Page 54 of Worth Every Penny
“We’re going outside to join the others.”
“No. That’s not what I mean. I mean… between us. What’s going on between us?”
My heart thumps rapidly. Despite the colour in her cheeks, Kate brazenly holds my gaze. Her expression is earnest, like she really thinks I might be more qualified than she is to answer the question. As if this situation is some kind of algebraic equation I can easily explain.
It’s not, and I can’t.
I sigh deeply. “You’re Jack’s sister. And my employee.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s not a lie. But right now, I need a fucking drink.”
I try to let go of her hand, but she won’t release it. She tugs on it again.
I raise a brow to welcome her question, and it’s all the invitation she needs.
“Last night… did you want to sleep with me?”
Fuck,this woman is direct.
This time when I try to slip my hand from hers she lets me. I roll my neck, the tension in my body suddenly unbearable.
“I would never have slept with you last night.”
“Why not?”
An image of her, drunk, vulnerable, pushed up against a wall, flashes in my mind. I step closer to her. “Because you were so drunk, you’d have given yourself to anyone.”
A harsh gasp sounds from deep in her mouth. We’re standing so close the warmth of it hits my skin.
“When you sleep with me,” I continue, “it’ll be because I’m the only man you want. Because you need me more than anyone else. Because you belong to me. Not because you’re drunk and lonely and any man would do. When you’re mine, you’ll fucking know it.”
Her blush deepens. “When?” The word slips from her lips like a whisper I’m not meant to hear.
We’re on the edge of a precipice, and I could push us over it with one word, one movement, one kiss.
“If,” I say. “Hypothetical.”
And with two words, I’ve hauled us back to safety. Kate’s shoulders sink on a hopeless exhale. But whatever disappointment I glimpsed—thoughtI glimpsed—is gone in an instant, replaced by her impenetrable armour.
I clear my throat. “Are we done here?”
She frowns, then nods, her hand sliding from the banister as she steps fully to the ground floor.
“Great,” I reply. “Because I really fucking need that drink.”
17
KATE
Nico storms ahead of me, not pausing to fix himself a drink. Either he forgot he wanted one, or it was an excuse to get away from me. And he still hasn’t given me an unqualified answer. Maybe I need to be clearer next time.
Do you want to fuck me, Nico?Yes or no?
I rub my palms over my face and let out a noise halfway between a groan and a sigh. What the hell am I doing, having whispered conversations with Nico in my mother’s darkened hallway? The entire exchange was like a dirty secret and my body vibrates with the aftershocks.
I linger a moment in the kitchen, then follow Nico out to the pool, blinking in the sunlight. Jack’s in the water again, and Mum and Curtis are sitting at the outdoor dining table, shaded beneath a yellow parasol. They’re holding hands, leaning into one another, whispering and laughing like teenagers in love.