“If they’re stupid enough,” Brent tacked on, “then I say go for it. I’m just glad we’re rid of that damn place.”
“The sale still has to go through,” Max noted.
“It will,” Brent assured his brother.
Leyton watched Brent, noticing his easy smile. Brent—twenty-seven and only now starting to take a real interest in the family business—was the most laid-back Adorite, aside from possibly Max’s youngest sister, Madison. When everyone else was talking business, those two usually attempted to derail the conversation, which explained the current topic. Not that Leyton blamed either of them. These days, business seemed to be the only thing they had to talk about.
Apparently, the dominoes had been tipped after Max’s mother had shot and killed Max’s father during a standoff back in July, followed by Max marrying the enemy—the daughter of a family who spent their days bringing down the bad guys. Those two events had ruffled some major feathers with the people they did business with. Granted, Max was dealing with the issues by doing what he always did—brushing them off. He didn’t force anyone to do business with him, but there were a lot of people indebted to the Adorites. Now that Samuel was dead and Max had taken over the organization, people were learning rather quickly that they only got one chance. Samuel had been volatile, and although he’d been ruthlessly cruel to anyone and everyone he came in contact with, he had enjoyed toying with people. Unlike his father, Max didn’t play games. Ever.
With the lull in conversation, Leyton turned to Max. “I’m meetin’ Tony at the warehouse on Friday,” Leyton said as he took a seat next to Brent after holding a chair out for Genevieve. “You wanna come along?”
Max held his gaze and nodded once. “We need to talk about a coupla things. After dinner.”
Leyton nodded in return. If Max felt it necessary to intervene, then things had gone too far. How well that spoke for Leyton’s ability to do his job, he didn’t know, but he wasn’t going to question it, either. He was still learning the ropes, after all.
“How’s the leg?” Ashlynn asked Leyton.
As much as he would’ve preferred not to look at her, that wasn’t possible when she was speaking directly to him. If he didn’t want Max to become suspicious, thinking that Leyton had a thing for Ashlynn—which admittedly he did, even though he shouldn’t—then he had to pretend that she didn’t affect him.
At all.
Not a fucking easy task when he’d been drawn to the woman for damn near half his life.
“Better.” Doing his best not to stare too long, Leyton couldn’t help but admire how fucking beautiful Ashlynn was. All that long, silky hair and those sparkling hazel eyes combined with a centerfold body and a sexy mean streak, she’d been the object of his many erotic fantasies for years.
“You were lucky,” Ashlynn told him, her eyes glittering as she stared back at him. “That asshole was tryin’ to kill you.”
Better me than you, he thought.
The attempt on his life had resulted in a nasty bullet hole in his upper thigh, but yes, Ashlynn was correct, one of their previous business associates—previous because he was now dead—hadn’t taken too kindly to Leyton’s tactics. In the end, the guy had died by Leyton’s bullet, and Leyton had endured a flesh wound that had hurt like a motherfucker.
“I was,” he admitted, peering around Brent and Jase to look at her, not breaking eye contact.
Due to Ashlynn’s position at the table on Max’s left side, her brother couldn’t see the mischievous gleam in Ashlynn’s eyes or the way she slowly ran her tongue over her plump lower lip, but Leyton could. He knew she was tempting him. Or trying to.
Ever since her twenty-sixth birthday party at Devil’s Playground, when Leyton had stumbled upon Ashlynn and Jase fucking in the VIP area, hearing his name mentioned during the erotic encounter, the tension between them had heated up significantly. Relatively speaking.
Ashlynn knew he had seen them, had overheard their conversation, and he suspected that had been her plan all along.
“That’s it, baby. Ride my dick. Are you thinkin’ about him right now?”
“God, yes.”
“Are you thinkin’ how good it’d feel if Leyton’s big dick was fillin’ your ass?”
“Yes.”
“You want him fucking your sweet ass while I’m plowin’ this pretty pussy?”
“Both of you. I want to feel you both.”
Just thinking about that night made his cock twitch. The idea of fucking Ashlynn’s sexy little ass while Jase filled her pussy had been the exact setting for many of his fantasies since that day. Of course, his thoughts had drifted further, imagining himself and Jase…
Fuck.
Not that any of it mattered.
Fantasies they were. Nothing more than fucking fantasies.
Ashlynn Adorite was off-limits. And by default, so was Jase. Period.
Swallowing hard, Leyton broke eye contact with her and turned his attention back to his boss. There was no sense giving in to Ashlynn’s lure, because Max had already warned Leyton away from his sister.
Oh, and one more thing … second-in-command or not, I better not ever catch you fuckin’ my sister anywhere. Certainly not in my bed or my favorite fucking chair, or anywhere else in my goddamn house. Got it?
That had been Max’s response to Leyton’s rant from the night Max had been shot. The night Leyton had sincerely believed he’d lost the closest thing to family that he had. In a moment of sheer panic, Leyton had threatened to fuck Ashlynn in an attempt to get Max to fight for his life.
It’d worked.
And now, Ashlynn was officially off-limits to Leyton. As far as Leyton was concerned, loyalty to Max came first and foremost.
Thirteen years ago, almost to the day, Max had saved Leyton’s life. Twice.
Sixteen years old, Leyton had been at a point where he no longer cared what happened to him. He’d been attempting to fit in even after four years in a new place, his father had been beating on him every chance he got, and Leyton hadn’t been able to see anything in his future. Max had been his saving grace when he’d first arrived in Dallas, becoming his one and only true friend, but during those dark years, Leyton had felt as though their friendship had become so one-sided he had no idea what he could offer Max. But his entire world had changed when Max had intervened after he’d happened upon Leyton getting ready to take his own life.
That night had ultimately changed the course of Leyton’s life forever.
During the years that had followed, Leyton had learned the true meaning of loyalty. The Adorites … well, the Adorites were a different breed, He’d even known it then. It didn’t take long for Leyton to realize what Max’s family was up to. They were mafia, plain and simple. Ruthless men and women who were both loathed and respected by every person they came in contact with. Their loyalty to one another went above and beyond anything else.
And now, as he sat at the table with the entire family—Max, Courtney, Brent, Ashlynn, Victor, Aidan, Madison, and Genevieve, along with the main enforcers—Leyton accepted that he’d become part of the family.
Which was the very reason Leyton couldn’t entertain the notion of giving in to the temptation that Ashlynn presented.
No matter how fucking much he wanted to.
Chapter Three
Anyone have a cure for boredom?
Ashlynn Adorite listened to the conversation that was taking place around her. She’d been pushing her food around on her plate for the past half hour, wishing the night would end. Or at least the dinner portion of the evening.