After about ten minutes, Flynn lowered his camera and glared at me. “What in the hell is wrong with you?”
“I could ask you the same thing!” I slammed my hands down on my hips, my temper finally getting the best of me.
I didn't realize what the movement did to the dress until Flynn’s gaze dropped. Mine did as well and I saw that one of the straps had moved and my nipple was now perilously close to popping out.
Spinning around, I fumbled it back into place while I spoke to him over my shoulder. “I don't know what’s going on here, Flynn. You want me to model for you, but when I agree, you yell at me or treat me like I’m some ignorant child. Would you just yank the stick out of your ass already? If I'm not up to your high standards...”
I turned around. As much as I didn't want to look at him, I would've felt like a coward continuing with my back to him.
Sucking in a breath as I went, I was ready for him to argue. What I wasn't ready for was Flynn to be right there, only inches away. His mouth came down on mine, hard and fast. His tongue plunged inside my mouth and my hands came up automatically, grabbing the front of his shirt. To push him away, I told myself, but then his hands cupped my face, tilting my head back to deepen the kiss and I found myself holding tight to the soft cotton.
Flynn…my heart sighed as his tongue curled around mine.
Oh, shit, the rest of me screamed, waking me from the moment.
I shoved him back.
“Dammit, you son of a bitch!” I glared at him.
He reached for me again, but I backed away. “Don’t!”
Hands up, I tried to ward him off. I had to, because if I didn’t, I didn’t know if I’d be strong enough to resist him twice. Edward… “Don’t,” I said again as he eased closer. My voice was breathless. “If you touch me again, I’m telling Edward.”
“Yeah.” He snorted and reached up, catching a fist full of my hair. His voice was rough as he held my head in place. “Sure you will. Do that and I might as well post the pictures as they are. No pointing in hiding anything anymore if you’re going to let the cat out of the bag.”
“What…you…” I sputtered, glaring at him.
He closed the distance between us one more time, his eyes on mine, the blue so dark it was nearly black.
I held my breath, hoping he'd stop himself, but when he dipped his head to kiss me, I shoved him back with all my strength. “You son of a bitch, I said, no.”
He backed away then, his eyes on my face.
I wrapped my arms around myself, torn between screaming and crying, caught between need and rage. Edward...
Then, as I stood there trembling, he turned around and stormed out, the door slamming behind him with a loud bang.
Chapter 2
Curled up on the window seat, I stared outside.
I’d spent twenty minutes in the shower, scrubbing off the make-up and trying to wash away the lingering guilt…and longing.
It hadn’t worked.
My phone buzzed and I looked down, a smile breaking free when I saw Edward’s name, but it faded as I remembered the kiss. Flynn’s kiss. My mouth still tingled at the memory even as I pushed it away.
Swiping my thumb across the screen, I pulled up the messages, determined to put Flynn out of my mind and enjoy a digital moment with my fiancé.
Just wanted to check in on you. Are you home from work?
“Check in on me?” I made a face and then sent off a reply and asked him how his day went.
Not all that great. I haven’t seen you.
My heart melted a little and sighed. I had to get Flynn out of my head. Really, really.
Mine could have been better in that area too.
I thought about telling him about the fiasco with his mother, but that would go over better in person. Maybe he could get her to back off some, but I needed to do this the right way. I didn't want to become the problematic daughter-in-law.
Edward had been young when his father had died and I knew that, even after his mother had remarried, he'd felt the burden of taking care of the family. I didn't want to add to that.
Have you eaten dinner?
I grimaced. The thought of food made my belly roll, but I’d manage something if he wanted to go out.
No. Is that an invitation?
I had to fight a jolt of irritation at his response.
I’m afraid not. I’m trying to do what I can to clear my schedule for the fall since I’ll be taking some time off for our honeymoon, but that means more work between now and then. I just wanted to check. You don’t always eat as well as you should. Should I have Paul bring you something?
