Beautifully Decadent (Beautifully Damaged Book 3) (26 page)

Dinner was served in the living room on a table clearly purchased for these large dinner parties. And even with the addition of a table nearly the size of the one depicted in Leonardo da Vinci’s
The Last Supper
, the apartment wasn’t crowded; people were still able to freely move around the space. And they lived on the Upper East Side. Amazing.

I had been seated next to Sister Margaret and Trace; Rafe was across from me. And even as I listened to the conversation that moved around the table, my head was still in the kitchen hearing Rafe’s reply to Sister Margaret. Hearing him suggest that he should make his move, teasing or not, I wanted him to make a move. And it was thinking about all the ways he could that had an ache forming between my legs. A throbbing would be a better description. Shifting in my seat, hoping to ease it, Sister Margaret elbowed me in the arm.

“What’s wrong with you, moving around like that in your chair? You got ants in your pants?”

Not ants, something so much better. My gaze collided with Rafe’s, and honestly it looked as if he knew exactly what afflicted me. And even as my cheeks burned, moisture accompanied the ache. I physically lusted after a man while being seated next to a nun. I was going to Hell, or at the very least purgatory. Turning my attention to Sister Margaret it was to find her grinning. Narrowing my eyes at her, I realized she also knew why I shifted as I did in my chair. Her expression changed slightly, acknowledging that she knew I knew.

“You’re a wicked woman.”

“That’s not a nice thing to say.” And yet her expression contradicted her words because she was smiling like a deranged clown.

After dinner, I tried to help clean up but Ember and Darcy pushed me from the kitchen, told me I should go find Rafe. I didn’t really need an excuse to settle in next to him. So I did, spotted him across the room talking with Ember’s dad, uncle and Lucien. As soon as I approached, all four heads turned in my direction. It seemed serious, whatever they were discussing, and I gathered they didn’t want me to overhear by the way they all shifted their attention to me.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Before I could retreat, Rafe reached for my hand. “Avery is renting the carriage house. She’s met my dad and knows about his past, she should probably hear this. Josh has been looking into the robbery, specifically the two others involved.”

When he’d mentioned this the last time, I’d felt uneasy. Now I felt a bit more than that because clearly this wasn’t just a passing interest. “I’m guessing by the fact that you’re looking into it, you’re more concerned than you let on.”

“The pieces don’t fit and that bothers me.”

“I can understand that as it involves your dad.”

Josh filled me in. “I didn’t find out much, Jeremy Paddington worked a low level tech job at a shipping company, Morton Shipping. For all intent and purposes he was a regular guy, in debt and behind on his mortgage. The only information remotely interesting is that he died not long before his box at the bank was broken into. A mugging.”

“He dies and his box gets broken into, seems suspect.”

I had to agree with Lucien.

“Agreed. I’m looking deeper into the mugging.” Josh replied.

Shawn’s attention was redirected when Faith ran over and wrapped her arms around his leg. “Up, Poppy.”

Josh’s voice grew soft and a touch sad. “She looks just like Ember did as a kid, the spitting image of my sister.”

Ember’s mom Mandy, I had learned, had died in a hit and run when Ember was three. For a group of people who had known more than their share of grief, it was beautiful to see the family they’d all become.

Josh and Shawn were pulled away to play with the girls and Lucien went in search of Darcy. Rafe squeezed my hand. “You okay?”

“I like your friends.”

“Yeah, they’re pretty great.”

I understood better Rafe’s interest in the robbery because I found myself curious. “What do you think was in Jeremy’s box?”

His expression turned hard and I regretted asking. “I don’t know. And was the person who hired Lucas the same person who killed him or was there another interested party who got to it first?”

“I don’t get the sense your dad knew what he was getting himself into.”

“No, he didn’t. Of that I’m certain.”

“It was good he turned himself in, considering what happened to his accomplices.”

“Yeah.”

Our conversation was cut short when Ember called, “Dessert.”

Rafe was still holding my hand, he seemed to be as surprised by that as me. I thought he’d release it, but he didn’t. He held it tighter as he escorted me to the table.

I sat on the sofa and had one brown-haired head resting on one leg and one black-haired head resting on the other. I had become Faith and Emily’s new best friend because I created, ‘yummy sweet things’. I was as tired as they were, but I couldn’t pull my gaze from the people sitting around the table. Most of the guests had left and Chelsea had gone to bed a while ago. It was only Lucien, Darcy, Rafe and Kyle who shared the table with Trace and Ember. The affection between the six of them was undeniable. It was beautiful and in that moment, I missed my mom, Nat and Jessica terribly. The last time I spoke to Mom, they were heading to New Orleans. I couldn’t imagine either of them in that city, but I looked forward to hearing the stories.

I must have dozed off because the next thing I remembered was Rafe hunching down in front of me, gently stroking my cheek with his finger.

“Ready to go?”

“I fell asleep, didn’t I?”

“It’s okay, you had a long week.”

“Loki?”

“Already leashed.” He reached for my hands and helped me to my feet. Both the girls were sound asleep in their dads’ arms.

Moving to the door, Ember and Darcy weren’t able to hide their enthusiasm at the sight of Rafe and me. I was too tired to tease them but I did say. “Thanks for including me. I really enjoyed myself.”

“You’re officially invited to all our dinner parties and you’re on dessert patrol because that cake was freaking awesome.” Ember said.

