Dahlia Aldridge
Oh, why you so obsessed with me
Boy, I wanna knowww—
“Did you just turn off my music?” I pouted, hiding my smile as Yates offered me a searing look, making me almost lose in my attempt to act like I didn’t know why he was upset. Well,oneof the reasons he was upset.
Apparently, he hadn’t slept, and then on top of that he had to listen to Lincoln and me in the other room, which left him in a bad mood.
Oh, also probably because I kept playing Mariah Carey’s ‘Obsessed’ just to mess with him. Not that he knew that. For all he knew, I was just getting ready.
“This is my getting ready playlist,” I pointed out, applying a moisturizing primer before turning from the mirror. After nearly eight hours of sleep, I was feeling fantastic and using the master suite to get ready for our arrival.
“No, it’s not.” Yates sat back down on the bed and typed something out. “Your playlist doesn’t have any Mariah Carey on it. You don’t even like her Christmas music, let alone that song. Especially since you found out it’s about Eminem.”
“Because she did him dirty!” I exclaimed and then frowned. “How do you know—”
His look had me smiling as he put down his laptop and walked over, backing me up against the bathroom counter. “Dahlia, if you think it’s surprising that I know what each of your playlists have on them, then I’m not even going to enlighten you about all of the other shit I have memorized regarding you.”
My smile grew as I reached over to his phone, holding his gaze as I pressed play on the song. It started blasting as he let out a low rumble, snapping up the device I’d been using and striding out of the bedroom, leaving me laughing.
“What did you do to Yates, princess?” King asked, leaning in the doorway as I ran a brush through my blow-dried hair and began to apply light makeup.
“He didn’t like that I was playing Mariah Carey’s ‘Obsessed,’” I smirked.
King let out a bark of laughter as he ran a hand over his face. “The man tells you that he stalks you—”
“Watches!” Yates called from the other room.
“That doesn’t sound any better,” King called back and focused on me. “So the man tells you he is obsessed with you and you tease him about it?”
“Was I not supposed to?” I tilted my head curiously and then smiled. “This is Yates, King. If I didn’t tease him about it, that would be weird.”
“Accurate,” Sterling called in passing as he grabbed something from the closet.
“See?” I mused. “Plus, he knows I don’t mind.”
“She’s into it,” Stratton pointed out, walking in with a cup of tea. I smiled at him as I pressed a kiss to his cheek and thanked him for the sweet gesture. Sweet man. Sweet, grumpy, broody man.
“Is that true?” King asked once it was us two again. I sorted through the lipsticks I had, wondering which would be the best. Heck, I hadn’t even decided what I was going to wear yet, so this was probably going to be a bit difficult.
“Yes,” I nodded. “I would say that’s accurate. It is a bit flattering.”
King chuckled and shook his head. “Dahlia, I have no idea how it’s possible that you still manage to surprise me after all these years.”
I turned towards him and smiled. “What should I wear to this special compound?”
His lips pressed up, his own suit matching what most of the others were wearing, a well tailored, dark custom piece. In fact, the only one who wasn’t wearing a suit was Stratton, and I knew it was a very purposeful choice on his end. Plus, the man hated dress clothes more than the twins.
“You can wear whatever you want, princess. No one is going to tell you different.”
“So I could wear a bikini?” I deadpanned. Honestly, it felt really good to relax and be a bit sassy after everything that had happened. Plus, I was riding on some good sleep. I wouldn’t lie, a large part of my ability to relax was my detachment from my phone. If I didn’t see the problem online, then it wasn’t happening, right?
King’s smile turned dangerous as he shrugged. “Sure. I’ll have to find replacements for anyone who sees you, but I won’t tell you no.”
“Replacements?” I arched a brow.
“If they saw you in a bikini, I would have to kill them,” King admitted, that dangerous coolness invading his eyes before snapping back to warmth.