“I eat just fine,” I muttered. I was twenty-two, not twelve. And I'd been living on my own in New York without needing someone to remind me to eat. Granted, just then, I was contemplating having cookies for dinner, because bad day and hey, cookies. But he didn't need to know that. I was an adult. I could eat whatever the hell I wanted.
I started to tell him that I’d been taking care of myself for quite a while, but in the end, I decided not to. Again, that was one of those things that went over better in person. Texts weren't great at conveying tone. I told him I’d get something in a while and then lied. Again.
I need to go. Got to get some research done before I go into work tomorrow. I love you.
I was sure he responded the same way, but I’d already dropped my phone on the window seat and resumed my brooding contemplation of the rain-drenched view outside my window.
My thoughts drifted away from the things I needed to be worrying about. Things like my wedding and the impossible mother-in-law. How I’d handle it if Flynn kissed me again. Telling Edward to get his she-devil mother to leave me alone. Instead of any of that, I found myself reliving that split second when Flynn had kissed me. That split second before I'd remembered a crucial fact.
We can’t do this.
“Stop it,” I told myself, driving my head against the wall. I did it again and just as I was on my third repetition, the door opened and Kendra came inside.
She stopped at the sight of me literally banging my head against a wall and pursed her lips. “Honey, whatever it is, a pint of cookie dough ice cream and some wine will fix you right up.”
“No.” With a glum sigh, I twisted in my seat to face her. I didn't care that I was supposed to be mad at her for how she was behaving about my engagement. I just needed my friend right now. “It really won’t.”
“Ohhhh?” She drew out that single word as she locked the door and then came over, flinging all glorious six-feet-one-inch of her down on the couch. She toed off the open-toe booties and flexed her feet, curling her toes in and out before heaving out a gusty breath. That done, she focused her intelligent light green eyes on me. “Do tell.”
No. I couldn't tell her what had happened. I'd talk about Claire and leave the rest locked away. Then I heard myself saying it even as I made my decision to stay quiet.
“Flynn kissed me.”
She blinked at me.
Then, like a rocket, she was up. Her long legs scissored as she began to pace the open floors of our studio apartment. “He kissed you? That snake. Dammit, Gabs, I wish you would have kept your distance from that bastard.”
Drawing my knees to my chest, I rested my brow there and listened as Kendra started on a rant. At least she hadn't come out and said 'I told you so' which she would've had every right to do. She'd told me it wasn't a good idea to agree to model for Flynn, but I'd only seen a way out of my shitty job and the money we needed for little things like rent and food.
Finally, she spun to face me. “What did Edward say?”
“I…” Swallowing, I shrugged. “I haven’t told him and I’m not going to. Flynn won’t do it again, but I don’t want Edward getting angry.”
“Edward should be angry!” she shouted. “His asshole brother has kissed you twice since he found out about the engagement.”
Getting aggravated now, I stood up. I was starting to remember why I'd
been pissed at her. “He’ll show Edward the pictures, Kendra.”
“I…” She stopped, snapping her jaw shut as she processed that. “Aw, shit, Gabs. What kind of mess did you get yourself into? He’s going to start blackmailing you into all sorts of bad shit.”
“He won’t.” I wished I was as confident as I sounded.
“You don’t know that.” She tried to sound comforting, supporting and the worse part was that I knew she was trying.
But I just felt like she was beating me down too. Just like she had from the beginning of all this. Not trusting Edward. Criticizing how fast we'd gotten engaged. Criticizing every choice I'd made.
My phone buzzed, the message notification coming from my pocket. I grabbed it, hoping it was Edward. But when I turned my back to Kendra, I had to swallow a groan. It wasn’t Edward.
It was his toad of a brother.
Gabriella, I want to apologize to you for my behavior. There’s no excuse for it and while I don’t expect your forgiveness, I am sorry.
“Are you listening?” Kendra demanded.
