Iadjust the cuff links on my arms, trying to ease the tension that’s been racking my body since stepping onto this ridiculous fucking boat. I hadn’t expected Eveline to show up to the meeting and when she did, my stomach flew to my throat, praying like hell she wouldn’t fly off the handle.
She didn’t, but now I’m pissed for a different reason. That motherfucker had his eyes all over her, and his hands were way too grabby. A possessive fire pulses through my veins as I walk past the auction in the dining hall and head to the back deck. I walk to the wall of French doors and step outside, immediately thankful there’s no one else here except for one lone figure.
Eveline.
Now that the immediate threat has passed, I have time to soak in what she’s wearing, and when I do, my lungs cramp and my cock springs to life. She’s flawless in a green gown that flows along the curves of her body. Her hair is curly and off her neck, and while I know she doesn’t act like the rest of the Illinois elite, damn can she dress the part.
Her back is to me, and I drink up the view of her naked skin, the gown backless and draping along the curve of her ass. I move forward without thought. Her hands are wrapped around the metal railing that lines the back of the ship. The wind whips off the water, swirling across the deck, and the bottom of her dress rustles, small wisps of her hair fluttering around her neck.
“Don’t jump.”
Her body tenses and I walk closer, wondering why she doesn’t have a quick comeback the way she normally would.
I step up next to her, noticing her closed eyes, then moving my gaze down her goose bump–covered arms and finally to where her knuckles are blanched from her tight grip on the railing.
“You okay?”
“Shut up,” she snaps, squeezing her eyes tighter.
She peels one lid open timidly, staring down at the dark lake. Her chest rises and fall faster and she slams it closed again.
Is she scared of water?
I move without thinking, partially because she needs me, and the other part because I’m desperate to touch her, just to prove I can after watching another man lust over her and being unable to stop him. I step behind her, not quite flush against her, but close enough the heat of her body radiates off her back.
She’s out here, all alone, and her entire family is inside like they don’t realize she could be struggling. Like they don’t even know she’s afraid.
Maybe they don’t.
It’s an off-putting feeling seeing her this way.
I press a soft kiss to the small freckle on her left shoulder and remove my jacket, draping it over her. Then I cage her in, my body surrounding her and my hands resting on the railing.
Her breathing stutters, but she doesn’t open her eyes. I pry her grip from the metal, threading my fingers through hers so she can hold on to me instead.
“Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art—not in lone splendour hung aloft the night. And watching, with eternal lids apart, like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite.” I whisper the words softly into her ear.
Her body presses back into mine.
“The moving waters at their priestlike task, of pure ablution round earth’s human shores, or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask, of snow upon the mountains and the moors—”
Her breathing evens out and her head relaxes against my chest, and I probably should care about who could see, about where we are and what we’re doing, but I don’t. The only thing that matters is her.
“Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast, no—yet still stedfast, still unchangeable, to feel for ever its soft fall and swell.” I bend my head down until my lips graze her neck, and I breathe her in, my cock hard and my heart pounding. “Awake for ever in a sweet unrest, still.”
She presses into me, a soft moan leaving her lips when she feels my hips tightly against her.
“Still to hear her tender-taken breath, and so live ever—or else swoon to death.”
The tension swirling around our bodies is overwhelming, and I don’t know what it is I’m feeling, only that nothing else has ever felt like it. Opening her eyes, she twists in my arms to look up at my face.
She smiles.
And my chest feels like it will explode.
“Keats is my favorite,” she sighs.
“I remember.” I tighten my arms around her, bringing one of our tangled fingers up to press a kiss to the back of her hand.
“For someone who doesn’t believe in romance, you’re irritatingly good at it.”
“Is this what romance is?” I chuckle.
“You’re quoting Keats and comforting me.” She shrugs. “And not just any Keats. He was writing about wanting to die if he couldn’t live forever with his love. I don’t think it gets more romantic than that.”
She glances down at the water, her body tensing again.
“Don’t be afraid,” I whisper, the wind sending a strong gust of air whipping around us, making her shiver. “I’ve got you.”
She sucks in a breath, moving her gaze back to me. “Promise?”
