Page 126 of Carnal Wagers

He’d see soon enough this was no laughing matter. Bodyguards, I understood. I’d grown up with them around. I’d take any amount he assigned, but that didn’t mean I’d play his good little pooch on a leash, only going out when he allowed it. I rolled under his arm, grabbed his hand, and pulled him after me. “Come on. You owe me an orgasm, mari chéri.” The last bit came out as a curse.

“Oh, do I?” He waggled those infuriating eyebrows.

“Yes, you very much do.”

Chapter 31

“Will you get that?” I yelled from my closet as I finished getting dressed, my pants still unbuttoned. “Should be Liam.”

My brother had been blowing up my phone since last night after I ignored a series of calls and messages from Cranwell, followed by a similar bombardment from both my brothers. I had no desire to visit a new crime scene with LK’s latest victim and look through crime photos of what could possibly happen to Alice if I took my eyes off her.

“Bonjour. He’s in the bedroom,” said Alice, voice subdued and overly sweet. “Enjoy your time together. Now, gentlemen, if you would move. I won’t ask again, but I’m getting through one way or another.”

Arthur’s raspy voice muttered words I couldn’t quite catch. I snickered and whistled a cheeky tune. Good try, sweetheart. Except I should have known she’d make me eat my words.

A deep-pitched grunt, a growled “fuck”, a series of thumps, and a thud preceded a very shocked “oh shit” from none other than my brother.

“Alice?” Icy tendrils of panic wrapped around my throat. I ripped a gun from its holster and bolted into the living room. “Alice—”

I stopped short. She was bent over Arthur’s prone form in the front doorway, her sweater riding up to reveal her ass-stretching tight black jeans. Her brown woolen coat hung over her arm, along with her purse, as she retrieved Arthur’s gun. Smiles lay in a similar state to the left. They were two of my very best men, both out flat for the count. A lick of heat zapped to my groin, competing against the cold clamminess locking me in place.

“Alice, where are you going?”

She twisted around, the gun lifted in my direction. “I meant what I said yesterday. No one keeps me prisoner, and apparently, this is what it takes. Spend some time with your brother, chéri. It’ll be good for you. I’ll be with Maeve.”

“What the feck have I walked into?” Liam lifted his hands, head cocked at me in a clear indication that he thought my woman was a little nutty.

“You’re not going to shoot me.”

“You want to try me? I don’t have to kill you. I just have to make it hurt enough for you to let me go.”

“Síbhean, it’s not safe. Please.”

“Then I suggest you tell Paulie and Big Charlie downstairs to take me where I want to go, or I’ll leave them behind too.”

“Don’t fucking do this.”

“I’ll be back for dinner. Order your favorite, and we’ll call it even.”

She slipped sunglasses on, the red rims matching her beret. In a spinning flurry of brown locks that bounced along her back, she strode toward the elevator, heeled boots clicking along the tile to the harsh thuds of my heart, that gun constantly aimed at my chest. She might as well have shot me with the amount of dread pouring out of me. As the doors closed, she air-kissed me with a wave of her fingers, stashed the gun in her purse, and zipped it up. Then the elevator jostled shut.

I leaped at that button and tapped it repeatedly. When that didn’t recall the elevator, I barreled toward the fire escape stairwell door, feet padding along the tiles. I had to get to her before LK did.

Someone jerked me around, and I threw a punch. Liam ducked just in time and slammed me against the closed door.

“Oi, Killy, you’re barefoot, man.” He shoved me again. “You’re off your rocker. You need to stop this.”

There wasn’t time for his bullshit. I swiped his arm aside and shouldered past him.

“You two princesses.” I kicked Arthur’s and Smiles’ feet and clapped loudly. “Get your lazy moaning arses up. Put flat on your backs by a woman half your size. You both should be fecking embarrassed. Come on. Pull your socks up. Up you get.”

They grunted and groaned but rose as I rushed into my condo to gather what I needed.

“Cillian, will you slow down a second?”

I got my phone first and sent a text to Paulie because I wouldn’t put it past my woman to go off on her own if he tried to have her wait for me.

“You going to tell me why you never answered us last night, or why you didn’t show up this morning?”