“Mine,” I rumble, sinking a hand into her hair, holding her to me so I can kiss her deeply, taking my time to slide my tongue over hers, exploring all the places my cum just touched.
She’s smiling at me when I finally let her go with a sound that’s full of regret.
“I hate lying to your father,” I say.
Her smile falters, and she runs a finger down my nose and over my lips slowly. “I know you do. The truth is, so do I. I don’t like lying to anyone. Especially my family. Lies can ruin everything.”
We stare at each other, neither of us knowing what to say. She’s still dealing with the fact her mother lied for months before her death, keeping her affair with Neil a secret. They were always close. I know it hurt her that her mother lied to her. To all of them.
Now she’s gone, and Sinclair’s still coming to terms with it.
We have to tell Sterling, We should have told him weeks ago. And Sullivan. And Mal. They all deserve to know.
But I don’t know how to tell the man who has done so much for me that I’ve betrayed him in one of the worst possible ways. He trusted me.
And I’ve fallen in love… with his daughter.
I lift her hand and kiss her wrist. I haven’t told her how I feel yet. Something’s stopped me from saying the words, but I’m sure they must be written in my eyes every time I look at her. Because they feel so damn obvious to me. I don’t know how no one else has noticed it.
She looks into my eyes and a soft smile lifts her lips. “We’ll tell him when we get back to New York. This is Halliday’s weekend. I don’t want to do anything that might cause tension on it.”
I close my eyes, kissing her wrist again and breathing in the scent of the skin. She’s right. This is Halliday’s weekend.
And once we tell Sterling… anything could happen.
“I don’t think he’s lying.” Sterling keeps his voice low as we sit together at the front of the jet. Sinclair, Halliday, and Zoey aresitting at the back, laughing over something as they all chat. Sterling’s attention travels to them and he smiles.
“Neither do I,” I agree.
“But if he is… If he’s back for any other reason, trying to get close to them…” Sterling’s smile morphs into a murderous scowl as he turns back to me.
I understand the tension radiating through him. It matches mine. Because the thought has crossed my mind. Knowing Neil got that close to Sinclair unnerves me. Part of me wonders if I should have just shot him and had it done with. I could have lived with killing an unarmed man if it meant knowing she will be safe.
“Jenson has one of the other guys with him. They have him under twenty-four-hour surveillance.”
“I know.” Sterling nods, running a hand over his silver-flecked jaw. “And Sullivan was adamant that he believed his story about…” He curses, the same grief clouding his eyes whenever he talks about that day. “Sullivan thinks he did see someone walking away from the yacht. And I’m inclined to believe it too. My son can tell when someone’s lying. Just like I can.”
His piercing blue eyes meet mine and I hold back from swallowing around the lump in my throat as he holds my gaze for a beat.
“But I wasn’t there.” He breaks my eye contact with a sigh. “So I need to trust my son on this.”
I nod and look down at my hands, clasped between my spread thighs. My skin prickles with unease. I hope he can maintain some of the level of trust he’s had in me over the years once Sinclair and I tell him what’s been going on. He’s going to notice soon if we don’t tell him. That’s if he doesn’t suspect something already. I’m with her all the time, and it’s gettingincreasingly hard not to slip up and call her Princess or touch her in a way I would never touch a client in front of people.
“It’ll be good having you back.”
I blink, tension furrowing my brow as I snap my head up.
The relaxed slope of his shoulders as he leans back in his seat and gazes out of the jets window tell me I heard him correctly.
“You don’t want me assigned to Sinclair anymore?”
Just her name has my mouth turning dry at the thought of no longer having a reason to use it every day.
At being separated from her.
“You can still accompany her to big events.” Sterling tips his head, thinking. “Or Jenson can. She’s fond of him.”
I can’t prevent the crack that comes from my knuckles as I clench my hands into fists.
