Chapter 4

4

I'm not sure if my plan will actually work, but I know it's going to be fun as hell to drive Chad crazy. What will be even better is getting to put my hands on Virginia's sexy body as we "pretend" we're together.

Ha.

The only thing I'll be pretending about is that I don't want to punch Chad in the dick.

Virginia and I make our way through the ship in silence, her twisting her fingers the whole way to the fancy restaurant my parents picked for dinner. I don't know how to reassure her more than I have, so I decide to just show her how good I can take care of her.

I let her go ahead of me through the door and don't bother trying to hide the way my eyes drift down to her ample backside. When I'd convinced her to come, she'd insisted on changing and fixing her hair and makeup. I'd thought she'd looked just fine in her cute little shorts and black tank top with the word Trying in rhinestones across her fantastic tits, but considering the way everyone is dressed as we head to the ma?tre d' stand, I know she would've been uncomfortable if she'd come in her more casual clothes.

It would've been worth it, I think, to see the look on Chad's face. But it was win-win for me. She's positively edible in her knee-length, white dress that fluttered around her and had tiny red hearts all over it. She'd done something to her hair, letting it down out of the messy bun it had been in, and it's now cascading down her back and around her shoulders, drawing my eyes and a twitch in my fingers every time the light catches it, pulling out strands of gold and auburn among the dark brown.

She really is spectacularly beautiful, and it makes me more grateful than ever to have such an idiot for a brother. As the hostess leads us to the back corner to where my parents and brother are already seated, I slip up next to her, placing my hand on the small of her back.

She gives a tiny jump at the unexpected touch, one that isn't visibly noticeable, but I can feel it in the charged contact between my hand and the thin fabric of her dress. Fuck, it's soft.

Though I have a feeling her skin is even softer.

"Remember, let me do the talking," I say under my breath.

She glances up at me, worry lines appearing between her brows. "This is a terrible idea," she says, but she doesn't stop walking.

She's probably right, but she doesn't know the true nature of it. I didn't give two shits about making Chad jealous—that was just an added bonus for me. My hope and goal for the rest of the trip is that by us pretending to be together, she would see how it could truly be if we were. That I'd get in enough fake touches and maybe even a kiss or two, so that by the time we're flying back to Stonewood Ridge, she knows what I've known for weeks.

She's mine. She's never been Chad's and never will be.

I see the moment Chad clocks us in the brief flash of desire and relief when he spots Virginia and then the anger when he takes note of my hand on her low back. As we near the table and the hostess assures us our server will be with us shortly, Chad jumps to his feet.

"Ginny, I didn't realize you were feeling up to coming to dinner."

Dad's staring at the menu, but Mom is looking between Virginia and Chad, eyes narrowed a little. It makes me wonder what he's said before we arrived, maybe claiming she was seasick this time instead of down with a headache.

Chad pulls the chair out next to his, expectantly, but I put a little pressure on her back with my fingertips, steering her in the opposite direction. I grab the chair next to my dad, guiding her into it, and then take the one on her other side.

Mom stares at me with wide eyes as Chad continues to stand there, looking like a gaping idiot with the chair next to him still in his hand.

Dad finally looks up and frowns at him. "What are you doing, Chad? Sit down."

He did, falling back into his chair next to our mom, who brushes a hand down his arm consolingly. I resist the urge to roll my eyes only out of years of practice, handing Virginia one of the menus for her to look at. I notice her fingers are trembling as she takes it from me.

Going on instinct, I slip my hand under the table and give her knee a quick squeeze. She jerks her head up, eyes wide as she stares at me like she can't figure out what I'm doing. I give her soft skin a quick caress, and then remove my hand, grinning and winking at her. At least she didn't look like she was about to pass out anymore.

"I wonder what the specials are," I say, putting my left hand on the back of her chair and then picking up my menu with the other, completely ignoring the way Chad's trying to glare a hole through me.

The next few minutes are mostly quiet as we all look over the menus and then order drinks when the server comes and rattles off the night's specials. I set aside my menu and notice that while Virginia's still holding hers, it seems like she's using it as a barrier to block Chad from looking at her than actually studying it anymore since her eyes on her lap.

I take it and set it off to the side with my own and grab one of her hands. She stares at me as I slide my fingers between hers and bring them to rest on the table between our plates.

"Patrick," Mom scolds me in a low voice, looking around like anyone was near enough or cared enough to be watching what I was doing with a grown adult. "What do you think you're doing?"

"What do you mean?" I ask, leaning closer and brushing my nose against the hair behind Virginia's ear, inhaling deeply.

Fuck, she smells good.

