Page 4 of Hush, Hush

He glowers, gaze darkening until his eyes are a stormy blue. Now, this is the part of Keegan I’m used to. “You’re always so stuck up. Being an Astor isn’t everything.”

I beg to differ. To me, being an Astor iseverything. “The fact that your mind went there proves how little you know about females.”

Keegan leans on the gleaming white railing next to us. He’s the picture of relaxation, but his words are sour and hateful. “The fact that I could fuck you right here, right now, and no one would say a damn thing except to congratulate us means you’re the one living in some fantasy land, Dee.”

Color drains from my face, settling in the pit of my stomach. He’s absolutely right. Eden would pitch a fit, of course, but our fathers would be over the moon, most likely staring at my stomach afterward as if an heir could magically appear from just one cum squirt.

He licks his lips, gaze drawing downward as he inspects every inch of my body. “You should get off your high horse, baby factory. One day soon, I’m going to fuck you so hard you’re going to be begging me to fill you over and over and over…”

His words rake over me. Unwanted heat pools in my belly. The image of him finally taking me repeats in my head as my breath hitches. How can I simultaneously be turned onandwant to slap him? Because he knows just how to get under my skin, that’s how. I stuff the desire aside and tiptoe my fingers up his arm. “Maybe we’ll wait until science figures out how men can carry babies. We’ll certainly be able to afford it.”

His blue eyes flash, and I swear he’s getting off on this. It’s as if backtalk and verbal sparring are pre-cursors to sex in his world. “I can occupy that smart mouth with something better.” His eyes gleam. “Or I can go back to the girl I fucked yesterday. And this morning. And this afternoon.” He pulls me to the side of the yacht that faces East. He points to a bobbing boat in the distance. I can just make out the fact that it has Keegan’s family name scrawled across the bow. Leaning over, he presses his lips against the shell of my ear. His hot breath curls my toes. “She didn’t mind me going in bareback...” He kisses my ear, sucking the lobe between his teeth. “...three times.” He bites down, tugging until he rakes his teeth free. “Maybe she’ll carry my heir.”

The worst part about playing his game is that Keegan knows I love him. He understands the buttons to push, wielding them to his benefit. What’s uncertain is whether those feelings are reciprocated.

A lithe figure stands on his yacht’s sunning area, and my blood boils. That’s definitely not Mrs. Forbes. This woman is about three sizes smaller with a waist that looks like it’s been taken in by a corset. The woman could be either his or his father’s. Or both, I suppose. I turn toward him, hiding the fact that I just had to lock my heart away so I don’t crumble in front of him. “You’re sick, you know that?”

“Oh, come on, Delilah. You act like you want to play big boy games, let’s play big boy games. You’re a Knight, after all. Cunning. Brave. Fier—”

Eden wiggles herself to my side. She glares at Keegan. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but you better leave my sister the fuck alone.”

His grin only widens. “Aww, Eden. You’re always so feisty. I bet you’d be fun in the sack. A lot more exciting than your ice queen sister. You can suck good dick, can’t you?” His stare drops to my sister’s lips.

She curls them into a cruel smirk. “If I’m ever that close to your balls, I’m cutting them off.” Her smile turns innocent as she calls out, “Isn’t that right, Daddy?”

My father spins, giving us a short, two-fingered wave. “That’s right, Honey.”

I chuckle. Okay, maybe he can be a little too supportive, especially when he doesn’t realize what he’s agreeing to. He’s already turned back toward Leon Forbes, giving his slick, black hair a comb through with his fingers while the breeze threatens to upend it.

Eden guides me away, right through the glass doors that lead to the dining room and kitchen. As soon as the doors close behind me, I’m swamped by air conditioning. A shiver runs through me as my heated skin meets the artificial chill. Goosebumps sprout up and down my body, then stay when I replay the interaction I just had with Keegan.

It wouldn’t surprise me if he is fucking another girl just a few hundred yards away from me. I bet he gets off on doing that. He certainly gets off on throwing it in my face. He wants me to be jealous because he thinks that if I am, I’ll drop my panties for him in a second as some sort of ridiculous attempt to win his affection.

Sex is the only thing I’ve been able to hold back from him. Once we go there, there’s no turning back. It’s my last bargaining chip in trying to keep me ahead of the game that, as he so animatedly pointed out, I’m so bad at playing. It’s also the one thing he would do anything for.

He told me once in one of his rare, raw moments that he dreams about taking that one last thing from me. My purity. The fact that he’ll be the first to go there excites him to no end. I believe it’s the one thing that actually keeps him coming back. He can get laid anywhere. He can get dirty and screw as much as his black heart desires. But the one thing he can’t get from them, that I have, is my fully intact sex. He’s more reverent of that than my actual heart.

Furthering my hypothesis, I also believe it’s one of the main reasons why he just hasn’t made me yet. As he callously remarked, he could fuck me on a table in front of everyone, and no one would care about what I’d just lost. They’d just be excited that we’d finally come together.

I’m keeping this bargaining chip locked up until I decide to give it away. For me. Not because I’m supposed to. Not because he wants it. But becauseIdo.

Knowing that, I take the hallway to the curving stairs that lead to the staterooms below deck. As Eden suggested, I change out my attire for a less revealing sundress.

I’ve poked the grumpy bear enough for today.

Unfortunately, Keegan’s never done with me.

ChapterThree

Dinner goes smoothly. Our fathers talk business, throwing around names that are familiar only because they’ve been discussed in front of me hundreds of times before, and possibly because I met them at some soiree when I was a teenager. Businessmen love to hobnob.

Keegan goes through spurts of fitting right in with the two elders, offering his welcomed two cents before zoning out again. I eye him through most of the meal, wondering what happened to him. What made that little boy who saved my life grow up to be this thing sitting next to me.

No matter the hurt he’s caused, I can’t find it in me to hate him. Eden thinks it’s a major flaw in my personality to still be attracted to the guy who’s already broken my heart a few times. Also, the fact that I haven’t told Mom and Dad—and their arrangement with the Forbes—to eff off perturbs her to no end. I’m resilient like that though. I’m not going to admit I was dumb until Keegan forces my hand.

After dinner, our fathers take over the dining room table to play cards for sums of money I don’t even want to think about. Keegan opts to retire to the salon with Eden and me where we watch mind-numbing TV until Eden starts to doze. It’s a wonder she lasted this long. While I was napping most of the day, she was out exploring the water like she does—snorkeling, swimming, water skiing. I nudge her with my arm. She blinks awake suddenly, focusing on me and then beyond where Keegan still sits before she frowns.

“Don’t feel like you have to stay up for me,” I tell her. “I’m fine.”

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