The Secret (The Evolution of Sin 2)

I looked up and over my shoulder to see Sinclair. He wore a deep navy, nearly black suit that fit his lean body perfectly and emphasized the crazy blue of his eyes. I was still getting used to his new haircut but the lock of mahogany hair that fell over his forehead made him almost shockingly gorgeous.

“Do I ever?” Candy asked, baring her prominent teeth in a full smile.

I was happy she had abandoned her effort to keep them hidden and I wondered what had prompted the change. I made a note to ask her later, feeling a little guilty that I had dominated our conversation.

“Touché.” His lips twitched with humor but when he shifted to look down at me, his eyes blazed with stark hunger. “Giselle, accompany me outside for some air.”

It was that question that wasn’t a question; the dominance I had come to crave from him. My body was primed and ready, and he hadn’t even touched me yet.

I nodded, not trusting my voice, and took his hand to help me up from the chair. A subtle glance confirmed that Elena was still busy, near the bar now and surrounded by a large group of lovely, wealthy people. She was laughing and carefree as she bantered with likeminded elites and I realized how much she fit into this scene, how much she loved it.

We didn’t speak as he ushered me outside but the light touch of his hand on my lower back radiated like a beacon across my skin. The cool air felt amazing against my overheated skin and I was immediately seduced by the murmur of traffic and the pulsing thrum of city life.

“New York is louder than Paris, crowded and coarser but I absolutely adore it.” I shook my head and leaned over the balustrade to peer at the darkened garden bellow. “I didn’t expect to love it like this.”

“For all its glamour and beauty, there is a certain artlessness to the city that is its most appealing quality.”

I beamed over my shoulder at him. “Exactly.”

“You are happy here, then?”

I turned back to the shadowed gardens to hide my frown. It was a harder question then it should have been and the reason for that stood just behind me, exuding a cool sexuality that sent tingles over my skin.

“I am. Despite the occasional awkwardness of being reunited with my sisters and brother after years apart, it’s good to feel at home again.”

He stepped up to the stone railing beside me and braced his arms against it. His knuckles were white even in the darkness. I could feel his tension as if it were my own, the line he had hooked through my heart pulled taut by the strain.

“I’m jeopardizing that.”

“A bit.”

He smiled slightly at my honesty. “I never knew before you, how selfish a person could truly be.”

“Because you want both Elena and me?” I ripped the question off my heart quickly, like a Band-Aid but the pain still radiated through me and made my jaw ache.

He was silent for a lot longer than I was comfortable with but I tried to remain patient and still. This was hardly the place or time for such a conversation but I wasn’t willing to end it, not after weeks of wondering.

“It’s more complicated than that,” he said finally.

“How?”

His jaw tensed, the muscle skipping in his cheek.

“How?” I pressed.

“I have,” he hesitated, “a responsibility to Elena. I owe her happiness.”

My throat was being stitched closed inch by inch. “You can’t stay with someone because you feel beholden to them.”

“You can,” he argued firmly, turning to face me with eyes like chips of dry ice. “In fact, I would argue that most relationships are based on exactly that.”

“Those relationships fail,” I whispered.

I felt like an egg leaning too far over the balustrade, waiting with bone chilling apprehension for the right breeze to tumble me over the edge.

“What are you saying, Elle?” His hands were suddenly on my arms, grasping them so firmly that I gasped. “You said yourself, you were not willing to sacrifice your sister’s happiness and now this? What the fuck do you want from me? Because when you ask me these infernal questions and when you look at me with those grey eyes what do you expect me to do? I am no saint and I won’t pretend for one second longer that I’m anything close to a gentleman.”

His lips crashed onto mine and the feel of them went off like a bomb through my body. He tugged my shaking form closer until we were flush against each other, pressed so tightly I could feel him everywhere. His tongue swept between my teeth and took exactly want he wanted; my pleasure, my surrender.