14

After Rian held me tightly in his arms, repeatedly stroking my back soothingly and kissing my forehead, I unfortunately quickly found my way into the land of dreams.

I would have loved to have enjoyed his closeness longer, but I was really exhausted and couldn't keep my eyes open no matter how much I fought against my tiredness.

The next morning came faster than expected and still tired I looked for Rian with my hand until I suddenly felt something totally hairy under my hand and opened my eyes in shock.

"Oh, it's you," I murmured relieved about Nero, who lay next to me and watched me panting while I first stretched extensively and raised my upper body.

Unfortunately, Rian was no longer there, but I had the small hope of finding him downstairs, which prompted me to get up and trudge to his closet.

I grabbed one of his gray jogging pants and pulled them on, then stared at myself in the mirror for a while.

Did I look just as rumpled as I did every morning? Definitive! My hair was sticking out in all directions and the little bit of mascara I put on yesterday was now under my eyes making me look like I'd been drunk for three days...

But something was different, and that was that sparkling sparkle in my eyes. It was naïve to talk about love, I knew that, but those butterflies in my stomach, which came up immediately as my thoughts flew to last night, showed me only too clearly how infatuated I already was with him.

With a big grin on my lips, I quickly went to my bathroom upstairs, washed my face and brushed my teeth, and then floated down the stairs out of sheer happiness.

But there was nobody...

Only three empty cups on the table let me guess that they were already awake and probably doing their work or other things.

Great.

My eyes fell a little disappointed to the kitchen and it suddenly occurred to me that I had eaten almost nothing, or rather really nothing at all, in the last few days.

I put my hands on my stomach, which immediately growled as a result, and then hurriedly ran to the fridge, which to my delight was well stocked.

Humming and dancing, I filled Nero's bowl, made myself two sandwiches and a coffee and then sat down at the table to look contentedly out at the sun.

"Good morning," a female voice suddenly sounded behind me and when I turned around questioningly, my bread almost got stuck in my throat in horror.

"Oh my god," I gasped, slapping my chest a few times to keep from choking on her ridiculous demeanor.

"Are none of the men there?" she asked insistently and stood right in front of me to give me a disparaging look.

I was completely speechless and couldn't help but look at her outfit again.

While she only wore an almost transparent bra on top, only an extremely short skirt covered her intimate parts. Her black hair fell curly to her shoulders and she also had something like a feather duster in her hand.

That had to be a joke!

"I've told them a thousand times I won't clean up after their one night stands, so please put the plate in the sink and then get out!"

Still in shock, I watched her as she ran into the kitchen and started washing the cups, until I got up and wanted to throw my plate at the back of her head, but at that moment Senan came in through the patio door, completely soaked, and unconsciously prevented me my first murder.

"Good morning, sweetie," the bitch greeted him, glancing at me in the process. "Yours?"

Didn't she really say that?!

"No," Senan grinned, standing so close in front of me that I could feel his breath on my face and automatically took a step back. "Unfortunately not," he added quietly, and at that moment all the color slipped from my face, which was already pale anyway.

"This is Rian's wife, Keeva."

He turned his gaze back to her and as soon as he had spoken these words, this bitch's cup fell straight back into the sink.

"Excuse me?", she came totally upset and that's when I asked myself, did Rian have something to do with this cheap?

Also, why was she walking around half-naked and what was her function in the first place, came into my mind and I reluctantly reflected that she was surely a fuckable cleaning lady that the brothers enjoyed watching.

I could puke!

"I'm on the beach," I said, annoyed at everything, and grabbed Nero's collar to pull him out behind me, where I could finally take a deep breath again.

"Disgusting, isn't it?" I turned to Nero, but he didn't respond and hurried down the stairs ahead of me.

Despite the good weather and good mood I still felt this morning, my spirits kept getting depressed because of that feather duster.

I didn't want to be jealous, especially not of something that cheap, but it just struck me as absolutely repugnant that they even seemed to be doing things like this.

"Hey, Keeva!" I heard someone call out to me, snapping me out of my thoughts, and as I put my hand over my eyes to protect myself from the sun, I spotted Brandon in the distance, waving at me with a smile.

"Hey!" I called back and then slowly walked towards him while giving Nero a warning look. "Behave please."

RIAN POV

"Was that?!" I asked my father annoyed and signed some final papers and then got up and waited for his answer.

He was just discussing the latest happenings in our arms deals with Odran, because ever since he asked me to get involved in politics, he thought it best to keep me out of everything.

Maybe it really was better to have less blood on my hands...

"Yes," he finally turned to me and gave me a serious look. "Think about Friday's dinner!"

I just nodded and walked past them both out of the big office to hurry to my BMW. It really annoyed me that I had to show up so early and couldn't be with Keeva, so I was so happy to be with her again.

