I’ve just arrived at Sunset Cove with Madison and Skye—the third member of our trio. We met an hour ago at our favorite coffeehouse for some much-needed luxury hot chocolate, cream cakes, and girlie catch-up time. I was desperate for the latter.
Now we’re heading to the Green Room, one of the function halls where events are held on a weekly basis. It’s also the home of the famous Hollywood wall which boasts over a hundred classic Hollywood stars’ signatures.
We walk in and seat ourselves around one of the round dinner tables on the sidelines, ready to work on Mom’s plans for the renovations.
As Skye works with her father in his interior design company, I had to enlist her expert services. Madison is here to get an idea of the timeline so she can organize the marketing campaign. Of course, her presence here is also to lend me her continued support.
The lease on Sunset Cove ran out yesterday, so this is my first official meeting. I’m trying my best to look as thrilled and excited as I should be, but my mind is still stuck on yesterday. Another day of my life in the Twilight Zone with Knight Grayson, just worse than the days that preceded it.
“Ready to see what I have for you? I know you’re gonna love it.” Skye grins from ear to ear, the blunt ends of her long brown bob brushing over her shoulders as she nods with pride. She knows how much it means to me to fulfill my mother’s wishes, so I know she gave me her best.
“I really appreciate your help on this.” I look from Skye to Madison, and the two of them respond with appreciative smiles. “Both of you.”
“Of course,” they say in unison and giggle like they used to back in high school. The two were famous for doing that. At one point, they even finished each other’s sentences.
I laugh, feeling more grateful for their company.
“This is what I have so far.” Skye opens her portfolio and slides it over to me. “I thought of selecting a little of everything from the forties interior design style that people loved.”
I can see what she means right from page one, which steals my breath away.
It’s a mockup of the piano lounge. Skye has placed an emerald-green suede suite inside and positioned it to surround the glossy grand piano. On the three-seater is a mustard-yellow mohair throw, and in the center on the floor is an Ikat-patterned rug which was popular throughout the world during that time.
“You love it, right?” Skye’s voice rises an octave on the last word, squeaky with satisfaction. She already knows she did a good job.
“Yes.” I clap my hands and clasp them together, genuinely enjoying the ripple of awe sweeping through me. “This is it. Mom would have loved this.”
“She definitely would,” Madison agrees, reaching across the table to tap the tops of my hands. “Sugar, it’s important that you love it too. This is for you now.”
I nod, blinking back tears and smiling. “I love it for myself too.”
“Perfect.”
“I wanted to do something that would blow your mind.” Skye rubs her bony hands together, and her hazel eyes brighten.
“Consider my mind blown to kingdom come.”
“Then my job is done. Think of it as an early wedding present.” She laughs heartily and guilt tugs at the hem of my heart.
Unlike Madison, Skye doesn’t know the full story of the recent developments of my life. Madison and I exchange glances. Hers is troubled, but mine remains the mask of pretense I’ve sported all morning that I’m the doting bride-to-be of the deadly handsome Knight Grayson.
I take a measured breath to clear my mind. “I can’t thank you enough.”
“Don’t be silly. Although”—she pretends to pout—’I’m still annoyed you didn’t tell me you were secretly dating Knight Grayson. But I’ve decided to forgive you. I love you too much to stay mad for longer than five minutes, and I’m so excited for you.” Her voice rises even higher.
Nervous laughter falls from my lips. I was nothing but a bag of apologies when we met earlier, but I still feel like I owe her more of an explanation than the flimsy one I gave. “Everything all just sort of happened so quickly. Knight and I met after his yacht party and hit it off so well we started dating. The next thing I knew, his ring was on my finger.”
That’s exactly what happened, even if I’m making it sound like Knight and I have been dating on and off for months, and we actually like each other. There’s no way in hell I’m telling her the truth that Knight is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, who took advantage of my father’s situation to take ownership of Sunset Cove. It was hard enough telling Madison.
