The Secret (The Evolution of Sin 2)

“He’s right. You are gorgeous, Mama,” I said and watched her beam at me.

She turned to Elena and pursed her lips, an indication that she was going to scold our eldest sister. Elena squirmed under the look.

“Of course, you will do this for Giselle too?”

It wasn’t really a question and I could see the darkness descend across Elena’s features like a coming tempest.

“Really, Elena, if you don’t want to do it –“ I began.

“Of course she does!” Mama cried, her hands wildly punctuating the words. “We are a family, we do things, always, for each other, si?”

“Si, Mama,” we chorused diligently.

The twins shared a look and Elena glared at me.

I sighed and played with the stem of my glass. Despite a few hiccoughs in our past, I still wasn’t exactly sure why Elena hated me so much. It would have been awesome to have her on my side. We could have been a team of two like the twins, who were so close that it was easy to feel ostracized from them despite the wealth of their love for the rest of the family.

It had become impossible to think about Elena without Sinclair and I wondered, in a growing series of what-ifs, whether I would still lust after, love after, Sinclair if Elena and I were closer.

“I’m sorry that I’m late.” As if my thoughts had conjured him, Sinclair appeared beside Elena, bending down to paste a kiss on her cheek.

He was wearing a perfectly tailored grey herringbone suit jacket with silvery grey flannel pants and a matching vest over a black button up. His chestnut hair had been cut in the hours since I had last seen him and it was now stylishly cropped short at the sides and longer at the top, softly waving back from his strong features. It softened and refined him but I missed the length, it spoke of the slice of rebellion in his soul.

“It was my fault,” Cage explained, coming up behind him with a wide grin. He took off his mirrored aviator sunglasses with a flourish and tossed them on the table. “The ladies couldn’t get enough of me out front.”

“I think it was Ryan Gosling they were after,” Sinclair corrected dryly as he finished kissing Mama and Cosima’s cheek, shaking Sebastian’s hand.

He was before me now and I held my breath to see what he would do. Would he kiss me on both cheeks or could we get away with a casual hello? He leaned down without hesitation, barely brushing his cool lips against my overheated skin.

“Hello, Giselle,” he said, and I wondered if anyone else could hear the husky timber in his voice.

“Ah, ma belle cherie.” Cage swooped in to give me a slightly too long kiss on the mouth. His delicious scent, something like leather and pure masculine sex, wafted over me and my lips softened under his firm pressure.

Sinclair cleared his throat loudly and thumped Cage on the back. “Sit down, Casanova.”

Cage winked at me and sat down in the empty chair to my right, tugging my seat closer to his with a broad grin. He leaned over me to say to Mama, “You make gorgeous children, Caprice.”

To my delight, Mama blushed. “You are very dangerous.”

He barked with laughter, jutting his chin at Elena, the only person at the table not delighted with his presence. “Me? I wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“Pfft, a fly, maybe no, but a woman’s heart?” Mama shook her head somberly. “No chance.”

We laughed at their banter and everyone settled in to order their meals and catch up on small talk. I was glad for the reprieve. Being in Sinclair’s presence after my embarrassing display of wantonness last night was awkward, to say the least, and I couldn’t stop tugging anxiously on a lock of hair.

“Relax, Elle,” Cage spoke with his head angled down at his menu, his full red lips unmoving. “You are acting like a thief in the police station.”

I consciously slowed my darting gaze and looked over at him again to find his generous smile beaming back at me.

“I’m hopeless.”

“Yes, but those in love normally are.”

I sighed and rolled my shoulders back, determined to get over my own self-imposed discomfort.

“Much better,” Cage murmured.

“You shouldn’t have left me with him last night.”