I can’t analyze it right now but I think I might have just realized why my father built a castle for the love of his life. Why my brothers are suddenly acting like they’ve jumped off the deep end of their sanity.
No.
This isn’t me at all.
I don’t want this overload of amped-up lust. Because it’s a lust that has teeth. Teeth that are sinking into the flesh of my soul and spilling venom deep inside me that’s tainting me.
With her.
With the memory of how fucking beautiful she is standing here right now in the golden sunlight in her white dress, glaring at me.
“Hi, Luna.” I give her the smile that has slayed a thousand women. Okay, not a thousand, maybe, but close enough.
Nothing. She doesn’t smile back. “Hi, Gage.” Feistily. I’m the enemy, clearly, and one she has no time for. The sex is going to be phenomenal, is what I’m thinking. At least she called me Gage and not Mr. McCabe, which was starting to sound overdone, like it was bordering on mockery.
Christ, I fucking love the sound of her voice when she says my name. I want to hear her moan it. Scream it. Cry it out in a fit of ecstasy.
“I spoke to Travis a few hours ago,” I tell her. “Our tickets are waiting at the door for us. We’re going to have a drink with the boys before their show.”
This causes her irritation to lift at the edges. I can detect her excitement.
For them. Not me.
I’ll fucking kill them!
You won’t kill them, you asshole. They’re your goddamn cousins. And you’re not a raving psycho. At least you weren’t last time you checked.
Then why do I feel this feverish … insanity? What is it? Jealousy?
Yes. I have to win.
I’ll change her mind. I’ll show her how much she actually wants me. I’m better than them. I’m richer. Hotter. Taller, probably. My cock is bigger.
Isn’t it?
Yes! Of course it is! It fucking must be. It’s ten and a half goddamn inches on a good day. And every day is a good day.
What if you can’t change her mind? What if she falls in love with one of them? Or all of them?
Fuck.
Maybe we shouldn’t go to the concert tonight. Maybe this was a bad motherfucking idea.
I’m relieved when Josie breaks my ludicrous train of thought. I’m starting to wonder if I really am going crazy. “You guys are going to have so much fun,” Josie says. “I wish I wasn’t exhausted, and also getting on a plane in two days and I still haven’t even thought about packing.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay here and help you?” Luna asks earnestly, like she prefers that option to going out with me.
Is she for real? Are people actually this nice in real life? A small part of me hopes Luna does opt out of our plans tonight. Then I won’t have to worry about her fangirling all over my ultra-successful rock star cousins.
I’m even more ultra-successful, I remind myself. I have way more money than they do.
“Absolutely not,” Josie scolds her. “You’re going. You’ve loved the band since their very first hit. Remember singing along to it that time we drove to Miami? That was such a fun weekend.”
Why? Did she meet someone?
Holy hell.
I’m losing it.
I need to calm the fuck down. So I focus on Josie. “Did you read through the contract?”
“Yes. I’ve accepted your offer and signed it.”
My heart actually skips a beat, something I’m not sure it’s ever done before. I get to spend time with her. I’m going to be Luna’s business partner. She’ll have to hang out with me and do what I tell her to do. “So you agreed to the fifty-one percent?”
“Yes.”
My gaze slides to Luna. She’s watching me, noticing the lines of my body But, still, there’s no reaction. No adoration. Not a hint of surrender. Something is holding her back. Despite all this, I can’t help grinning at her, even though I’m specifically trying not to act like an idiot. Or an asshole. Which isn’t easy.
I pull a pen out of my jacket pocket. “May I?” I ask Josie, because to her I’ll be polite and gentlemanly. I’ll save the beast in me for Luna, once I have her exactly where I want her. All I need to do now is to sign on the dotted line.
Josie slides the papers towards me.
I leaf through the contract to the last page, where I see Josie’s scrawled name. Underneath it, I ink my signature.
And that’s it. We have a deal.
Before she can change her mind, I take my phone out of my pocket and open up my banking app. I’ve already set up the transaction. I push the button to transfer one million dollars into Josie’s bank account, which I confirmed the details of yesterday. Once it’s done, I show Josie the screen.
Transfer of $1,000,000.00 to Josephine R. Farrell complete √
“Wow,” she breathes. “Oh my God.”
I hold out my hand and Josie takes it. “Thank you,” I say, meaning it.
There are more tears in Josie’s eyes. “Thank you, Gage. This is a dream come true. More than that. It’s light years beyond the wildest dream I’ve ever had. And I know you’re going to make all Luna’s dreams come true too.”
You bet your ass I am.
I offer my hand to Luna. The colorful green of her irises has been almost completely swallowed up by the black of her pupils. She fucking hates me. Or maybe there’s a part of her that’s terrified of me, for some unknowable reason. But she takes my hand anyway because the deal is now done and she’s in this, whether she likes it or not.
“I’m looking forward to doing great things together, Luna.” Great, hot, debauched things that make you come hard and scream my name as you dig your fingernails into my back.
As soon as her cool hand slides into my much larger, hotter one, I feel like I’m having some kind of religious, out-of-body experience. It’s the first time she’s touched me. Her skin is as soft as silk. There’s a current to her touch. An energy. Like she’s zapping me with her fierce, electric allure. I can smell the light scent of her tropical, floral-spiced perfume. She’s far more beautiful in person even than in my late-night fantasies. I’m so close to her I can count the five golden freckles sprinkled across the bridge of her perfect nose. And there’s one near the edge of her plump, full lips. My mouth waters. Her lips are a fraction too full for her face, in the sexiest way imaginable. They’re full and pink with lip gloss. I have a ravenous desire to lick it off, to sink my tongue into her mouth, to devour her and feast on her until I’ve come all over her and rubbed myself onto her skin, marking her with my hot cum before holding her down as I fuck her and spend myself deep inside her sweet, nubile little body. My cock starts to harden and throb and I try desperately to will it not to.
Hellfire and damnation, this is bad.
I hold on to the handshake for too long and she slips her hand from my grasp. “If we don’t kill each other first,” she says, and it’s the first hint of humor aimed in my direction. Maybe because Josie is so happy. Josie stands up, with effort, and gives Luna a hug. They’re both crying. For very different reasons.