glance at Haley. She did look less pale and was contemplating the roast and accompanying vegetables with satisfaction. Iris’s stomach chose that moment to make a hungry suggestion, and they all laughed.

  “I am hungry, and this looks wonderful.”

  “I can prepare food now, big sister! It’s wonderful not to have to run and puke between chopping and stirring and baking. And at the smell of certain foods. The doctor said I’ll be past this phase shortly, although he said that last month, too. But I’m optimistic.”

  Gordon shifted uncomfortably in his chair, and Iris watched, fascinated, as Haley reached out and traced a finger across his lips. “No, my big teddy bear, don’t give Warren another opportunity to tease you. You just remember you got there first, and when I’m pregnant with his baby, I’ll probably be the size of a horse after the first month and he’ll be fetching and carrying forever to make it up to me.”

  Iris forced herself to join in with yet another burst of laughter while pushing the fierce bite of envy aside. Haley deserved this love and this baby. Her time would come. She had maybe another couple of decades of child-bearing years left, and hopefully she would be over Georgios Andreas before time ran out. Time healed, right? It hadn’t escaped her how attuned Haley was to her men, and Iris realized she, too, had that gift. She’d picked up on a dynamic between Casey and Georgios, and then Gordon and Georgios that first night, and simply knew how to react. She’d done a lot of reacting she supposed, and Georgios, too, was in tune with her. God, she was thinking about him again. It was a mistake to stay here and be surrounded with this kind of intense connection. Maybe she should look for employment elsewhere. Someplace far away like Australia. Or the moon.

  She accepted the slices of meat Gordon carved for her and helped herself to vegetables and au jus. Everything probably melted on her tongue, but she couldn’t really tell. It was hard to swallow, but she washed the food down with gulps of water and kept complimenting Haley on her culinary skills. Iris was determined to hide her pain and ensure Haley thought she’d recovered, that it had been a shock for certain, but nothing she couldn’t handle. She regretted telling them anything now because she thought they might meddle. She was too independent for that kind of familial closeness. Submissive indeed! Iris was her own woman and prepared to prove it, starting right after the table was cleared and the dishes done.

  “The guys will clear up, Iris. Come sit with me for awhile.”

  Well, that was easier. She’d probably be able to convince Haley, but her brothers-in-law seemed able to read her innermost thoughts. Damn Doms. She would just have to get better at veiling her thoughts and feelings, holding them at bay. She followed Haley, clutching another cup of tea, and they curled up in separate chairs in the comfortable living room. Georgios’s house needed a woman’s touch. Jane might have lived there once, but the place was so cold and empty. And what the hell was she thinking? She was insane. Iris took a swallow of tea and smiled at Haley.

  “Don’t, Iris. Don’t try to pretend with me. You were the best big sister ever, especially when Mom died. We only have one another. Warren and Gordon will be there for you, too, and are there for me, but there’s no other blood family. Talk to me.”

  Iris fought tears and won the battle by a slim margin. She sniffed. “I can’t talk to you, Haley, because I can’t talk to myself yet. I daren’t think about it. It was like taking a knife to the heart, and if I think about it, I’ll lose it.”

  “Okay. But have you considered how stupid men can be? That maybe George didn’t choose you because you resembled his dead wife? And he didn’t think it was important to tell you because he’s a man?”

  “Holy fucking shit, Haley. Whose side are you on, anyhow?” Iris slammed her cup on the coffee table and jumped to her feet. She fisted her hands and glared at her little sister. They fought as kids, and Iris was transported back to those days and wanted to pull Haley’s hair and slap her face. It was the only time Iris really lost her temper, and she realized it was because she could safely do so. Because Haley loved her and would never reject her for her strong emotions. When people loved you, they accepted that you lost it sometimes, usually for good reason, sometimes for none.

  Haley just sat back in her chair and looked at her. Iris’s rage dissipated, and she nearly fell back into her own seat, suddenly drained. She wrestled with a sense of betrayal at Haley’s apparent disloyalty and a niggle of worry that she’d overreacted as she reflected on her revelation. Her baby sister seemed so wise and mature. Iris looked into her blue eyes, so like her own, and saw something she never wanted to see. Haley was scared. Worried yes, full of empathy, but also scared. Scared for her.

  “What, Haley?” She nearly whispered the question.

  “I’ve never seen you like this, Iris, ever. You were always the calm, sensible, practical older sister I could count on in any storm, even if you smacked me sometimes. You never backed down from anything, not even when those kids made fun of us as bastards. You were my strength when Mom died, even when everybody else thought I was so stoic. I borrowed from you, and now you’re in pieces. Please, Iris. Tell me. Let me help you.”

