“Now I need to know.” Dominic picked up his glass. “Are you the one who had Howard locked up?”
A slow smile crept onto my face and shrugged.
“You bastard.” Dominic grinned and raised his glass in the air.
We spent the rest of the night discussing the most random of things.
There were few people in this world that I let close to me. Being so far up at the top you couldn’t allow just anyone into your circle. But Christian and Dominic had been my best friends since college. I would take bullets for them and I knew if the time ever came they would do the same for me.
By the time I got home it was late and I had missed dinner.
I had a good amount of whiskey flowing through my veins and the effects had slowly begun to kick in. I rarely drank and when I did I tried not to over indulge. But every time I was around the Harrison brothers I just seemed to lose myself.
It was nice to let loose from time to time. I was always on all the time. I rarely let my guard down. It was like—
I instantly lost my train of thought. What was that?
The kitchen light was on.
I looked down at my watch and saw that it was well past 11. It could only be Brianna.
I walked to the kitchen and stopped when I saw her sat at the kitchen island with a sketch pad. Her hair was in a messy bun with a pencil stuck inside of it. She wore a large shirt that just about covered her.
Her eyes were laser focused on what she was drawing.
She must have felt my presence because her hands stopped moving and she looked over her shoulder. She let out a little squeal, dropping some of her pencils onto the floor.
“Mr. Farrington.” She gasped. She looked down at the floor and quickly got off her stool and started picking them up. I walked over to her and helped her pick up the rest.
We went to pick up the same pencil and our hands brushed against each other. A series of tingles moved up and down my arm sparking something to life.
She quickly stood to her full height after grabbing the pencil.
I caught a whiff of her sweet scent and had to resist the urge to close my eyes and breathe in deeper.
“I didn’t see you there. Sorry.”
Slowly, I stood to my feet. The distance between us about half an arm length. She was so close to me. Closer than I think she had ever been.
Her eyes looked at me for a millisecond before they looked down at her feet.
A small strand had fallen on her face and before I could stop myself I tucked the strand behind her ear.
I watched the way her eyes flicked to me and her pupils dilated just the slightest. Her plump lips separated, letting out a small gasp that sounded more like a moan.
For the first time I was looking at her. Like really looking at her.
She was gorgeous.
I saw it now.
Her eyes carried an innocence that made me want to ruin her in the best way possible. I wanted to see her unravel before me.
Shit.
I had the boundaries set and I had the rules I had laid out for myself. Even in my alcohol infused state I had enough sense to know that I could not cross those lines.
The tension between us thickened and the world around us faded away. My eyes moved from her gaze down to her lips.