Page 241 of Reckless Obsession

Tyler’s jaw drops clean to the floor. His eyes widen into literal saucers, all the air rushing out of his lungs in a high-pitched gasp.

“No freaking way.”

“You know him?” I ask, genuinely amused by the sheer meltdown happening across the kitchen island.

“Do I know him? Do I know him?!” Tyler shrieks, grabbing his cheeks. “Maksim, he is practically royalty in the gay adult entertainment community! I’m literally still subscribed to his page. He hasn’t posted any explicit stuff in forever, but he’s super active on Instagram. He travels, he models, he posts stories all the time.”

Tyler turns to Lucas, who is staring at him with a delightfully clueless expression.

“You seriously don’t know who Elfoxxy is?”

“You know I don’t watch adult content, Ty.” Lucas replies, shaking his head.

“Oh yeah, I forgot how pure and uncorrupted your little soul is,” Tyler mutters, already whipping his phone out from the front pouch of his apron. His thumbs fly across the glass with lightning speed. He spins the screen around, shoving it an inch from Lucas’s nose. “Look. That’s him.”

Lucas leans back slightly to adjust his focus, his gaze dropping to the high-resolution photo on the screen. His eyes widen in quiet, honest appreciation.

“Oh.”

Tyler grins. “Oh what?”

“Oh, wow.” Lucas says, his cheeks turning pink.

A snicker escapes my throat. I nudge Lucas’s shoulder.

“It’s okay to admit the guy is scorching hot, Lucas.” I say teasingly. “I know you’re engaged now, but Alex won’t accuse you of cheating just for possessing working eyesight.”

Lucas gives me a helpless look. “I did not say anything.”

“You said ‘oh, wow.’ That is practically poetry coming from you.”

Lucas laughs quietly, shoulders relaxing.

“He is really good-looking,” he admits. “I can see why people know who he is.”

Tyler presses a hand to his chest, deeply offended on the man’s behalf.

“Honey, he’s not just popular because of his pretty face,” Tyler cuts in smoothly, taking his phone back with an appreciative hum. “He’s famous because of his… talent in bed and his Groundbreaking technique on how he handles his Tops. I personally learned a lot from his videos.”

Tyler punctuates the sentence by tossing I and Lucas a shameless, exaggerated wink. Lucas groans, rolling his eyes toward the ceiling, but he can’t suppress the fond giggle shaking his shoulders.

“Okay, but in person? How was he?” Tyler asks. “Was he nice, or does he have an ego the size of the Vatican?”

I give a slight, indifferent shrug. “He was nice enough, though quiet. Kept to himself and barely said more than five words the entire evening.”

Lucas nods thoughtfully, scraping the last of the cookie batter together.

“And his sister? The one Anton is actually supposed to marry?”

“She’s fine,” I say, tapping my chin. “Polite and very pretty, like a classic Italian painting.” I pause, letting the memory of the long, stiff dinner table replay. “Though… I didn’t feel an ounce of chemistry between her and Anton. Zero spark. It was like watching two diplomats negotiate a water treaty.”

Tyler waves a dismissive hand. “Duh. It was an arranged mob dinner, Maksim. It was their first time laying eyes on each other. You can’t expect sparks to fly over the antipasto.”

I let out a low, thoughtful hum, tilting my head as a dangerous smirk curls at the corners of my lips.

“Yeah, sure,” I drawl slowly. “So why do I feel like Anton had a thousand times more chemistry with her half-brother?”

The kitchen falls dead silent.