‘Fuck,’ his hips jerk furiously into me at the exact same second my orgasm detonates.
It’s official. He made good on his promise. He’s ruined me for anyone who comes after him.
Chapter Fourteen
COLE
I’ve practically moved into Irish’s suite. The days are flying by. I’ve spent every night for the past six nights in her bed. She thinks I’m distracting her, the truth is, she is the one distracting me. I instructed Belle to cancel all my meetings. I’ve barely opened an email, let alone responded to one.
But today, even Irish can’t distract me from what day it is—my mother’s wedding day.
Has she really no regard for my father’s memory?
Does she think she can simply replace him?
No matter how hard I try, I can’t get my head around it.
Her last two attempts were pitiful. How can she not see that no man will ever fill the gaping void he left in all our lives? She seems to have lost who she is, forgotten she was the glue holding us all together. Her pursuit of happiness has led to some disturbing decisions, broken relationships and even more heartache.
With Dad gone, and her making irrational decisions, is it any wonder Luke is perpetually off the rails and I’m… I don’t know what I am. Unsettled? Cynical? I refuse to waste my valuable time on another one of her partners, because if Doug isanything like the previous two, he’ll be gone before Christmas.
‘You okay?’ Irish asks, handing me an espresso, then slipping into the chair beside me on her terrace. She’s cradling a cup of tea—milk no sugar. It’s funny; I know how she takes her tea. I know how to make her come in under a minute. I know her breathing pattern when she finally drifts off into a deep, sated slumber. But I still don’t know her name.
Menacing dark clouds are rolling in. The sea is more turbulent today; a storm is brewing out in the distance—a perfect reflection of the one brewing inside of me.
I stare into my coffee. It’s barely eleven a.m. and I’m already contemplating something stronger. ‘I’m fine.’
‘Liar.’ She lifts a brow.
I sigh heavily.
‘If you want to talk, I’ll listen. I won’t judge.’
They’re pretty much the same words I said to her the other day, but she didn’t take me up on my offer.
She reaches out to take my hand, interlinking our fingers. Her thumb strokes mine with a tenderness that I probably don’t deserve given the murderous thoughts infiltrating my mind—namely, having my new stepfather assassinated. The problem is, he’d barely be in the ground before my mother would begin her search for husband number five.
Fuck my life.
I shake my head.
‘Or I could distract you.’ Her flirtatious tone tells me exactly what she’s offering.
I turn my head to drink her in. She’s wearing one of the hotel’s white crested robes, her dark glossy hair damp from the shower. Her face is make-up free, her skin utterly flawless. She’s every bit as beautiful as she is when she’s dressed up for dinner. More, in fact. ‘You already are.’
My phone vibrates on the wrought-iron table in front ofus. I put my coffee down, then reach for it out of instinct. I don’t have any particular interest. The only person I’m interested in is the one sitting beside me. The one who I’m increasingly aware that I’m going to have to say goodbye to in a few short days.
I squint at the screen. Luke. I open the message, stupidly hopeful that our mother has come to her senses and called off the wedding.
But no.
A picture of her wearing a ridiculously over the top sequinned ivory wedding dress fills my screen, complete with an actual fucking tiara. It might be funny if it wasn’t so fucking bizarre. Luke is standing beside her, holding a glass of champagne. From the glazed look in his eyes, he’s already wasted.
I blow out a frustrated breath and toss the phone back onto the table.
‘That bad, huh?’ She drops my hand, stands, and slides onto my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck as she curls into my chest. The scent of her citrus perfume and her mango infused shampoo seeps into my soul, settling around me like a weighted blanket.
I drape my arms around her, holding her slim frame against my torso as we stare out to sea in companionable silence.