“My God, it’s such a beautiful story. I love that you had love at first sight. My parents got married after two weeks of knowing each other. They’ve been together for thirty-five years.” Her voice swells with emotion, and she touches a hand to her heart. “I wish that for you.”
“That means a lot.” I glance at Madison again, noticing that she’s said very little. Her stoic expression is a tell she’s allowing me to take the lead on this so we can get our stories straight.
As close as the three of us are as friends, Madison is the one I’ve chosen to keep my secrets. That’s no offense to Skye at all. There are just some things I don’t feel comfortable sharing with anyone besides Madison. My recent trauma is one of them. Even if I weren’t practically sworn to secrecy, it’s also not the sort of thing to broadcast anyway.
I never even told Skye when I was getting engaged to Nathan. I knew she would make a big deal out of it when I would have hated that.
As she was away the week of the engagement party, and the only other friend I had at that party was Madison, I managed to keep it all away from her and slip right into the current story without having to go into any deep explanation.
With the big-ass rock on my finger, it was harder to hide my engagement to Knight. It also didn’t feel right for her to find out tomorrow through a press release when I knew I was going to see her today.
“Keep looking, keep looking,” Skye squeaks, pointing to the portfolio, her expression the perfect combination of ecstatic and honored. “I want to see your face once you see everything I’ve done. The forties are my favorite time period, so I really went to town.”
I love seeing her this excited. “I can already tell you I’m going to love all of it.” I pull the portfolio closer and flick through each page, my heart swelling as I take in all the gorgeous designs.
Immersing myself in this today is like food for my soul.
Yesterday was just horrendous, and it grieves me to have to go back to Knight’s house tonight.
I’m not sure which worries me more—having to deal with Chelle, Knight’s uppity assistant, or him.
After the other night, I decided I was going to try and focus on all the parts of my life I could still control. It was a mental decision to keep going even in the face of doom and uncertainty. I took that strength and spent yesterday morning working with my editor on the next chapter for my serial Girl No. 9.
Seeing my readers’ reactions and comments after I uploaded it to the reader platform, gave me more strength. But the euphoria died within seconds of meeting Chelle. One, because she sized me up like a puma marking its territory, then proceeded to treat me like I was dog shit she was trying not to step in.
And two…
Well, if I’m being completely honest, the second reason is all on me and my imagination because my stomach turned over when I suspected she could be Giselle.
Chelle—Giselle. Since the dawn of time, people have had strange nicknames and shortened versions of their full names. Like Liam and William, Dick and Richard, Charles and Chuck. So, Chelle could very well be Giselle.
I also thought she could be her because of the striking similarities between Chelle and the pictures of Giselle in Knight’s photo album.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out that assistant or not, Chelle acted like a jealous girlfriend, and I wasn’t sure why Knight would think it was okay to have his ex-love or whatever she is organize our wedding. Even if we aren’t real.
The hours I spent with Chelle felt like several lifetimes. My swimming break was most welcomed after feeling like I’d been thrown in with a den of wild wolves.
I didn’t see her again until she was walking on the balcony with Knight.
And damn me, a stab of unwarranted envy cut through me just from seeing them together.
That was bad enough, because I have nothing to feel jealous for, but then Knight was weirder than usual when we met with the lawyers to sign the prenup.
The actual signing was fine, but he kept doing that assessing thing whenever he looked at me. It just seemed amplified and made me more uncomfortable than ever.
I would have happily gone back to my room after the lawyers were finished with us, but then Denise prepared dinner and dressed the table like it was Christmas.
As she’s gone out of her way to be super nice to me and make me feel comfortable, I felt it would have been rude not to sit down and eat, even if I had to do it with Hades watching me like a hawk.
Knight and I ate in silence. Not the kind of silence that’s simply awkward. It was more the kind where the person you’re with knows something you don’t.
When I reach the last page of the portfolio, I look up at Skye and offer her a smile that I hope displays the depth of my appreciation.
All the designs in the portfolio are completely and utterly on point with my mother’s notes. If Skye were playing a football game, this would be the winning touchdown.
“I’m completely floored.” If my smile lacked in showing her my gratitude, my voice makes up for it. “These are all amazing. Truly, truly amazing.”
