“Reeve…” I wasn’t pleading anymore. I was his to keep or discard as he chose, and he’d decided to keep me.Except then he went on. “I can’t let you go, but I can continue to give you space. If that’s what you need.”“And you won’t do this anymore? You won’t come on to me?” I wasn’t sure if I felt optimistic or destroyed.“I won’t come on to you.” He sounded as ruined as I felt. “Until you say I can.”“But what if that’s never?”He met my eyes, and with all the solemnness of a vow, he said, “It won’t be.”He held my gaze for a moment longer, then turned his back to me and walked toward the bathroom, stooping to pick up the towel he’d discarded on his way.I didn’t wait a second longer before swiping the bottles off the floor and darting out the door.My legs shook the entire way to my room. I dumped the pills in the bottom of my suitcase, turned off the light, and climbed into bed fully dressed. A second later, I jumped up and locked my door. Reeve had let me go tonight, but I didn’t t
And she did. “Can I have them back?”I considered telling her I’d dumped them already. The lie would be easier. But, instead, I just said, “No.”“Ha ha. Funny.”I let her laugh. Because why wouldn’t she? I’d never stood up to her like this before. In fact, I wasn’t sure I’d stood up to her ever.But when she’d finished her chuckle, I made sure I was completely somber when I said, “I’m not joking. I mean no. You can’t have them.”She pulled her hand from my lap. “You can’t keep them. They’re mine.”“No. Actually, they’re not. And if you want to refute this with a third party, we can take this up with Reeve.” I was surprised at the confident sound of authority in my tone. And proud.Amber twisted and sat back in her lounger, her knees up and her arms crossed over her chest. “You’re on his side. Typical.”Maybe I’d given her too much credit when I’d thought of her as a teenager. This behavior was much less mature. “I’m not on his side, Amber. I’m on your side.”“I don’t know what the hel
I stood back up. Being there where she’d been and feeling the way I’d imagined Amber felt, I wondered for the first time if Missy’s death had been a suicide. Jumping off the side into nothing would be a very thrilling and tragic way to end things. Like flying.Maybe that was too dramatic. She could have just as easily fallen. If the railing hadn’t been there, in the dark and if she’d been drunk or high or upset or all of the above.Or someone could have pushed her, relying on the probability that her death would be ruled an accident.Reeve had told me he hadn’t been anywhere near her when it happened. He’d been on the beach, making sex tapes. There was proof that that was where he’d been. But there were still pieces of Missy’s death that felt unsettled. Things Chris Blakely had mentioned that didn’t have an answer in the story Reeve had told me.Rustling leaves interrupted my reverie and drew my focus to the path behind me. The glimpse of white moving through the trees told me someone
“I didn’t leave fairly, though.” He seemed simultaneously proud and ashamed of the fact. “A team from Interpol had contacted me before that, asking a bunch of questions about the Vilanakis family and what I knew about them. I’d blown them off. But I’d started collecting proof of illegal dealings. In case I needed it. That week here, I decided I needed it.”“So you told him to leave or you’d go to Interpol?”“Basically.”A few more pieces clicked into place. “And that’s why he says you betrayed him.”“I would presume so. Yes.”I couldn’t imagine the amount of proof Reeve must have had to feel confident making such a threat. “Why isn’t he afraid that you’ll still turn him in now?”“He’s found my weak spot.” When I raised a questioning brow, he explained. “I didn’t have people I cared about then like I do now.”I took in a shaky breath. He means Amber.But I wasn’t an idiot. I knew he also meant me.“Anyway.” I forced myself to focus on something other than the possessive way he was star
He laughed. “Go ahead. No one can hear you down here, and screaming is a turn-on. Even more than struggling.”And now I was wet.“You’re a fucking asshole,” I said, meaning it with every cell in my being.He switched his hold on me to his other hand. “Sorry to disappoint, but fucking you in the ass wouldn’t be a good idea today. I’m feeling too spiteful. You wouldn’t be able to walk after and I’m not carrying you up that mountain.”“Jesus, you’re unbelievable.”“I’m taking that as a compliment.”I was sweating now, my heart pounding so hard my chest hurt. Suddenly, he let go of my hands. But before I could think fast enough to figure out what to do with my freedom, he wrapped his shirt around my neck. And pulled. Hard. Choking me.He leaned into my ear and rasped. “Beg for my cock when I let you breathe.”My hands flew to my throat. I scratched at the material, clawing, using up the air in my chest with my frantic wrestling.Of course I couldn’t get free. His hold was too tight, too s
With one hand still gripping my chin, he lowered the other toward the strip of hair between my thighs. “You don’t deserve it,” he said, his fingers brushing ever so gently across my clit, “but I’m going to let you come so that you’ll remember that I love you.”He pressed his thumb against the bundle of nerves, and I exploded. My entire body convulsed as tears washed my face and colorful bolts of lightning danced across my vision.“Ah, that’s it. Good girl,” Reeve murmured against my cheek, coaxing me, cheering me. “Feels so good, doesn’t it?”So good that I’d lost perception of what my body was doing. Was I standing or being held? Was my climax starting or ending? Was I dying from ecstasy or was this the process of rebirth?Just as I began to get oriented, his thumb returned to my clit. “Again,” he said.And there I went again. Lost. Spinning. Flying higher. But with him, this time – he jutted deep into me and stilled, emptying himself inside me and we came together.Aftershocks shook
CHAPTER 20After that, the loneliness of the island became unbearable.I rarely saw Amber. She didn’t have any reason to come to my part of the house. The pool by the master bedroom was more convenient, not to mention nearer to the office where Reeve spent his days. More than once, I considered joining her there with my laptop or a book, but really, there wasn’t any point. She barely spoke to me at lunch, and whenever I was close to her and Reeve at the same time, the tension stretched my insides so taut I wasn’t pleasant to be around anyway.The nights were the worst. I stopped locking the door to my room, hoping that Reeve would turn the knob and find it open. Hoping he’d sneak in and take me in all the ways he liked. Hoping he hadn’t meant it when he’d said he wouldn’t try anything until I asked him to.But the knob never turned. And now, Amber was more of a barrier between us than ever.I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about the two of them, together, in his bed. I understood
“Actually, he sent something just this morning.” He closed Joe’s e-mail and clicked on the top line in his inbox. The message opened and Reeve gestured toward the screen for me to read.I peeked at it somewhat thrilled he’d chosen to share it with me. Until I realized it had been written in Greek. “I can’t read it. What does it say?”“Oh. Right.” He chuckled at himself as he tilted the screen where we could both see it. “Basically, I have not done these things of which you accuse me. I have alibis for all events. One alibi even your own beautiful Emily.”Your own beautiful Emily.I snuck a peek at him after he said my name, wondering how he felt when he called me his, if it felt anything like how I felt when I heard it.He swallowed, suggesting that it at least made him feel something. But that something could have been irritation, because then he launched into a rant about what he’d read so far. “It’s ridiculous. Alibis prove nothing, and he knows that. He never does his own dirty wo