  “Do you think I’ve lost it? Done something stupid? Something that will mess up my life? What?” Iris struggled to put it all together.

  “You’re in love, Ir
is. For the first time. And knowing you, for the last time, the only time. You’re nearly thirty years old, and you stepped right out of the box. You chose a Dom, which should blow me away, but it doesn’t. You deserve to be taken care of because you’ve taken care of others all your life. You must be freaking tired.

  “If you hadn’t met Georgios because I asked you to bear witness, you probably would never have discovered this part of you. If I could turn back time, maybe I wouldn’t ask you to save you this pain. But you’re alive somehow, Iris, in a way you’ve never been before despite the heartache. And I think you’re making a mistake, or at least a hasty decision. That’s all I’m going to say. But I’m here for you always, whenever, if ever, you want to talk.”

  Iris pressed her fingertips against her eyelids. She replayed everything Haley had said. How was it Haley had known what she wanted at such a young age? She wanted to become a chef and pursued that with a single-minded purpose. She wanted the Lifestyle and immersed herself in it. She wanted Warren. At first she had made a mess of things because she loved Warren so much she’d tried to make herself over for him. Then he’d been an ass, but things worked out in the end. Haley had Gordon, too, who any blind person could see was deliriously happy with her and their ménage. Whereas she, Iris, had essentially run away under the guise of her career in tourism once Haley was established and their mom no longer in the role of single parent. It had been a huge relief not to be so depended upon although the job held similar pressure and responsibilities. It had been a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire. Had she abandoned her little sister? And her mom? Had she ignored her own needs, sublimated them because she was so busy running?

  She sighed and looked at Haley. “Okay. I’ll think on it. I’m a mess, Haley, but I’ll try to think on it.”

  “No more a mess than I was when Warren got stabbed, Iris. Believe me. Gordon actually spanked me so hard to snap me out of it that I couldn’t sit down for days.”

  Iris involuntarily clenched her thighs together at the thought. Georgios wouldn’t be happy with her for walking out, running out, and refusing to listen. Trust. God, she was conflicted. What did she want? Was she his wife’s clone? What? Her heavy thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. She stiffened. Maybe Georgios had come over to talk to her because men tended to stick together on these things and Doms probably did more so.

  Haley interpreted her facial expression. “No, Iris. Doms don’t blindly support the other guy. The majority of them care about their subs too much to let bullshit or abuse slide. They don’t excuse it either.”

  Crap. She needed to spend more time with her sister talking about this D/s thing. She should have done it earlier but had been trying to handle it herself. No excuse.

  “A delivery for you, Iris.” Gordon advanced on her, bearing an enormous sheath of lilies. She could smell their fragrance from across the room. They were her favorite flowers, not roses but graceful, gently scented, fluted lilies. She’d told Georgios about her preference that night at dinner. Jane had held a bouquet of bloodred roses in the wedding picture. She accepted the bouquet with shaking hands and buried her face in them, after noting that the stamens had been carefully removed. The gorgeous aroma soothed her battered senses, and she heard Haley say something about a vase.

  She arranged the flowers in the huge crystal container Haley provided and put them on the coffee table, then tried not to look at them, but they were always just on the edge of her vision and she could smell them. She agreed to stay another night and told Haley she would need her wedding outfit to go back to the hotel in, and some underwear. She managed to laugh with her sister when Haley chuckled, but she wasn’t wearing that dress and she couldn’t go home in the robe. They looked at baby names for the better part of an hour, laughing some more at some of the ridiculous combinations Haley came up with when the doorbell shrilled again. Iris nearly jumped out of her skin.

  She accepted that she was waiting for Georgios to come over and make her listen to him, but she wasn’t ready for that. She needed some time to do something, if she could only figure out what. This time Warren came in with several large boxes, the kind clothing stores used. He was smiling, and she itched to wipe it off his face. He set the boxes down beside her on the floor, and Haley bounced on the seat cushion.

  “Aren’t you going to look?”

  “I already know what they are, Haley.” Her comment sounded bitter and mutinous to her ears, and Haley stuck out her tongue.

  “It doesn’t matter. You won’t know exactly.”

  Iris gestured at the pile. “Have at it then.”

  “Oh, I couldn’t, Iris. They’re yours.” But Haley couldn’t resist and pulled the largest box open. A pair of black athletic pants in Iris’s size reposed among the tissue paper. Haley lifted them out and handed them to her. The material was beautiful, but Iris realized they weren’t the top of the line. More her style and price range. He had listened and took notice of everything. There was a matching shirt and a light jacket to go with the shirt and pants. Two pairs of socks, a sports bra, and a pair of her favorite brand of sneakers completed the ensemble. It appeared Georgios had forgotten underwear, and Iris thought dark thoughts about his effrontery.

