Page 240 of The Heart You Kept

My eyes hold hers and I know there’s something bothering her. I sip my drink as I contemplate my word choice, in the end it just blurts out. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She forces a smile.

“Alora.” I rub my thumb over her bottom lip. “I don’t like being lied to.”

“God,” she whispers, as if exasperated. “I’m just feeling really weird.”

“Why?”

“Because….” She looks around the yacht and throws her hand up. “This place is just….” She shrugs. “And then I can’t stop….” She cuts herself off. “But then I know.”

“Land the plane,” I snap, impatient.

“Your history on this yacht is whispering through the walls and taunting me with visions of you with other women.”

My eyes hold hers.

“And I logically know. I know that it doesn’t matter and that it makes no difference to us or our relationship.”

I concentrate on trying not to cut her off.

“I guess.” She sips her drink. “It’s hard to put into words.”

“Try harder.”

“I just feel insecure tonight, and I don’t want to, and I don’t like feeling like this but I have been wondering. Why do you love me, Edward?”

“Can you hear yourself right now?” I frown. “You feel insecure because I love you?”

“The irony is not lost on me.” She rolls her eyes. “Believe me.”

“Alora.” I exhale. “You are a very different species of woman to who I usually spend time with.”

“I know that, and that’s what has me confused.”

She listens as her hair whips around in the wind.

“Don’t be confused, because this—” I gesture to the yacht, “—is an illusion of happiness. And from the moment I met you, I was also back in our book and I realized I didn’t want the fake life I was living anymore and maybe that’s why I fought against it so hard. On some level I was giving up everything I knew to be with you. I’ve always been rich, but it’s only now that I have you that I am truly wealthy.” I take her into my arms and kiss her. “Forget my past. You are my future.”

Her eyes well with tears and she nods as if understanding.

“Why didn’t you put your lingerie on for me?” I kiss her again.

“I don’t know.”

She’s still struggling and I know I need to pull her out of her head.

“Here’s what’s going to happen.” I put my mouth to her ear. “Tonight we’re going back to the first weekend we met.”

I hold her close as she listens.

“You don’t know me, and I don’t know you.” She smirks as I hold her ear to my mouth. “And you have arrived on my yacht to pleasure me on request.”

She bites her lip to hide her smile.

“Get upstairs. Get that fucking lingerie on and get back down here and suck my cock.” I grab a handful of her hair and pull her head back; I lick her open lips.

Her eyes darken with desire and I feel myself harden with a deep throb.