Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Hyacinth joins us and helps me put the floats around Emma’s arms. Emma can barely contain herself as we inflate them and jumps into the pool before I do as Hyacinth sits in the shade of an umbrella. We play in the water until Emma begins to tire. Nora walks out, wiping her hands on a towel as Hyacinth dries Emma.
“Are you ready for lunch?” she asks Emma, who nods.
“Then a nap, I think, for both of us,” Hyacinth says. “I’ll take her in,” she tells me.
“Thanks. I’ll just get the toys cleaned up and join you then.”
I watch them go, and when the door closes behind them, I take a moment alone. With my back to the house, I hold on to the edge of the pool and take in the view. It is a hot day, the sun high in the clear blue sky that matches the sea below. It’s beautiful here. Breathtaking.
I’m just enjoying the calm and quiet when a huge splash disrupts the peace, water sloshing over the edge. I turn to find Bastian beneath the surface, gliding smoothly across the length of the pool, coming up for air, then swimming back. I watch as he approaches shark-like and emerges, shaking the water off his head, splashing me again as he sets his hands on either side of me trapping me.
“Enjoying a little downtime, Dandelion?”
“What the fuck is your problem?” I push at one arm, but he just closes in, naked chest pressing my almost naked chest, pinning me to the spot.
“I don’t have a problem. Outside of you.”
I search his eyes, that amber glow like fire. Water slicks his dark hair back, and I see the same steel cut of his jaw like his brother’s. See the same powerful shoulders. My gaze wanders lower to the tattoo over his heart. A scale carrying a skull in one dish and a human heart in the other with dandelions littering the scene. I read the text, and it makes me shudder.
I will carry out great vengeance on them and punish them in my wrath.
When I look up I find his eyes still on me. I swallow and lick my lips when his gaze moves over my face, pausing at my lips before he meets my eyes again.
“How is sis?”
“Good. Excuse me,” I say and try to slip under his arm.
He doesn’t let me, though.
I spread my arms on either side of me to hold myself up. It’s too deep for me to stand, but Bastian’s taller, so he doesn’t have the same problem. It’s either that or hold his shoulders, and I don’t want to do that, so to anyone watching, we look like we’re having a friendly conversation. Or a more intimate one. But his words from the first time I met him return to me.
“You’re here now. Ours. Ours to punish. To level the scales.”
“What do you want?” I ask, hearing the slight waver in my voice, wondering if he hears it.
He shrugs a shoulder. “Just killing time.”
“Well, kill it on your own. I have things to do.” Again, I try to slip away, but again, he doesn’t allow it. This time, he closes his hands over my arms, pressing me against the wall.
“That’s no way to behave with your brother-in-law.”
“Where is my husband?” I make a point of using those words because even though I know I shouldn’t push him, I see how it bothers Bastian.
“Do you need him to save you from me?”
I search his eyes, trying to figure out what he’s doing, what he wants. Trying not to think about my proximity to him, especially with the scraps of clothes we’re wearing.
“He won’t like you so close to me,” I say, but the word “ours” keeps replaying. They’ve both used it. Does Amadeo intend to share me? But that isn’t the most troubling part of it. It’s that the thought doesn’t revolt me. The opposite.
“Won’t he? I think he’d love it, actually. He does keep going on about how you belong to us.”
I swallow.
“Don’t worry, Dandelion. I’m not here to fuck you. I just want to be sure you know where you stand. He fucked you because he had to. The marriage can’t be contested now. No chance of annulment. Nothing.”
I don’t know why his words hurt me. I know Bastian hates me.
“Don’t think to come between us,” he adds, and I realize why he’s doing this. He’s afraid.
I let my eyes narrow as one corner of my mouth curves upward. “What’s the matter, Bastian? Are you scared I’ve already done just that?”
Bastian doesn’t get a chance to answer, though, because Amadeo’s low, deep voice interrupts. “What’s going on out here?”
I gasp, my eyes flicking to Amadeo’s. I didn’t see or hear him approach and am startled, feeling caught. Guilty. Bastian only grins as if he knew all along. He doesn’t even look back.