10
ESTELLE
“So, you really don’t have a plan to meet again? I guess this encounter is an accident.” I wanted to say I miss him. I wanted to wrap my arms around his neck, cling to and kiss him hard. I saw in his eyes too. We wanted the same thing, but I couldn’t understand his restraint.
“We should get inside.”
“Or go somewhere else?” I suggested. My desperation just got out of my hand.
“I don’t think it’s the best idea.” He didn’t even try hard to hide his hesitation.
“Why? Since when?” My head tipped to the side as I cocked my eyebrow. “I’m single, and you are too. You didn’t mind it yesterday.”
“That was a mistake, Estelle.”
“Why? Tell me why? And I will forget everything that happened between us.”
He swallowed hard. He looked hurt. Why? Because he’d been lying to me? Why did he care? Wasn’t it a part of his job to lie and play in deceit?
“What is it that you can’t take the leap.”
“I told you, Estelle. I’m done with flings. And you deserve—”
“If I hear that shit one more time, I swear to God I’m going to punch your face.”
“Do it.” The moment those two words came out, something snapped in my head. And I did. I did punch him, and it hurt like hell.
“Oh, God!” I exclaimed and shook my hand to the excruciating pain around my knuckles. “Are you some kind of a terminator?”
“Are you okay?” He just rubbed the spot I punched him. That’s it, as if a fly just stuck him. He held my hand and inspected it. “Can you clasp and unclasp it?
“Why do you care?”
“I was not sure you would punch me.” He looked amused while I was wincing in pain. “You have to put ice on it. You’re lucky you didn’t break a bone.”
“No shit, Gabriel.”
“I’m serious, Estelle. Let’s get you an ice,” he said as he put his hand on my back.
“I’m going home tomorrow.”
“What?” He halted and met me in the eye. “Why?”
“I’m tired of hiding. I realized that’s not how I should face my personal issue. And shit—”
“Stop saying that.”
“What? Shit? Well, shi—”
One moment I was talking, and the next thing I knew, strong arms wrapped around me and shut me up with a hard, savage kiss that took the air out of my lungs. I tried to push him away, but no way in hell I would win. He was hard all over, strong, and tall, and the kiss just melted me away. Every bone in my body wobbled.
I surrendered to him.
I kissed him back. He was starved, and I was desperate. We kissed like there was no tomorrow, like the lovers in Pompeii, the end of the world kind.
When his tongue slipped into my mouth, I was undone. I moaned shamelessly. My hands grasped his shirt as I was scared that I might fall or the kiss would end abruptly.
Then he kissed me hard before he let me go. I almost tripped, but he always caught me before I fell.
“Why?” Still, with that question.
“No one can dictate what I do. Even my own father. This is my life. I’m an adult. I will live the way I want. I realized I live in a free country in the 21st century where women have rights. I have a say in everything concerning my life. So I’m going home to face my father.”
“That’s awesome.”
“That’s it?”
“What do you want me to say, Estelle?” He frowned.
“What’s that kiss all about?”
“To stop you from saying shit and for punching me.”
“Would you ever call me if we didn’t meet tonight?”
He looked right into my eyes. “I don’t know.”
“Well, at least you’re honest with something.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He hastened to ask, frown deepening.
“I don’t know, Gabriel. The fact that you missed telling me that you own and run Osmium. And you knew my father before we bumped at the bar.”
He looked away, clenching his jaw as if he wanted to say something.
“Did you know me before I introduced myself?”
When he couldn’t answer me, I felt like he just stabbed me in my chest. It hurt to see the truth. He was right, after all. Someone hid the truth because you couldn’t handle knowing it.
“I was really looking forward to seeing you. I liked you, but maybe you made the right decision not to call me. You lied to me. We slept together, and I hadn’t had fun in a long time. I thought what we had in that boat was real, but maybe I just felt it, and you didn’t. I mean, we don’t know each other. You’re used to just sleeping around without commitment. I might be over-analyzing it, but I felt you felt the same. Or maybe this was just sex. I don’t know.” I shrugged off, giving him a confident nod.
When he still didn’t say something, it was over. He would never admit I was his assignment, and he was here to lure me out or whatever he and my father agreed upon.
“Good night, Gabriel.” I still wanted him to stop me, but I just walked away, and he didn’t even say a word or follow me.
Damn it.
“I really hope you would stop me, but I guess we don’t have the same intention.” Jeez, Estelle Rae. You sound so desperate.
When I got back to Quinn, his brows met together with questions. I ignored him and snatched his drink. Though he had no plans to get himself drunk tonight, he also wanted to blend in.
I dawned the bourbon, burning my throat, and grimaced after. “Thanks.”
“Is everything okay?” Quinn asked.
“Yeah, I kissed the devil, and I liked it.”
He chucked. “Do you wanna get out of here?”
“Yeah. Good idea.” I faced Terzo with nice tattoos. He looked dangerous but handsome with real red flags of a bad boy neon sign on his forehead. “Thanks for the drinks. I had fun, Terzo. Buona notte.”
“Good night, signorina.”
Linden was just right outside when Quinn assisted me.
“You’re leaving?” His question wasn’t exactly directed at me.
“She’s getting drunk. I have to send her home.”
“Let me.”
“No,” I said firmly.
“Sorry, Linden. It’s my job.”
He subtly nodded before he went inside.
Once we were in the Jeep, he fastened my seatbelt even though I wasn’t drunk enough and could do it by myself. “I take it didn’t go well.”
“He didn’t admit. That jerk.”
“Calm down.”
“Calm down?” I growled and turned to him with an irritated expression. “He lied to me. He lied to my face. I even said something to bait him, but he didn’t bite it.”
“You let your feelings for him cloud your judgment.”
“Maybe you two should exchange recipes then.” I scowled and breathed through my nose. “I should have known. That kind of guy, that kindness, that look? There’s nothing real about it. All but red flags.”
“Not all, Estelle.”
I groaned louder. It seemed that I was victimized because it was my fault. I wasn’t a good judge of character. I quickly jumped into trusting him because he looked hot and gorgeous I couldn’t even point out the truth from lies. He deceived me.
I took my phone and searched for his name. To my surprise, he had his own Wikipedia.
“Well, shit.” I scoffed at the absurdity of our situation and that I never knew anything about him. Maybe he was just down-to-earth. “He has several awards. I can’t believe our paths never crossed before.”
“He was probably still protecting clients. Just recently, his company acquired contracts, but I heard of him years ago.”
“He was featured in under 30 Forbes list and Time magazine.”
“Damn.”
I glared at Quinn. “Really? You’re impressed.”
“Yeah. He came from a humble beginning, Estelle.”
“Unlike me, right?”
“You’re not bad yourself. Tell me, who are billionaire’s self-made children?”
“I’m a nepo. I can’t deny that.”
“But you made your own name. You should give yourself some credit.”
“Thanks.”
“So. We’re going home?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you sure?”
“I have nothing left to do here. I’m done running. It’s time to face the reality.”
