Even in her sleep, Lucy Rhodes felt like the chandelier on the ceiling was swaying.
Even after sleeping the whole night, she still felt sore all over.
Just as she was still lost in mories of last night’s wild battle, her phone suddenly started ringing next to her ear.
Eyes still closed, she pressed answer.
On the other end ca Julian Prescott’s tender, charming voice: "Auntie, hurry up and co over, ergency in the arena!"
Lucy Rhodes’ voice was still husky: "What’s wrong, honey?"
"Dad’s biggest rival showed up. I want to introduce you to him, so he won’t chase after Mom. Auntie, I’ll arrange a ti for you guys to et, ok?"
Hearing this, Lucy mumbled sleepily, "No need to worry about that, Auntie already took care of him."
Julian blinked his big eyes in confusion: "Auntie, you know Uncle Nathaniel? That’s aweso! He’s the captain of the anti-riot squad at the police station, and super handso—he’s a perfect match for you!"
Lucy Rhodes’ eyes snapped open. She stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, then asked, "Who did you say it was?"
"Uncle Nathaniel! He’s Mom’s childhood friend from her hotown, he treats Mom really well. I’m worried he’ll steal Mom away, so I want you guys to go on a blind date. He’s really good-looking! If I didn’t love Dad so much, I’d want Mom to be with him!"
After hearing all this, Lucy glanced at the man next to her and couldn’t help but smack herself on the head.
Just how many rivals does my brother have?
I’d barely dealt with one last night, and now here cos another.
So what about the guy lying in bed next to her now?
Last night’s flashes suddenly started playing in Lucy’s mind.
They were both drunk and let loose, trying out pretty much everything she’d ever seen online about kinky fun.
By the end, she was dead tired and wanted to stop, but the man grabbed her waist and said, "Lucy Rhodes, you tempted —now you’d better be able to handle the consequences."
Then he went at her again, even more fiercely.
Thinking about all that, Lucy’s cheeks suddenly got burning hot.
Honestly, after twenty-six years of abstinence, she sure made up for it in one go.
Biting back her soreness, she crawled off the bed and went to the bathroom to wash up. Noticing the marks all over her body, Lucy couldn’t help cursing, "I swear, there isn’t a single good man on this planet."
Dressed and ready, she looked at the man still sleeping soundly on the bed and let a small, sly smile sneak onto her lips.
She rummaged around for so cash, but in the digital age, she barely carried actual money.
After turning things over for ages, she only found a coin—the sa one she’d gotten at the last class reunion during so drinking ga.
She pressed a lipstick mark onto the coin and set it on the nightstand.
Then, using the hotel’s stationery, she wrote a note, tucked it under the coin.
And with her bag slung over her arm, she left.
By the ti Caden Sinclair woke up, the spot next to him was already empty.
Sitting up in bed, he noticed the coin with the lipstick print and the note beneath it, left on the nightstand.
Caden picked it up to take a look.
And imdiately felt his lungs about to explode with rage.
[Tried it. Not all that. Let’s part ways. Here’s a tip for you.]
What do you an, not all that?
Who was it that flooded the mattress last night?
Caden pinched the bridge of his nose, grabbed his phone and tried to call—only then realizing, he didn’t even have Lucy Rhodes’ number.
Grinding his teeth in frustration, he phoned Sienna Paxton.
Sienna was in the kitchen making breakfast. When the phone rang, Julian Prescott hit answer right away.
"Uncle Sinclair, Mom’s cooking. Want to pass a ssage? You can tell !"
"What’s your aunt’s number?"
Julian batted his big dark eyes and asked, "Why do you need her number? Are you trying to chase her? That’s not allowed! I’ve already arranged for her to et Uncle Nathaniel, you can’t ss it up!"
Caden could feel a vein bulging on his forehead: "What did you say? She’s gone to a date with soone?"
"Yup! Uncle Nathaniel is super tall and handso and still single. I figured, why let a good guy go to waste, so I set up a date for them. Uncle Sinclair, am I not the smartest, cutest little kid ever?"
Listening to this, Caden honestly had no words for how he felt right now.