  “Oh, here’s a little bag.” Haley pulled out a handful of fabric. Panties in all colors of the rainbow filled her hand, and she threw them onto Iris’s lap. “No bras though. You’re lucky Iris. You can get away without wearing one. I look like droopy Sue in my clothes if I go without.”

  “There’s a sports bra.” Iris heard herself jump to Georgios’s defense and set her lips against it.

  “Oh, right. But you wouldn’t wear that with your other clothes…” Haley stopped and grinned. “So that’s his expectation. He lets you away with panties, but a bra is a different story.”

  “There is no story and no expectation,” Iris snapped. She gathered her new clothes up and stomped out of the room and up the stairs to the sound of Haley’s giggles. Her smart-ass sister could clean up the boxes and tissue paper. She wished she had some makeup and other essentials like deodorant, but was damned if she’d ask. She was angry at Haley. There was a rap at the door. She pulled it open, and Gordon offered her another bag, very obviously doing his best to keep a straight face. She nearly snatched it from him before she remembered her manners and thanked him graciously. She shut the door again with a snap and threw the bag on the bed, giving it a glare she would have preferred to bend on a live being.

  When she opened it, she found toiletries and brushes and all the things a woman stranded away from home with no luggage could use. Damn him. Bless him. She threw up her hands and got on with the business of getting dressed and fixing her face. She wasn’t going to be too proud to take advantage of his gifts. She would enjoy the rest of the day with her sister and the guys, stay the night, and make some decisions in the morning. Regardless, she needed to get ready for work on Monday. Her love life might be a debacle, but her job was a constant and she owed Evelyn. She tried not to wonder what Georgios was doing at that very minute.

  * * * *

  Georgios was sitting in his car watching the front door of the house where his woman was recuperating. He hoped she was recuperating. None of his gifts had been hurled outside in any event. Surely Iris recognized how well he had come to know her already and how different she was from Jane, being as perceptive as she was. His cell rang, and he punched the talk button.

  “George? Warren here. Iris is going to stay the night. She and Haley have been talking, and she’s far more settled. We aren’t as concerned as we were before, but she won’t talk about you yet.” The other man laughed. “I feel like a supporting actor in a bad movie, but damned if you don’t have style. I had no clue as to how to go about winning Haley back. I leaned heavily on Gordon.”

  “I amaze even myself, Warren,” he replied dryly. “Thanks for the update. I’ll head home then, and catch you tomorrow. Call me when Iris is ready to head back to her hotel, if you would.”
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  George clicked off and started up the car to head home and get some sleep. He planned to offer Iris a ride to her hotel and, if she refused, wait there for her. He dared hope she would forgive him once she gave him a chance to explain. It was an amazing experience, joining the real world again. He could foresee family dinners and vacations, children playing together. He ignored the possibility that he wasn’t going to be able to make this right with Iris.

  His house felt emptier than ever. He wandered the rooms and decided he was cutting all ties with his past. He’d have his secretary find a good real estate agent to unload it. He and Iris would find a home together. She didn’t have anywhere to live, and it made sense to find one immediately. Georgios again refused to consider any other possibility. It enabled him to put a sandwich together and wolf it down before crashing for the night. It had been a week for the history books, his and Iris’s history. He couldn’t shake the hint of unease, but had no further ideas on the subject.

  Chapter Eight

  Iris woke early the next morning with a profound sense of loss. She blinked the sleep from her eyes and looked around the room to get her bearings. She remembered where she was and all that had gone before in the past week. Instead of resting, her poor brain had indeed thought on everything Haley posited, coupled with Warren and Gordon’s take on how she didn’t resemble Georgios’s dead wife. Now that the shock had dissipated somewhat, Iris wondered what her next step should be. She threw the covers back and quietly made her way to the bathroom. She showered and got dressed. It was difficult not to think about Georgios when everything she used to get ready and put on her body had been chosen by him. The sneakers were about half a size too big, and she took a certain amount of satisfaction that he wasn’t perfect after all. Close, but not quite.

  She made a sudden decision. She’d take a cab back to her hotel, change her footwear, and go for a run. It had always cleared her head in the past. Iris stopped in front of her sister’s bedroom door and raised a hand to knock. She wasn’t going to walk out and just leave a note, but neither was she going to disrupt their entire weekend. She was going to be okay.