The Wrong Gentleman

“Mariah wrote that Christmas song and it’s a classic!” I said, flip

ping Skylar on her back and crawling over her.

“Celine, man. Her voice is the best in the business,” she said as I dipped and kissed her neck.

“What else don’t I know about you?” I asked. If I could stay here for the next week, just hearing what Skylar had to say about everything, I was pretty sure it would be the best week of my life.

“Hmm. Ice skating. I’ve always wanted to try it.”

“You never have?”

She shook her head. “I’m sure I’d be terrible at it. But I’d like to know.”

“Maybe if you listened to Celine Dion while you skated, it would help.”

“You never know.” She grinned up at me. “Have you been?”

“Yeah,” I said. My parents took Hayden and me every Christmas in London, but Skylar didn’t need to hear that. “Not for years, but at Christmas they have temporary rinks around London, so yes I’ve been a few times.”

“You’re trying to convince me Christmas is great again, aren’t you?”

I chuckled. “I wouldn’t dare.”

“If anyone could, you could,” she said, shifting back around so she was tucked into my chest.

The breath caught in my throat. For someone so cynical, so jaded, she sure did have a way of making a guy feel special.

Thirty-Two

Landon

It was unlike my brother to call, but it had come just at the right moment. I’d hoped that Skylar would somehow solve my dilemma and refuse Walt’s invitation to dinner. But ever dutiful, she’d accepted, and ever loyal, she’d even told Walt that her feelings were strictly platonic.

If only she’d been a different girl. A less special person.

Of course, he hadn’t given a shit that she wasn’t interested, because he was just using her as a cover.

And it meant I was back at square one: sacrifice Skylar and put her in danger, or compromise the operation and live with the fact that if I didn’t help bring Walt down, potentially thousands of needless deaths lay on my conscience. Either way, I was an arsehole. Perhaps Hayden could help.

“How’s yacht life?” he asked as soon as I answered.

“Fine,” I snapped.

“Everything okay?”

The last thing my brother and I did was talk about our feelings, but all I could think about was Skylar. “When you met Avery, did you know that she was different right from the beginning?” The first time I’d met Skylar, I thought she was hot. Perhaps the most attractive woman I’d ever laid eyes on. I’d flirted with her, made it my mission to fuck her, and enjoyed every second of her naked. I hadn’t expected to see her again. And that had been just fine.

“I’m not sure if it was right away. She’s clearly beautiful, which is hard to ignore. But I had a lot of shit going on at the time. I’m not sure I thought much about anything. Why do you ask?”

Somewhere along the line, Skylar had become important to me. Someone I liked to fuck, but it was more than that. I liked her. Thought she was funny and clever and sold herself short. “I think I might have gotten myself into a bit of a mess.”

“Interesting, little brother. Over a girl?”

I growled. I wasn’t in the mood to have the piss taken out of me. I should never have answered the phone.

“It was bound to happen sooner or later,” he said. “It’s not the reason you’re on the yacht, is it?”

“No, I’m on a job for Reynolds, before I start with MI6 next month. I told you.”