Chapter 12

twelve

Olympia

I tossed and turned all night, my mind impossible to shut off as I replayed the terms of my new deal with Tav. The more I replayed it, the crazier it seemed. The more I replayed it, the more dangerous it felt.

At the same time, I’m confident I can win this. He might like kissing me, but he still hates me. That much is plenty clear. The man wants me gone. He proposed this deal as a way to get me gone sooner. Knowing that stings. Everything this man does to me seems to sting. I think I might be getting used to it. Expecting it, even.

Still, sting or no, I need him until I turn twenty-one. Until I have my inheritance. After that, I can turn my back on the man I’ve loved my whole life and pretend he doesn’t exist. I say pretend, because the man will always exist for me. Like it or not, he imprinted on my heart years ago. I can’t suffer the pain I would have to endure to carve him out.

So, it’s no surprise, that as the sun rises in the sky, painting the deep navy with a hue of brilliant red-streaked-pink, that I’m pulling on my yoga clothes and tiptoeing from my room. I disarm the house and wince, frozen in place as the voice seems to scream through the speaker that the house is no longer secure.

I’m confident Tav will get a notification on his phone as well, informing him that I’m making the grand escape into the early morning. I just hope all my ruckus doesn’t wake him. I’m not ready to deal with him yet. It’s just my luck that the man isn’t gone this morning, like he’s been gone every morning before I wake.

Forcing thoughts of Tav from my mind, I grab a bottle of water from the fridge and slide open the patio door, slipping outside. The cool morning air against my flushed skin is a balm against my anxiety. I breathe in deep, sucking back salty morning air as I tip my head back to the glow of an early morning sky.

Laying my mat on the patio stones, I spend a solid ten minute’s stretching. Then I set my follow-along program on my phone and get to doing the thing that makes me happy and relaxed. Considering Tav has made it his mission to wind me up and freak me out, I need this. Desperately.

I’m in the downward doggy pose, my ass in the air, head between my legs when I finally realize he’s standing there. Shoulder against the now open patio door, coffee in hand, smirk firmly fixed in place.

With a yelp, and a jerk of surprise, I drop my booty in an attempt to save face and end up falling hard on said booty.

The rumble of his deep chuckle has heat rising in my chest. I glare hard at him, but he’s not intimidated. Not even a little as he pushes off the door, stepping barefoot onto the patio.

I expect him to stop there, but he doesn’t. Crossing the space between us quickly, my heart quickens in my chest as he drops a knee to my mat, planting one big hand into the stone next to my hip—and the man leans in.

His mouth connects with mine, tongue slipping inside to stroke slow and languid against mine. I’m not kissing him. The man is kissing me. I don’t think I’ve even moved a muscle. I’m too shocked. Too stunned. Too embarrassed.

He pulls back, swiping his tongue teasingly across my bottom lip. “G’morning, Princess.”

He leaves me there, tasting him on my lips. On my tongue. Coffee, and Tav, and sin.

He tastes, ironically, like corruption.

I’m befuddled. By him. By his kiss. By the way he looks at me with loathing and disgust one moment, desire and heat the next.

His lips twist into that smirk I’m coming to expect from him as he walks backward, eyes on me, to the patio set. He chooses the loveseat, drops his ass to it, and shoots me a quick wink.

What the actual bananas?

I shake my head.

“You’re up early.” He lifts the coffee cup to his lips, peering at me over the rim.

“I—c-couldn’t sleep.”

“Why?”

“I have a lot on my mind.” Hugging my knees to my chest, I force my eyes from the invasive man. It’s not a hardship, really. The man has a view. I can’t directly see the ocean from here, but I know from my explorations, that all I have to do is walk through the parting of trees at the back of his property and I’ll see blue. I’ll touch that blue if I walk down the staircase that travels the slope of rough land to the sandy beach below.

But up here, it’s like a little slice of private paradise. The grass is thick and healthy, the patio and furniture are luxury, and the pool—I’ve always been a water baby, so the pool is heaven.

His deep voice interrupts my inspection of his property, and my eyes slide back to him. “Care to share?”

“With you?”

“Is there anyone else?”

I roll my eyes. “I don’t feel like talking.” Because I’m feeling particularly spicy this morning, I huff, “I’m trying to finish my yoga routine.”

