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I lay back and throw an arm across my eyes. I’m so tired. Everything seems so futile and exhausting.
I hear a splash and move my arm with a groan. Our eyes collide, and I freeze. Silas is crouched over me, his naked chest on display, wet from the pool. His hair is slicked back and dripping. He looks like an underwear model. I have no words, I can’t make myself think let alone speak. He cocks his head to the side and studies me.
I shift my weight but don’t look away from him.
“I…”
“Did my mother upset you?”
I blink up at him. “No. She was talking with Hazel. She didn’t even acknowledge me.”
He looks relieved. “Ah, good. You were supposed to sneak away and come upstairs, not work in the kitchen and dining room.”
“I did as my employer told me to do,” I snap out with a touch of bitterness.
Silas frowns. “Is that all we are? Your employers?”
My breath catches. “Dylan has feelings for you. Deep feelings, and he’s trusting you. Our deal is almost finished.”
Silas peers at me. I can’t tell what’s going on in those dark depths. But I get the sense he isn’t happy with something.
He leans down until the tip of his nose brushes mine. “I’m going to tell you a secret.”
I stay completely still, trying desperately not to clench my thighs or shift my weight and alert him to the ache that has started.
“I’m afraid of my mother. The bravest thing I did was choose Grayson and Falcon and fly away from the cage she kept me in.”
“You fear her? Why?” Instantly, my protective side comes to the front.
“She never hurt me, but she never needed to. She has so many people she can pay to do it. To teach me a lesson. To make me earn my place. But she knows all my weaknesses and used them against me mercilessly.”
“Silas,” I murmur and reach out, cupping his cheek. “You don’t need to earn anything from her.”
“I know that now,” Silas says and brushes his lips against mine. “I’m just making a point that anything she says should be considered poison and ignored.”
When his teeth tug at my bottom lip, I let out a helpless groan and wrap my arms around his neck.
“Dylan is upset,” Silas murmurs. “Really upset.”
“Don’t worry, I made him see that he needs to choose you,” I soothe.
Silas growls. He pulls back and studies my face. “I thought I was right, but I can’t tell.”
“Can’t tell?”
“We’ll just need to push a little harder.”
“Silas, what are you talking about?”
He smiles, and it's blinding and confronting and completely and utterly devastating. My stomach flips, and I feel weak. I lay back, staring up at him while explosions inside my mind go off.
Silas stands up, then bends and lifts me to a standing position. “Come on, let’s go home.”
I don’t think I slept more than an hour last night, I spent the entire night pacing, washing linens, cleaning, setting up supplies. Silas and Dylan’s words keep going around and around in my head. I keep telling myself that I have to leave. And one word keeps growing, getting louder and louder in my mind.
Why?
My legs almost give out, dumping me on the couch where I close my eyes in exhaustion. I just need a couple of hours, and I can face the sun. Just a little bit of sleep, a rest or something. When I hear them, I almost jump out of my skin, but then Gray walks in, the huge expanse of his muscled chest bare. My eyes run over every curve, noting with horror the butterflies in my stomach, the way my pulse jumps. I can’t look away from him.
