The Law of Stars and Sultans

“I think we might have to take Trey with us.”

“Yeah, I can see us having to buy a home with a pool house for him to grow old in.”

Ari chuckled, tilting her head back for his kiss. Pulling his lips away, Jai suddenly frowned at her. “Are you sore?”

She wrinkled her nose. “A little.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” She smiled mischievously. “If I remember correctly from my girlfriends’ tales, you performed something akin to a miracle last night.”

“You really shouldn’t say these things. It will only make me an egotistical jackass.”

Laughing, she shook her head. “I think we’re past that.”

“You know, if you continue to be mean to me, I won’t do it again. I will become a very selfish lover.” His face was completely deadpan.

Ari’s lips twitched, her chest full of fluttering wings, she was in such a good mood. “Become a selfish lover and I’m out of here. You’ll need to get used to your right hand again.”

Jai threw his head back on the pillow, laughing at her, his eyes glittering in the morning light. “What have I created?”

“A very happy girlfriend.” She crawled over him, her arms braced on his chest, her hair falling like a curtain around them.

“Yeah?” he breathed, staring up at her reverently. He brushed her hair back, curling his fingers around her ear, sending shivers down her spine.

“Mmm.” She pressed her mouth to his, groaning as Jai deepened the kiss. He wrapped his arms around her slender waist and rolled them, trailing heated kisses down her throat, her chest, down her soft belly. When he kissed her there, she cried out and quickly clamped a hand over her mouth, sensing Trey’s energy in the house now and not wanting to be heard.

Biting her tongue, Ari’s eyelashes fluttered closed as she let Jai take her on another amazing sensual journey.

* * *

After a joint shower, they dressed in Jai’s room, acting like stupid, loved-up idiots and enjoying every minute of it. It wasn’t until they were about to leave the room and venture downstairs for breakfast when Jai returned them to a more serious place.

“Did Asmodeus visit your dreams last night?”

Hearing the edge in his voice, Ari was thankful her honest reply was, “No.”

He grunted and Ari automatically wanted to shut his bedroom door to bar them inside, away from all the crap outside. Instead, she followed him downstairs, his large hand holding hers tight in his. When they entered the kitchen, Trey was already there with his easel in the corner, looking out into the gardens. Paper, paints, charcoal, and pencils littered the breakfast table. He glanced up from the blurry, abstract landscape he was working on and grinned knowingly at them. “Morning,” he offered silkily.

He knew.

How did he know? Ari blushed. “Morning,” she mumbled and hurried to pour herself a white coffee, a black one for Jai—his only vice. Ari wondered if in Jai-Land, she could be considered a vice too.

“Ari, you’re positively glowing this morning. What could have possibly brought such a—ow!” Trey yelped and Ari turned to see him rubbing the back of his head as Jai moved innocently away to take a seat. She snorted and slipped into a chair beside Jai, pushing the coffee toward him.

He smiled softly, his eyes blazing with heat as he looked at her. “Thank you.”

Ari flushed. “You’re welcome.”

“Do Glass and I act like this?” Trey asked.

Ignoring his teasing, Ari studied his painting. “That’s beautiful. Can we hang it somewhere or are you selling it?”

Trey studied his own work. “Nah, I think we’ll hang it. It should stay with this house.”

“So I hate to destroy a pleasant morning, but …” Jai sighed heavily. “Trey, we have a problem.”

His best friend caught the serious note in his voice and lowered his paintbrush. Bracing his hands on the back of a chair, Trey nodded. “Okay, hit me with it.”

Ari was silent as Jai filled Trey in on the situation with Charlie and Asmodeus. It didn’t surprise her that she’d agreed they should confide in Trey. After all, he was on their side and if they were going to be handling this alone, he would be a welcome help.

Shaking his head at the news, Trey sat down at the table. “So … you’re not telling Michael?”

The thought of keeping secrets from a man who’d helped them made Ari ill. It was with a heavy heart she replied, “We can’t tell him, Trey. You know what the Guild will do to Charlie, and I just need one more chance to save him.”

“To save him? Ari, he’s blackmailing you.”

“Trey,” Jai asked softly, “what if it were me?”

Trey groaned. “Oh. Okay, fine. So we need a plan, right?”

“Actually, I think I might already have one,” Jai offered quietly.

That was news to Ari. She sat up straight, anticipation zinging in her blood. “Yeah? Since when?”