Page 121 of Our Radiant Embers

I turned to Gale. Other than a mumbled thanks at one of the waiters, he hadn’t said a word since we’d left the car, but he stood with his shoulders rolled back and his chin tipped up. ‘You’re a Harrington—you look up to no one.’ We’d both heard it too many times to count.

“All right with you?” I asked him, and he nodded.

“You know I’m with you.”

I was bloody lucky, wasn’t I? If not for Cassandra and Gale, I might have gone raving mad a long time ago.

We made our way up to the second level, greeting people here and there, but didn’t stop until we reached Liam and Laurie. Her full-length gown looked lovely on her, but it was Liam who stole my breath. I’d seen the suit before, of course, had talked him into buying it because the blue silk sheen was perfect for him—but now that it had been adjusted to fit him just so, and coupled with how he held himself like nothing could touch him, just let them try? God. He was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.

“Liam,” Cassandra said, her tone light. “Laurie. How are you enjoying your first taste of the piranha pond?”

I realised I was staring right as Liam’s focus moved off me, his eyes a hint dark. Ah. So I wasn’t the only one, and I remembered what I’d sent him earlier—‘only got this suit so you can take it off me later.’ I’d almost added that sometimes, I wished I wasn’t me so we didn’t have to play hide and seek, but I’d ended up deleting the words instead of sending them. Too much. It was good we weren’t immediately on display, Liam’s back to the crowd, me slightly removed from the railing.

“Fishy,” Laurie said with a toss of her hair. “Lots of toothy smiles.”

“The better to eat you with,” Gale spoke up, surprising me. But then, he knew both Liam and Laurie from when he’d worked on building the Morgans’ new office, and they’d become friends of sorts.

“Feels a bit like it,” Laurie agreed. “I know this isn’t twenty years ago when it was all about survival of the fittest, but I’m not sure that everyone here got the memo.”

“Old habits die hard,” I told her, stepping up next to Liam so I was easily visible from below.

“To be fair”—Cassandra joined me—“it’s been a while since anything escalated into blood, sweat, and tears. I think the last time was about a year ago, wasn’t it? When the Aldergraves and the Silvers competed for the same mansion.”

True. The Silvers had won the fight, but the mansion had needed extensive restoration. It had been one of the first jobs I’d overseen.

“Well, we’re not planning to nab anyone’s mansion,” Liam said. It gave me an excuse to glance over and send him a smile.

“We’ll make sure to spread the word.”

“See that you do.” His eyes were dancing, and God, I wanted him. We’d made plans for me to join him later, stay over so we could discuss the evening over breakfast with his family.

Later was hours away, though. Too bloody long.

As a regular at Summers’ galas, I knew this manor. I’d been seventeen the first time I’d attended, far worse at faking indifference and struggling to spot the hidden layers to people’s words and actions. The second time had been just weeks after my mum’s death. I hadn’t wanted to come, and when I’d been ordered to put in an appearance anyway, I’d snuck out halfway through and had spent an hour wandering the gardens smoking, because I’d been good at rebelling in small, insignificant ways even as I fell in line where it mattered. I still did.

The point was, I knew this manor. I knew that security prevented anyone from venturing too far along its stairs and hallways, also knew that the toilets accessible to guests were too frequented to grant any privacy. But the gardens were a different matter—no one stopped guests from rambling between rose hedges and the ancient trees of an arboretum, from following the winding paths to the lily pond.

We could steal away for a few minutes. They wouldn’t even notice we were gone.

* * *

I whistled softly.

Liam drew to a halt. Then he turned towards me, his teeth flashing in a grin which caught second-hand brightness that spilled from the manor onto the lawn. It didn’t reach the alcove I’d come across years ago, tucked into the shade of a balcony, plants climbing up to the left and right.

“How the hell did you even find this?” Liam took an unhurried step towards me when I wanted him close, closer.

“Residual teenage angst and an overwhelming desire to be alone for a little while,” I told him.

“Solid reasons.” Another step, his face slightly clearer since my eyes had already adjusted to the night. I’d asked him to give me a three-minute head start, ‘take the back exit and turn left once you come down the stairs, then follow the path around the building. I’ll see you coming.’ It had felt like an eternity.

“I’d like to think so.” I was not going to ask him to hurry the fuck up and let me touch him—I was not. “Quit stalling and come here already.”

Well.

“Thought you’d never ask.” A smile shone in his voice, and he finally deigned to close the gap between us. I pulled him into my space, buried both hands in his hair, and nudged our mouths together. He opened immediately—not so stubborn now, are you?—as his hands slid under my suit jacket, flattening against my back to draw me closer. Hips knocking together, and fuck, this was dangerous—the irrational need bubbling in my chest as though it had been days rather than hours, fuelled by pretending he meant so much less to me than he did.

Minutes lost to the wet slide of our mouths. After a cloudy morning, the day had turned hot, the taste of summer lingering in the air. Maybe we could take another trip to the beach house soon, just us and the waves.

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