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“Dominic is no more my brother than you are. Our parents were married for ten whole days. Christ, he didn’t even have time to move in before they filed for divorce.” I scowled at Grey, knowing the hatred was still more than present in him, just like I knew the feeling was mutual for my former stepbrother.
Grey shrugged, fingers tapping on the seat. “Still your brother.”
I had the urge to tell him to go fuck himself again. Instead, I glared. “Where is he?”
The angriness melted away to a satisfied grin. “I had him placed in the formal sitting room.”
The one with the most uncomfortable couches known to man. Of course. Christ, the pissing match has already started.
I laid my hand on his. “Have him sent to my office, please.”
Grey frowned at our hands and then out the window. “As you wish, reina.”
Yep, this is going to be so much fun.
* * *
For the first time, tension swirled between us as Greyson and I walked silently through the halls of our home. I knew who’d put it there but not why, and that irritated me. Even more, I didn’t like that there was no real way to fix it, so I kept my silence and let Grey keep his.
By the time we made it to my office, I felt so off that I was nearly crawling out of my skin.
Moore and Tennessee relieved the soldiers at the door, sweeping the room even though it’d already been done once. After the month we’d had, no one was willing to take chances, even with an old friend.
Satisfied, they both took their places just outside, and Grey pulled the door open.
“Finally. Did you lose your manners when you sold your soul, Greyson?” Dominic’s voice rolled through the air, smooth and thick as molasses. The razor-sharp frustration was so out of character for Dominic, it was nearly laughable, and I knew it was all thanks to Grey. The two were oil and water personified, and that colored their every interaction. “What would your owner say?”
My eyes narrowed. It was one thing to poke at Grey, but it was another to be outright disrespectful, especially in front of me. Grey reached back to squeeze my hand briefly before stepping into the room, his big body obscuring mine from view.
“I’m not sure. I’ll have to ask.” He turned back with that mischievous smile that said he wanted nothing more than to show just how much he disliked our guest, but it was gone in a flash. For once, I was glad to see him wearing his second-in-command mask. I didn’t have the time or patience for a dick-measuring contest.
“What do you think, reina?” Grey asked, stepping away from the door so I could see. “Do you have my manners as well as my soul?”
I snorted. “I hold nothing of yours that you haven’t freely given, Greyson. Not your head, not your heart, and certainly not your soul.”
Grey stepped close to press a kiss to my cheek, his whisper soft against my skin. “Don’t be so certain.”
I stepped away before I could read too much into his words.
Dominic stood from a large leather chair in front of my desk, running a hand through his hair as he grinned at me. “Mariposa, I hoped you’d be here.”
My heart thumped at the sound of the childhood nickname I hadn’t heard in a decade. Butterfly. I’d never understood why he’d named me something so soft and delicate. I had been a princess of blood and bone when we met, and now, I was a ruler in my own right. Soft was never going to be my life.
I wondered what Dominic would think if he knew just how deadly his butterfly had become in his absence.
“Well, this is my home. I didn’t know you were coming, though.” Not that we kept in touch often. Just enough to know he was still alive and thriving in Chicago, where his mother had relocated after her failed marriage to my father. I looked him over and smiled. “The city looks good on you.”
And it did.
He’d always been tall and muscular. Imposing, even. But to me, he was strong and able to protect me. At thirty-five, he looked like sex on a stick. He’d grown into his body, so the muscles he’d always had fit him well. He knew it too. He’d rolled up the sleeves of his black button-down to showcase incredible arms, while the dark jeans on his legs clung to thick thighs and a bulge that certainly wasn’t hiding its size. His eyes were fringed with thick lashes and hooded as he looked me over, and those mussed, inky waves made him look like he’d just rolled out of bed. Or that he was ready to jump back in it.
The allover effect screamed bad boy, and despite my understanding of what a real bad boy was, it still had my body clenching in remembrance.
Once upon a time, Dominic had been my first crush. My first heartbreak. My first everything.
As if he knew what I was thinking, he smirked. Even after years apart, I could tell it was practiced. A panty-melting smile made for a playboy. From what I’d heard about his exploits in Chicago, that was accurate. Not that it bothered me. Not at all. Like Grey, I pretended that flare of jealousy didn’t exist.
Deny, deny, deny.
