Page 38 of Hush Money

She seems genuinely puzzled as she straightens and rubs her pussy, making herself moan. “Where’s the harm? I could use a little luck with you. And once we’re back together, it won’t matter how we got there.”

The insanity is mind boggling. I’m starting to choke on it. Amnesia or not—and I’d stake my fortune on not—she’s still Ravenna all the way to her rotten core. “It’s over. I wanted to do the right thing here. To take care of you until you get back on your feet. But you make it impossible.”

“It’s not over. It’ll never be over.” She comes closer, reaching out one of those cold hands as though she wants to touch my chest and try the whole thing again, but it’s too late. We are so far beyond that. “I told you. We can have a baby now. Anything you want. I’ll do anything to make it work.”

I grab her upper arm before she can touch me again, spy her silky robe on the floor and thrust it at her before frog-marching her to the door. “We’re done here. I tried doing the right thing, but there’s no way you can stay here. You’re leaving.”

A taunting laugh. “You can’t kick me out in the middle of the night, Lucien.”

“Watch me.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

TAMSYN

Something pricks my consciousness, demanding that I wake up. I groan and roll over, burrowing deeper under the covers because it’s the dead of night. The last thing I want to do right now is wake up. But I wouldn’t mind a snuggle. So I reach out for the heat of Lucien’s body lying next to me, wrapping my arm around his waist and gliding my leg over his.

Only this body is too small to be Lucien. Too soft. Too curvy. And all this flowing hair—God, it’s so silky and smells like the sophisticated and expensive shampoo that I could never afford at Sephora—definitely doesn’t belong to Lucien. I register all these facts with distant puzzlement, but no alarm. I’m way too languid for that. A warm body is a warm body, and this is still a good fit even if I’ve never been attracted to women before. So we lie there together for a perfect moment, my palm circling lower on her belly and her ass rubbing against my lap.

Until the owner of this delicious body lets out a breathy sigh and turns within the circle of my limbs, facing me with eyes that are unnaturally bright in the faint moonlight filtering in through the blinds.

It’s Ravenna.

It’s a surprise, but not an unpleasant one. “Ravenna?” I say with more of that distant puzzlement. “What are you doing here?”

Those eyes crinkle at the edges, a smile without smiling. “I’m always with you, Tamsyn.” Her voice sounds so soothing. So safe. “Don’t you know that?”

That’s when the smile comes, a humorless stretching and widening of those lush lips until her jeering face?—

I cry out, jerking myself awake and scrambling upright until my back thumps against the headboard. Then confusion sets in. A pounding heart. Uncatchable breath. Prickling skin. Aching nipples and pussy. Frustrated desire.

Was that…was that a dream? Was I dreaming about something?

Was I dreaming about…Ravenna? Was I dreaming then? Or am I dreaming now?

I’m still waiting for answers when I hear a sound. My bleary brain takes a minute to process and analyze what’s going on. I listen harder, and there it is again. Angry voices somewhere outside. I frown into the darkness. Until I hear the roar of a powerful engine, the screech of tires and see the shocking slash of headlights as they slice through the filmy curtains at my bedroom window.

I stiffen, my heart thumping with dread. I’m awake now. Definitely and irrevocably awake. By the time I click on the light and slip on my flip-flops without bothering to throw a robe over my tank top and knit shorts, my dread is tiptoeing along the edge of panic. Ackerley in the middle of the night is isolated and forbidding enough already. The last thing we need around here is omens of more disturbing stuff to come.

I hear more angry voices as I hurry to the front door. A smarter woman would take a second to peek out the window and survey the scene before she flies outside. But I’m the only one here, and I’ve already recognized Lucien’s low rumble and Ravenna’s shrill response. And there’s no way I’m standing around inside if Lucien needs me out there.

It’s ridiculous. I know that. Lucien is the biggest and most powerful man. He can protect himself. Plus, it’s not like I’m bursting through the door and into the courtyard with backup from Seal Team Six, a canine unit or even a trusty kitchen knife. I don’t know what I think I’m going to do. But for Lucien? I plan to do it.

Strategically placed landscape lights and a sliver of moonlight above illuminate the scene for me: the main house as a backdrop, silent and looming. A pair of Lucien’s uniformed security guards several feet back, watching the scene play out with wide-legged ready for action stances. And center stage in the middle of the driveway? Ravenna standing by the open driver’s-side door of a sleek red Jaguar, dome lights on and engine idling, squaring off against a granite-faced Lucien standing several feet away. He’s got an overnight bag in his hand—maybe the bag from her hospital stay?—but drops it to the ground and kicks it aside.

They both look at me as I emerge. Lucien shoots me a fleeting and narrow-eyed head shake. A small gesture with a screaming message: Stay there. Don’t get involved. Don’t say anything.

So I stand there and do nothing, as much of a frozen spectator as the guards opposite me.

Ravenna also frowns as she sees me, but then her attention swings back to Lucien and they lock in on each other. She’s wearing a white silk robe with wide strips of black lace running around the neckline. It’s loosely belted, but the edges don’t quite come together in front, leaving swells of her cleavage on full display. Her dark nipples are plainly visible and erect. She wears fancier flip-flops than mine, but her legs are bare and I have no doubt that if she takes half a step in any direction, we’re all going to discover that she’s also naked below the waist.

Seeing her like this invites a new visitor to my middle-of-the-night emotional party: searing jealousy. I don’t know what’s been going on with her and Lucien alone in that big house, but I know I don’t like it.

“Your girlfriend’s here, Lucien,” she says as she turns back to him.

Lucien doesn’t spare me another glance. “This is between you and me, Ravenna.”

“You’re right,” Ravenna says. “Is this what you want? For me to leave like this?”

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