Chapter 353

Shermaine noticed Joshua’s hair was still damp and grabbed a towel to dry it. Before long, he pulled her onto his lap to take over. She cupped his face, studying him. “Why not talk to him a bit longer?”

“Who?” Joshua asked.

“Stephen,” she said.

Joshua harbored no resentment toward Stephen, but years of distance couldn't be erased in one call. After a few rough wipes, Joshua tossed the towel onto a chair. “We’ll talk when we’re back.” Truthfully, he was curious about what had finally dragged the stubborn workaholic out of his lab. After his mother’s death, Joshua had assumed he and Stephen would never see each other again.

Shermaine reached to towel his hair once more, but Joshua caught her wrist, pulling her into a kiss that drowned any protest in heat and possessive hunger.

Roy had reached the hotel lobby. The car ride had sobered him up, but he kept up the drunk act, leaning heavily on Molly as she helped him inside. He played the sweet, guileless boy around her, but he wasn’t naive. Since she allowed his closeness, he acted clingy, like an oversized teddy bear. Nuzzling her neck, he inhaled her scent.

Molly stiffened. Despite Ustrana’s romantic reputation, she avoided physical contact with men. Roy might be her “pet,” but he was still a man, one who wanted her.

“Stop squirming,” she warned.

Roy whined. “Momo, I’m hot.”

Molly thought, ‘Hot? It’s cool out here. True, the car’s heater has been blasting, and alcohol could make him flush. But what did he call me? Momo?’

Her voice dropped. “What did you just call me?” No man had ever dared use a nickname this intimate. Anyone else would’ve gotten a fist in the face.

Roy lifted his gaze, soft features blurred by drink, eyes hazy and faintly red-rimmed. “Hmm? Can’t I call you that?”

Molly hesitated. “Fine.”

He called her again. “Momo.”

She drew a hard line. “Only in private. Understood?”

“Got it.” His smile was bright.

Against all odds, Molly’s mood lifted. This obedient, uncomplicated man was nothing like the others. At least he didn’t make her skin crawl. “Come on. Let’s get you upstairs.”

Her bodyguards exchanged glances. None had ever seen a man get this close to Molly. If Beckett James found out she was indulging someone like this, especially with their arranged marriage all but set in stone, hell would break loose. The union had been arranged by Molly’s mother, the Carlton family’s third madame, to secure her a powerful ally. But Molly, ever defiant, had rejected Beckett outright. That didn’t stop him from parading around as her fiancé. And this sweet-faced, pink-haired boy wouldn’t survive Beckett’s wrath.