Page 28 of Taboo

“I guess it might have been close to the same thing for you.”

His eyebrows shot up. “How so?”

“Nic always says that each island is like one little big town. Like everyone seems to know everyone else. With your family being a major employer, you would have been in the spotlight, I imagine.”

He nodded. She was smart, another plus in her column. “In a way, but I was lucky. I was the chosen one, at least in their eyes. Until I left.”

She cocked her head, studying him. “Why did you leave?”

Fuck, how did he explain his need to run away from it all? The pressure, the desire to be his own man.

“Never mind. I’m sorry to pry.”

He saw the retreat. It was there in her eyes, and she physically sat back away from him. That was unacceptable, and for some reason he trusted her. “I was trying to come up with a way to explain it. I guess I wanted to test myself. I wanted to be on my own.”

“Oh, I get that. It’s hard when you work for your family’s business. You always doubt your ability.”

Understanding hit him. She completely understood his situation. Not a lot of people did and even his best friends from his unit didn’t comprehend why he left to join the Army. They got the idea that he wanted to serve his country, but when he would talk about his family business and his reasons for leaving, they were confused. Why leave something that seemed so easy?

“Yes. You can’t think that though, right? From what Sammie said, you’re considered one of the top interior designers for hotels.”

She sighed. The sound was so lonely…so sad…that he felt it brush against his heart. “True, but do people think that because of my abilities or because of my family?”

He didn’t know what to say to that, and she apparently picked up on it. “Let’s talk about something else. This is kind of morbid.”

Part of him was relieved, but there was a part of him that wanted to demand that she acknowledge her brilliance. According to his cousin Sammie, Jules was nothing short of an artist. It took him a full five minutes to get away from his cousin after asking her about Jules’ reputation. She’d gone on and on about how she was the best in the world.

“What do you want to talk about?” he asked.

“Maybe what we said we were going to talk about?”

He didn’t really want to discuss that because hearing her say that they couldn’t sleep together again irritated him. His dick was already mad at him.

“How are we supposed to pretend we don’t know each other?”

“We really don’t.”

“Other than how you sound when you come. I know what that sounds like.”

Her face flushed. “Alek.”

“Nope, that’s not it,” he said, his pants drawing tight over his cock. That greedy bastard was going to be really pissed at him when he realized that this was just a tease. “Your voice is an octave lower when you moan.”

She covered her face with her hands, but not before he saw the smile. And that’s what he wanted. He couldn’t handle her looking sad.

“Sorry,” he murmured.

She dropped her hands, but she was still smiling. “You are not. You’re beyond cheeky.”

“I like that. Cheeky.”

She shook her head. “We need to make sure that no one knows about that night.”

The idea that she might be embarrassed about their night spent together left his gut churning. “Embarrassed?”

“Absolutely not. I’m trying to protect you.”

He blinked. “What?”

---