“I would have already started, but I had to drive.” Flynn shrugged.
“I’m sure Flynn is only going to have the one,” Edward interrupted and I caught the look he shot his brother. In that moment, it wasn't just the color of his eyes that matched his mother's.
Flynn gave his older brother—half-brother?—a faint smile. “Of course. I have to be able to make a toast to my darling sister-in-law-to-be, after all.” He angled his head toward me and I felt the impact of his gaze straight down to my core.
My heart started to race. I felt a drop of sweat form on my forehead.
Bracing his elbows on the table, Flynn gave me a look of mock curiosity. “Edward didn’t really formally introduce us. What did you say your name was again?”
Oh, shut up
. I narrowed my eyes at him.
He blinked at me, the picture of innocence, but the rakish grin that I knew so well began to tug on the corners of his lips.
“How rude of me,” Edward said, completely missing the looks between his brother and me. “You’re quite right, Flynn.”
“Gabriella Baine.” I lifted my chin, staring into Flynn’s arrogant gaze. I’d always hated having people answer for me. From the corner of my eye, I saw Edward closing his mouth, looking almost surprised that I'd given a response rather than letting him do it.
“Lovely name,” Flynn murmured, his eyes glinting with a wicked light. “I'm charmed.”
You’re a toad.
I barely bit back the urge to hurl the words across the table at him.
Instead, I beamed at him like he had said the sweetest thing ever. “It’s lovely to meet one of Edward’s brothers.” Then, because just sitting this close made me remember how terrible he’d acted, how he’d made me feel, I leaned against Edward. I’d never needed to feel as loved and cherished as I did in that that moment. Edward was talking softly with his mother, but his arm came around me automatically and I relaxed into the embrace. Well, as relaxed as I could possibly be in my current situation.
Flynn stared at me, the kind of look that made me feel like he was remembering me naked. Naked…and covered in paint, his palms cupping, molding my breasts, his fingers trailing down…down…down…
I shivered and tore my gaze away.
Edward misinterpreted and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Are you cold, darling?”
“A little,” I lied.
He hugged me in closer to his side.
From under my lashes, I could see Flynn’s gaze still resting on me. He knew. He knew my shiver had nothing to do with the temperature and everything to do with him.
Damn him.
***
The next forty-five minutes crawled by at a pace that had me ready to scream. Edward's mother was icily polite, making it clear she was only holding her tongue because we were in public and courtesy dictated she remain cordial.
Of course, her
idea of courtesy and mine are two different things, but I had learned a long time ago that what some people considered manners was a far cry from what I considered manners. It wasn’t even the difference between New York City versus the south. Most of the people I knew here were perfectly wonderful people, like Kendra, most of our mutual friends and, of course, Edward.
But then there were the assholes, the creeps, the snobbish elite and toads. Flynn fell into that last category, as well as the first and second, but I was determined not to classify my future mother-in-law just yet. I was going to marry Edward, and I needed to do everything in my power not to make things awkward between him and his family.
Still, it was a relief when everybody got up from the table and moved off into the club itself, giving me a chance to flee outside, claiming I needed some air.
“Five minutes,” I told Edward with a tight smile.
That was all I needed. Five minutes to level out and steady myself and I could deal with this for another hour or two. At least. Mentally groaning, I started to pace the lovely, elegant cobbled pathway, my arms crossed over my middle. I was just on my second lap when I felt eyes on me. My skin prickled and I knew immediately that I was no longer alone. And who it was.
Shit. Why did I have to be so fucking aware of him?
“Go away,” I told Flynn without even looking his way.
His response was to move up behind me as I came to the wall, just when I would have turned around. Sensing him behind me, I froze there and refused to turn. I couldn't look at him. I didn't want him there.
His heat seemed to warm my skin from head to feet, every inch of me warming without a single touch.
When he reached out and brushed his fingers across the side of my throat, I flinched and hunched in on myself. “Didn’t you hear me? Go away.” I tried to make myself sound as firm and mean as I could.
He leaned in and kissed my neck, his lips soft against the curve where it met my shoulder. Electricity danced across my skin.
Hissing, I spun around, intending to shove him, but he caught my wrists and jerked me against his hard, lean body.
As his mouth came down on mine, a strangled moan escaped me.
This…I lied to myself and insisted I hadn’t missed it.
I hadn’t missed the way his tongue stroked across my lips and then boldly pushed inside.
I hadn’t missed the way his hand cupped the back of my neck and tipped my head up into his kiss.
I hadn’t missed the way my nipples went hard at the first brush of his chest or the way everything else in me went soft and lax.
I hadn’t missed it…
It wasn’t until he started to run his hand down my thigh to the hem of my dress that my head woke up. So caught up in his kiss, I’d half-forgotten where we were, but the feel of his palm, hot and certain against my skin, sent sparks of anticipation and terror swimming through me. With a cry, I tore back.
Flynn's eyes narrowed as he tried to pull me close again. I acted without thinking,
slapping him
hard enough to make my hand hurt.
Instantly, his cheek bloomed red.
Undeterred, he pulled me back against him.
“Don't,” I whispered against his lips. My arms were pinned between us, making it impossible for me to push him away.
He stilled, and I felt his words drift over my lips. “You can't pretend you don't want me.”
“I want lots of things,” I told him. “Chocolate every day, ice cream at every meal. I want lots of things that are bad for me. That doesn't mean I let myself have them.”
He slowly let me go, an unreadable look in his eyes.