I grinned like a stupid teenager for the short drive home and was really scared I'd never get rid of that smile again, but when I pulled up into our driveway and saw Selena's company car, I stopped smiling and was left with my blank expression.

"Fucking shit," I cursed and quickly ran into the house, but there was no one but Selena to be found. She immediately gave me an annoyed look and I knew then that she must have met Keeva.

"One wrong word about her, Selena, and no man will ever want to touch you again," I warned her, knowing how she talked about other women.

Her outfit was the same as every Wednesday and I wondered if Odran had forgotten her. After all, she was his hooker and this absurd roleplay was her thing. She really pissed me and Senan off most of the time.

"It's okay," she raised her hands and came towards me to put them on my chest, but I immediately grabbed them tightly and pushed them away from me, growling.

"I don't give a fuck what's going on between you and my brother, but that's the last time you enter this house in such an outfit," I explained to her in a menacing voice and when she suddenly looked at me in shock, I knew that my message had arrived even in her brainless skull.

"Doesn't the mistress tolerate any competition," she then wanted to know, slightly snappy, and I immediately had to laugh out loud. Just how naive was she?

"Someone like you couldn't even begin to compete with her!"

She gave me an angry look and was about to say something again when she was interrupted by Senan, who was standing in the patio door.

Better for her...

"You should check this out," he called out to me and I immediately ran out to him, ignoring Selena again.

"What then?"

He preceded me to the edge of the patio and nodded along the beach, where, further away, I suddenly saw Keeva talking to some jerk.

"Do you know him?" I turned to Senan, who only shook his head in the negative.

I immediately pulled out my gun, checked that it was loaded, and put it back in my pocket to make my way to the beach.

While the sun blinded me slightly, I got closer and closer to the two and noticed that they didn't even notice me because they were laughing so much. Their conversation seemed to block out everything else and an unbridled anger welled up in me, which also made me block out everything else.

Was that jealousy? I didn't know that feeling and I wish I had never known it either.

"And then what happened?" I heard my Keeva giggle as she put her hand on his upper arm while holding her stomach in laughter with the other hand.

This guy had just signed his death warrant!

Before Keeva saw me, the guy's eyes met mine and I saw the panic in his eyes as he took a step back. Only then did Keeva turn around, whose smile was beautiful but didn't calm me down in any way.

Without saying anything, I grabbed her from behind and kissed her slightly salty neck while literally staring at the blond pisser.

"Where have you been?" Keeva asked quietly, turning in my arms, but I still glared at the guy behind her with hatred, who kept avoiding my gaze nervously.

"Who is that?" I wanted to know and when the guy wanted to open his mouth, I immediately cut him off again. "I'm talking to my wife. You shut the fuck up."

"Rian!" Keeva admonished me, blushing while giving the guy an apologetic look.

Did she want to make fun of me too?!

"This is Brandon, a neighbor," she ground out softly between her teeth, placing her hands on my trembling chest.

I caught a glimpse of her big brown eyes, but immediately set my sights on him again.

"Where do you live?" I asked as coldly as I could and nervously he pointed to a villa behind him.

"That's where Mr. Burke and his wife live," I said skeptically, looking at the villa, and when he nodded, I quickly drew my pistol, aimed at his head and ran so close to him that the barrel was almost his touched his forehead dripping with sweat.

"Rian!" I heard Keeva and felt her hand on my arm. "What are you doing there!? We were just talking!"

She sounded upset and nervous, but I ignored her completely and cocked my head slightly to continue studying this Brad, or whatever the prick was called.

"The Burkes don't have any children," I let him know, taking a deep breath, but he immediately stuttered, and as I watched countless tears suddenly run down his cheeks, my jaw dropped and I had to really pull myself together not to laugh at this wimp.

"I'm the nephew! I'm just the nephew," he repeated over and over, stuttering. "My aunt is ill, I help my uncle to take care of it!"

He raised his trembling hands and I wouldn't have been surprised if he pissed his pants in fear.

I had really never experienced anything like that.

My gaze fell to Keeva, who stared at him just as puzzled as I did, before she looked at me and I couldn't help but grin, which made her eyes roll again.

"That's enough now," she reminded me again and put her hand on mine to lower the gun together with me.

"I'm so-"

"You're not going to apologize for me," I warned her, then turned back to the crybaby who I would have loved to have shot for just making those pathetic noises.

"Have a wonderful day," I said seriously, biting back my laughter as I took Keeva's hand and pulled it with me, leaving the pisser alone with his tears.

"Did that really have to be?" she asked slightly bitchy and I just shrugged my shoulders innocently.

"It didn't do any harm, at least not to me," I grinned and heard her snort in annoyance before we continued walking back to the villa.