One Last Rainy Day: The Legacy of a Prince(30)

“No, never. They’re too busy screaming my name. Except the last girl, she was like a corpse.”

No offense, Ginger.

“You are unreal. Psychiatrist’s dream indeed.”

Her eyes glaze as a little silence lingers—as does her appraisal of me. “What are you thinking about?”

Her guilty gaze drops. “Nothing.”

This girl has no chance of making it in our world if she can’t play off something as simple as sexual attraction. Though I can, I find myself in a new but predictable pattern as I fight my cock’s reaction to her. Thankful when Tyler leaves his lounger and Sean nears with a nod for the both of us, I turn and push out of the pool. Out of time for the patty cake portion of the plan, I begin walking toward the back door, and Cecelia speaks up. “Where are you going?”

“Have to use the can.”

“You could ask.”

The clank of the gate closing at the side of the house cues me in, and I turn and lower my shorts.

“Oh my God,” Cecelia sounds up behind me with fast directions, “through the door past the study, down the hall on the left. Savage.”

Candy from a baby.

“Oh, I think I might like that better than motherfucker.”

Sean joins her in the pool, promptly stealing her attention.

Closing the back door, I glance around before stalking through to the front door and opening it where Tyler stands in wait, our packed duffle bag in hand.

Within seconds we’re in Roman’s sad excuse of a security closet, six surveillance screens stacked atop each other on small shelves.

“You were right. He’s got them angled to capture every possible approach.”

“It’s the reason he built it like this. No ambush is possible without being flagged. Which means there’s something in this house worth finding.”

“Then why wouldn’t he update his cameras?”

“Because he had no real plans of living here.”

“So why bring her here?”

We’re still no closer to finding out why a month after her arrival.

“Exactly,” I say, unzipping the duffle.

Tyler flips through the screens, stopping as Sean corners Cecelia in the pool and begins fucking her.

“Lucky bastard,” he groans, as my eyes linger a little longer on the twist of her features before he kills our view. “Now, let’s hope the fucker has some stamina because, as you know, it’s been a whole week.”

He rolls his eyes due to the number of arguments we’ve had with Sean in trying to keep him at bay until we could figure out how to use their little love quarrel to our advantage. Though he made it my call, he’s been vocal about the time it’s taken.

Taking what I need from Tyler’s backpack, I drop my soaked trunks and start toweling off.

“Jesus, man, some fucking warning would have been nice.”

I pull up my sweats. “Just trying not to leak all over the floor. Don’t want you to have to mop up.”

“I’m talking about the fucking hard-on,” he grits out, eyes pinched closed as I glance down at the inconvenience of interacting with Cecelia.

I slap his jaw playfully, and his eyes pop open in a glare. “You poor thing, I guess you didn’t get the talk. I’ll make it brief. One day, when you’re a big boy, little Tyler will grow three sizes too big and want to do some pushups when he sees a beautiful girl.”

“Play it off all you want, but I physically felt that chemistry you two were stirring up in that pool.”

Shrugging, I bend and dig into the bag, snatching some of the mics and a flash drive.

“You’re not going to deny it?” Tyler asks.

“I don’t lie to myself, but that’s exactly what it is. Chemistry because I can’t and mentally taxing because I won’t. But that’s all it is . . . an old-fashioned case of wanting to fuck what you can’t have because it’s bad for business and will destroy relationships . . . but you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

He holds my inquisitive gaze a millisecond before recovering. “Clocks ticking. I’ve got the first floor.”

Making my way upstairs and into her room, I head straight for the laptop on her bed, plug in the flash drive I filled with spyware, and start the download.

Glancing around, I spot a bag of books from a major retailer. Unable to help my grin, I unload it on her bed. She hasn’t been back to the library since I told her it was off-limits. She’s avoiding me when and where she can, as I have her. A receipt floats out—landing on top of the pile—and on the back of it is a handwritten list of books she wants to read.

All of them romance.

Lucky for her, Sean’s just her type.

It strikes me then—as it often has over the years—that most of the population craves that type of connection. By now, I should have felt some deep seeded need inside of me that longs for a spiritual bond to go with the sexual. Maybe by allowing myself to remain stunted, I inadvertently got rid of that urge.

Tyler’s voice jogs me out of my thoughts. “All good up here?”

Shoving the books back into the bag, I situate it the way I found it and pocket the receipt before pulling the flash drive from her computer. “It is now. Got three mics in.”

“Downstairs is good to go, and I got the rest of this floor while you were sniffing through her panty drawer.”