Without spilling a drop of his coffee, he settles back in the loveseat. “Please,” he waves a big hand. “Continue.”

My mouth drops. The man can’t be serious. “You want me to do yoga with you sitting there?”

“Absolutely. You’ve got a great ass. It’s even better up in the air like it was.” He’s trying to make me uncomfortable. He must be. “I’m here for the show, baby.”

I scowl. “You’re joking, right?”

“Not at all.”

If looks could kill, Tav would be a corpse. “Go back inside, Tav. Better yet, go to work.”

He settles in, lifting an ankle to rest over his knee. “I’m taking the day.”

My scowl deepens. “You’re what, now?”

“Taking the day off.” He takes another lazy sip of his coffee. “The guys and I have been at it all week, writing.”

“So, write another song.”

“We have plenty of songs.”

I let my fingers dance in the air toward the door. “Then go sing them.”

He chuckles, his chest bouncing with it. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”

With an overdose of innocence, I fold my hands over my chest and flutter my lashes up at him. “Gosh, is it that obvious?”

His grin widens. “We’re meeting the guys tonight at Ian’s. Pool party.”

My entire body tenses, and I stab my finger into the pause button of my yoga video. There’s no way I’m finishing it with him watching.

“We, as in I’m coming, too?”

His eyes never stray from me. “Isn’t that what a real girlfriend would do?”

“I don’t know,” I tell him honestly. “I’ve never been a girlfriend.”

His leg falls from his knee. He leans forward, planting elbows on wide-spread knees, coffee cup in the space between. “Are you telling me you expect me to believe you’ve never had a boyfriend?”

“I don’t care if you believe me. I’m telling you I’ve never had a boyfriend, and that’s that.”

“How is that possible, Olympia?”

Well, crap on a cracker, I prefer when he calls me Princess.

“Things changed after you left, Tav. Remira changed. She was never much of a mother, but she became something else after—after everything.”

“After Ophelia fucked a man Remira’s age? A man Remira considered a friend?”

“Yes.” I hate talking about her with him. “After Ophelia shamed our family, she left. She made a big mess with big consequences, and then she got to escape. She moved in with your father, but I was left there with Remira, and her anger. I was left to pay for all the mistakes everyone else made.”

His jaw hardens. “Remira was never home, Olympia. Are you telling me she suddenly got a taste for being a good, present mother, and decided to raise her daughter rather than letting her run wild?”

I swallow hard, frustration burning in my throat. “I’m not talking about this with you, Tav.”

I stand and begin to roll my mat when he sets his coffee on the table with a loud clink. Then he’s crowding me, both hands gripping my upper arms.

When I refuse to give him my eyes, he grips my chin between thumb and forefinger. “Look at me.”

I do, but I say nothing. I hate how beautiful he is. How I could look at him forever and never, never be bored.

“Tell me the truth.”

I sniff. “I already have. So many times.”

“Again.”

“Remira was controlling. She didn’t allow boyfriends, or even friends. That’s why Charlie never came over and I never went to her house. I’ve been kissed once, by one boy. He stole that kiss on a dare after school one day. My driver saw and told Remira. I was punished. It never happened again—a kiss, I mean—until you.”

His eyes narrow. “You’re almost twenty years old.”

“Until a week ago, I lived under her roof.”

“And you were engaged to my fucking brother,” he spits. “You’re telling me you never kissed him?”

“He wanted to save that for—” I cut off and say instead, “I refused to be alone with him. He scared me enough when we were in public. The things he’d tell me he was going to do to me when I was his—” I stop talking, sealing my lips and shaking my chin free from his hold. Mat in hand, I move to the door and step inside, leaving him there.

I’m halfway across the living room when he commands behind me, “Stop.” I don’t know why, but I obey. “I want to believe you, Olympia.”

I turn to look at him, feeling hope that is crushed quick. “But you don’t, do you?”

Slowly, he shakes his head. “But I’ll promise I’ll forgive you when you want to admit your lie.”

I feel like I’m going to cry, so I turn away from him again. “I need a nap. What time do I need to be ready for this thing with your friends?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

I do turn to face him now. “I’m not losing this deal, Tav. If you don’t want me to go, fine. That’s your forfeit. But I’ll be fine to come, and I’ll put on the best damn show of your life.”

His jaw pulses. “We’ll leave at eight.”