by Ella Miles
“That was deep.”
“Just shut up until we get to my condo.”
“Is your condo as fancy as this car? Because I have a feeling that your house back in Albuquerque is going to feel run-down compared to your condo here.”
She turns a little too fast around the next corner, and I hit my head on the roof of the car.
She smirks. “Like I said, you should probably just stop talking until we get to my condo.”
I do but only because, clearly, she won’t tell me anything until we get to her condo. Something at her condo holds the key to everything she’s been hiding from me. She thinks she’s going to be able to get rid of me once we are there, but I don’t think there is anything she can show me that will make me want to leave. And all I have to do is get one kiss, and she’ll be begging me for more.
Skye parks the car in a fancy parking garage and then makes her way to the elevator. Of course, she presses the button for the top floor. I smirk at her, guessing that her friend paid for this place while Skye pays for her house back home. I just don’t know which version she’d rather be, not that it matters. I’d fuck her either way.
The elevators doors open, and she stomps out like she can’t get out of there fast enough. I follow, making sure to walk as close as possible behind her to be as obnoxious as I can. She pulls a key out of her purse and unlocks the door, gesturing for me to follow her inside. I do, letting the door close behind me. I watch as a tall man with light-colored hair in a business suit greets her. He wraps her in his arms and firmly kisses her on the lips.
I glare at the man who has my woman wrapped in his arms. My woman’s lips pressed against his. A few moments pass before he finally comes up for air. Just enough time for my internal rage to fill every crevice inside me.
“Baby, this is Brody, the man I told you about from my Bahamas vacation. Brody, this is Gabe, my fiancé.”
Gabe extends his hand to me. I take it, gripping as firmly as I can.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Brody,” Gabe says.
“You, too.”
He squeezes Skye one more time with a bright smile on his face, happy to have his fiancée home. She, on the other hand, couldn’t seem more uncomfortable in his arms. The only reason she even has a smile on her face is that she can show me that I was wrong. That our relationship is over.
“I hate this, but I have to run. I have a meeting I have to get to. But we should all do dinner tonight,” Gabe says, kissing Skye one more time on the lips before giving me a nod and slipping out of the condo.
I’m not sure I believe that the relationship is real. She probably just called an old friend and asked him to pretend to be her fiancé to try to get rid of me. But whatever it is, I’m going to figure it out.
“What the fuck is going on?”
13
Skye
“That isn’t your fiancé,” Brody says.
“Are you serious? Gabe is my fiancé. He told you so himself without any probing from me. We kissed. We share this condo together. What more proof do you need?” I say, my voice loud and angry.
I thought he would’ve stormed out the second he found out I had a fiancé, but apparently, he doesn’t believe anything I tell him is true, so I don’t even know why I bother trying to explain.
“I need a heck of a lot more proof than that. You didn’t even want to kiss him. How can you be engaged to a person and not even want to kiss him?”
“Just because you fucked me for a week in the Bahamas doesn’t mean you know me. You have no idea why I reacted the way that I did to Gabe kissing me.”
Brody starts walking around the condo, his eyes traveling over everything he can find. He opens doors, sticking his head inside, only to reemerge.
“What are you doing?” I ask, walking behind him.
“I’m looking for proof.”
I exhale deeply. “You promised you would leave after I told you the truth about why I wouldn’t agree to your arrangement.”
“I said I would leave after you told me the truth. I’m not sure you’ve told me the truth yet.”
He walks around our living room, staring at the white and light-gray massive walls that take up almost two stories with a few large pieces of artwork. He raises an eyebrow at me as he walks down the hallway to the bedroom that Gabe and I share, which is also decorated in gray and white.
“Nope, I don’t believe you.”
I frown. “And why don’t you believe me?”
I need him to believe me. I need him to leave. He knows enough. He can’t stay and have dinner with us tonight. He’ll find out far too much that I don’t want him to know.
“Because I haven’t found a single picture of you and your fiancé together in this entire condo. Not one single image.” He walks to the closet and throws the door open, peeking inside. “Because, despite the fact that you say you live here, there are less than a dozen pieces of clothing of yours in this closet. Because, despite having a fiancé who lives in LA, you still have a home in Albuquerque along with a whole slew of animals, not to mention your veterinarian clinic. You claim to have a fiancé, yet you fuck me on a vacation without him less than six months ago. You claim to have a fiancé, yet you have no ring.”
I look down at my bare hand as a tiny bit of hope creeps up inside me. I run into the bathroom and pull out the engagement box out of the top drawer. I open the box and pull out the large square diamond ring, which is easily four carats in size. I place it back on my hand after having not worn it for the past two weeks, and then I race back to the bedroom, holding out my hand to Brody.
“You’re wrong. I have a ring.”
Brody eyes the large diamond on my finger with suspicion. “How do I know that’s not a fake?”
I roll my eyes. “Does it look like a fake?”
He cocks his head from side to side as he stares at it. “How would I know? I’m not a diamond expert.”
“It’s not a fake. Does it look like Gabe can’t afford to buy me a nice diamond?” I hold my hands out to my sides, pointing at all the nice things in the condo that we share together.
