Page 4 of Bride By Initiation

I grunt. "Do you think I'm naive?"

"Let it go, Sean."

"Zara, certain things are meant to stay buried. If your father thinks his past should be?—"

"But you'd dig into your father's past," she accuses.

I stay silent, my heart beating harder.

She huffs. "You don't see how hypocritical that is?"

"It's different."

"No, it's not," she spouts.

I stand my ground. "It's not the same."

"Just because your dad is dead doesn't mean it negates my situation," she claims.

Tension builds between us.

My worry turns to fear. I caution, "Don't step into a world you aren't meant for, Zara."

"What does that mean?" she hurls back.

I take a deep breath and try to stay calm, but the thought of Zara interacting with our enemies makes me ill. "Nothing is free in your father's world. If someone knows things, there's a price to pay to get that information. I doubt it's one you want to ante up."

"Why? Because I'm a woman?" she fumes.

"Yes."

She glares at me. "You're chauvinistic."

"Sue me."

She shrugs away from my grip and crosses her arms, claiming, "Alaina can run circles around any man in any of the families here. If you want me to prove it, I'll go in there and create a situation, then let her display her abilities."

I scoff. "You don't have to do anything of the sort. I don't disagree with you."

"Ha! See! Proved you wrong!"

I close the space between us, grab the back of her head, and lean over her face. "No. You're not Alaina. No one is Alaina, for that matter. So stop acting like you're someone you're not, because all you're going to do is get yourself into a situation you have no business being in."

She gasps, her eyes blazing with fire, her signature scent she makes with several perfumes, somehow growing more intense between us. She lowers her blues to my lips, pouting her own.

My pulse pounds between my ears. Her hot breath mingles with mine. The wind whips around us, and I circle my other arm around her toprotect her from it, tugging her closer against me. I mutter, "Stop being a brat," even though her attitude is taunting my dick.

She swallows hard, her gaze pinned to my mouth, and states, "I've said more than I should have. Let's forget this conversation."

My erection throbs against her stomach, my veins burning with desires I shouldn't have. At least, not for her. But I can't stop myself. I suggest, "Maybe I need to put you over my lap and slap your ass until you tell me what this is all about."

She gapes at me, her cheeks burning and her chest rising and falling faster against mine.

Music blares, tearing us out of our trance. Fiona steps onto the patio with Shannon and some of their other friends.

My sister glares at me in disapproval. It's not the first time she's caught me and Zara in a moment with our hands on each other, even though nothing has ever happened. She beelines toward us, interjecting, "What's going on out here?"

I release Zara. "Nothing."

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