A bouncer was standing at the door to the room when they arrived, a black silk robe over his arm. “Door’s open,” he murmured.
Dominic nodded, took the robe. “Thanks.” Then he turned to Raoul. “I’ll go in alone. God knows what she’s doing. Appreciate your understanding.”
“Anytime, mon ami.”
Dominic turned the knob, pushed open the door, walked in, slammed the door behind him, took one look at the naked couple swiftly disengaging at his intrusion, and tossed the robe at the bed. “Put this on,” he growled.
Nicole let out a shriek, scrambled up into a sitting position, and pulled the sheet up in front of her. “Uncle Dominic, what are you doing here!” she screamed, all wild huff and indignation.
And zoned out or drunk. “Shut the fuck up. I’m taking you home.”
She didn’t move, her eyes narrowed, her mouth set.
“Put the goddamn robe on,” Dominic snapped, then glared at the bastard lounging naked beside her on the bed. “Who the fuck are you?”
“Who’s asking?” A languid drawl, a small shrug that rippled the long black hair on his shoulder. Rafe wasn’t going to argue with Dominic Knight, but he wasn’t going to kiss his ass either. Righteous indignation was a little out of line for a man who’d spent years in places like this.
“Just answer me, asshole.” But recognition was slowly dawning as Dominic surveyed the man’s tattooed erection. He’d seen that inked dick in Tokyo in the days before Katherine. Even in a group orgy, even concentrating on getting off, you couldn’t help but notice something like that. The young heir to the Swiss pharmaceutical fortune had been a wet-behind-the-ears kid at the time. So he’d be twenty-five, twenty-six, now and he was either on some pharmaceuticals that kept his dick hard or he was turned on by people looking. “Actually, I know who you are. So keep your painted dick away from my niece. Got it, douche bag?”
Okay, so maybe he didn’t feel like taking Knight’s shit. “You should fucking talk,” Rafe said. “Aren’t you the king of kink?”
“You’re pushing your luck, kid.”
“Jesus, I’m really scared.”
“Good,” Dominic said, ignoring the sarcasm. “You fucking should be.” He shot a look at his niece, taking note of the absinthe bottle on the bedside table. “Christ, Nicole, how the hell drunk are you?” She’d fallen back on the bed, her dark hair a tangle of curls splayed out on the pillows, her eyes half-lidded.
“She wanted absinthe. I’m guessing you know she’s hard to talk out of things.” Rafe reached for his slacks. “I’m taking care of her. We don’t need you.”
“I know how you take care of women, Contini. So fuck off.” Softly swearing, Dominic moved to the bed and manhandled Nicole’s arms into the robe, feeling a major sense of déjà vu, remembering all the times he’d struggled to get her into her clothes when she was a baby. “Jesus, asshole,” he muttered, glowering at the rich punk who was zipping up his slacks. “You like them unconscious?”
“I don’t. How about you? It was a close one in that Bangkok club I hear. Those kinds of rumors are hard to suppress, right?”
The muscle over Dominic’s cheekbone twitched like crazy, but he kept his mouth shut and, wrapping the robe around his inebriated niece, he tied the belt and picked her up in his arms. Then he abruptly stopped and scanned the room for Nicole’s purse—credit cards, phone, ID—all the things you didn’t want to leave in a place like this. Ah—there. Walking over to the brilliant pink sofa, he leaned over, grabbed her purse strap with one finger, then strode to the door.
Not inclined to start a public brawl in a place like this for any number of reasons, but mostly because it would cause problems for Nicole, Rafe said, “Tell Nicole I’ll see her tomorrow. Early.”
“Good luck with that, motherfucker,” Dominic growled. Bending slightly, he flipped the door handle, swung the door back hard with his foot, and walked out to the echo of wood smashing plaster.
There were two bouncers in the hall waiting to escort him, and, following his muscle through the crowd, Dominic reached the front door in record time. The men accompanied him outside and down the steps, and after handing Nicole to one of them, Dominic took out his keys, opened the car doors, threw Nicole’s purse on the console, and started the car to warm it up. Walking back to the man with Nicole, he took her in his arms, carried her to the car, carefully placed her in the seat, buckled her in, and quietly shut her door. With a word of thanks to the bouncers, he moved around the car to the driver’s seat and slid behind the wheel.