Scandalous (Sinners of Saint Book 3)

I SLIPPED INTO the back seat of my private car Saturday morning, the delicious ache in my body from my time with Preston almost gone—but still lingering enough to remind me of what I’d done the other night, and was looking forward to doing again, as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

It was as if my younger self had re-emerged in the past week and decided to come and take my body for a spin. Or maybe that was just a side effect of having a gorgeous college-aged guy wanting to tear my clothes off whenever he was near.

Either way, I wasn’t about to complain, I hadn’t felt this good in years. Hell, I couldn’t remember ever feeling this good.

Something my willful cock seemed determined to remind me every time I thought about Preston spread out naked in my bed.

I shifted in my seat and did my best to push that image aside, knowing that was a dangerous thought, considering where I was headed this morning. Elysium’s Winter Ball was getting closer, and that meant today I needed all hands on deck.

Those hands just happened to include Preston’s…as well as the rest of the Park Avenue Princes.

So playing it cool today was the name of the game, even if it killed me not to pay Preston any attention. I wasn’t sure I trusted myself not to give us away if I so much as talked to him in front of the others. At least I’d have enough on my plate wrangling all the volunteers and workers who’d be helping to transform Elysium into a winter wonderland, so there wouldn’t be time to think about anything other than today’s agenda.

At least, that was what I was telling myself.

My phone buzzed in my lap, and I looked down to see an incoming call from Serena. “Good morning, Lovebug.”

“Hey, Dad.” The sound of girls shouting in the background—well, screeching was more like it—made me wince.

“Everything okay over there?”

Serena must’ve tried to cover the phone, because even though it was muffled, I could hear her shout, “Guys, quiet down for, like, two minutes.”

There was a response to that, one I couldn’t make out, and then she was back.

“Sorry, it’s been a crazy morning. One of our freakin’ pipes busted and there’s water everywhere.”

I straightened in alarm. “What? How? Is everything⁠—”

“I’m fine, we’re all fine. Well, Victoria’s losing her mind because she’s the messiest human in the world and kept all her clothes on the floor where it’s flooded, but that’s her own fault.”

“Where’s your super? Tell them I can be there in ten minutes.”

“No, Dad, I wasn’t calling you so you’d come over. I know you’ve got Elysium stuff today.”

“You take priority over anything else,” I said, my mind shifting to crisis and organizational mode.

“No, really, we’re fine. The super’s here, and Leslie’s parents are on their way. They can handle whatever needs to happen. I was just calling to give you a heads-up and see if you don’t mind my staying with you for a few days.”

“Bug, of course I don’t mind. Stay as long as you need to.”

“Thanks, Dad. And, um…”

When she hesitated, I frowned. “What?”

She lowered her voice. “Is it okay if Victoria and Leslie stay too? Their parents are a little more…uptight.”

I almost snorted out a laugh, but managed to keep myself in check. A house full of girls would be nothing but entertaining—and loud—but I was up for the challenge.

“You all are more than welcome, you know that. The alarm code hasn’t changed.”

Serena sighed in relief. “Thank you, you’re the best. We’ll get our stuff together and head over in a little while. Everything is just so…wet.”

“Good thing I won’t need the washer and dryer for a while,” I teased. Then, on a more serious note, I said, “Are you sure you don’t need me to come over?”

“I promise. We’re all good.”

“Except for Victoria’s clothes. Got it.”

“Exactly,” she said, and I could hear the smile in her voice. “There’s, uh, something else I wanted to ask you about.”

I opened my mouth to tease her about using my private car while they were at my place, but then I snapped it shut when a long silence followed. A silence that told me whatever she needed to ask, it wasn’t easy for her to say. And that could only mean one thing.

Preston.

“You won’t be having any…visitors while we’re there, will you?” she said.

My stomach fucking sank. Not because of her question, but because of the fact she had to even ask it at all.

God, what was I even doing?

“No,” I said, closing my eyes. “You don’t have to worry about that.”

When silence was all that met my ear, I added, “Are you worried about that?”

“About your having…a visitor?”

“No.” I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck. This was great—now we were talking in code. “About all of it. Any of it.”

I could hear some rustling, the noise in the background fading as though she’d moved away from the chaos unfolding at her place, not wanting anyone within earshot for whatever she had to say next.

“I mean, it’s a little, um…”

I winced as she tried to find the right words, but I waited. I needed to know how she felt. Not put words in her mouth.

“It’s different. That’s all,” she said, her voice low. “I’m used to Preston being with other people, but this is taking a little bit to wrap my head around.”

I could understand that. It had taken me a second to wrap my head around it all too. None of that would matter, though, if Serena had a problem with any of it. So I needed to tread carefully here—make sure she really was okay, not just saying it.

“I just want you to know that before this happened, I never looked at Preston like⁠—”

Serena’s boisterous laughter cut me off mid-sentence, and as her burst of hilarity began to dissipate, she managed, “I know that. Geez. You think I wouldn’t be able to tell if you were perving on my boyfr—fake—boyfriend?”

