5

Thirty minutes later they were all seated around the long dining table. Passing around plates of roast and vegetables, while sharing easy chatter.

Dax cleared his throat.

“Lily and I have an announcement.”

Every head turned to him.

“We’re engaged.”

There was silence for half a second. Then the table erupted in shock at first, then delighted noise. Lucien’s laugh was deep with pride. Melanie, his wife and mother to Lily, gasped delightfully.

All of it washed over Damien like bad news.

He set his fork down carefully.

“You can’t be serious,” he said to the surprise of everyone. “You two haven’t even dated. This feels rushed.”

Lily met his eyes across the table and held his gaze.

“Actually, we’ve been dating for almost two years now,” she said calmly. “We kept it under wraps on purpose. We didn’t want the families involved in case it didn’t work out. We didn’t want anyone taking sides or falling out over us. But we’re sure now.”

Liam raised his glass, voice distant but supportive. “Congratulations to you two. You’re a perfect match.”

Lucien stood and clapped Dax on the shoulder, grinning. “Well hell. Welcome to the family officially, son.”

Melanie’s eyes shone. She looked at Dax with pure warmth.

“Your mother would be so proud of this moment,” she said softly. “This is exactly what Elena always wanted. She used to joke about it when you and Lily were still in diapers, pushing toys around on the floor together. She predicted you would end up together. That one day we’d be family for real.”

The table chuckled fondly at the old memory.

Damien did not.

His wife Elena Ross had died in a car accident when Dax was barely five. Damien had raised his son alone ever since, never remarrying. Right now the mention of her name should have triggered something melancholic inside him. Instead it barely registered.

His mind was full of Lily and her soft curves, the way her ass had bounced when he fucked her over that vanity, the way she had come on his tongue and then on his cock.

He wanted to drag her somewhere private where he could bend her over his knee, and spank that soft, jiggly ass until it burned red and she begged him to stop. He wanted to punish her for giving herself to him two nights ago and then standing here accepting a ring from his son.

After the spanking he would finger her open then fuck her hard, edging her until she was shaking and desperate while he took his own release over and over, leaving her aching and full of his cum as a reminder of who she belonged to.

Lily glanced at him.

She caught the hard set of his jaw and his dark, menacing stare locked on her. Her heart stumbled. So did her cunt. She pressed her thighs together under the table and looked away fast.

The rest of the meal passed in a blur of congratulations and wedding talk. Lily stayed glued to Dax’s side the entire time after dinner, careful to avoid any alone time with Damien or any sort of eye contact. She did not give Damien a single opening.

When the Ross men finally stood to leave, Damien’s frustration sat like a live wire under his skin. He had not gotten one private second with her. Not a chance to pull her aside and make her listen. Not a chance to put his hands on her the way the darker part of him was screaming to.

He walked out into the night beside his son with the taste of unfinished business thick in his mouth.