“How do I not know? What is she planning for? A new Rubian way?” Her feet brought her to me and she burrowed in my chest. “I live on her property. She uses my power all the time to her benefit…yet you and I have the tingle when we are near oneanother. There is some connection. You zig and I zag, but as if it’s meant to be. Why didn’t they tell me about this?”
Tulya rambled into my pectoral, but I heard every one of her concerns, especially the unspoken tether between us. “That’s why I’m going to Hawaii. Now it’s even more crucial.”
“Because of me?” Tulya looked up, her eyes damp.
“I was going either way, but we can’t be. And truthfully, after I untangle my brother from his mess, I don’t want to be a part of any more Rubian nonsense.”
“Maybe I will come to Hawaii?”
I smiled and tipped her chin with my pointer finger so she could look at my eyes. “Your mom wouldn’t ever allow it, and neither would mine.”
Walking away, she said over her shoulder, “Well, I may only be a pawn in my mother’s game, but I have today. I’m going to the pool and enjoying my holiday without my spoiled, manipulative family.”
She disappeared into her room, emerging in a swimsuit and jean shorts, a tote tossed over her shoulder. Long gone was chatter over the buffet or the holiday.
All Tulya said was, “Be back up later,” and left the room.
Since I was nothing more than a fool, I didn’t follow or seek her out later. I figured the mood had been spoiled, and she needed time with the knowledge I’d dumped on her.
I made sure to tell myself this wasn’t about my own self-preservation.
Donovan
I’m downstairs
Magnum texted one word when he arrived. I slipped my suit jacket on and texted back.
Coming.
Tulya wasn’t in the common area yet, and knowing how nervous she had been when we first came to Miami, I didn’t want to rush her. Not to mention we’d had dinner mostly in silence on the balcony before retreating to our respective bedrooms last night—too much to say and not enough time to ever make it through it all.
Honestly, I didn’t even know if Cinder had shown up. Part of me would be relieved if she hadn’t. Tuvy and I needed extra time in our bubble; I wanted to go back to Christmas Eve when she was in my bed and underneath me.
So I needed to prolong her having to do something she didn’t want to do—the transfer—and show her how much fun life couldbe free from our mothers. A small sliver of my heart started to think she could come to Hawaii with me. The other seventy-five percent wanted to get this shit done. I had to put up a boundary with Tulya and get back to the life I was building without her and all of Rubia.
Not to mention, my mother was not patiently waiting.
With a soft rap on Tulya’s door, I spoke through the wood. “They’re here. I’m going to meet them. You come down when you’re ready.”
“Five minutes,” she called back without opening the door.
I waited a beat, hoping she would appear with a soft smile or caring embrace. It was a dangerous want, but my entire being trembled at the idea of pulling her into my arms and kissing her one last time. Instead of listening to my outlandish desires, I walked out of the suite and toward the elevators.
As soon as the doors opened downstairs, I saw Magnum and Cinder sitting in the lobby. She was drinking a coffee, and he was tapping his leg up and down. My brother was nervous—the problem was I didn’t know over what. Cinder liking Blake? Blake liking Cinder? Alienating Valerie?
“Mag,” I greeted him, and he stood and shook my hand.
Apparently he’d compartmentalized this into official business.
“Happy Christmas,” I said, then decided to test the waters, turning my attention to my brother’s fiancée. “Cin, you look lovely.” She sat there in a denim miniskirt and sequined T-shirt. She looked more like she was going to a pop concert and not to meet her almost-husband’s daughter from another woman. A child she’d only just learned about— and a mistress who was trying to steal her fiancé.
“Where’s Tuvy? It’s time for her to do her magic and get me out of here. Period. End of sentence.”
Well, I wouldn’t even call her mood lukewarm—it was frigid or cold at best.
I nodded. “On her way.”
“We brought gifts.” Magnum changed the subject, pointing behind him to a bunch of gift bags. “In addition to what you ordered,” he quickly added, a nod to all that I had done. “I picked up some art supplies and candies,” he explained.