Skye squeals again. “Yayyy! I’m so thrilled. All we have to do now is speak with the design team and get everything ordered.”
“And once we have that going, I’ll start working with my team,” Madison chimes in. “We can have this place whipped up and back in shape in no time.”
“That sounds like a dream.”
“A dream that’s gonna come true.” Madison chuckles, bringing her hands together with delight.
My entire body sighs with relief that we’re making a move in all the right direction. I’m very aware that the popularity of Sunset Cove has taken a nosedive in recent years. Mom identified that years ago and tried to step in. As she was simply the custodian, and the contractors who leased the place were set in their ways, they always fought back.
All they wanted to do was make quick money on the tourists who frequented the resort and didn’t care for banking on the rich history.
“I want to—” My voice cuts out when the roar of an engine surrounds us like an angry storm cloud.
It sounds like it belongs to a… truck?
The answer comes when we all look through the window and see a bright yellow digger truck driving by the courtyard with a team of construction workers walking next to it.
Time slows as I watch everything play out before me, and my brain battles to process what I’m seeing.
Digger truck.
Construction workers.
Neither of which were hired by me.
I look back at Madison and Skye, who look as confused as I feel. The truck with its horrendous sound drives by, but I’m frozen in thought.
“I didn’t know you’d started renovations,” Skye states, still glancing through the window.
“I didn’t.” I sound choked up, as if someone just poured dirt down my throat.
“Then who did?” Madison asks, but then the sudden I-know-who look that hits her nanoseconds later, strikes me too.
I do know who.
The only person who could have done this who isn’t me is my very own dearly beloved asshole.
Knight’s words from the restaurant about what he does for work come back to me. He said he acquires properties and fixes them up.
Funny how those words had seemed ominous at the time and piqued my suspicion, and even after all that’s happened between us, it wasn’t until just now that I figured it out.
This is what owning 90% of Sunset Cove means. And now I finally have some idea of what he wants with the place.
Before my next thought can take fruition, I bolt out of my chair and run to the courtyard.
The construction workers have rallied around the bay of benches, and the digger truck has started to dig. Sure, the bay looks awful, and it was first on my list to go, but I wanted to do it.
There are at least fifty construction workers milling around. Some are carrying planks of wood, others carrying tools. Some dressed in the full getup you’d expect to see a construction worker in, while others are shirtless.
Frantically, I look around for someone in charge—or Knight.
I spot a beefy-looking bald-headed guy wearing a yellow hazard jacket issuing instructions by the truck.
I’m about to rush toward him, but I stop short when a shirtless Knight walks by, carrying a huge plank of wood on his shoulder.
Seeing him would make me stop anyway, but seeing him looking like he walked off a Davidoff advert makes everything inside me come to an abrupt halt as if someone switched me off.
My eyes are glued to the god-like man walking before me, and I take in every inch of skin on show, along with the inky designs intricately tattooed on his torso.
A row of Japanese characters line the side of his waist, swirling with the tapered V of his hips. As he walks away and sets down the wood, a black fantasy dragon covering his entire back looks as if it’s growling at me as it soars into the sky.
When Knight straightens, I catch sight of the rigid muscles and the fine line of dark hair on his happy trail running right down through the waistband of his Levi’s and straight to his…
“Oh, my Lord,” comes Madison’s voice from my right.
“I agree. If God were a man, that is exactly what he’d look like,” Skye says dreamingly, walking up on my other side.
I was so lost in the vision of the man I didn’t even know that my friends had joined me. And still, I’m so sucked into him I can’t talk.
I’ve always seen Knight dressed up with that polished businessman look, even in what might pass for casual for him. I would never have thought he could be a hot shirtless Levi’s guy with ruffled just-had-wild-sex hair.
“He has a brother, right?” Skye leans into me, brushing my shoulder. “They actually look like twins. Do you know if they look the same everywhere? Better yet, do you think you could introduce me?”
