“I’ll get your coat,” Daniel offered, already strolling purposely across the room but she stopped him with a tired wave.
“You just got back, Daniel, and Mama made your favorite Kobe meatballs. Stay.” She walked over to him and placed a tender kiss on the corner of his lips. “I’ll see you at home.”
Daniel’s eyes barely flickered my way, his intractable jaw clenched, before he nodded and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I won’t be late.”
She nodded. “I’ll be up.”
After a quick glance and half a step in my direction, she pushed her arms into a gorgeous black trench coat and left through the front door without looking back.
And I was left with the one man in the world I most wanted to avoid.
Chapter Two.
Obviously, he wasn’t pleased. He stared at me with a severe scowl and it disturbed me that I felt a shiver bite into the sensitive skin at the small of my back. I could hear the murmur and explosion of passionate chatter from the other room but it was muffled in my ears as I strained to remember every detail of our week together. There must have been clues but my lust-saturated memories were hazy. The only thing that kept coming to mind was Sinclair, his laughter as we rolled through the waves, his cool commands as he directed me for his pleasure, the way he had held me so tenderly our last night together. My eyes stung with tears and my throat burned but I kept my jaw locked against the emotions, only taking a moment to acknowledge the irony of my constraint; I had learned it from Sinclair.
“Jesus Christ,” Daniel Sinclair groaned. “I should have known.”
“I can’t believe this is happening,” I murmured and my voice came to me as if I were underwater.
He paced away from me, putting the counter between us before he faced me again.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Then don’t say anything,” he growled, still unwilling to look at me. “This is too fucked for words.”
My mind was whirring stuttering and smoking like a failing engine, making my eyes tear. I coughed to clear my throat and tried to assemble some rational thought. “I don’t know what to say.”
He spun around and swooped down on me, his fists clenched by his sides. “You ran off.”
“Excuse me?”
“You left this morning without a word, Elle.” His breath hissed through his clenched teeth and he took a large step away from me. “Not a bloody word.”
“I thought it would make it easier.”
“And is this what you had in mind?” He glowered at me, those striking brows pulled low over his blazing eyes.
He took my breath away. Even in moments like this.
“I didn’t know,” I shrugged, trying to ease the load of guilt off my shoulders. “I didn’t expect to see you ever again.”
Something powerful darkened those blue eyes I had grown to love so much and I held my breath wondering if my words had hurt him. But before I could say something, he was in front of me again, his cool mask in place.
“Giselle?” Sebastian called from the other room.
We both leapt apart and I let out a shaky laugh, pulling a hand through my hair self-consciously.
“Be out in a second!”
“We can’t do this here,” Sinclair said.
I fisted my hands on my hips and corrected him, “We can’t do this anywhere. You are dating my sister!”
“I’m aware of that. But we need to talk about things before we pretend this never happened.”
Never happened? My heart faltered and almost gave out. How could I forget about him? I caught a glimpse of one of the many family photos lining the wall beside the massive dining room table. Sinclair stood with his arms around Elena and Cosima, his smile small and tight. Anger surged through my blood but I was already so weak with guilt that my voice wasn’t as condemning as I wanted it to be.
“You cheated on my sister, Sinclair. Or should I call you Daniel?”