I want, with every single bone in my body, to give her the truth. But I can’t.
So I lie instead.
“I promise.”
“This is cute,” a high-pitched voice interrupts.
Eveline shoves me off her before spinning around and adopting a blank look as she stares at her sister.
“What are you two doing?” Dorothy looks between the two of us.
“Just admiring the view,” I reply, placing my hands in my pockets.
“Hmm,” she hums, sipping from a champagne flute as she walks toward the edge of the deck. She rests against it, her bright-red nails tapping against her glass as she looks at us, then glancing into the dark waters below. “People really do come and go so quickly here, don’t they?”
My brows furrow, but Eveline jolts next to me.
When Dorothy looks back up, there’s a manic look in her eye and a wide smile on her face. It surprises me how much it reminds me of the way Eveline looks right before she snaps.
I guess the gene runs in the family, after all.
“You’re a fucking bitch,” Eveline spits.
Dorothy chuckles as she looks at the two of us.
I’ve never seen her this way before, as if she’s transformed into an entirely different person. Like the innocent daughter who loves to be in the public eye and wanted to be Daddy’s girl was nothing more than a facade, hiding this sinister woman who was lurking underneath.
“I’m just stating a fact,” she says.
Sighing, I run a hand over my face. This family is exhausting. “What are you talking about, Dorothy?”
“Oh, didn’t you know? This is where our sister died.”
Shock hits me in the chest and I swing my eyes to Eveline. But they aren’t paying any attention to me at all. They’re laser-focused on Dorothy.
Eveline cocks her head. “Want to refresh my memory on how exactly that happened again?”
The left side of Dorothy’s red mouth lifts. “She slipped.”
Eveline sneers, and I feel the shift in energy before it happens. Still, I’m not quick enough to grab her. She lunges forward, gripping Dorothy around the throat, both of them tumbling to the deck floor, Dorothy’s champagne flute shattering beside them.
Dorothy is flailing, her nails scratching at the back of my jacket as it slips off Eveline’s shoulders, and I rush toward them, grabbing Eveline around the waist and tearing her off.
Dorothy’s hand shoots to her throat. “Jesus, Evie. You need to be institutionalized.”
“Take off those shoes!” Eveline yells, her face blotchy and tears streaming down her cheeks. “How fucking dare you wear those here.”
My eyes drop to Dorothy’s feet, where bright-red, sparkly heels are gleaming in the moonlight.
Dorothy scoffs. “You’re always so dramatic. It’s not like they’d even fit you.”
Eveline’s head twitches and she turns to me, her gaze feral. “Do you have your gun on you?”
I do, but I’m extremely uncomfortable telling her that right now. She notices my hesitation.
“May I see it?” she asks sweetly.
Stepping back from her, I shake my head. “I’ll let you do anything you want with it once we leave.”
Dorothy sighs loudly, dusting off the front of her dress before toeing off the shoes and picking them up in her hand. “Fine, you want them so bad? They’re yours.”
She holds them out, and Eveline steps forward, reaching out to grab them. Then Dorothy flings them over the side of the boat. I can barely hear when they plop into the water.
“No!” Eveline cries, throwing her body into the railing. As soon as her eyes hit the water she freezes, and I’m after her, gripping her by the waist and pulling her into me, her body trembling as I sink us down to the deck floor.
“Maybe if you dive in after them, they’ll take you home to her,” Dorothy quips.
My eyes narrow as my head snaps up. “Dorothy, shut the fuck up before I shoot you myself.”
She laughs. “God, imagine I wanted to sleep with you. Pathetic.”
Her footsteps are loud even without her heels as she walks closer, and she crouches down in front of us. “I’ll tell you a secret though, Evie.”
Eveline looks up, mascara streaking down her face, her lips swollen and red. I’ve never seen her look so defeated, and my chest cracks at the sight. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. This isn’t who she’s supposed to be.
“I didn’t mean to kill her,” Dorothy whispers. “But I’m happy I did.”
She stands and saunters away, and my grip tightens until I’m sure it will bruise around Eveline’s waist, wanting to let her go so badly, but knowing if she harms her sister here, in front of all these people, even I won’t be able to save her.