“No,” I answered honestly as I looked up at her over the phone. “I’m reading my messages.”
She threw up her hands and spun around, stomping into the bathroom. As the door closed tight behind her, I settled back against the window seat.
I’m tired of feeling like I'm some sort of nuisance to you, Flynn. If you can’t deal with this, then I can’t keep on working for you.
I hated to say it, but the stress was just too much.
It will get better. I promise.
A split second later, another message followed.
Cody and I have a special project going on tomorrow. It’s something we try to do once a month. I’d like you to join us, if you can.
I knew I should say no. Long and loud and make sure everybody under the sun heard it.
Something slammed inside the bathroom and I looked up just in time to see Kendra storming out, wearing a long t-shirt over pink leggings. She didn't even look at me as she marched out of the apartment.
Fuck it.
What time and where?
Chapter 3
“Where are we going?”
Flynn just shook his head and pushed a case into my arms.
I looked over at Cody and he gave me an easy grin, dropping a kiss onto my forehead. “Morning, sugar.”
I rolled my eyes and turned to trail along behind them. “What’s the special project?” I asked.
“It’s—”
“We’ll go into more detail about it once we’re there,” Flynn said, cutting Cody off. “We’re running late already.”
There was a taxi waiting for us at the curb and I looked from one man to the other before moving up to put the bag Flynn had given me into the back of the car.
Huffing and out a breath, I climbed into the taxi and wondered if it would do any good to ask why they weren’t taking one of the drivers I knew they all had access to. Flynn might've been a McCreary instead of a Bouvier and Cody wasn't the golden child Edward was, but I seriously doubted Claire would've wanted her sons using common transportation. I decided it wouldn’t do any good to ask though. Flynn was strangely subdued and when he'd looked at me earlier, it had been with a polite nod, but that had been it. I didn’t want to get the tension back up to where it had been, so I just let the car thing go and asked Cody about the assignment he’d been on.
He had me giggling to the point of tears as he described the prima donna fit one of the models had thrown over the lack of peeled grapes available as a snack for her. Who would've known of the extra calories that came in grape skins?
“I’ll have to demand peeled grapes sometime soon.” I grinned at him and glanced over at Flynn. My heart slammed heart against my ribs when I caught him staring at me.
Just staring, watching me with an odd look in his eyes. The second he saw that I’d noticed, he averted his head and focused his attention outside.
“Peeled grapes, champagne…you should demand the floor be covered in rose petals while you’re at it.” Cody nudged me with his elbow. “I hear you want something terribly garish and tawdry for your wedding, Gabs. What was it, plum, orange and gold? It sounds so…fall-like. And with you getting married in October...”
I made a face at him. “I’m so common, aren’t I?”
“Extremely.” He closed his eyes and gave a very Claire-like sniff, stiffening his shoulders. “We will do our best to tolerate your low-class ways.”
In that moment, I saw some of his mother in his masculine features. For the first time, I wondered what Pierre Bouvier had looked like.
“Would you two—” Flynn started to snap, and then he stopped. “Sorry.” Without an explanation, he went back to staring outside. A few minutes passed and then he spoke again. “We’re here. Hope you ate a decent breakfast, Tennessee. It’s going to be awhile before we have a chance to eat. Pizza’s being delivered, but it gets crazy.”
Pizza…?
I looked outside, trying to figure out just what I was supposed to be doing and I found myself staring at a dusty old building. My gaze had skipped past the sign out front the first time and now I zoomed back in on the part of it I could see. Something home?
“What are we doing?” I asked.
Flynn was already grabbing his stuff from the trunk. “Cody, pay the driver, okay?”
Flynn totally ignored me so I looked over at Cody. “What’s going on?”
“Gimme a minute.”
