“Babe—-”
His jaw clenched, the word making Dylan feel contaminated. He wanted to snarl...but he didn’t.
Henrietta’s laugh was like poisoned nails raking over his skin. “I only have to say your name and everyone will come running.”
BREE WOKE UP SLOWLY, instincts, intuition – something that made her a woman told her she was alone in Dylan’s bedroom. Blinking her eyes open, she stretched with a sigh that was languorous and doleful at the same time.
She should throw a fit right now. It was the first morning after between them and yet he was already gone from her side. Bree had a feeling he wasn’t even anywhere in the suite.
He had left her. She would bet her life on it, but even so she couldn’t even make herself irritated. How could she be when she had enjoyed the loveliest night in his arms?
Her mind conjured images from last night and just the memory had her sighing. The way his beautiful sculpted body moved over hers, his gorgeous face staring down at her with love and passion, the way his groan was heavy with need and desire—-
Stop it, she told herself, blushing even though she was alone in the room.
Her smile faded at the reminder that Dylan hadn’t thought it was important to be by her side when she woke up. He was still adjusting, she reasoned. She had promised that she would love him as he was and she meant it. But she would also do her best to make him realize they were both better off if he changed – that he would be happy by letting himself love her completely.
But would he really change, Bree wondered, turning to lie on her stomach and twisting her head to face the windows. The curtains were almost fully drawn, offering her a glimpse of the grand chandelier of the hotel’s lobby.
People normally paid for city or pool views, but not the lobby. So why had he chosen this, she wondered idly. The answer came to her an instant later and she closed her eyes, not knowing if she should be happy or not.
Dylan had wanted to see her with another man, had wanted to give himself a reason to stay away and think that she could move on and enjoy a life without him.
Crazy, stupid, beautiful guy, she thought. The moment they had met, that had become impossible.
And one day...
One day, Bree would make Dylan realize that.
An hour later, Bree was showered and ready to go, having ordered a simple but elegant lavender silk jumpsuit from one of the hotel’s boutiques. On her way to the lobby, she called Andre.
When he answered, she asked baldly, “Where is he?”
“Aaaah...”
“Andre, it’s no use lying.”
“Umm...”
“Please hand the phone to Ariadne,” Bree said with a sigh, knowing it was useless to force Andre to break the guy’s code for girlfriends keeping tabs.
Ariadne came on the line. “Hi, Bree.” The other girl did not sound happy.
“It’s okay, I’m not mad. I just want to know where he is.”
“Henrietta Vermont’s house.”
It took another hour to get to her next destination, and by then Bree was famished and freaking furious – three Fs that, when applied to her, would make anyone sorry for daring to cross her.
The property was exactly what Bree imagined the supermodel’s home would be – glamorous, with doors and windows designed to make anyone less than six feet feel like a hobbit, and totally soulless.
Henrietta had known Dylan even before Bree did, and when the two finally met, it was hate at first sight. But both of them were permanent fixtures in Dylan’s life – something that used to confuse her until last night’s revelations.
Knocking on the door, Bree waited for a few moments before trying the knob. It turned without trouble, and when she went in, the state of the living room did not surprise her at all. The sight was hatefully and hurtfully familiar, hurtling her back to the parts of the past that she did her best not to remember.
“Dylan?” 16-year-old Bree called out as she gingerly tried the door to his spacious penthouse apartment, one of the few that had a much-coveted view of Central Park.
The door swung open easily, surprising Bree and making her more than a little nervous as she stepped past the doorway. The living room was fully lit, which was also weird. At eleven-thirty in the morning, the sun shining outside its windows would be more than enough to flood the entire apartment with light.
There were a lot of sleeping bodies on the floor, in various states of undress, and she immediately looked away when the woman sprawled on one of the velvet couches turned towards her, revealing her naked breasts.
She had to step over several bodies to make her way to Dylan’s bedroom and found it similarly occupied but without its master in sight. Bree flinched, realizing that the threesome on the bed were still intimately joined.