I grinned and lied blatantly to his face. “Yeah, lots of people on the scene. Don’t you miss it? A different pussy every night?”
Tam shook his head. “Nah, not for one second. All those girls who only saw the money and the name. Hallie gets me. We’re equals. I wouldn’t swap her for a thousand of those girls.”
A few months ago, I’d probably have laughed at him. How could having one pussy forever possibly be better than tasting a different one every night? But now I got it. I had zero interest in anyone else. All I wanted was Ivy, and I thought she felt the same way.
The possibility of Ivy so much as looking at another man filled me with instant rage. She was mine. If I thought she’d even glanced in the direction of someone else, I’d rip both his arms from his body.
Movement came in the doorway, and Tam and I exchanged a glance. Two suited men walked into the room, and we both rose to shake their hands.
Our meeting had started.
***
ACOUPLE OF HOURS LATER, I was back in the penthouse of my hotel. The meeting had gone smoothly. The men all wanted to expand their business, so the deal worked well for everyone—well, everyone except the Gilligans, of course.
I felt a twinge of guilt that I was conspiring to run Ivy’s family out of the city behind her back. Should I tell her? No, that wouldn’t do anyone any good, and Tam would fucking kill me.
It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her. I just didn’t want to put her in a difficult position. Besides, she knew how our families worked.
I wanted to hear her say fuck them. Fuck her family. I wanted her to say she didn’t give a shit what they thought and that all we needed was each other. But in our world, you didn’t just get to say ‘fuck ’em’. In our world, upsetting the wrong people—even if that meant family, or maybeespeciallyif that meant family—could get someone seriously hurt or even killed.
My thoughts went to Tam and Hallie and the baby they were expecting. That was how it should be. That was what I wanted with Ivy. I’d hinted at it with her before, but she hadn’t taken me seriously. Maybe I needed to try harder.
The lift pinged to signal someone was using it.
A moment later, the doors opened, and Ivy stepped out wearing the short dark bob and black framed glasses I’d bought her. It really was a good disguise. I doubted even I’d have recognised her if I’d passed her on the street, though she definitely would have caught my attention.
“Holy shit,” I said, aware I was gawping at her. “You look incredible.”
She smiled flirtatiously and tucked the hair behind her ear. “You like?”
I did, but I also wanted her to be herself.
“I do, but I missed you.”
I slipped the glasses from her face and removed the wig, then undid her hair. Her blonde waves fell down her back.
“Better,” I said.
A day without seeing her felt like months.
We didn’t even speak; we just crashed together, our mouths finding each other’s, tearing at our clothes. We stumbled together into the bedroom and within minutes, I had her in just her knickers on my bed. I covered her with my body and feasted on her skin, kissing, licking, nibbling her lips, her jaw, her breasts, down to her flat stomach.
There, I paused, and lifted my head again.
“If I put a baby in your belly, no one will be able to tear us apart. We’ll be like Hallie and Tam—one unit.”
She stared into my eyes.
“We’re too young, Jay.”
“What the fuck does age matter? It’s not like either of us are short of money. I have a place for us to live. I want you. I want to be with you. I want to watch your belly swell and grow and know that there’s a part of me inside you.”
“You know that’s not going to work for us.”
“I don’t know that.” I slipped my hand down the inside of her thigh. “We’d have a lot of fun trying.”
She shoved at my shoulder. “Jay, stop it.”