Page 36

I know well and good that’s not what he’s doing at all. To him, this means nothing more than just inviting me to swim.

“Okay,” I whisper back, and I turn toward him, our eyes meeting only inches apart.

And I let myself believe Alex is mine. He’s mine and I’m his, and it’s the safest and most fulfilling thing I could feel.

I hop off the scaffolding, and suddenly, his arms are around my waist and he’s carrying me. Muscular, wide arms embrace me around the middle, carrying me outside as I shriek and giggle. He hoists me all the way to the water, my head hanging back on his shoulder as his laugh fills my ears. Then, I’m airborne. Flying through the air until I land, submerged by water, chilling me to the bone. My scream is cut off, and when I open my eyes underwater, I see him submerge just next to me, pushing off the bottom of the pool. He wraps his hands around my waist again and we glide to the surface as one.

When our heads come up, we’re laughing. His smile reaches across his face, and his eyes look even brighter with the moisture pooling on his lashes.

Glancing over at my sister, I find her watching us with a hesitant expression.

After about an hour of swimming, Alex goes into the house with the promise of coming back with snacks, and I head into the pool house to finish what I was working on before the paint dries. Which it already has. I get a little lost in the process, painting and mixing colors, the scrape of my trowel against the tray.

The sky is growing a little darker, and I can’t help but think how nice this is. Cadence stayed sober all day. It was genuine time together, feeling more like sisters than I’ve felt with her in a long time.

When things get quiet, I turn around and look for her in the pool, but it’s empty. She must have gone home. Or she followed Alex into the house.

As I turn around and face the kitchen, it becomes one of those moments that happens in slow motion because my brain already knows what it’s going to see before I see it.

Without the sun hitting the patio window, I can see through the glass clearly, and it’s the movement that catches my eye. She’s standing with her back to me, her butt up against the kitchen counter, and he’s standing close to her, most of his body hidden except for his hands, which are firmly on the counter behind him.

The blood drains from my face, and I imagine it pooling around my feet like I’ve been sliced open. I can feel it gushing from the wound, the pressure more intense than ever, slowly subsiding until I’m empty.

She’s reaching for him, her hand slowly tracing the contours of his chest. Then, she takes a step, eating up the distance and pressing her barely covered body against his.

I watch his eyes trail down her face, and I ready myself for the vision I fear comes next. If I know Cadence, and I do, she’s going to kiss him. There’s not a doubt in my mind.

Then, his gaze lifts…and meets mine. Where it stays.

And when she leans in, wrapping her long-nail fingers around the back of his neck, I feel sick. As she leans toward him, I mentally beg him not to do it.

I have no real claim on Alexander Caldwell.

He is not my boyfriend. He is not my husband. He’s barely even my friend.

But he is—in some way—mine.

And if he lets my sister kiss him right now, then I’ll know the truth. That I’m wrong. That I’ve been slicing open my chest for nothing. That he doesn’t feel the same.

Quickly his hand snatches hers and his head flinches backward, avoiding the contact with her lips.

I watch his mouth move as he stares at her. “No.”

I have to pull myself away, rushing toward the pool house. My breathing grows frantic, thoughts swirling around like wildfire.

Why didn’t he kiss her?

Cadence is prettier than me. Sexier than me. Older than me. More willing than me.

She is everything he should want, and yet…

No.

The way he stopped her plays on repeat in my mind. The memory screams.

I can’t help the way I compare myself to my sister. The way I wish Alexander could be mine and yet…she tried to take him for herself anyway. The crushing weight of this reality bears down on me.

I can’t be falling for Alexander. I have to do this job and leave. I have to get away from him as fast as I can.