“Never heard of stranger danger?” Victoria retorted, making Forrest roll his eyes.
“She has a point. That’s how you know where Inessa is, right?” I asked, smiling as I pulled open a drawer, grabbed two spoons and shoved one at her.
“Where’s mine?” Forrest groused as he moved over to the kitchen.
“You don’t like oatmeal,” I pointed out.
“I meant,breakfast.”
I shrugged. “You know where the fridge is.”
Victoria frowned at our conversation, before she confirmed, “Eoghan told me I could trust Forrest. That’s why I came. He said he was on your crew. Whatever that means.”
“It means he’s a friend. And it means I trust him with you.”
Forrest heaved a sigh. “God help me.”
I smirked at him, then turned back to my sister-in-law. “Camille is just getting ready.”
“Ready for what?” she asked warily.
I didn’t have an answer to that. I might have been listening to the plumbing as I dealt with both Victoria and Forrest, and I might not have heard the sounds of a shower, but it wasn’t my job to explain what had happened with her cunt of a father.
Victoria didn’t know me. I’d danced with her once at Eoghan’s wedding, just like she’d danced with all my brothers, but she’d been pink-cheeked, and I’d been trying to stop Da from losing his shit with Eoghan who’d just dislocated Vasov’s shoulder after their church service.
Heaving a sigh, I just said, “Eat your oatmeal. She’ll be along soon.”
I took a seat at the breakfast bar, hooked my feet around the stool, then opened the mason jar. By the time I was digging my spoon in, she took a suspicious step closer to my side, and took a seat at the other end, which I was grateful for. I really didn’t want her sitting close to me, just in case. Camille would probably stink worse, which had me reconsidering a whole host of things...
Shit.
That was going to spoil my fun. Big time.
Heaving a sigh, I began eating, but I stopped when I heard the padding of footsteps down the hall. When she made it to the door, I was watching for her, and our eyes caught and held as she stepped deeper into the room, her cheeks flushed again, but there was something different about her.
A buoyancy I hadn’t noticed before.
She smiled at me, which was, I realized, the first time I’d seen her do that, and it packed a real punch. Megawatts of energy were aimed my way, but it didn’t knock me off my stool, just made me wish I could bend her over the counter.
In last night’s dress, she shouldn’t look so hot, but she did. Mostly, I regretted the stockings she wore because it hid my bite marks on her calf.
What a shame.
“Camille?”
Victoria’s soft, scared voice broke into my lust-filled thoughts, and it also jarred Camille into looking away from me and hunting for her sister.
“Vicky,” she said with a sigh, her smile toning down, her energy changing as guilt began to ride her.
She’d forgotten.
That was clear to see.
She’d forgotten about the blood she’d spilled, about whatever it was that made her cut herself, that made her seem so sad.
For those moments, she’d been Camille, and she’d been fascinating with it.
I rubbed a hand over my jaw, wondering if I was getting more than I bargained for, but if that was the case, then that would only be proof that the luck of the Irish really was a thing. It’d be just my luck that I did something out of charity, taking in a rough stone, and with a bit of polish, I’d find out I had a diamond...