“No, I’m sure Gabe could afford to buy you that ring. How do I know it’s an engagement ring and not just a ring he bought for a close friend?”
“Really?”
“Fine, it looks like an engagement ring. But, if you’re engaged, why weren’t you wearing it? Why was it in a box here instead of on your finger in Albuquerque?”
“Because we want to keep our engagement private. Gabe is pretty well known out here, and I want to keep it out of the tabloids as long as we can.”
He narrows his eyes. “So, you don’t ever wear your ring in public?”
“No.”
“When? When did he propose?”
I bite my lip and look away from him. I really don’t want to answer him.
He chuckles. “You can’t even come up with a quick story of how he proposed.”
“He proposed to me the night I got back from the Bahamas. We weren’t on the best of terms, which is why I went on vacation. I wanted to get some clarity on what I wanted when I returned. I came home when I found out he’d been in a motorcycle accident. I’d never been so scared in my life. I realized what a mistake I’d made. He got down on one knee and proposed in his hospital room despite being beaten up pretty badly. I said yes and haven’t hesitated since.”
He just stands there, staring at me, processing.
I sigh.
And then he suddenly starts moving. He walks out of the bedroom while I follow after him, curious if I finally said the thing that will make him leave. He doesn’t walk toward the front door though. Instead, he walks into the kitchen, finds the bar, and starts digging through the alcohol. He shakes his head.
“What?” I snap.
He pulls out a decanter of whiskey and two glasses pouring us both a glass of alcohol from the decanter. He hands one of the glasses to me, and I take it, happy to have alcohol to finish this conversation. I need the st
rength to say anything to get him to leave.
“The bastard doesn’t even have any tequila. So, you want to explain to me again how this is true love.”
I don’t answer him. It doesn’t matter, and whatever excuse I make for him, it’s clear that Brody won’t believe me anyway.
Brody opens the door to the balcony and steps outside. I step out as well, happy to get some fresh air.
“Why?”
“Why else do you get married? Love.”
“Why did you cheat on him? If you are so in love with him that you said yes the second you came back, why did you sleep with me?” He stares at me as he asks the question, like it’s the most important question that he needs to know the answer to. His eyes seem sincere for the first time in a long time.
“Because it wasn’t cheating.”
I watch Brody’s hands drum against the railing, and I want nothing more than for him to take me in his arms and kiss me. I want him to stroke my face. Or even just hold my hand. But it seems that he won’t. But he has more self-control than I could’ve ever imagined while I’m on the edge of doing something very, very stupid.
“Were you on a break? Broken up? Is that why it wasn’t technically cheating?”
“It wasn’t cheating because we were never together.”
Brody reaches out and grabs my hand, jerking me to him. My breathing is fast and heavy, as I’m filled with the weight of what I want him to do but can’t let him.
“You’re telling me that, after spending a week with me giving you the best sex of your life, you cut that short so that you could go back to marry a man you hadn’t even kissed before?”
Pain—that’s what I see when I look into Brody’s eyes. It can’t be pain though because I was nothing but a sex toy to him for the week. So, it must be something else. It must be that I heard him wrong, or it’s jealousy at letting another man take the woman he was just with.
“We had kissed once, but that was it. I didn’t think it was going anywhere.”
He lets me go and takes a step back. “It must be love then.”
My heart aches as he says the words, dripping with the same pain that I myself feel. It doesn’t make sense for either of us to be feeling such pain, but it’s how I feel.
“So, you’ll leave then? I told you the truth. I told you that I wouldn’t sleep with you again. And, just as I promised you, you can’t stay.”
He grins just enough for me to be concerned. “I think I’d like to have that dinner first. It’s clear that he’s rich, so I’m sure he knows where to get a good meal in town. And I’d like to hear from him a little more about how he got a woman like you to fall so quickly in love. I might need to use the skills myself someday. I’ll leave after dinner if that’s what you still want.”
He says he will leave, but it seems more like a threat. I failed at getting him to leave once. I won’t fail again.
14
Brody
She has a fucking fiancé. A wealthy, powerful, good-looking fiancé. A fiancé who has one of the sickest condos I’ve ever seen or had the privilege of being inside.
She has this whole other life in Albuquerque, which is completely different than their life here in LA. And I can’t make the two lives, the two parts of her, make sense together in my head.
On the one hand, she’s such a simple country girl who doesn’t care about fancy things or if she fits into society; she only cares about her animals. She cares about doing good in the world, in leaving the world a better place than she found it.
But there’s this other side of her. One that enjoys the finer things in life. Expensive vacations, fancy condos, and fast cars. The ring he gave her easily cost more than the wealth of several small countries.
She has two lives. Two worlds. And I don’t think I’ll be able to fit into either one of them. Because she’s in love with the damn fiancé.
Or maybe she’s lying. I’ve definitely seen her give warmer greetings before, and the answers to a lot of my questions didn’t make sense. But I can’t imagine Skye ever getting married for any reason other than love.
