Chapter 002

I snap myself to reality when I realize I have started trailing off into memories I have tagged forbidden. this"So, what do you want now, stepfather?"

I hear his light chuckle, and I can't help the flutter in my chest from absorbing the rich sound. I can almost smell him. I remember what he smelled like. God! it's imprinted in my brain.

It is embarrassing, but I can admit that I look for that scent in every man I have gone out with since, but to no success. It belonged to Linc Tanner alone. Just like my stupid, stupid heart. Mint, dark coffee, something dark and mysterious thrown in the mix and a whiff of something floral and yet overwhelmingly masculine.

I used to smell him in the house before he even got to the room I was in, with my mom on his arm, dark onyx eyes seeking mine like a storm.

"I kind of prefer Mr. Tanner to that stepfather title. Makes me feel old, and the way you say it adds a perverted undertone to it," he says after a moment. His tone is light; it is a rebuff he has used several times before when I used to call him that as a sort of childish rebellion to the dismay of my mother who insisted I call him by his name or worse, dad.

"Whatever," I snap. I hate having to think about my mother or the period during that summer before I left for college when I had to stay with them, and it was low-key the worst few weeks of my life in that house.

"Still that temper. It is good to know you haven't changed much, Ames darling," Linc says with a light chuckle.

But he is wrong. At least I hope so. I hope I have changed enough.

But with the way my heart flutters every time he calls me that nickname in that rich baritone of his, I can't be sure I have changed much, and it is embarrassing.

"I need you to tell me why you have called, Linc. Cut the whole thing about you worrying about me and all that bullshit. I know you have eyes on me. I have seen her. What do you want?" My anger comes back to shield my foolish heart; it wraps around my chest like a vice.

Whatever he has been paying the woman following me for the past three years should be halved. She is terrible at her job. She doesn't even try to be hidden.

"Okay. Okay. Sheathe your claws, tigress," Linc says. There is no chuckling this time. He doesn't even try to deny it. It makes me angrier, but I bite my tongue. Once I hear what he is calling for, we will talk about that damn female bodyguard.

"I need you to come back home for your break tomorrow. Your plane tickets are ready, everything is set in place," Linc says, his voice dangerously set and rigid, my mouth opens and closes.

Again, I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. I am beyond dumbfounded. Not at the fact that he knows the exact timing of my summer break, but the finality and air of authority of his tone.

"What!" Finally, I scream into the phone.

"What the fuck are you talking about?! I am not coming back! You better say you're joking right now!" I scream into the phone. Courtesy be damned. I don't care if Ashley can hear me. I don't care if I am being rude.

He has lost his mind if he thinks he can just command me to come back to New York out of the blue like this. After three whole years of no contact! Though I was the one that initiated the no-contact rule, that is beside the point.

"You are and you will," Linc says and the calmness in his voice threatens to push me to the edge. He has no rights! Have I not made this clear enough!

"I don't know how to say this nicely, Mr. Tanner, but I genuinely do not want anything to do with you. My mother is dead. She is not here anymore. I am not obligated to feel related to you because we are not related. I am not coming back to New York, and that is final," I say, breathing heavily.

My eyes narrow on the floral pattern of my quilt, and I feel like I could go crazy with the way my heart is racing, flashes of forbidden memories running through my mind.

Mental snapshots of Linc walking out of the luxurious infinity pool on the rooftop of his mansion and his immaculate figure, toned wide shoulders, long muscular legs like tree trunks, chiseled torso, me hiding behind the lounge door, watching him like a creep, the water dripping down his hairy chest, snaking into his navel, down his briefs with that noticeable bulge, and his dark eyes catching mine immediately like he knew I was there all along, watching him.

"Amelia. Listen to me," Linc's domineering voice cuts into me, and I rip my focus away from those damn memories.

That summer is cursed. I can't think of that time without feeling a heap of guilt and the sense of awakening into something bigger than myself, in those stolen glances, fantasies, and sleepless nights where I imagined what it would be like to be the one sharing Linc's bed instead of my mother. I felt treacherous even though me and my mother and I had never been particularly close.

"No! I am not coming back, and you can't make me!" I yell.

"Amelia!" Linc's annoyed voice snaps me to attention. I bite my tongue. Squeezing the phone in my hand.

I grit my teeth in annoyance. I didn't have any specific plans for the holiday, though I was thinking about my internship options.

Since it is my sophomore year, I am supposed to spend my summer break interning at any reputable architectural company that will take me.

"It is something your mother wanted," Linc says, his voice going back to calm and collected.

Of course. She would still continue to mess up my life even when she is no longer here.