Rolling my eyes, I turned back and watched Flynn making his way up the sidewalk. A couple of kids had come rushing out to meet him and it was bizarre to see him crouching down to accept their enthusiastic hugs. One tall, skinny kid with beautiful mahogany skin held up his fist and Flynn bumped knuckles with him. It was pretty clear that Flynn had been here before. But where was here?
Cody finally joined me, passing over the bag I’d been given. “Spill,” I told him as I took it, appreciating that he didn't automatically assume I couldn't carry anything.
He shrugged. “Not that big of a deal. The past few years, Flynn’s been offering his services as a photographer for some foster kids. He does professional shots and social services uses the images to try to help kids get adopted.”
“Come on, guys,” Flynn shouted at us from the door.
I tried not to look completely shocked as we started up the walk.
Once we were inside, I found myself the target of a lot of stares, most of them borderline hostile. There was one little girl, her hair in plaits and she stood leaning against the leg of an older girl, blinking big blue eyes at me. My heart wrenched when she ducked her head as I looked at her.
“Who’s this, rich boy?”
The question came from the tall boy who’d fist-bumped Flynn earlier, the tone belligerent, lacking none of the laid back friendliness I’d heard him using just moments ago.
“A friend,” Flynn said with an easy smile. “She’s here to help me keep you hooligans under control.”
“I ain’t no hoogan.” That came from a small boy with freckled cheeks and a chipped front tooth. He shoved his chin up in the air and when I looked at him, I saw eyes that were far too old for him. There was an ugly scar that ran down the left side of his face and when my gaze felt on it, he just glared at me that much harder.
“Hooligan, Bry,” Cody said with his own grin. “And yeah, you are a hooligan. But chill…one of these days, you’ll be a master hooligan, like me.”
Bry—short for Bryan, I assumed—glanced away from me and I thought I saw a smile on his face for a split second. And hero worship in his eyes when he looked at Cody.
Something touched my leg.
I looked down to see the pretty little girl with plaits patting my skirt.
Slowly, I knelt down, hunkering in front of her and staring into her solemn eyes. “Hi,” I said quietly.
She just gave me another owlish blink, reminding me of my oldest niece when she'd been younger.
I reached up and
touched one of the barrettes on her hair. “I like your hair.”
She reached up and touched mine.
“My name’s Gabriella.”
She just nodded.
“You showing off for your rich girlfriend?” That came from the girl who’d been standing next to the small child in front of me now.
I looked up at her, a laugh bubbling out of me before I realized how it might come off. “Me? Rich? Not even close.”
The response had her jerking her head to look at me instead of sneering at Flynn.
I shrugged. “Grew up in a big family down in Tennessee. Mom stayed home to raise us. Dad did landscaping. We never went hungry, but…” I trailed off, looking at the faces around me. I had the feeling a lot of them had gone hungry, and worse. A lot of them couldn’t claim to come from a family with two parents who loved them, much less some of the other advantages I had. Money wasn’t everything. “I was happy, yeah. But not rich.”
The awkward silence that fell was broken when a woman came bustling in, a flurry of bright colors and long braids. She all but sailed up to Flynn and grabbed his face, hauled him down for a loud, smacking kiss that resulted in a series of catcalls and eeeewwww’s from the children. Then she moved on to Cody and did the same thing, making me wonder just what her relationship was with Flynn.
“Beautiful boys…look at you.”
When her gaze zeroed in on me, I felt like I’d been shoved under a microscope. Her eyes were the color of amber, a few shades lighter than her smooth, warm brown skin. There were no lines anywhere on her face, but I had the feeling she was more than a few years older than me. It had something to do with the way she watched me, with that quiet serenity to her gaze.
“Well, what have we here?” She shot a sideways glance at Flynn. “Flynn, did you finally bring me some special girl?”
“No!”
We both rushed to answer and I shoved my hand out, the rock on it seeming to weigh a ton. “I’m engaged,” I said, my voice high, almost too happy. I sounded false, even to my own ears. What’s wrong with me…?
Pure Lust Vol. 3 Page 2