“That sounds hard. But it’s not like she doesn’t love you.”
“Love,” I snorted. “Love doesn’t win Cindy any influence or power, and that’s all she cares about.”
“What about my dad, then?”
I shrugged, not wanting to tell her the truth, that Cindy was probably just using her dad. “Freak accident, maybe.” I moved closer to her, passing her the bottle back. “My turn to ask a question.”
She sighed. “Okay. Go for it.”
“Why did you marry me?”
I watched her mouth drop slightly as I moved closer to her. She looked away, red coming into her cheeks. “I didn’t think it was real,” she said.
“That’s bullshit. I know that.”
She was quiet for a minute and took a swig of the whisky, making another disgusted face. “I thought you were hot, okay? And fun. Exciting. We were in paradise, you know?”
“Hot?” I whispered, practically on top of her.
“Yeah.” Her lips were slightly parted, and her tongue ran over her bottom lip.
I knew what that meant. She wanted me to bite her gently, right there, and cup her ass.
“You liked the way I made you feel,” I said.
“Maybe,” she whispered.
Our bodies were inches apart. The only sound was her breathing deeply, in and out, in and out, and I thought I could feel the heat coming off her skin.
“You liked that I made you feel alive. You liked having my tongue slip up against your clit until you screamed.”
She took a sharp breath as I grabbed her hips, pulling her against me. “I did at the time.”
“You still think about it every day.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head.
“Don’t deny it. You’re soaked now, like you’ve been soaked every time I’m near you.”
“What happened was just a vacation fling.”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “I’ve had flings before. You want more of it.”
My eyes locked on hers, and she tilted her head slightly to one side, practically inviting me in with her mouth. I knew what she wanted, and I wanted it too. I wanted to take every inch of her, tear off that fucking tease of a dress and stick my cock deep inside her tight fucking pussy. I wanted to make her scream out over the bay.
“It was a mistake,” she said, half whisper and half gasp.
“Nothing was a mistake.” My mouth was so close to hers that I could taste her minty breathe.
“All of it.”
And then I kissed her, hard and fast. A buzz ran through my skull and body, and my cock pressed up against her crotch, our bodies intertwined. She threw herself into the kiss as much as I did.
And then we heard a voice. It tore us out of the moment as quickly as we had thrown ourselves into it. “Alexa?” It was a young woman’s voice, and Alex threw herself away from me like I was made of flames.
“Alexa?” the voice came again.
“Over here,” Alex said, trying to put herself together.
I gave her a look. “This isn’t over.”
She glared at me. “Yes, it is.”
A young woman, maybe a few years older than us and wearing a conservative black dress, walked over. Her blond hair was pulled up into a bun, and she was wearing thick-rimmed black glasses and holding what looked like an address book. She completely ignored me, addressing Alexa.
“Your father is looking for you.”
“Oh,” she said, flustered. “Okay. Thanks.”
The girl looked at me. “Cole.”
I nodded at her, not sure who she was. She turned and walked quickly back toward the party.
“Who the hell was that?” I asked.
“Your mom’s assistant. You don’t remember meeting her earlier?”
I shook my head, bemused. “Nope. Not at all.”
“Her name is Madison, and I’m pretty sure she saw us kissing.”
I raised my eyebrow at Alex. “I doubt that.”
“You asshole,” she hissed and smacked my arm. “You can’t just kiss me whenever you want to.”
“I think you kissed me, sis.”
“Oh my god. Don’t call me that. Not right now.” She walked away, breathing deeply. “What the fuck am I doing?” she said to herself.
“Don’t get too twisted. There’s no way she saw anything. It’s too dark out here.”
Alex turned back toward me. “Whatever. What do you even care? You don’t care about anything but yourself.”
I narrowed my eyes, frowning. “Okay. Sure.”
She sighed. “Let’s get back to the dinner.”
“If that’s what you want, that’s fine with me.”
She stormed off without another word, back toward the stairwell.