Page 70 of The Reluctant Siren
“I was worried at first, but it’s clear to me that Ruby is acompetent professional and if she says no one could have followed her, then Ibelieve her.” He parroted back what he and Niall had decided would be the bestanswer to the question they knew she would ask.
Niall nodded like he was proud.
Harlow looked at him with suspicion. She turned her head totake in Niall, who sat back, the smile leaving his face. He took a sip of hisbeer.
“I thought you two were fighting,” she said, her gaze goingback and forth between them.
“We’ve been friends since we were seven, so we almost neverfight for long,” Jensen assured her. “Niall has been my brother for a longtime. It would take a lot to break us. Though I almost managed it.”
“So a woman could never break you up. A woman is a bump inthe road,” she said softly.
Ah, the danger zone. Luckily, he knew the answer to thatone. “No, this particular woman is the end destination. I simply didn’t realizeI would have a passenger for the long run. We settled this last night. You’renot something we fight over. You’re the woman we work together to take care of.And dominate. Why exactly are you wearing that dress? Your friends are gone.It’s late in the day. I think it’s play time.”
He needed them on the right footing. He needed her to thinkabout pleasure and how well they could take care of her. She’d had time all dayto vent her frustrations. Now it was time to fill that space with caring andattention and love.
Yep. He fucking loved her, and he was going to do thisbecause he loved Niall, too.
Maybe he could start loving himself if he could change hismindset. For them. For himself. For his brother who couldn’t be here. Who wouldwant him to have a good life with everything he missed.
Her eyes widened. “I thought it was talk time.”
He let his lips curl up slowly. “I can talk while you’renaked. Come on, Harlow. You know you like it. You spend most of your timenaked.”
“She does? I mean I know she does in the club, but she’sworn PJs to bed with me,” Niall said with a frown.
Ah, Jensen knew this one. “Probably because you weren’tactually sleeping with her. I mean fucking her. You made her feel vulnerable soshe wore clothes. She honestly feels way more confident if she’s had a goodhard fuck.”
They could navigate her dangerous waters. Together. Likethey had done with Algebra, except way better because he liked Harlow. And he’dnever had hot sex with an integer.
“I want to say he’s wrong, but he’s not,” Harlow admitted.“And I’m still wearing the dress my sister so thoughtfully brought me becauseI’m worried about the dust in here.”
Niall stood up. “I’m on it. I actually did intend to cleanin here earlier, but it was taken over by a lovely group of women who spent allday complaining about me.”
“It wasn’t just you.” Harlow had the most adorable pout onher face. “We complained about a lot of things. Also, we need to figure out howto keep Gabe from kicking Niall out. He’s pissed.”
“Why would I get kicked out?” For the first time Niallsounded like he wasn’t perfectly comfortable. “I didn’t lie about anything. Iwas honest on my application. No one asked me if I was there to watch oversomeone.”
“I don’t think that’s going to matter to Gabe,” Harlowadmitted. “He wants to call a board meeting to reevaluate your status. The goodnews for you is half the board members are off on some kind of internationalmission now. They left last night, too. So it’ll probably be a week or twobefore he can kick you out legally. We have bylaws and everything.”
Niall moved toward the back of the house. “It’s good to knowI have a little time.”
“He loves that club, you know.” Jensen hated the fact thathe might get his friend kicked out of the only place he’d felt at home in foryears. “Although I have to wonder if he’ll have friends there now.”
Harlow’s hands went to her hips. “Am I supposed to go aroundtelling everyone it’s okay for him to stalk me for months?”
“He wasn’t stalking you. He was watching after you.” Jensensighed. “Although I’m sure you don’t see it that way. If your best friend askedyou to watch after someone she loved, would you do it?”
She seemed to deflate slightly. “I suppose I would. Iprobably wouldn’t try to date him though.”
“I can’t blame him. Well, I did, but having genuinelythought about it, I can’t. You’re quite easy to love,” he said.
“No, I’m not.” She got a V over her eyes, a vexedexpression. “I’m difficult. I’m complex and irritable.”
“And you’re going to get a spanking because you might bethose things, but there’s nothing wrong with them. Niall makes up for all ofit. He’s simple and easy going and rarely causes trouble,” Jensen pointed out.
“I can cause trouble,” Niall argued as he returned with hiskit and a big quilt he’d washed earlier in the day. He settled it across thelounger. “I can also be difficult when I want to be. There, princess, take offyour clothes and sit down and we can talk if you like. Or we can start to workon that pretty asshole of yours.”
“Excuse me? I did not say I wanted to do that,” she replied,though her hands went to the hem of the dress and she pulled it over her head,showing off the fact that she wasn’t wearing any underwear.
