Page 41 of Beginning at the End
He grinned and did as she asked.
“Right, I get more out of holding his hand in a restaurant than I ever did curled up against you at an event.Don’t even get me started about what happens when he pulls out my chair for me.”
She elbowed Sern, and he had mischief dancing in his eyes.“The ears work really well, huh?”
“Really well.”He took her hand and kissed the back of it.“There is an opera house of chairs being held for you in your future.”
She blushed hard.“Yeah.Really well.”
Likon looked at them.“I have never seen that expression on your face.”
She looked at him sadly.“That’s because it was never for you.Just as yours was never for me.”
Likon flexed his tanned jaw.“It could have been.”
“If it could have been, then it would have been.I am receptive every twenty-eight days, and your nose didn’t even twitch.Dude, what does that say to you?To me, it says sibling bond.”She sighed.“And no sibling wants to watch anybody screwing Nessa.”
Likon sighed.“She’s just so persistent.”
“Yup.Don’t worry.Anybody who wondered knows that you were in rut, and she was on top of you.That’s why we broke up.”She beamed.“You are welcome.”
Likon’s jaw opened.“You said what?”
“I told the truth.It is a lot less to remember.Just say you were hot, she was willing, and in your distracted state, you invited her inside.”She shrugged.“Or she invited you inside.Whatever.Everybody knows she’s an alpha hunter.You are just one of her trophies.And she got to break up what she thought was a marriage, so extra points.”
Likon winced.“Is she that bad?”
“Carl, Mark, Tony, Keller, and those are just since I have been around your circles.Oh, maybe she’s trying to collect an alphabet.”
Sern and Magnus snorted.
Likon sighed and grimaced before smiling.“You aren’t mad at me?”
“I am rather disgusted.You didn’t tuck in when you came after me.That is a memory that is going to haunt me.I had no idea you had piercings.”
Likon paused and then burst into laughter.
Magnus smiled, and he and Sern got to negotiating because neither Likon nor Eudora really cared.
Eudora was dismissed to go get snacks because she kept refusing everything.The guys booted her out of the office, and she followed the smell of hot chocolate.
Rhymbia was sitting with Kern, eating cake with their butler-housekeeper standing in the kitchen.Eudora looked at Rhymbia and said, “They kicked me out for laughing and rejecting Likon’s efforts to make himself feel better.”
Rhymbia got up and hugged her.“Eudora, I missed you at the Thorne gala.”
“I was working and going through a divorce.I just got my bank account back this afternoon, and it has just enough in it to buy a serving uniform.Maybe jeans and a sweatshirt.”
Rhymbia blinked.“But...”
“They are all Likon’s.It was in our agreement.I keep nothing that was purchased as a prop.That included my phone and everything else.I went with what I came in with.Thrifted office wear and some jeans.”She smiled and held up her hand.“Two sets of sneakers.”
Kern frowned.“Why didn’t you call?”
“Yeah, why didn’t you call?”Rhymbia put her hands on her hips.
“Because you have a new baby, and I didn’t want to disturb you.”Eudora smiled.
Rhymbia narrowed her eyes.“He’s not that new, and we have a houseful of babysitters.”