Lucy Rhodes just slept with him, then ran off to do a blind date with another guy. What did she even take him for?
Male escort at so private club?
One roll in the hay, toss him a bit of cash and call it a day.
And the worst part—she only gave him a coin! Not much financial harm, but damn, the insult!
Trying to keep his anger in check, he asked, "Julian, I have so work stuff to discuss with your aunt. Give her number, I’ll find her."
Julian, clueless, rattled off Lucy Rhodes’ phone number.
After giving it, he reminded, "Uncle Sinclair, you can’t bother Auntie while she’s on her date!"
Caden gritted his teeth: "Alright, I won’t bother her."
anwhile, Lucy, hurrying on her way, had no idea what was going on.
Her phone started ringing unexpectedly.
Seeing it was an unknown number, she hung up straightaway.
But just a few seconds later, her phone rang again.
This ti, she picked up, her voice as friendly as ever: "Hello, who is this?"
Hearing her voice, Caden bit down, then said, "It’s your old man."
Lucy answered casually, "My dad’s abroad—this is a dostic number. Trying to impersonate him? Want to die?"
She didn’t recognize his voice at all, and Caden’s face turned thunderous out of sheer annoyance.
He lowered his voice: "Lucy Rhodes, where are you? Send your address."
Lucy, still not realizing who it was, snorted sarcastically, "Who the hell are you? If you’ve got nothing important, I’m hanging up—I’ve got stuff to do."
Her response left Caden so angry his lips went white.
His voice turned icily cold: "Lucy Rhodes, I told you last night, I’m not soone you can ss with and walk away. Tell where you are, or I’ll find your grandpa and tell him you slept with and refuse to take responsibility."
Only then did Lucy realize who she was talking to.
She froze for a few seconds, then said, "We’re all adults here. Just drunk and did sothing dumb, what—you expect to take responsibility for you now? Dr. Sinclair, this is the twenty-first century, not so feudal dynasty."
With that, she hurriedly hung up the phone.
Before, Lucy had always thought Caden Sinclair was her brother’s arch-rival, so, in order to keep her brother’s relationship with Sienna stable, she’d acted as a love decoy.
She took the initiative to pursue Caden.
At first, Caden barely paid attention to her. But she kept pretending to be his patient, booking appointnts with him at the hospital just to see him.
After enough back-and-forth, they got familiar.
But only in a nesis kind of way.
Until last night, when she was out at a bar with friends, lost a ga and had to kiss a random guy.
She was pretty tipsy, saw Caden walk by, thought he was male eye-candy her friends had arranged, so she grabbed him and kissed him.
They’d both had a few, and after that much close contact, neither could hold back their hormones.
Caden looked at her with lowered lashes and asked, "Lucy Rhodes, what are you doing?"
Lucy grinned right back: "What do you think? I wanna get with you."
Then she kissed him again.
Caden couldn’t help his Adam’s apple bobbing, scooped her into his arms, and said in a deep voice, "Lucy Rhodes, rember what you just said."
Then he carried her off to a room.
Everything happened naturally, both willing and ready.
When she sobered up, she realized it had been Caden Sinclair all along.
But first thing in the morning, Julian called her up: her brother has another romantic rival on the scene.
This rival was way harder to handle than Caden.
No way she was getting him just by playing tricks.
He’d been sent overseas on secret missions before, sharp as a tack and super wary—not soone she could snag easily.
But he really was Sienna Paxton’s childhood sweetheart, and clearly still carried a torch for her.
To Sienna, he was like a brother who’d always shielded her from the world—his place in her heart ca way before her brother’s.
And not to ntion, her brother had so pretty dark history with Sienna.
If Nathaniel Thorne doesn’t give up and her brother doesn’t recover his mory soon, who knows how things will end.
Hanging up the phone, she got out of the car.
Imdiately, Julian co running over on his little legs: "Auntie, you’re finally here! If you were any later, Uncle Nathaniel’d have to go to work!"
He grabbed Nathaniel’s hand and introduced, "Uncle, this is my Auntie—see, isn’t she super pretty?"
Seeing him, Lucy was a bit surprised: "It’s you."
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