The man is impossible. I flop back onto my bed having gotten dressed but not wanting to go out anymore. Sasha curls up next to me and purrs. I pet her head and wonder when Cillian will be back. He’ll have to let me out of here sooner or later or people might start asking questions.
A small laugh bubbles from me when I think of how fast he ran from the bedroom when he saw me naked. It’s laugh or cry at this point. It had taken everything in me to walk out of the closet like that. I was trying to be bold. To make him see me as a woman. I obviously failed once again. I’ve never seen Cillian move so fast in my life. His rejection stung more than I thought it would.
“The internet is filled with lies,” I tell Sasha. The article I’d read about seducing a man had failed me. I wet my bottom lip and think about how he’d pressed his body into mine.
I squeeze my thighs together and remember the heat I saw in his eyes. He was hard everywhere. I close my eyes, trying to recall every second of it. His dirty words lit my body on fire. I think I felt his cock press into me. Or it could’ve been his gun. Was he only trying to scare me or did he mean the things he said?
“Cara.” I sit up when I hear my stepsister Maria call my name. A moment later she breezes into my bedroom. I catch a glimpse of Cillian behind her before the door slams closed. “You’re still in bed?” She rolls her eyes at me. “Get up. We have wedding plans to get on with already.”
That’s the last thing I want to do. Thinking of my fiancé makes my stomach sour. The turned-on feeling I was having thinking about Cillian pressed against me fades away. Dread quickly takes its place.
“Up!” She snaps louder, making Sasha hiss at her.
“Since when do you care about the wedding? I don’t, so neither should you.” I slip off the bed. Sasha sits up and glares at Maria.
When Maria first came to live here I was only eight years old. At the time I thought she was a sweetheart, but that soon changed after she was here for a little bit. It didn’t take long for her true colors to shine through. Sasha isn’t a fan of Maria, which tells me my instincts about my stepsister’s true nature are on point.
Maria’s mother Calida had been on her best behavior also when she’d first married my dad. It was all a show that quickly faded. I do have to admit that Calida is well suited for my father, though. They both have quick tempers and nasty dispositions. I’ve learned to stay out of their way. Calida, medicated or drunk, sticks to her side of the estate for the most part. I would probably do the same if I was married to a man like my father. The thought is a sobering one, because that is the fate that’s been set out for me.
“I care about your wedding because it means you’ll be out of here sooner.” She gives me one of her fake sweet smiles. Too bad she couldn't have been the one to be married off. I’d like her out of here, too.
No, she doesn’t have McKibbon blood in her veins. It’s something my father often says when he and Calida fight. He always reminds her that she’s a nobody without him and how lucky she is that he took her from the hole he found her in.
Pretty sure the hole was a strip club from the whispers I’d heard. When Calida first arrived here, my father was infatuated with her. That quickly waned. His infatuations always do. His affection and attention withered right along with it.
Maria has been around a lot lately. Usually, she stays in the city where my father has a condo. I’m not sure why the sudden change. She marches back to my door, clearly expecting me to follow her. I do, because if I don’t, she’ll snitch to my father. That’s the last thing I need right now. I’ve already learned my lesson about speaking out about my upcoming wedding. I’ll never make that mistake again.
When the door flies open, my eyes lock on Cillian. He only looks at me for a moment before his eyes go to Maria. She’s seven years older than me and as beautiful as her mom used to be. She’s tall with long blond hair and bright blue eyes that she plays up with makeup. She’s got boobs now, too.
They popped up a few months ago out of nowhere. And I’m guessing that it hadn’t been some late bloom of puberty but a really skilled plastic surgeon that had given her those full Ds. I do have to admit they really complete the whole bombshell package she’s got going on.
“Cillian,” she purrs at him as she walks by. She gives her hips an extra sway. I swear I can feel the rage brewing inside of me. I want to reach out and grab her by her blond shiny hair.
I refuse to look over at him as I pass. I don’t want to see him check out her ass. That’s what most of the others do as we make our way towards the kitchen where the wedding planner Kelly is waiting for us. I groan inwardly, wishing this wasn’t happening to me.
“You want something to drink?” I ask Kelly, heading for the fridge and trying to stall.
“I’ve got it.” Greta comes around the corner with a tea kettle in her hand. I relax some, knowing she is near. She has always been somewhat of a safe haven for me.
“Water for me,” Maria snips and sits down at the table with Kelly, then dismisses Greta after she gets her water.
I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from snapping at Maria. It would be pointless.
She points at something in one of the binders Kelly has out on the table. “You know how important this is for Kaden, you really think people will be impressed with this?”
Since when did she start calling my dad by his first name? I remember her mom making a big deal about wanting her to call him Dad.
My eyes flick over to Cillian, who’s standing in the doorway to the kitchen. His arms are folded over his chest as he watches Kelly and Maria. He looks pissed. He must feel my gaze on him, because he turns his head, causing his eyes to lock with mine.
“Greta!” Maria shrieks, breaking my attention away from Cillian. “Don’t put that out! She’s already plump enough. We don’t need her fiancé to call everything off because she’s gotten even bigger.” She pushes away the plate of cookies Greta brought from the pantry. It almost falls off the side of the table, but Greta has quick hands and catches it before it does.
Cillian curses under his breath. “Tell me if they leave the kitchen,” he says to one of his other men before turning to leave.
Here I thought if I deflowered myself then my groom wouldn't want me. Now I find out that all I have to do is eat a bunch of cookies. As lovely as that sounds, I still think I’d rather go with my first plan. It might even work—that is, if Cillian stops running away from me.
3
Cillian
“Is my daughter behaving?” Kaden asks as he sips his bourbon.
I stand just inside his office door as Conor, his second in command, gives me an appraising scowl.
“She’s with the wedding planner now.” I can’t say she’s behaving, not after what she did to me in her room this morning. But that’s nothing Kaden needs to hear about.
“Good. The sooner she’s out of this house, the better.”
“The alliance will go smoothly once she’s a Sutcliffe. That name will open infinite doors for us.”
“Old English money.” Conor looks like he wants to spit.
“The troubles are over, Conor. This is an infusion of cash and connections, that’s all.”