Luck of the Devil (The Forge Trilogy #2)(19)

My phone vibrates on the nightstand, saving me from having to respond.

“I believe that’s our cue to meet our guests.”

“What guests?” Panic widens Indy’s eyes.

“I invited your mother and sister to brunch. I’m glad we’ve got our story straight. Keep it vague for Alanna. She doesn’t need to know all the details.”





17





India





I don’t like taking orders from him, especially when he’s naked and I’m clothed. My concentration has been shot to shit, and I can’t stop sneaking peeks at his dick.

Seriously, it should be illegal for a man to be that well-endowed and for a penis to be so attractive. It’s like a lodestone, and I keep losing my train of thought because of the throbbing ache between my legs reminding me exactly how we spent last night.

From now on, I have to keep my legs closed and forget what he’s able to do to my body.

I take back what I thought earlier. It was the drugs. There’s no way he’s really that good at giving orgasms, I tell myself. But then another part of my brain is already volunteering to put it to the test as soon as possible, just to rule out the possibility.

“Do you agree?” Forge says my name, and there’s a hint of a smile in his tone, like he’s reading my mind again.

“Agree?” I ask, having lost the thread of conversation.

“Eyes up here.”

I try to ignore the smirk on his face when I look up. “Put the damn thing away then if you don’t want me to get distracted by it. It would be like me stripping naked and doing jumping jacks, and then yelling at you when you can’t stop watching my tits bounce.”

His smile widens. “I’m willing to try it, just to prove you wrong.”

Wait, did he just wink? Asshole.

“Not happening. And yes, I agree. I’ll tell Alanna whatever will keep her from asking too many questions and still let her leave with warm fuzzies, instead of knowing that I sold myself to the devil to save Summer when you were already bringing her back.”

All levity flees the room at my words.

“You agreed to no questions asked,” Forge says, and I cut him off with a middle finger.

“Just wait until you have to make a deal when you’re desperate enough to agree to no questions asked terms.”

With that, I use my incredible powers of avoidance, and I step around my massive naked husband and head for the door.

“And put some fucking clothes on before you scare everyone with that beast.”

I slam the door behind me, blocking out the laughter that chases me into the hall.





“We rode in a helicopter! Never in my life did I expect to take a helicopter when a boat would do just as well.”

Alanna’s voice is full of awe and excitement as I hug her, and I let a little of the bitterness that still festers slide away.

“It picked us up right down at the quay,” she says, “and everyone probably assumed we were famous.”

“How was the ride?” I ask.

“Amazing, and he promised to take us on a tour and circle all of Ibiza on our way back.”

I release her from the hug. “I’m so glad you enjoyed it.”

Her expression turns serious as she looks from me to the sprawling white villa behind me. “Now, are you going to tell me how the hell you ended up married to Jericho Forge when you left on a jet with Bastien de Vere?”

As soon as she says Bastien’s name, I whip around to make sure no one overheard it. “Let’s not talk about him. He’s what you’d call persona non grata here.”

One of Alanna’s silver brows goes up. “I was right. Forge is the jealous type, and when he saw you with Bastien, he realized he wasn’t going to let that spoiled trust-fund brat have you, so he swept in to claim you for himself, and then rescued your baby sister because he couldn’t possibly let the situation stand and cause you duress.” Alanna sounds like she just rattled off the plot to one of the romance novels she devours by the stack every afternoon.

“Yes. Exactly. How did you guess?” I say, my tone bright and cheery.

Her expression turns skeptical as hell. “You expect me to believe that?”

“How about we all pretend that your story is the truth, and someday, a long, long time from now, when I’m a very wealthy divorcée, I’ll tell you what actually happened.”

“I don’t like that plan, and from what I’ve gathered in the last eighteen hours, I have to assume this is somehow Summer’s fault.”

No one could ever accuse Alanna of being slow or dumb, so I should have expected that she would have already interrogated Summer and formed her own conclusions.

I meet Alanna’s familiar gaze and give her as much honesty as I can. “I’m not at liberty to discuss the details, but you know I’ll tell you more when I can.”

She nods in understanding as my sister wanders back from where she dipped a foot in the pool. We both spear her with sharp looks.

“What? What did I do?”

A deep voice replies to her question, much to my surprise.

“Let’s start with you impersonating your sister to get into underground poker games. That won’t be happening again, will it, Ms. Baptiste?” Forge stops in front of the long table set for brunch on the patio, and I watch my sister’s face.