Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 90434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Her eyes shot straight to my bare ring finger. Then she took my hand in a weak grasp, and shook it briefly.
“Congratulations,” she said in a flat, dry tone. It was pretty clear she didn’t believe congratulations were in order. Immediately, her eyes, filled with resentment, returned to Sebastian. “It’s good to see you.” The longing in her voice fanned the flames of my possessiveness.
“Darling, we should go find Hani,” I said, laying it on thick and knowing it really was beneath me. Sebastian laced his fingers through mine. “Be well, Delphine,” he said and dragged me out of the cabin. The weight of Delphine’s stare caused me to glance over my shoulder. She stood perfectly still, her eyes glued to his back. Something about it made me crowd closer to him.
On deck, he parted the wall of bodies with ease, pulling me along. “Let’s get the fuck out of here,” he said.
Just then, Hani’s voice rose above the noise. “Sebastian!” We both looked up and Hani waved, motioning for us to join him on the top floor of the yacht.
We climbed the steps to the third deck. Meanwhile, Sebastian’s jaw held a tightness I recognized as discomfort. It worried me that he was pushing himself too hard. Hani waved us over to the table. Seated next to him were three, young women, by the look of them, models. Snapping his fingers, he said something in a low voice and, without a word, the girls stood and left the table. Hani picked up the bottle of Crystal.
“Champagne?”
“Not for us,” Sebastian answered without a glance my way. The fact that he hadn’t bothered to ask me rankled but I pretended otherwise. The tension surrounding him was palpable, his encounter with Delphine still looming over him like a black cloud. I made a mental note to ask him about it later. Hani shrugged and placed the bottle down.
“Did you find anything out?”
“Yes,” Hani answered, his face a mix of interest and concern.
“I owe you, man.”
“Yes, you do. It wasn’t easy…the charity organization is based in Beirut.” Hani’s dark eyes looked troubled. “On the surface, everything looks tidy.”
“Shit.” Sebastian tilted his chin up, his gaze taking in the night sky. Overhead, countless stars twinkled while turmoil churn down below. “And?”
I didn’t miss the way Hani scanned the surrounding area left and right before speaking. In a low voice, he replied, “And the doctor that runs it has ties to Hezbollah. Distant ties, but ties nonetheless––at one point he was the personal physician for a top ranking Hezbollah leader.”
His eyes slamming shut, Sebastian mumbled a low, savage curse.
“Could be nothing,” Hani offered. Sebastian’s piercing gaze slid back to his friend. Sighing deeply, he said, “Highly unlikely. But I sure as fuck hope you’re right.”
Lost in his dark thoughts, Sebastian didn’t utter a single word on the trip back to our boat. Once we were back on board though, he wasted no time. Taking my hand, he led me below deck and straight to the bedroom
As always, he stripped me slowly, with infinite care, as if he were unwrapping a priceless artifact. Except this time it made my blood boil. The more clothes he carefully peeled off of me, the angrier I became. His mind felt a million miles away. Even his touch felt like plastic, bloodless and foreign. I began tugging roughly on his linen shirt. When a few buttons flew off, he scowled at me and placed his hand over mine.
“What?” My voice was intentionally sharp.
“Easy,” he warned.
I scoffed, and the v between his brows deepened. Undeterred, he continued his careful divesting of clothes until we were both naked and lying on the bed. The moonlight streaming in through the porthole made the room look dreamy and incandescent while my mood was quickly sinking to black.
The petal-soft kisses started at my ankles, traveled over the soft landscape of my inner thighs, over my hipbone and belly. I had never once shied away from his touch. This time, however, everything felt off. By the time he reached my collarbone, he could sense I wasn’t aroused; we had always been acutely aware of each other’s needs an this moment was no different. His fingers languidly stroked between my thighs. The dryness was unmistakable. His eyes flickered to mine and lingered on the tightness of my pursed lips. “What is it?”
It took me a moment to screw up the courage. Looking him dead in the eyes, I said, “I want you to fuck me––hard.”
I could count on one hand the times in my life I’d used that word. My heart sped up, drumming inside my chest like it wanted to be free of my ribcage. His eyes narrowed as he examined the degree of my intent.
“No.”
As simple as that, he had shut me down. Then he leaned in for a gentle kiss. Anger exploded within me. I pushed him off and slapped him across the face hard enough that the sound echoed in the room.