The idea of having Master rights at the club was something to be grateful for. He would need the outlet. Spanking a lovely sub would be a good way to unwind at the end of the day. Maybe Siobhan needed a partner. He could get into that.
The lift walls were glass. Liam stared out and down as they rode up to the fourth floor. He could see the dungeon below him.
A sudden vision of Avery Charles among the winding vines assaulted him. Her luminous skin would make her look like a pearl among the dark plants, like a flower blooming in the gloom. He’d mostly seen her in the sun. Would she illuminate the darkness?
The lift doors opened, and Liam was startled out of his vision. He was getting to be as bad as his friends. He felt a grin light his face because those friends of his were about to get their asses kicked. Ian looked like he was out for blood.
The fourth floor looked more like an office space. Liam stepped out of the lift and it was like he’d been transported back to the real world. He followed Ian toward the boardroom.
Liam pushed open the door to the meeting room. The boardroom was brightly lit with an expensive looking conference table and chairs. High-tech computer equipment sat on a desk in the corner, and a big projection screen covered the far wall.
Adam Miles sat at the desk fiddling around with the equipment. Alex McKay looked over his shoulder. No problem there. And then he saw Jacob Dean. Jake was in the corner quietly talking to a pretty brunette. Liam felt a smile cross his face. That brunette wasn’t supposed to be here. She wasn’t anywhere close to being a member of the team. Thank god. Ian would crawl out of his backside now that he had a new target.
“Jacob Dean,” Ian began in the icy voice that must have scared the crap out of every soldier he used it on. “Do you want to explain to me why your wife is in my boardroom when she should be safely back in the Lone Star State?”
“I told you this wasn’t the way to tell him,” a low, feminine voice said. She didn’t try to hide her amusement as she rose gracefully from her seat. Eve St. James. Liam couldn’t help but smile. The resident shrink had a calming presence about her. Eve was gorgeous, with sleek blonde hair and a lovely face that was always perfectly made up. She was the very picture of serene, competent femininity. She winked Liam’s way. “I think I told you both you should hide her and pray Ian never found out.”
Jake pushed Serena behind him as though Ian would attack at any minute. “Now, Ian, we need to talk about this.”
Adam got up, scrambling away from the desk to put his own body in front of Serena. Did they really think Ian was going to kill the girl? “She had to come with us.”
Ian crossed his arms over his massive chest. “Oh, I would like to hear this one. Has Serena been surgically attached to one of you? Has she developed a medical condition in which she must be around one of her Masters or she’ll die? Submissivitis?”
“Ian, we just got married. You can’t expect us to leave our wife behind,” Adam argued.
“Oh, really? Because I did.”
Liam stood beside Ian, only mocking his ultra-alpha stance a little. Maybe a lot. “Would you like to let me know how you’re going to explain little Miss Sunshine to our mark? I thought you were doing the gay thing as your cover.”
“Our cover is solid.” Adam pointed down to his pants, a ridiculously tight pair of denims that molded to his legs. “Look, jeggings. Trust me, there’s no worry on that front.”
Jake grinned. “They didn’t have any in my size. Guess guys as big as me don’t wear jeggings.”
An arm crept around Adam’s waist. “I think you look hot, babe. And I’m not exactly staying with them, you know, Ian. I have a very nice hotel room in Kensington. That’s on the whole other side of the city.”
“There’s nowhere in London that’s not a couple of Tube stops away. You are getting back on a plane tonight,” Ian said.
Jake and Adam started to puff up. Serena moved from between them and faced down Ian herself. Or rather faced up. She was a good foot shorter than him.
“I’m not going home.”
Ian growled.
“Fine. I’m not going home, Sir.” Serena stood her ground even though she flinched just a little. “I might be pregnant.”
Ian’s eyes flared. “Then why were you drinking vodka tonics the last time I saw you?”
“It’s too early to tell.” Serena’s eyes were wide with a hint of mischief in them.
“Oh, I can tell, Serena,” Ian shot back. “I can walk outside right now and find a stick for you to pee on.”
That was Ian. Always a giver.
“Back off, Ian.” Jake pulled her back.
“Not when she’s disrupting the op,” Ian replied.
Serena’s eyes rolled in a way that would ensure her ass was red at some point in the day. She was an awfully cute little brat. “I’m not going to disrupt anything. And I’m not leaving. We’re trying to get pregnant. I can’t get pregnant if my husbands are on a different continent. And before you offer to ship their sperm via UPS, you should know that I intend to do this the old-fashioned, traditional way.”
Yes, Serena Dean-Miles was so traditional she’d married two men. Well, legally she’d married one, but the other had come along for the ride. “Serena, you have to stay in Kensington. You can’t come to Jake and Adam’s place. I don’t even want you within a mile of Liverpool station.”
Avery’s apartment was in a building just across from the station. She was conveniently situated between a fast food joint and a pub called Dirty Dick’s.
Serena turned to him, her eyes bright as though she recognized a reprieve when it was offered to her. “I promise. I won’t go near that part of the city. I’m working on a book. I’m on a hard deadline, so it’s very unlikely you’ll see me at all. I’ll just send them a text when I’m ovulating.”
Adam grinned. “We tag team on the baby making. It’s my sperm’s turn next time.”
Ian groaned. “God, I did not need to hear that.”
Liam didn’t understand the impulse to create a tiny human thing that would be utterly dependent on him and require hours of upkeep. Simple. That was the only way to live, and that meant avoiding hairy entanglements like children. He could barely maintain friendships. “Can we move on to the actual work portion of this evening?”