Page 80 of Hate Wrecked

He looks down at me. My hand is just above my bikini bottom, my nipples hard, and my face red.

He clenches his jaw as his eyes scan every inch of me. After they reach my toes, they move slowly back up to my eyes. “Enjoy the show?”

I smirk, unable to help myself as I make my way to my feet. I step into his space, grab his hand. I bring it to my breast, and Rowan is unmoved, staring into my eyes. As if to say,you can make me touch you, but I’ll never do it on my own again.

I reach out, running my hand over the length of him, and when I do, he moves his thumb over my nipple. I hiss out a breath, stepping closer. His chin points up, making sure I can’t kiss him. It’s a rejection even as he pushes aside my bikini top, the same thumb he licked now ghosting over the hardened peak. “Did you?” he asks again, angry and aroused.

I use my other hand to grip his waist, trying to pull him toward me, but he grabs my hand, pushing me back. I still don’t answer, so Rowan looks down between us at the bottom of my little yellow bikini. The damn spot is apparent. “I see you did.”

I lean into his hand, and he pulls that away. “Who were you thinking of?” I ask, adjusting my bikini top, desperate for him to pull it away again.

Rowan stares at me, steel blue eyes and full lips in a line. “Not you,” he says, and then walks away.

THEN

ROWAN

I tookRiley home the morning after she showed up tipsy. When she got out of my car in front of her house, I saw the drapes move, and I wondered who saw us. Our secret was thinly veiled, yet no one had confronted us.

I could feel the future pressing into my lungs like a fire—my name thrown in the mud, written off, blacklisted, just like my father’s. I carried it on, followed in his footsteps.

Riley slept most of the day away, then went to dinner with her father and sisters. I was thankful for the distance. I could still see her looking up at me, feel her tongue on my skin, feel the desperation I felt when she was alone with me in my apartment.

She needed to choose. And if her choice meant I had to get a new job, I would welcome it.

When Barry showed up at the end of my shift to see Asa, I tried not to smile at him with a smug smile. I knew he didn’t care about Riley, but I also knew he wouldn’t be happy if he knew what had happened the night before. Even if I had stopped it.

After dinner, as Desi, Asa, Barry, and a growing number of guests had drinks, I heard Desi call Riley, telling her that Barry was there. When Desi ended the call and told Barry that Riley wouldn’t be coming back to the house that night and that she didn’t want to see him, I left the house feeling hopeful.

I wasn’t often at the office, but I stopped in later that night to grab a book from my locker I thought Riley might want to read. Mostly, I kept paperbacks and a change of clothes there. But I also had something else stored there behind the lock. A gold necklace with a fin on it. A gift I had bought for Riley months ago but hadn’t been sure I would be brave enough to give her for her birthday.

When I walked by the breakroom, I saw a few guys I knew there, and one hollered my name, so I peeked in. “Finn, come in here. We haven’t seen you in forever.”

I walked in, nodding to the guys. Ripper, one of the louder bodyguards, was in the corner. “How are things out at Asa’s house? I hear things get wild.”

I nodded, stepping in. “Yeah, they do. They’re probably going to get that way tonight. I’m glad I’m off.”

Ripper chuckled. “I would give anything for a post like that. But I have Joyce—who’s eighty—and the most exciting thing we do is take her Pomeranian for a daily walk.”

I laughed with the guys and resisted the urge to tell him I’d love a post like that sometimes. It’d beat the raging parties, the fighting, the broken glass, and the temptation of Riley.

“You’re just pissed you can’t seduce an eighty-year-old millionaire into making you her boy toy,” a man to the right said. I thought his name was Andy.

Ripper chuckled. “You got me there. Finn, how hot is Desi, though? Are you ever alone with her while Asa is out of town?”

The man beside Ripper smacked him on the shoulder. “What?” he asked, hands up in surrender.

I nodded, smiling. “I’m not there to hit on the boss,” I said. And I knew I sounded like a square. When the man who hit Ripper eyed me, I wonderedwhyhe smacked Ripper. Maybe he knew who I was and where I came from. Maybe he’d heard of my father.

I looked away.

“Yeah, yeah. If you ever want to trade posts, let me know.” Ripper raised his drink, and I nodded.

“Sure thing.”

“You probably won’t be there much longer anyway. It’s a training post, right?”

One of the other guys shook his head. “I don’t know, he’s been there for a couple years. Someone must like him.”

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