May
“I’m sorry, Oran.” Stroking my face and neck absently, Oran hummed softly as he tore his eyes away from the television, and I rolled onto my back on the sofa. “I didn’t mean it earlier. Today just sucked overall, and I took it out on you.”
“I shouldn’t have told you about Kara. I wanted to get it out there because I thought it was important for you to know where I’m coming from. There are definitely better times than right now.” The hairs on his knuckles tickled my jaw, and his thigh under my head was warm and firm, the same as his eyes when he looked down. “I apologize, too.”
“My ex cheated on me with a four, so . . . ” Oran’s brows twitched in interest and I licked my lips heavily as I rolled back onto my side. Staring blankly at the television, I blustered a sigh as the huge, alcohol-fueled blur that was my college years flashed behind my lids when I blinked. “We were together for, like, a year and he screwed this girl on the regular. For some reason, I never found out. I mean, I’m definitely better looking, and I know she’s working at McDonald’s because she got kicked out for bad grades. And she lives with her parents.”
“Seems like everyone is just plain stupid. Lucky for me, though.” We were watching a cop drama of some kind and Oran combed his fingers through my hair as that familiar business lilt colored his tone. “I can’t decide if I have a very stupid competitor or if whatever shady shit he’s doing is too sophisticated for me to see.”
“He’s probably stupid. Anyone who messes with you is stupid, Oran.” I don’t know why I said that, but he seemed to appreciate it as he scratched my scalp gently. The half bottle of wine I’d drank made my brain swing, and the whole medium pizza I’d ravenously devoured made me feel heavy. Pleasantness tinged my bleary vision pink, and Ilikedthe calm and the intimacy and the lack of expectation.
“I haven’t been doing this very long, only a year or so, but I like it. My brother might be king of the world, but I like my little province that I rule over.” Humming softly as Oran’s warm, muscular palm covered my face, I closed my eyes again to puff a sigh. “Carlyle is definitely the kind of guy who’ll drop your ass and forget about you like you never existed. He’s got an iron will, and no one can bend it, except maybe his girlfriend, but what I know of her suggests she just doesn’t care. Me, I’ve always been second, but I realized after Kara’s death that I don’t want to be the head honcho. It’s really not that great a gig.”
“So, the shipping stuff is just, like, a branch of the family bizz?”
“Yes. Shipping, round the world construction of all kinds, tech— we do it all. His girlfriend makes game apps under a startup he made for her. Last year, my dad stepped down and handed it all to Carlyle, and I remember being so angry and feeling so cheated. It’s kind of funny now, how ignorant I was. It’s a shame someone had to die to make me see exactly how ignorant.” He inhaled deeply and I glided my palm up to rub his thigh as sadness lilted his tone. “I have a younger brother, too. Mateo. He’s twenty-four, younger than you, May, and he doesn’t really get it. My friend once said Mateo’s got a really bad case of rich kid syndrome. I thought that was an appropriate description.”
“Mmm. My parents have five kids total. I’m the second oldest. My sister, Lorraine, is on deployment somewhere in the Middle East .” If Oran was surprised, he didn’t tense, and I licked my lips heavily as he caressed under my chin. “Then there’s me, then Darren, who’s twenty-one, and Sarah, and Trent, who’s fourteen. That’s why it makes me so mad the way our parents treat her. It’s not like it’s just me and her, and they treat Trent just fine.”
“You’ve only ever mentioned Sarah, so it did seem to me like it was just the two of you.” Even the subject, which admittedly, I brought up, couldn’t dampen my mood, and I nodded against Oran’s upper thigh absently. “I guess she is your biggest problem considering the circumstances. Your mother called you earlier, you said. What did she want?”
“To chat. That’s it. I didn’t even tell her what was going on because she’d act like I was telling her a story about one of my friends, not her daughter. It’s really starting to piss me off.” Calloused fingertips circled down my neck and over my shoulder, and my face heated at the reminder. My mom . . . how could she just stop caring about Sarah? If it wasn’t sudden, did that mean that Mom hated Sarah, and if so, for how long? Since her diagnosis? Since puberty? When? I had no answers. I sucked in a deep, calming breath as Oran trailed his hand down my side. “If she took Sarah’s borderline diagnosis so bad, I wonder what she’d think of me.”
“I don’t know. My dad is a sociopath, but I have very little experience withmoms.” The way he said that word just sounded awkward and sluggish. I rolled onto my back to open my eyes as he cast me a frown. “My mother died a very long time ago, so long that I don’t remember her at all.”
“Is that why you were so mad about Kara that you . . . ” Trailing off suggestively, I didn’t really know what to feel when Oran shrugged, his nostrils flaring as he exhaled a shallow breath. “Now that I’m tipsy, you know, I kinda get it. If someone betrayed me and caused the death of someone so important to me, I’d probably beat that person up too. Regardless of whether that person died, if I was rich and successful and influential and could get away with it . . . if there were no consequences legally, I’d definitely do it, too.”
“You’re quite the firecracker, May.” His lips quirked up, his eyes shimmering as he caressed my cheek, and the hairs on his knuckles tickled my skin again. My heartbeat slowed and I reached a heavy hand to cup Oran’s sharp jaw. Turning his face into my palm, he kissed the inside of my wrist and goosebumps swept down my arm even though his eyes never wavered from mine. “I don’t want to ruin this moment. We’re having dinner tomorrow night, anyway.”
“Me either.” Oran cast me a tender smile and blood drummed faintly in my ears as he pressed his palm flat against my sternum. “I told Sarah yesterday that I wasn’t going to be home Friday night, but that’s part of her issues— impulsiveness. It would’ve been nice if she didn’t butcher a bird in my sink until tomorrow. Maybe I’d never know about it.”
“If you want, I can give you a number for a great cleaning service. I’ve used them before.” The offer was touching, and I nodded before turning back on my side to gaze through the TV. “Are you tired, May?”
“I’m tipsy and full of pizza.” The answer was pretty obvious, and Oran chuckled lowly before nudging me off him. Groaning in protest, I curled up when his warmth seeped into the sofa’s leather cushions, but powerful, lean arms scooped me up. Oran held me up so easily, and his muscles flexed against me as he rounded the sofa and walked up the stairs. His place had a kitchen and living room on the ground floor, but the stairs led to a loft. The place had four rooms total, which would’ve surprised me.
I watched too much rich people TV.
“Here.” Gingerly laying me on his bed, Oran deftly unbuttoned my flowy, dark green work shirt, and I resisted the urge to just roll over and pass out. “Comfortable, huh? It’s a Purple mattress, and if there’s one thing you shouldn’t cut corners on, it’s a bed.”
“I’m never leaving it.” God, this mattress was soft, the sheets were soft, the blanket was soft. My declaration slurred heavily and Oran’s smile warmed my chest as he unfastened the front clasp of my bra. Hoovering up a huge breath at the sudden release, I rolled over to arch sharply and he expertly divested me of my clothes. Taking off my straight-leg pants, he didn’t even try to get frisky. It wouldn’t have done anything, anyway. The alcohol in my blood, the atmosphere of intimacy, there was no room for anything else, so he crawled into bed behind me.
Oran spooned me so perfectly, working his arm under my cheek while his other hand crept to grope my bare breast. His hot, rigidly defined chest cut against my back, and he nudged his knee between my legs to grumble low in my ear.
Things couldn’t get better than this moment.