She might have wanted dark, filthy sex with me. The kind that allows for zero attachment, but it was clear the only reason she wanted that was that she was apparently hung up on Gabe.
I adjust my tie and then put on the most expensive jacket that I brought with me. My face is clean-shaven, and I spent time getting a haircut this afternoon to look my absolute best for tonight’s dinner. I know that she chose him, but I want her to regret not having one more time with me. And I want Gabe to feel the slightest bit intimidated by me.
I pull out my phone and find the address that Skye texted me for where we are having dinner together tonight, then enter it into my Uber app.
As much as I wanted to spend the entire day with Skye, I knew that it wouldn’t be a good decision. I’m not going to ruin her life by turning her into a cheater, and if I stayed a moment longer, that was exactly what would’ve happened. So, instead, I looked up a nearby hotel that had the nicest suite available, and I booked it. Not that Skye or Gabe will ever know where I’m staying tonight, but I’ll know, and my ego is far too sensitive to not stay somewhere nice. Just because I don’t typically spend this kind of money doesn’t mean that I can’t.
I walk out of one of the nicest hotels I’ve ever stayed in and over to the Uber that’s waiting for me. I try not to think about what Gabe will be driving him and Skye to dinner in. Some ridiculous car I’m sure.
What I should really be worried about is how to stop thinking about Skye. Because, tonight, after dinner, I have every intention of walking out of her life forever. It’s not that I care about her. I don’t. But, man, do I miss her sweet ass. I miss the way her body welcomes me in, like she’s been waiting for me forever. I hate how I miss the look in her eye and the sound she makes when she finally comes.
And I have to let go of the dream of ever getting to experience that again with her.
The Uber finally stops in front of the fancy seafood restaurant, and I climb out. I open the door to the restaurant that sits on a pier out over the water all by itself. The kind of restaurant that has white tablecloths at every table, at least three waitstaff per table, and nothing but the best wine on the menu.
“I’m here to meet Skye King and Gabe Cole,” I say to the hostess. Names that I figured out after a quick Google search.
She sweetly smiles at me. “Right this way, Mr. Jackson.”
My eyes widen a little when she says my name, but I suspect that Gabe also did the same search on me that I did on him. I follow the hostess throughout the whole restaurant to the far corner where Skye is sitting at a table in the corner, overlooking the water. She’s wearing a plain gray dress that fits her nicely but isn’t overly sexy. It’s nothing compared to the dress she wore on the beach the night of our first date. This dress screams business. It seems more appropriate in a boardroom instead of on a date with her fiancé and her ex-lover.
I take a seat at the table, opposite Skye, while her eyes are fixed on me.
“How was your afternoon without me?” I ask.
She cocks her head to the side and pulls her hands together on top of the table. “My afternoon was quite relaxing without you.”
“Good. I wouldn’t want you getting your feelings mixed up about missing me, not when you have a fiancé who keeps you so completely satisfied.”
She doesn’t flinch or even blink at my harsh words. “You forget I could never have feelings for a dick like you.”
“So, where is your fiancé, Gabe?” I ask, glancing around the room, assuming he went to the restroom or something.
Skye swallows hard and glances out the window. “He’s running late. He’ll be here soon.”
She doesn’t have to add to the end of her sentence because it’s clear all over her body that she is annoyed with him for being late.
“Can I get you two a drink or an appetizer to start?” the waiter asks.
I motion to Skye, and sh
e answers, “We will have a bottle of your house red wine and the clams to start. Thanks.”
I grin as the waiter leaves to go get her bottle of wine.
“Why are you so happy all of a sudden?” she asks.
“No reason, I’m just surprised that you ordered wine. Wine means romance, and since it’s not clear if your beau is ever going to show up tonight, I’m shocked that you would be willing to share a bottle of wine with me. It must mean I did something right.”
The waiter returns, pouring us each a glass of wine before disappearing again.
“A lot can change in six months. I no longer think of wine as romantic,” she says, taking a sip of her wine.
“Some things never change.”
“So, when do I get to get rid of you?” she asks.
“I have a flight booked back home for tomorrow. So, as long as you still want me gone, you won’t have to see me ever again after tonight.”
“Prove it.” Her eyes light up with a sparkle and gleam as she teases me to prove myself just like I asked her to prove herself earlier.
I pull out my phone, finding my plane ticket and showing it to her. “See, I have a flight booked for tomorrow. I’m a man of my word. I’ll be on that flight as long as I don’t discover that you lied to me. Plus, I need to be getting back to work.”
“Oh, yeah, you have to get back to the dangerous world of building video games.” She snickers. Another fact that I’m sure she learned when she Googled me.
“As opposed to the dangerous world of whatever Gabe does.”
She grins. “Security. He risks his life every day to make sure that the richest people in the world stay alive.”
“He does not. He hires men to protect his clients.”
She shrugs. “Usually, but he also likes the rush of the job, so he often does security protections himself. And him working in this business puts our lives at constant risk.”
I’m beginning to see what she might see in him. Because, if I know one thing about Skye, she is a risk-taker. She likes to live life on the edge a little differently than everyone else. Evidently, that’s what Gabe can provide her.