Page 20 of Lush

Time had sculpted him into something raw and devastatingly destructive. His sun-kissed skin, richer and warmer than I remembered. Dark waves of hair, tousled and unruly. And those lips… The same lips that used to whisper my name like a prayer.

I hated him. But the ache between my legs didn’t give a damn.

Reese started pacing slowly, hands in pockets, a cigarette dangling from his lips. I couldn’t look at him, so I stared at everything else—the garden, the bench, the dirt, even the stars.

“You’re smoking again?”

“I’m smoking.”

I could almost taste that night before the engagement party.The back seat of his Mustang, the scent of salt air mixing with the leather, the hum of his engine as his arm pulled me closer. My fingers traced circles on his bare chest.

“It’s stopping me from wringing your fucking neck.”

My heart skipped a beat, but there was no way in hell I was going to show any weakness. Instead, my eyes locked on his, and for a moment, I forgot everything else—everything we’d been through. All I saw was the man who had wrecked me, the man who had damn near destroyed me, the man who made me betray my family for his love, the man whose love I then betrayed for my family.

And still, I wanted him. Bad.

I wanted to drag him back to that fire we burned in before, back to the madness, the raw need. Rip him open with my mouth and tongue until we both bled from the inside out. I wanted to make him feel what he did to me—the way he burned me, the way he left me to rot.

And I had no fucking idea what to do with all of that.

“You haven’t changed.” I kept my face devoid of any emotion.

His lips twisted in a faint, almost mocking smile, as though he knew exactly what I was trying to do.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been good at that,” he muttered. Then, after a long moment, he added, “But you? You’ve changed.”

“I know this isn’t the…ideal circumstance to meet again.” I straightened. “I didn’t come back to play games.”

“You fucked me over, and now, after six years, you just show up?” His voice shook, raw with something dark and dangerous. “You turned on me. We were supposed to leave together. Ran out on our plan like I was nothing?—”

“It wasourplan, Reese. You were in on it too.”

“I know you,baby.” His hand shot out, gripping my wrist—not hard, but enough to keep me there. “Six years is a long time to disappear, and I know you have something up your sleeve.Come to finish the job? See your handiwork? Want to take the last fucking dime from me?”

“I didn’t come here foryou,” I snapped, snatching my arm from wrist away. “Don’t get flattered.”

“Is that right?” He was getting too close, and damn it, my body was betraying me.

“Let’s… I just… Before we go into that room full of people and pretend that we’re both happy with this.”

Four hours of staring at my bedroom ceiling hadn’t been wasted. I’d come up with a plan.

“We’re going to be married.” My words tasted like ash, yet my voice remained cold. “Maybe we can make the best of it. Together?—”

“No fucking way. I don’t want a damn thing to do with you.”

I didn’t need his trust yet. Trust was earned, but belief? That could be engineered. If I turned his hate for this marriage into something useful, he’d go along with it. Clueless.

“Let’s keep this professional. This is business.”

The plan wasn’t complicated, but it required finesse. Marry him—there was no getting out of that. Post-wedding, he was unnecessary. We’d have completely separate lives from day one—no shared bank accounts, no plans together. Reese had done well for himself over the years; I’d followed the news. I did need to stay with him for a certain length of time. California law would handle the rest. If I convinced him to agree to no prenup, then in the end, half of his wealth would be mine, along with my inheritance.

All money was good money, and I needed lots of it.

Then, when I had my inheritance and half from him, the first thing I’d do was get the hell out of this town. Disappear. Maybe fly to Switzerland and stash the money where Mama couldn’t find it and Reese couldn’t follow. It would be the biggest come up for me.

“We’re just going to treat this as business?” Reese’s voice cracked. “After everything between us?”

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