AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Corinne sniffles and buries her head in my chest, fists wrapped around my shirt that’s now hopelessly wrinkled, and I don’t care. “Everything I said about you was true. And I care about you, too.”
She looks up at me. The soft welcome on her face doesn’t merely tug on my cock. It hits me in the heart, which I would have sworn even a handful of days ago was too hard to spare a single fuck for Parker Emerson’s sister. Now I’m losing myself in her misty dark eyes, and I can’t stop it. We might have a pretend engagement, but suddenly this feels more real than anything I had with Hadley.
I lower my head. Her eyes slide shut. My pulse kicks into overdrive. I’ve only ever kissed Corinne for the cameras or to prepare for them. Now I’m dying to slide my lips over hers and take full possession of her mouth for no other purpose than pleasure. Than connection.
Someone clearing his throat interrupts us. I look up to find Maxon standing nearby, an officer beside him.
Goddamn it.
“Sorry. He has some questions,” my brother says. “For you both.”
“Did you press charges?” I ask Maxon.
“For trespassing?” He shrugs. “Do you want me to?”
My knee-jerk reaction is to nail that motherfucking son of a bitch for any infraction that will stick. But Corinne looks up at me with that crushed expression. Going after Parker might make me feel better, but it also puts her squarely between us. Well, between her ambition and her family. It serves no purpose except to make her life more difficult.
Fuck.
I swallow my pride. “No. A warning for him to stay off your property is enough.”
Maxon nods, but I sense his approval. Then he turns to the officers. “Anything else?”
After a few identifying questions, the policeman asks for a recap. It must jibe with the others’ accounts, because he nods and leaves in search of his partner, who’s detaining Parker on the lawn.
Hayes eases up beside me, Echo’s hand in his. “God, Parker is still a raving dick.” He grimaces Corinne’s way. “No offense.”
“None taken. He’s always been hardheaded and unable to admit when he’s wrong. But Hollywood and fame have made all that worse.”
“I’m sorry,” Echo murmurs, caressing Corinne’s arm.
“No, I’m sorry. You came all this way to celebrate and it turned into a disaster.”
“I came here to support friends, and that’s what I’m doing.” Echo smiles.
Her kindness has Corinne tearing up again. “Thank you.”
Harlow sidles up to my “fiancée” next. “Oh, honey. I know he’s your brother, but if you need someone to knee his balls into his nasal cavities, I’m your girl.”
Corinne laughs, despite her tears. “I appreciate that, but I think it would be wise to defuse the situation and simply walk away.”
“Less satisfying, but you’re probably right. Listen, I don’t know how much X has told you about our illustrious father, but I promise he makes Parker look like an amateur. So if you need a shoulder or another woman who understands—because from what I hear, my younger brother’s sensitivity is all between his legs—call me. Anytime. I’m here for you.”
I ignore Harlow’s swipe at me. It’s her way of lightening the mood. And it made Corinne smile. “Thank you.”
“We’re both here.” Bethany glides up beside me and takes Corinne’s hand. “We understand.”
“That means a lot to me.” Corinne wraps her arms around herself like she’s cold.
She can’t possibly be—it’s August in Hawaii—but I wrap my arms around her in case it’s reassurance she’s lacking. “What else do you need, princess?”
“Quiet time?” she asks uncertainly—not surprising since everyone here has gathered to celebrate us.
I don’t give a fuck about that. “If you need to be alone, I’ll make that happen. I’ll take you home and let you have some peace.”
I’ll have to make up some reason for Echo and Hayes to explain why, instead of pleasuring her worries away all night long, I’m sleeping in another bedroom.
“I can’t do the crowd right now.” Corinne’s expression tells me she’s hanging by a thread when she reaches for my hands and grips them tight. “But…don’t leave me.”
Normally, a clingy woman would send me running away, but Corinne isn’t clinging as much as sharing her pain—an agony I understand—with me, her brother’s enemy. Someone she barely knew a few days ago. But here she is, asking me to comfort her.
“Whatever you need, princess.”
She presses herself against me and whispers up into my ear. “Is there someplace else we can go?”
Before she falls apart.
“Give me a minute. I’ll make it happen.”
I don’t even stop myself to ask why I’m so willing to give her whatever she needs, I just do it. Besides, it’s possible Parker knows where I live. Corinne doesn’t need a repeat of this evening.
Leaving her in Echo’s and my sisters’ capable company, I tug Maxon into a quiet corner. “You got a vacancy tonight?”
