Chapter 45
I clutched at his shoulders and bit my lip. Jesus, the filthy words this man says to me will be my undoing. I didn’t answer him. I didn’t know what the answer was. Instead, I reached down between us and stroked the steel length between his legs. He stopped me with a growl on the third stroke. His eyes were foggy with lust, and I liked that I’d put him into that state.
He shook his head, pulling my hand free and kissing the tips of my fingers. “If you keep doing that, we won’t go to my sister’s. I’d have Andy take us to my place, so we could play, and then my sister would chew me out for ditching dinner.”
Snuggling back into his chest, I watched the street lights of downtown LA flicker into sporadic bursts. I was pushed back into Bane as the car ascended, making switchbacks up a hill.
“Where does your sister live?” I asked into the darkness.
“Bel Air.” His words rumbled in his chest.
Holy fucking shit. The entire family must be loaded. I swallowed. “You grew up here?”
He snorted and shook his head but said nothing more. “Maybe I’ll tell you the story one day, Little Bird,” he said, stroking my arm in a hypnotic wave. “Not tonight, though.”
When the car finally pulled to a stop, I began to scramble back to my seat. I didn’t want Bane’s driver to catch me in such a compromising position, but Bane wasn’t having any of that. He held me tightly until the door was opened, then helped me out. I stared up at the mansion in front of me and let out a jagged breath. This place was amazing. I’d barely had a chance to absorb it all when Bane took my hand and urged me up the path.
The door opened before we even got to the doorstep. A willowy dark-haired beauty stood there with a smile on her face.
“Bane!” she squealed.
Bane dropped my hand and scooped up who I was assuming was his sister.
“Bianca,” he replied in a soft voice, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “How are you?”
“Better now that you’re here,” she replied, then looked over his shoulder. “Is this her?”
Damn, talk about being self-conscious. I stood there with my hands clasped in front of me, not sure what to do.
Bane saved me, though, by taking my hand and pulling me closer. “Bianca, this is Wren, the woman I was telling you about.”
Bianca held out her hand to me, and we shook. “It is so nice to finally meet one of Bane’s girlfriends!”
“I’m not his girlfriend,” I replied.
“It’s complicated,” Bane said at the same time.
Bianca looked between us and smiled. “Come in. I’m just finishing off dinner.”
Bane gave me a heated look as he ushered me inside, shutting the door behind me. He toed off his shoes, and I did the same, my bare feet hitting the warm honey-blonde hardwood. He led me through to a kitchen in the same color tone as the wood beneath my bare feet, and I stopped dead when I saw the size of it.
“It’s bigger than my entire apartment,” I whispered to Bane when he asked me what was wrong. He chuckled. “It’s a large house,” was all he said.
Well, no fucking shit, Bane.
Bianca was working effortlessly in the kitchen, moving from the marble-topped island counter to the eight-burner stove with ease. Honestly, I would have expected a personal chef.NôvelDrama.Org owns this text.
“Where’s my girl?” Bane asked Bianca, and my ears pricked. A surge of jealousy shot through me, but I pushed it down. I had no right to be jealous. He owned a fucking gentlemen’s club. He was surrounded by beautiful women-I’d seen them.
“She should be up from her nap by now,” his sister told him, pulling some tomatoes from the fridge. “You should go and get her.”
Bane kissed me on the cheek and strode from the room, leaving me with Bianca.
“Can I help?” I needed something to do with this nervous energy vibrating through me.
“Sure. You can start tossing the salad for me.” She pointed at a large bowl filled with green leaves and red and yellow peppers. “So, how did you meet my little brother?”
I paused, then got with the program again. “At work.” That seemed like a safe reply.
Her brows shot up. “You’re a Doll?”
“Ah, no. Not one of them.” Jesus, even I could hear the disdain in my voice for them. “He and my brother have a working relationship, and I met Bane through him.” She hitched a hand onto her hip. “Younger or older?” “Younger,” I reply with a grin.
“Hell yes. Little brothers are such a headache, right?”
A smile pulled at my lips. I liked Bianca. Where Bane was gruff, she was friendly. Where he was aloof, she was open. She smiled a lot more too. “My brother could win awards with the headaches he’s caused me.”
She snorted and got back to chopping. “I don’t know… Bane caused his fair share for me, too.” “Oh?”
“To say he was wild when he was a kid is an understatement. He was always getting into trouble, but do you know what? He was always there when I needed him, too. He may be younger, but he’s protective of me.”
“I can see that trait in him,” I reply. I looked up when I heard Bane walk back into the room, a little girl cradled in his arms. Fuck, my ovaries may have just exploded because seeing him with a baby made my womb ache. He walked over to us, a smirk on his face. I was trying hard to connect the man I thought I knew to the man I know, and to the man I was being shown now.