Page 60 of Devious Love
“Maybe.” I flash him a grin.
He grasps my hand and leads me to the stairs. As I follow, I plan my retreat, considering the best way to sneak away from him and find Chiara.
“There you are!” an all-too-familiar voice shouts.
My heart leaps into my throat, and I stumble on the stairs.My brotheris standing on the landing below, a mask sitting on top of his head.
He doesn’t even look at me. Thank God. He’s focused on the guy still holding my hand. “Been looking for you. We’re headed to the club.”
My entire body deflates. By some miracle, he doesn’t recognize me, but, shit, I apparently just hooked up with his friend.
My luck has never been worse.
I ease my hand from the blond, keeping my focus on the stairs below me to avoid meeting Matt’s eyes. I need to find Chiara and get the fuck out of this house. Now.
“I was busy,” the blond guy says. “Where are we headed?”
Without glancing at the guy, I walk around Matt, giving him a wide berth and heading straight into the crowd, trying to disappear before my hookup remembers my existence.
“You’re something else,” Matt says. “Didn’t you swear you were done hooking up at parties, Watson?”
My blood turns to ice in my veins, and my muscles lock up. Unbidden, my body pivots, and I zero in on the blond guy. He stops beside Matt, and when he slides his mask off, my stomach plummets.Fuck. How didn’t I recognize him? I’ve been drinking, so there’s that. Plus, the tattoos are clearly new. He’s bigger, his muscles more defined, and his voice sounds way deeper…
Dammit.
Heart in my throat, I zip through the crowd to the dance floor, where I left Chiara and Catwoman. I need to get out of this house. Hell, I need to get out of Monterey. ASAP. Before anyone knows I’m here.
Because I just hooked up with my brother’s best friend. I just hooked up with mystepbrother.
If Dominic finds out I’m the girl he fucked on the washing machine tonight, I’ll be dead. I have no doubt about that.
CHAPTER 16
save your breath
MIA
Age 18
September, Now
After Dominic stormed out,I couldn’t find it in me to follow him. I put on pjs and sat on the edge of the tub. The gravity of the situation has me pinned to the spot, my thoughts chaotic and messy.
What the hell do I even say to him?
Would he even listen to me if I tried to explain?
I haven’t told a soul we hooked up last year, not even Chia. I gave her some bullshit excuse and flew back to Phoenix first thing the next morning, begging her and my dad not to tell anyone I’d been in Monterey.
But now that I’m back in town, the dynamic between Dominic and me has shifted. I’m not a silly little girl with a crush anymore. The chemistry is mutual. He looks at me like I’m a woman, like I’m beautiful, even if he pretends to be unaffected.
Regardless, I’ve been resolute about my decision to hide the truth.Nothing would ever come of it, I told myself, continuing to act as if I didn’t know what it felt like to have his mouth on me,his hands on me, his cock inside me. I packed those memories into a box and stored it away in the back of my mind, determined to never open it again.
It was naive of me, that’s clear now. Since the day I returned to Monterey five weeks ago, Dominic Watson has starred in all my dreams, and no matter how hard I try to focus on anyone else, anything else, it’s impossible. He’s my one real sexual fantasy—a very, very forbidden fantasy. And now that he knows my secret, I don’t know how to act around him, or how I even feel about the situation?—
A door slams downstairs, ripping me out of my thoughts. I should put it all out of my mind and go to bed. I have a very busy day tomorrow. Overthinking and running through all the ways this might play out won’t help. I can’t control his thoughts. All I can do is focus on myself.
When and if he’s ready to listen to me, I’ll talk to him.