Darcy followed with, “Yeah, it was. The next one is at our house.”

“See you Monday, Avery.”

“Night, Trace. You’ve got a beautiful family.” My eyes moved to Lucien, “You both do.”

Trace’s arm slipped around his wife’s shoulders, his attention on Ember. Ember’s reaction was sweet. She blushed but at the same time it looked as if she wanted to climb her husband like a tree.

“Night, Avery.” Lucien whispered so he didn’t wake his daughter.

I didn’t really remember the walk to the truck or the ride home. I remembered Rafe walking me to the door though. He unlocked it for me and held it open and then he touched my face, his finger brushing lightly down my jaw before his thumb stroked my lower lip.

“Night, Avery.”

“Night, Rafe.”

Somehow I made it to my bed, fell face first without even changing. And when I dreamed, I dreamt of Rafe and me hosting a dinner party: one with his friends and mine, our child sleeping in her daddy’s arms.

Avery and I had plans to hit the nursery today but based on how late we got home last night and how tired she’d been, I wasn’t expecting to see her until later in the morning. I could get a few hours of work in.

Loki stood by the back door waiting for me to let him out, but it wasn’t nature calling that had him so eager. He and I shared the same affliction. Avery. He seemed to crave her company as much as I did. Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t drop my ass down on her front step until she came to let me in. Though, the idea held more appeal than it should. And here I snickered at the idea of Lucien being whipped. Who the hell was I kidding? He, at least, was getting sex from the object of his obsession, me I only got dessert—delicious as all hell dessert, but my cravings went deeper. Last night when she fell asleep with Emily and Faith, I had the strangest reaction to that. For a moment, it wasn’t Trace and Lucien’s kids but my own, ours, she cuddled with. That had never happened to me before, wasn’t even sure I wanted kids, but I felt the pull last night seeing her with Faith and Emily.

She lived here though and if it didn’t work out between us it’d be awkward. Of course, if it did work...

I stopped myself because I was beginning to sound like a woman. Grabbing a cup of coffee, I headed outside only to stop at the sight of Avery sitting on the front step of the carriage house. She was dressed for the day, jeans and sweater, her hair up, Chucks on her feet. As soon as she spotted me, she smiled and the thought of waking up to that smile every day hit me in the gut, in a really fucking nice way.

“Morning.” She stood and met me halfway.

“I wasn’t expecting you up so early with how tired you were last night.”

“I’m used to getting up early, my internal clock is still set to the days when I worked at the bakery at home.”

“Have you had coffee?”

“Yeah. Are you heading to your workshop?”

“I was, but only because I thought you’d still be asleep.”

She shifted, her cheeks turning rosy. I didn’t know why she was flustered or why the sight of her flustered had my balls tightening. But I did know I was fooling myself believing I had a choice when it came to Avery.

“I had a thought and if you can’t, I understand but the nursery opens at nine and after I wondered if you’d be interested in going to Coney Island with me. I’ve never been and I’d really like to see it.”

She seemed nervous, as if she was accustomed to asking for something and being told no. How could anyone say no to her? And how the hell was it that this vivacious beauty was alone?

“Yeah, I’ll take you to Coney Island.”

Her face just lit up but instead of bringing a smile, I felt really fucking pissed; enough that I asked her. “Where are your girlfriends?”

If she was taken off guard with that question, I couldn’t tell. “I have Jessica, we’ve been best friends since grade school, but she’s married with a toddler, so it’s hard for her to visit. We talk on the phone all the time and she and her family are visiting in December. But outside of her, I don’t have any other friends I’d climb out of bed for at two in the morning to help bury the body.”

“And the men?”

“What men?”

“Looking like that, there are always men.”

Her expression was comical; she thought I was teasing her.

“I’m serious, Avery. Where are the men?”

“Are you saying you want there to be men?” Annoyance rang through her words and I liked that I’d stoked her anger because, quite frankly, the thought of her with someone else stirred my own.

“No, I’m saying how the hell can there not be any.”

She understood that if the blush that covered her face was any indication. “Never found anyone worth the effort.”

I liked hearing that, enough that I did actually tease her when I said, “No surprise visits then from exes still holding a torch?”

“A torch for me, please.”

She’d done that before, the subtle disparaging of herself. I didn’t like it then, liked it less now. “You’re a smart, talented and extremely sexy woman. Whomever it was in your world who made you doubt that is a fucking asshole.”

Her eyes widened in surprise then turned warm, hinting at just how deep that comment hit. “Thank you.”

And seeing that look only pissed me off more. “Nothing to thank me for. Only saying what anyone, without their head in their ass, would see—a funny, smart and beautiful woman who makes some seriously incredible, kill all your friends to horde for yourself, desserts.”

Her pupils dilated, her cheeks turned pink again and her pulse pounded in her neck, I could see that from where I stood. She swallowed and I watched the movement of her throat, wanting to taste her right where her neck met her shoulder. It was so tempting I found I was actually leaning in. When my gaze shifted to hers, her tongue darted out to touch the corner of her mouth. Her voice was pure sex. “You think I’m funny?”

It took me a minute to catch on to her teasing—caught in the haze of lust that seemed to have overcome both of us—I laughed out loud because to all her qualities, I had one more to add. She really was a goof.

“You’re a goof.”

“You’ve called me that before. I’ve been called worse.”