MALACHI First night in Mykonos was all shades of hot, but I still have to catch up on all the work I left back in Durmont. It’s a good thing I carried my work laptop with me. Sure, Ronan did agree to let us come with Sarah. We needed to be sure she’ll be safe, and the drama with Aaron Connor wouldn’t push her into the…well, wrong hands. Still, I know my brother enough to know that he expects us to meet our work quota despite this vacation. I take my laptop and drag myself to the kitchen, fix a cup of tea, and get started with work immediately my ass hits the stool. It’s 5:30am in the morning. Ronan and Sarah are still asleep, Jaxon went for a run about an hour ago, so I have the silence to myself. “Good morning to you, Gale. Yes. I’m doing very well, and you? I’m calling with respect to that. I believe that we were to have a meeting before my urgent trip to Greece? My assistant filled you in on that? Great. Yes. Sure, we could hop on a call now if you…” The sound of footsteps flows into my left ear, and I look up from the screen of my laptop to the door. Sarah is there, leaning against the door of the kitchen. She’s wearing my long sleeved shirt from last night, and it barely covers the skin of her thighs. The sleeves cover her arms completely, leaving extra space where her hands stop. I try to hold back my laughter. “Are you there, mister Hawk?” The voice at the other end of my damned phone calls me back to reality. I turn away from her and look back on my laptop. “Yes, I am. How about we move this meeting to another day? My apologies. I’ll make sure to see you when I’m back in Durmont.” I nod with a smile on my face. “Yes. Thank you.” My gaze drifts back to Sarah as I set my phone down. She walks to the fridge, and my eyes are glued on the curve of her ass. I can bet she’s not wearing any panties underneath that. Keep it down, Malachi. She’s quiet. Her flames of red hair flow down her shoulders in a tangled mess. Two puffy bags are underneath her hazel eyes. She looks tired. And somehow, still so fucking sexy. I have to rub my palms over my fucking thighs again and again to keep my cock down. Sarah grabs a bottle of water from the fridge and takes it down in five gulps. She turns her head sideways—left, right—as if massaging her neck. And I’m stuck there, watching every beautifully fragile piece of her. From her long, thick lashes that casted delicate shadows across her cheek, to her nose, her lips—I desperately needed a taste of—her long neck, and the valley between her full breasts. When her gaze locks on mine, I look away quickly. Shit. Way to be subtle, Malachi HawkThorne. I clear my throat before looking up at her again. “Are you hungry?” She throws the empty bottle into the trash can beside her, pushing a loose strand of hair to the back of her right ear. “Yeah. But it’s a little too early for breakfast. Don’t you think?” Her lashes flutter as she stares at me. There’s a longing look in her eyes. I can’t place it, but it makes me want to do absolutely anything for her. I push the stool backwards as I stand, and it makes a screeching noise as the legs scrub the marble floor. It doesn’t take me time to take out some eggs from the fridge. “We had someone stuck up the kitchen before we arrived,” I say, turning to her as I crack the eggs into a bowl. “Just in case you’re wondering.” She nods with a smile on her face. “You’re cooking?” “You’re hungry.” I respond. Fuck. Can she stop staring at me like that? I know she’s doing it on purpose. She knows what she does to me, to all of us. “But I can hold on till daylight.” I swallow hard, whisking the egg even harder. I need to keep my hands and mind busy, else they’ll wander away and make me do something I know for a fact I’m not going to regret. And that’s what makes it worse. “You don’t have to.” Silence follows my last statement. I keep all my attention on my scrambled eggs and toast. I don’t want to think of anything else. She stays silent, watching me with those beautiful, innocent eyes of hers. It’s just us in the kitchen. What’s the worst that could happen? My jaw hardens. Malachi HawkThorne, behave yourself. A chill rushes down my spine when Sarah’s fingers trace the base of my spine. I clear my throat and stand straight, but she doesn’t stop. She reaches for the waistband of my joggers and pulls it down a little bit. Something in me snaps. The spatula slips from my fucking fingers, and I quickly turn to look at her. “What are you doing?” She looks up at me. “I knew I saw a tattoo there!” Sarah squeals, bursting with excitement as though she’s worn a lottery. “It’s an odd one though. A palm? What’s it about? Is it really someone’s palm, or…?” Fuck this. Molten rage courses through my blood, poisoning my thoughts. I know it’s not her fault, but seeing her take something that means the world to me so lightly… Sarah moves closer and throws her arms around my neck. She leans in close, so close I can feel the heat from her breath. “Don’t you want to tell me about it?” I’m trying so hard to keep my nostrils from flaring, or twitching, or showing any sign of annoyance at all. The palm on my lower back belonged to the most important woman in my life, in all our lives. It’s been there since I was a teenager, a constant reminder of the woman who saved my life. Even though hers ended terribly. I should have known she was trouble the moment she walked in here without a bra and panties. I’m silent, staring at her. Slowly, her smile fades into a frown and her hands drop to her sides. “So, what? You’re just not going to touch me if no one else is here?” I turn my back to her, fixing my eyes on the burning eggs. God. I want to hold her so fucking bad. She has no idea. But I shouldn’t. I can’t. “We have an arrangement, Sarah. One that works.” “For who?” My grip on the spatula tightens, and so does my damned throat. “What?” She takes a stand beside me, arms crossed underneath her chest. “You said we have a system that works. I’m asking who it works for.” She’s visibly annoyed, and I don’t know what to do with that. It’s easy to hold her when her anger is directed at someone else. But it’s different this time around. Whatever is eating her up, we are the primary course of it. I look away from her and serve the eggs in a bowl. I take her right hand in my left, and place the bowl on it, before pressing a kiss on her forehead. Yes. I’m going to avoid the entire conversation. But Sarah doesn’t let me. No. She follows me behind, all the way to the door. I tuck my hands into my pockets to stop me from pulling her and sealing her mouth shut with a kiss I know we want so desperately. “I’m a person with feelings, okay?! I don’t know if that’s something you three are familiar with!” I pause on my tracks. “We know.” She scoffs. I notice she’s dropped the bowl of eggs cause her hands are empty when she raises them in a rather dramatic motion. “So, what is this? What are we doing? What am I doing here, Malachi?” Fuck. She’s hurting so bad. Her eyes are tearing up, and her jaw is ticking. I can see it all, and I can feel my heart physically rip into bits. But what does she want me to do about it? What does she want me to say? I take one step towards her. More than one would be dangerous. “Do you have a problem with the things we do, Sarah? Do you want to stop?” She shakes her head, shock flashing in her brown eyes. It’s almost like she can’t seem to understand how I came to that conclusion. “What? No! I…” “Then just let it be, alright?” “Malachi, I…” “Eat. It’s going to be a long day.” She opens her mouth to speak, but before she can, Jaxon’s voice cuts through the silence. “Is everything okay?” I suck in a deep breath and look up at him. “Yes.” Sarah and I chorus. He takes one look at her, and another at me. I can’t stand the charged atmosphere any longer. I excuse myself, and return to my room.