Page 112 of Ruthless Dream

I frown for a second before laughing.

“What?” Nat asks.

I shake my head, smoothing my hair back. It’s already turning into a sweltering summer. “I’m checking my phone because I want to see if my grades have been updated.”

I finished my last final this morning. I can now focus all my attention on moving into the condo.

Nat rolls her eyes, picking up her rosé. “Wow. What a loser.”

I laugh again.

She shrugs, finishing off her wine. “You’d said something about the move earlier.”

“Rachel’s making sure the Wi-Fi is getting set up, but it’s no big deal.”

She’s the shy one, but nowhere near the level of Lennie. Her mom flew in from Paris, and the pair of them are making sure the movers and technical stuff get set up.

I check my watch. “But I don’t want to leave them there too long. I don’t want to be rude.”

“Didn’t you just say Rachel’s mom flew in with a personal staff of twelve?”

It’s rich of us to be making fun of wealthy people, but while Mom is hyperaware of our security teams at all times, we’ve preferred to keep a small staff our whole lives. It’s why we’re so down-to-earth, as Nat likes to say. Though, when she says this, Lennie likes to point out that Dad used to train us for all types of war-like scenarios. I’d like to see Rachel’s family operate a flamethrower.

Nat waves a hand. “Rachel will be fine. Your exams will be fine. Now tell me about your Irish boyfriend?”

“The one you used to hate?”

“He’s warming up to me.”

Unable to act coy, a smile takes over my face. “Ciaran’s fine. He’s his usual weird self.”

“What does that mean? Is that like a kink thing?”

A laugh bursts from me, my chest loosening. The stress of the past few weeks has melted away thanks to lunch with my sister. But I hate her wicked smirk as she notes my hot cheeks.

“You really want to talk about kinks with your baby sister?”

Nat makes a face, squishing up her nose.

“He’s sweet,” I say. “He made me breakfast this morning.”

Normally, he’s up before me, but he stuck around. He kissed my forehead and wished me good luck on my exam.

“In a couple of months, he’ll have been here for an entire year,” Nat says, watching me closely. “You think he’ll be here for a while longer?”

“Maybe.”

I don’t know what to say. I have always known Ciaran would go home. He’s been talking about Dublin more and more the past few weeks. Last night, his brown eyes held something in them when he spoke about dinners with Nora. Like he wanted to invite me to visit. Which would be crazy, though.

Unless, maybe we stay friends after all of this?

Nat tilts her head to the side, her brow knitted together.

She’s dropped hints a couple of times, asking aloud about Ciaran’s status in the States. Ciaran and I have never spoken officially about an end date to our arrangement. I’m not sure if I want to bring it up. I certainly don’t want to question myself on why that is.

And I’m not interested in an interrogation right this second.

“Was everything good, ladies?”