I’d had no goddamn clue. I hadn’t even known Preston was gay, for fuck’s sake. So how was I supposed to know whether my daughter was brighter than I was?

Clearly she was.

“Granted, I should’ve seen this coming sooner with the way Preston would moon all over you. But seriously, Dad, I know you never thought about it, or would’ve ever thought about it, if Preston hadn’t kissed you at the charity event.”

I coughed at the casual way she just threw it all out there.

Sweet Jesus. Was this what I got for raising an open-minded, opinionated daughter?

“Dad? Are you okay?”

“Uh, yes, I’m okay. I’m just⁠—”

“Thinking about Preston kissing you at the charity event?”

“Serena.”

“He’s good, isn’t he?”

Fucking hell. This conversation was going to be the death of me. I could feel a heart attack coming on with every other word coming out of her mouth.

“I’m just kidding. Look, I’m trying to be cool about this, okay? You know how I get—my jokes get more inappropriate the more nervous I am.”

“Bug, I don’t want you to be nervous. If this is too weird for you⁠—”

“Oh I’ll be fine,” she interrupted, and thank God, because I wasn’t positive I could promise to end things with Preston. In fact, I was fairly certain those words didn’t even exist for me right now. Not when all I could think about was the way he had kissed me at the charity event. “I just didn’t know how to bring this up, and, well, I just kinda worked myself into a bit of a state.”

“And Preston? Have you spoken to him any more about this, or⁠—”

“Yeah, we’re good. He’s just giving me some space to…process.”

That made sense. It wasn’t every day you found out your boyfriend/best friend was now seeing your father.

Christ. I was going to be paying for her therapist until I was ninety.

“Can I ask you something?”

Serena’s question had me refocusing on the conversation at hand. “Anything.”

“This thing with Preston, whatever you two are doing, you’re going to be careful, right?”

I frowned for a second, my mind automatically going where no parent’s mind should go when discussing their child’s friend.

“It’s just… You are the two people in the world I love the most, and this is kind of crazy, right? Like, what if his parents find out? What if the board at Elysium or—oh my God—school finds out? I don’t want anything to happen to either of you.”

I let out a sigh of relief that that was where her mind had been.

“We’ll be careful. Plus, we’re not really doing anything wrong, Bug. He’s of age and⁠—”

“Have you met his father? He’s planning our joint engagement and baby shower. He’s going to think what you’re doing is very wrong. Just promise me you won’t do anything to…jeopardize each other.”

Like almost fucking him in a restroom while his parents ate dinner at a table in the same restaurant?

“We’ll be careful.”

“Okay, well, I know you have things to do, and I don’t want to keep you⁠—”

“You’re never keeping me from anything, you know that.”

“I do. So, go and boss all your volunteers around down at the Elysium. Be extra bossy with East—he hates being told what to do.”

I didn’t doubt it. “I’ll see you tonight?”

“Me and all my friends…literally.”

“Can’t wait. Let me know if you need anything today.”

“Will do, Dad. Love you.”

“Love you too, Bug.”

As I ended the call, I sighed, but whether it was in relief or the fact that I’d somehow gotten myself into a position I had no place being in, I wasn’t sure.

Again, I wondered what the hell I was doing and how this had even happened. Preston was the last thing I’d expected, but I wasn’t ready to give him up just yet. Selfishly, I knew some of my relief was because Serena hadn’t asked me to. What kind of a self-serving bastard did that make me?

My door opened suddenly, causing me to start, but it was only my driver. Lost in my thoughts, I hadn’t noticed we’d arrived, and I gave him a curt nod and my thanks as I exited.

Already there was a hive of activity inside the Elysium’s gates, and I quickly shoved aside all thoughts of a gorgeous young thing I shouldn’t want for so many different reasons. I could think about it, beat myself up over it, or get myself off to him later, but for the next few hours, I had to flip the mental switch to work matters.

The brisk wind had me buttoning my coat as I headed into the courtyard, stopping to inspect the lights being strung up the building.

“Oh good, you’re here.” Our head decorator, Peg, hurried in my direction, clipboard in hand. “I’ve gotten all the volunteer groups sorted out and in their places, so we’re good to go on that front, but there’s a disagreement about where the orchestra will be moved to.”

“No problem, Peg. Thanks for holding things down.” I gave her a reassuring smile.

As we made our way inside, I listened to her run down the list of things we needed to get done by the end of the day and nodded along. The sound of laughter and dozens of voices echoed down through the foyer, and I scanned the room to see what was already in motion.

I should’ve paid closer attention to the group Peg had mentioned were helping load in the trees. If I had, maybe I would’ve avoided looking in their direction—to stop myself from locking eyes with Preston across the room.

Heat spread through my body the second I saw him, but that was a reaction I could keep to myself. I didn’t need to give anything away, not a smile, not a wave, not a greeting, because any one of those things would cause me to fail hiding my true feelings.

That was something that couldn’t happen. The way Preston’s lips were starting to curve upward couldn’t happen.

I tore my gaze away, schooling my face to one of unaffected nonchalance, and focused on business. I gently led Peg toward the opposite side of the room, where I wouldn’t be faced with temptation.