I feel this gentle shiver that goes down her spine and grin against the side of her head. That's it, babygirl. Feel me. Feel what I do to you .

"What are you doing with Ginny?" Mom whispers, scandalized. "Take your hands off your brother's girlfriend."

I jerk my head up and stare straight into her eyes. "She's not his girlfriend anymore. She's mine."

I can feel the way Virginia tenses next to me, waiting for the explosion. It doesn't take long.

Chad's face turns an alarming shade of red as he looks back and forth between us. "What the fuck are you talking about? This is ridiculous. Ginny, get over here. I don't know what game you're playing, but it's done."

He jerks the chair next to him out a few inches, scraping it on the floor and making a loud noise.

"Chad, lower your voice," Dad says, a flush in his cheeks as well, and then he turns and looks at me over Virginia's head. "Son, what are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that Virginia walked in on Chad fucking another woman yesterday. She's been staying in my room with me ever since, and it turns out we have a lot more in common than her and him did. We decided that while on vacation, we're going to give it a go. See how things turn out… between the two of us."

I say the last words with a significant look at Chad. He appears almost apoplectic as he starts to rise to his feet, but our mom grabs his elbow, halting his progress, and he slams back down onto his chair.

"You're so full of shit, Trick," Chad says, his voice low and full of hatred. "There's no way you would stoop to picking up my cast-offs."

The way he says that, with a sneer as he runs his eyes over Virginia, has me seeing red.

"Cast-offs? You're such a piece of shit. Apologize," I say, my voice deadly serious.

Chad rolls his eyes. "For what? You're the one trying to make me look like a fool. Ginny's just sitting there letting it happen. I'm the one who brought you on this fucking trip. It's my bed you should be sleeping in. You owe me that."

Virginia's spine stiffens, her face flushed with embarrassment and anger.

I glance at our mom. "Are you seriously going to sit there and let him talk to her like that?"

Her hands flutter in the air in front of her. "I'm sure he didn't mean it the way it sounds. He's just surprised. We all are. This is just very surprising, Patrick."

"Surprising. Right." I shake my head and lean down to speak directly into Virginia's ear. "We stay, and I'm not going to have any sort of appetite. Let's go back to the room."

She nods, barely perceptively, and tosses the napkin she'd spread out carefully over her lap onto the table. I hurry to stand, pulling her chair out for her as she rises. Chad jumps to his feet as well, rounding the table, but I get between him and Virginia.

He's fucking done making her feel like shit.

Our parents look on, but, like always, do nothing. Dad's impassive, like he's not quite sure what to make of the spectacle, and Mom is frowning at us, worried that her darling baby isn't getting exactly what he wants.

Chad tries to look around me at Virginia, but I shuffle to the side, using my bigger body to completely block him from her. He glares up into my face, the few inches I have on him making all the difference in our close proximity.

"We both know that she's too much of a frigid bitch to spread her legs for you, so whatever game you two are playing, I hope you enjoy it because before this trip is over, she'll be back where she belongs, begging me to take her back."

I put my hand on Chad's chest, and I see our mom start to rise out of the corner of my eye. I ignore her, so completely fucking done with all of this.

"You ever call her that again, and you won't make it back to dry land."

I give him a slight push back, jostling the table when his legs hit it. I reach back without looking, and am grateful beyond measure when Virginia grabs my hand with both of hers and follows me out of the restaurant.

We don't speak the entire way back to the room as I do my best to get my temper under control. If there hadn't been a room full of witnesses, I'm not sure what I would've done. The things that Chad said, the way he seemed to truly believe that not only did Virginia owe him for bringing her on the trip, but that she'd choose him over me in the end, nearly had me throwing her over my shoulder to carry her the rest of the way back to the suite.

As soon as the door is shut behind us, she slips free of my hand and paces farther into the room, fingers pressed into her cheeks. "That was bad," she says softly. "Even worse than I imagined. Oh my god, your parents must think I'm such a slut. I should have just stayed here."

I narrow my eyes and close the distance between. "Don't say that. No one gets to call you that. Not even you."

She drops her hands and looks up at me. "What are we doing, Trick? He's not buying it. There's no point in keeping up the charade."

There's every point to it, but I'm not about to admit that. Not yet.

"He just needs a little more convincing. We already have him rattled. That was not a confident man."

"No, he's like a wounded rattle snake, striking out every chance he gets," she mutters, turning and pacing away from me and then coming back. "And I didn't even get to have any of that fancy food. I'm starving."

Cracking a smile, I walk over and grab the room service menu, holding it out to her. "Order anything you want. Actually, double it because I'm starving, too."

Starving for her, but I'd have to make do with fresh mahi-mahi.