Every time Evzen heard that name it enraged him. His son was a de Oczy. One of the oldest and finest of the ruling houses. His was a legacy people had killed for.
But not Caillen. He was the only man who honestly didn’t care about wealth and its trappings. While his son was happy to have the finer things, he was just as happy, if not happier, without them.
Baffling.
And that made him want to weep. His son was a complete stranger and he was trying to understand him. He was. But the more time they spent together, the more Evzen had to face the truth.
When all of this was over, he would most likely lose his son all over again…
Caillen breathed a sigh of relief as Boggi took off in a huff again and left him alone with his friends. The moment the door sealed shut, he twisted out of the stifling robes and threw them to the floor. Then he jammed the signal in the room so that neither his father nor his father’s security detail could spy on them. He really hated that crap.
Maris tsked at him. “It’s just plain cruel the way you flash that hot body of yours at me all the time, Cai. I swear I’ve never wanted to be a woman more so than I do right now.” Biting his lip, he looked at Darling. “Those abs… it’s criminal to look that good and be straight. Couldn’t you just lick those muscles all night long?”
Darling screwed his face up in distaste. “Uh, no. He’s too much like a brother to me. I honestly find that thought repugnant.”
Maris snapped his neck and wrist in a purely feminine gesture. “I am yanking your membership card.” He returned his attention to Caillen and made a purring growl in the back of his throat. “One night, baby, and I could change your religion.”
Caillen gave a good-natured laugh. “You keep saying that, but I know you better. You like to be the pursuer, Maris. The moment someone chases you, you run for the door.”
Laughing at the truth, Darling shrugged his outer robe off and tossed it back to Caillen. “You know, Maris is right. You can’t keep undressing every two seconds and especially not on a ship during a summit meeting where they’ll be monitoring all the rooms. You do that there and it’ll end up on the news and you’ll be tainted by it forever.”
Caillen wasn’t worried about that. “I’ll jam them.”
Darling shook his head. “Take it from the weapons and explosives techspert. It ain’t going to happen. You jam anything there and it’ll set off all manner of alarms. Not even Syn could break in without getting busted.”
Now that gave him pause. His brother-in-law could crack into anything without detection and that told him all he needed to know about his voyage to hell. “So keep it in my pants, huh?”
“Unless you want to be the next viral porno feature. I know it’ll be hard—”
Caillen arched a brow at Darling’s choice of words.
Darling rolled his eyes. “Your mind is alays in the gutter.”
“Yeah, well, you know it’s got a lot of friends it likes to play with there and I happen to like the view.”
Maris made a light “heh” sound. “Give it up, Dar. You have to remember you’re talking to the only man I’ve ever seen who can walk up to a woman he’s just met and tell her he needs to have his manhood serviced and instead of getting bitch-slapped or arrested for it, gets to take her home.”
Darling crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s because most men have more sense than to say that out loud.”
Yeah, right. Caillen knew better. “That’s ’cause most men lack my boys and my skills. You may know how to handle explosives, Dar, but I know how to handle women. When it comes to the female population, I am the master.”
“Please,” Darling said with a laugh. “I’ve seen you with your sisters. You don’t handle them at all. You’re completely whipped.”
“Totally untrue. I just let them think that. That, my friends, is the beauty of it. There’s not a woman born I can’t manipulate and wrap around my little finger.”
Darling shook his head. “And one day you’re going to meet a woman who’s immune to your charms.” There was an odd note in Darling’s voice that said he commiserated, but since he knew Darling had never been in a serious relationship he ignored it.
“Never happen. I can even charm a baby out of her rattle and milk.”
Maris chuckled. “I’m with you, Dar. I’d like to see him get some karmic paycheck, but in this I have to side with Cai. Like he said, I’ve seen too many women, of all ages, fall at his feet as soon as he gives them that come-here-and-strip-for-me teasing smile.”
Darling refused to cede his opinion. “And I’m saying that there’s always that one person who will knock you off keel. Always when you least expect it. Trust me, if Nykyrian and Syn can find women to tolerate them and their psychoses, you will too.”