Page 143 of Sinful Desires
Her, and only her.
If it had been me hearing some fucker whisper in her ear that he wanted her mouth, her body, her skin between his teeth? I would have slit his throat in front of everyone and made her watch him bleed out at her feet.
Just to remind her she belonged to me.
And no one else.
Chapter
Thirty-Seven
“She let the jealousy slip out of her fingertips.”
? Jodi Lynn Anderson
Scarlett
The fire crackled under the wood, smoke curling up into the dark, the sand still warm under my feet.
I took another long gulp of the homemade strawberry lemonade and sank deeper into the towel.
The hem of my dress was damp from the ocean. My hair smelled like sea salt.
Nicholas was focused on not burning the marshmallows, a task he suspiciously perfected almost immediately. He handed a perfectly golden one to Liya like it was a gift and turned to Pierre, her assistant, with the same grin.
“You want one too? I’m in a generous mood.”
We’d been out here for two hours. Laughing. Eating. Pretending our collective trauma counted as bonding. The kind of conversation that danced between fame and failure and who we had been before it all got ruined.
Pierre brought up astrology, and that derailed everything in the best way.
“I never asked what you are, sunshine,” Nicholas said, handing me a s’more with marshmallow practically melting through the cracker. “My guess? Chaotic fire sign energy. Maybe Leo. You give Leo.”
Before I could answer, Liya held up her hand like she was calling a séance. “Wait. Let me guess. Bold. Stubborn. Disgustingly talented. A little unhinged?…?an Aquarius!”
I gasped and leaned forward. “Yes! God, you’re good at this. Are you psychic, or do I just scream delusional and detached?”
She laughed with a mouthful of chocolate, biting into the s’more.
“I love astrology. I could spend hours reading about stars and orbits and retrogrades. Everything’s a pattern if you look hard enough.”
I stared into the fire, wondering if that were true. Wondering what part of me still followed any kind of pattern.
Pierre cracked open a beer with his teeth and wiped the top with his hoodie sleeve.
Nicholas raised an eyebrow, licking marshmallow off his thumb like he was on camera. “All right, star witch. Guess mine.”
Liya narrowed her eyes at him, chewing dramatically as if it gave her clarity.
“Hmm?… You’reloud. You love attention. You’re kind. You cry when people don’t clap loud enough. Leo.”
He gasped like she’d slapped him. “Excuse me, I have depth.”
“Sure,” she said, smirking. “Deep insecurity.”
Pierre choked on his beer, and I bit into my s’more, trying not to laugh as chocolate smeared across my mouth.
Nicholas turned to me, hand on his heart. “Sunshine, back me up. You’ve known me longer. What do you think?”