I snap my gaze to her, my face hot with rage and arousal and more rage because yes, I saw the brother—Jericho—and yes, he and Knight could be twins, but why in the hell would I know if he looks the same as Knight everywhere?
I don’t answer, and the look I give her tells her I never will.
When I look back at Knight, he’s staring at me with a lazy, sexy grin that just makes him look more alluring.
“Hey, Goddess,” he calls out as if he calls me that in public all the time.
“Is that what he calls you?” Skye sounds as if she’s about to break out into a song.
I agree the endearment is definitely endearing. It’s just coming from the wrong man. As I stare at him, I’m reminded of the devilish things in beautiful packaging analogy again. That sets me straight, and I’m able to forget how hot he is and focus on the fact that he’s about to ruin everything.
That thought moves me, and I march right over to him as if I have the fires of Hell on my heels.
When I reach him, his gaze slides over me with the menace of a fox, cunning and crafty. He knows what he did, and I’m within my right to be pissed.
“Knight.” I sound like my mother did that summer I drove her car in the river.
“Goddess.” He tilts his head like a Southern gentleman would when greeting a lady. But Knight Grayson is no gentleman.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“Working.” He says that like it should be obvious.
My mind leaps over the parts that have stunned me, like the fact that he clearly gets hands-on with his team and there’s no differentiation between them. I jump straight to the part that affects me.
“Working doing what? I have my own plans to renovate the place.” I wave my hands around, looking like a crazy person. “I was going to do what my mother wanted. She had specific wishes. I’ve waited all this time to start on them. Please tell me this isn’t real. You’re not really here with these people ruining everything.”
Something flickers in his eyes that reminds me of the touch of sympathy I witnessed that first night we met, but before the emotion can fully present itself, it floats away.
“Sorry, mon cherie, that won’t be happening.”
“What do you mean? Why the hell not?”
“Because I’m renovating Sunset Cove.”
“Oh no, no, no.” I wag my finger and my head at the same time. “You most certainly won’t be doing anything of the sort. I’m renovating Sunset Cove.”
He closes the space between us, getting as close as he did the other night when he had me pressed against the wall. His mere closeness sends a shiver of desire rippling through me. It pulls on my nerves and continues south, heating me up all over.
He leans down, and I look up. We look like we’re about to kiss.
“No.” Knight shakes his head.
His answer yanks me back to the argument, and the gravity of what he’s saying cuts me deep.
“Why are you such a fucking asshole? You can’t do this.”
“Sorry, mon cherie, but that contract of ours says I can. I own 90% of Sunset Cove. You own ten. Translation: I can do whatever the fuck I want.”
“I hate you for this.” I blink back tears.
He leans closer with a crafty look in his eyes. “Tell you what, Goddess, why don’t you leave me to do this, and you can go back to focusing on Javier’s big dick?”
My hands fly up to my mouth, and my heart jumps like it’s going to tumble out of my chest and continue rolling down the path.
Oh God.
Knight knows my pen name. And he’s been reading my work. What he just said was from the last chapter of Girl No. 9. The chapter I uploaded yesterday.
As I look him over, I just know this new information about me was why he was so weird yesterday, and he’s giving me the same assessing look now.
“How…” My voice fades into the ether as it hits me that it’s pointless asking him how he knew. He found out the same way he did everything else.
Knight shifts his weight from one leg to the other, the cunning in his eyes deepening.
“And just so you know…”—he gives me an I-have-you-right-where-I-want-you smile—“your five-inch dick hero has nothing on me. Mine is six point three inches.”
As if I weren’t in enough shock, he leans in again and plants a kiss on my forehead, then walks back to where he left the plank.
That kiss was a lethal cocktail of mockery and the dark attraction between us I now loathe. The potent effect has left me feeling as empty as a bottomless well with nothing but a void inside.
A dainty hand rests on my shoulder. It’s Madison’s. I don’t know how much she heard, but she can see I’m shaken. Skye has hung back, looking on with uncertainty.
Madison and I look at each other, but I have nothing to say.
What is there to talk about when everything has officially gone straight to hell?
Everything.