“We're not doing this again.” Shaking my head, I backed away. I could still feel his lips on mine and I wanted to lick them, taste him on me, but I wouldn’t let myself. I reminded myself that this was some sort of game to him. He was just fucking with me, exactly like he had before.
I started to turn away, but Flynn’s voice stopped me.
“He won't like it, you know.”
“What?” I didn’t look back at him. I didn’t trust myself.
He came closer, not stopping until I could feel his body heat warming me through the thin fabric of my dress.
“The pictures. And if
Edward finds out you slept with me? You might want to tell him now, before things go any further. Get it over with.”
“Are you going to tell him?” My voice hitched as I asked the question I'd had on the tip of my tongue from the moment I'd seen Flynn.
“Nah.” I could see my reflection in the window in front of me. The shades were drawn, turning the surface into an unsteady mirror and even I could see the fear on my face.
Flynn was watching me in that surface. Studying me. He traced a finger down my arm and said, “It won’t matter to him that you hadn’t even met him yet. He’s got peculiar ideas on propriety,
darling
. But you go ahead, try to hide it.” He leaned in, pressing his lips against my ear. “I kind of like knowing about your wicked side, Gabriella. Just know, Edward wouldn’t appreciate it.”
Chapter 2
Edward lay sleeping beside me, his back to me, his body a solid presence in the night. Guilt ate at me like tiny little ants and although I’d been half-lying earlier when I told him I didn’t feel well, it was entirely true now.
I’d ended up half-lost inside the country club and one of the people who worked there had taken pity on me and helped me find Edward, who had seen something was wrong right away. Since I couldn’t exactly tell him the truth—
your brother just kissed me and oh, by the way, we had sex right before I met you
—I’d lied and said I wasn’t feeling well.
He’d immediately made our excuses to his mother and stepfather. Flynn, strangely enough, had been nowhere to be found, so Edward and I had left and he’d brought me back to his mansion rather than returning me to my apartment. He'd put me to bed, not once trying to pressure me into anything physical. He'd been gentle and sweet...everything I'd ever imagined my prince to be.
Now, hours later, I lay in bed, unable to sleep, unable to stop thinking about Flynn, about what Edward would say if he found out what had happened.
I’m just not going to let him find out, then
.
It was easier to tell myself that than it was to believe I could keep this a secret for the rest of my life.
Guilt twisted and tugged inside me, fighting its own little war.
I did nothing wrong. It wasn’t like I slept with Flynn
after
I met Edward. And the pictures…
I mentally groaned. It was my body. I was still struggling to make a living. Edward had no idea what that was like, so he really didn’t have any room to judge me just because I let somebody take some pictures.
Okay. Not just somebody.
His brother.
And then his brother had put his hands on me…
My heart skipped a beat and I had to close my eyes.
Not thinking about that.
Yes, go to sleep. You go to sleep and don’t think about all the secrets you’re hiding from your fiancé,
a sly voice whispered.
Don’t let that ugly little secret keep you awake.
I almost shouted at myself to shut up. The inner voices of my conscience were going to drive me insane. Rolling onto my side, I stared into the darkness and tried not to think about the warm, strong body of the man next to me, or the hot, sexy intensity of his brother.
Every time either of them came to mind, I tried to push them away.
Edward…he wouldn’t understand.
Flynn, that sexy, smoldering smile.
Edward, we were made for each other.
Flynn...nobody had ever lit me up quite the way he did.
After an endless war, I finally managed to drift off into a restless sleep, so restless.
But at least it was an escape.
***
Edward’s hands drifted over me. His lips caressed my chin, slid along up to my cheek to brush my ear. “I love you,” he murmured.
He pulled me back onto the bed with him and I sighed as my body lined up with his. I could feel him, hard beneath me. His hands slid down my back to grasp my hips, his fingers stroking along the skin of my ass.
Everywhere he touched, warmth followed.
“Of course he does,” said a mocking voice from behind. “Why wouldn’t he love you?”
I jerked when Flynn flung himself down on the bed next to us, but Edward didn’t even notice. His mouth slid down my neck to the edge of my nightshirt. He cupped my breasts through the silk and I caught his hands, still staring at Flynn.
“Stop it,” I hissed at Edward. “Don’t you see…?”
“Ignore him,” Edward said.
Flynn laughed, that bright and careless noise that tried to tug a smile out of me. “Yes, ignore me, Gabriella. But really, of course Edward loves you. You’re his pretty, perfect doll. You love the same things he does. It’s easy to make you happy. He can dress you up and take you out whenever he wants to play with you.”
Edward’s mouth followed the path of his hands, pulling down the front of my shirt to bare my breast. Embarrassment flooded me as he circled my nipple with his tongue. “Don’t!”
“See?” Flynn studied us clinically. “He takes you out whenever he wants to play. When he doesn’t, he’ll just put you away again.”
“Ignore him,” Edward said, his voice suddenly angry. He lifted me, positioning me over his hard cock. I cried out as he pushed inside me, quick and hard. “He’ll go away if you do.”
Edward thrust himself in and out, his body rough, but his kiss on my breast was gentle.
“Ignore him,” he said again, using his arm around my waist to encourage my movement.
Behind me, I felt soft lips on my shoulder.
“Can you ignore me?” Flynn asked.
He slid his hands around me and I gasped at the feel. Cold, wet red covered my breasts, beading my nipples and the arousal that had been missing slammed into me.
Edward continued to urge me to ride him while Flynn teased my nipples, his mouth on my neck. He sucked on the skin until I knew he'd left a mark. A mark that Edward would surely see. But still, I couldn't push him away.