All four men glanced at each other, their expressions unchanged.“The date it took place was prior to the start of filming, a date when you were not supposed to be recording any material in that apartment.” I stared into Ted’s wrinkled fucking face. “I need answers. I need names. And I need to know how you plan to make this right.”“We’re working as hard as we can, Dominick. You have my word.”I could wipe my ass with Ted’s word.In this building, he represented the studio—our social interactions counted for nothing.I stood. “You have forty-eight hours.”As I began walking to the door, Ted exclaimed, “Forty-eight hours isn’t nearly enough time—”“Not a second more,” I said, and I shut the door behind me.Thirty-OneKendallI waited until the call connected and whispered, “Mom,” into the phone. I envisioned her seeing my name appear on the caller ID, taking a seat at the kitchen table, where she took all her phone calls. Her short light-pink-painted nails drawing circles over the wor
I adjusted the pillow behind me, repositioning the blanket so it covered my neck. “Like there’s a knife in my back and it’s twisting around and around and around.”He took off his shoes and climbed over me, resting across the open space, where he pulled me against his chest. “I don’t have answers yet, but I gave them forty-eight hours.”I was silent while I let that number digest. “This is going to be the longest two days of my life.”He rubbed across my back, kissing the top of my head. “What can I do to make you feel better?” He exhaled, his air heating my hair. “Whatever it is, I’ll make it happen.”I looked up at his face, my eyes pleading with his. “Can you make me disappear?”Thirty-TwoDominick“When I asked you to make me disappear,” Kendall said from the edge of the pool, overlooking the lapping waves of the Atlantic, “I definitely wasn’t expecting this.”Keeping her locked in my house without any fucking sunlight wasn’t going to be healthy. She needed air, relaxation, a pla
“I don’t understand.” She searched my eyes. “Why?”“Because it’s showing me how tenacious you are. Do you know how sexy that is?” I gently kissed her. “You had your ass kicked emotionally, but now, you’re ready to kick someone’s ass, and I can see that in your eyes.”Her teeth sank into her lip as she stared at me. “Man, I’m positively crazy about you.”“Baby …” I whispered, about to fucking devour her at this table.But I couldn’t.The chef’s assistant appeared to refill our waters, removing some of the plates we were no longer using and the homemade bread. “I hope you’ve saved room for dessert,” he said. “The chef has prepared his own spin on cake balls.” He smiled before he went back inside.I lifted Kendall from her seat and set her on my lap, rubbing the center of her stomach. “Do you still have room?”“For cake balls? Of course.” She winked. “It’s really adorable that you had him make that dessert—along with the rest of dinner. The fact that he served all my favorites didn’t go
I sipped on my champagne while she ate another one, licking her fingers.“I’m beyond stuffed.”“You did well.”She laughed. “An appetite isn’t something I ever lack.”“Another thing I like about you.”I lifted her from my lap and set her on the deck. “Come with me.”She followed me across the patio and down to the dock.When we reached the beach, I instructed, “Leave your shoes here.”I slipped out of mine and waited for her to be done. Then, I took her onto the sand where the waves met.I faced her, holding one of her hands against my heart, wrapping my other arm around her waist. “Dance with me, Kendall.”A smile moved across her gorgeous face. “But there’s no music.”I dipped down to kiss her, tasting the chocolate on her lips, the island scent on her skin. “Just listen to the waves.”She moved to the beat of the Atlantic, and every exhale drew her closer to me.Thirty-ThreeKendallMy cell had been on silent since before we even left for Bimini. Periodically throughout the day, I
“I literally can’t believe what I’m hearing right now.”“Were you the one who sent the photos? No. Were you the one who tried to ruin my life? Not directly. But you’re not taking a single bit of accountability here. You’re throwing the facts at me like you’re doing me a fucking favor and washing your hands of this mess. Well, guess what. You don’t deserve to walk away innocently; you don’t get the fucking medal of honor for reaching out to me.”Something was tearing through my chest, and I couldn’t stop it. This wasn’t a PMS beast that reared its claws every month. This was years of frustration that had peaked since I’d moved to LA, and I couldn’t hold it in any longer.“You’re a jealous brat—that’s what you are. I’ve done nothing but support you, to the point where I even came to work for you. And the moment I got even the tiniest bit of attention, you lost your mind. If you were secure, if you weren’t dripping in self-doubt, then you would have realized I was never trying to hurt yo
Her eyes finally connected to mine. “I just don’t know what to say.”“Don’t worry, baby; we’ll figure it out.” I checked my watch. “But we should head inside; the meeting is going to start in a few minutes.”She followed me into the home office, where multiple monitors were set up on the large desk. I pulled another chair around, so we could sit beside each other, and I logged in to the network.I held the mouse over the Connect button. “Are you ready?”“I think so.” She slowly inhaled. “Yes.”When the video turned on, I saw a boardroom, the same men as our prior meeting sitting around it, Shane there as well.“Dominick, Miss Roy, thank you for joining us,” Ted said.He then made the introductions, so Kendall knew the names of his team.Details that made no goddamn difference because the result was still the same.They had fucked up.And now, they were going to pay.“We would first like to offer our sincerest apologies,” Ted continued. “We understand that you must feel extremely viola
Because every motherfucker around that table knew I was right.“Do you have anything else to say?” I inquired. “Any other apologies you’d like to offer while we’re still on the line?”Shane took a couple of minutes to say a few words to Kendall, but I didn’t listen—none of what he was saying was important.What I thought about were ways I could milk the settlement because money wasn’t what Kendall was after. She needed to be coddled, for the world to know this wasn’t her fault and she was not the girl the Celebrity Alert had portrayed her as.“Dominick,” Ted said once Shane finished, “we’ll be anticipating your correspondence. Thank you both for taking the time to speak with us.”Kendall thanked him, and I disconnected the call.“How do you feel?” I asked as I turned to her.She shrugged, shaking her head. “I honestly don’t know. They took responsibility—that’s all I can really ask for, I guess.”“No, baby, you can ask for a hell of a lot more than that.”“But they’ve already done mor
The roughness of his face kept me in the moment.“And it’s tight … goddamn it.”My head sank into the pillow as he slid in deeper, sucking my nipple into his mouth.“I’ve been thinking about this all day.” He moved to the other side, licking the peak back and forth. “How hard I was going to fuck you.”“I can’t believe you waited this long to have me.”“I was going to wake you in the middle of the night, surprising you with my mouth.” He smiled as he looked up at me. “But if you’re not sleeping, I can’t do that.”“I need this.” I swallowed while he buried the rest of himself inside me. “I need you.”He held the back of my head and thrust forward. “Then, I won’t make you wait for more.”The arch of his hips sent a burst through me, a second wave as he reared back and repeated the same motion.As the air came in through my lips, the emotions that had been keeping me awake released, my chest loosening, the strain in my stomach letting go.“Fuck yes.” He plunged all the way in. “You have t