Dad said Dylan Parnell steered. We don’t know who was driving, but they both blamed the wreck on the storm. Parnell died, and so did America’s favorite boy wonder movie star who never should’ve been invited to talk about a big merchandising deal with my idiot parents.” My throat feels raw.
“I’m too young to remember, but it was big news, wasn’t it?” Paige asks quietly.
“For us, that wasn’t even the half of it. My parents lived. I was so happy for them, but that only lasted so long. It would’ve been better if they were the only ones on that boat when it sank. They would’ve only hurt each other then...”
I slouch back against the bench, despising this shit.
“Dylan’s parents swore it was murder. A setup. Reporters hounded everyone for years. We had to hide in my grandparents’ house and go to boarding schools on the East Coast. We couldn’t come home without bodyguards swarming us for over a year. It was hell. Every time we tried to have a normal day, someone shoved a microphone in our face and started slinging questions. We were kids. We had nothing to do with it.” I shake my head. “My parents are lucky they’re not rotting in jail—”
“So, you believed Parnell’s family? You think it was murder too?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. Reckless manslaughter, maybe. The press made a lot of noise about smoke, but no fire. But I’m sure my parents supplied the drugs, and that was reprehensible. They were trying to pry more money out of that young man, knowing he was young, rich, vulnerable. They wanted to get him high and sign onto shit no one in their right mind would agree to sober. Things went catastrophically wrong. They divorced as soon as the investigation ended, and neither of them ever really recovered. They never learned a damned thing.”
“If they never got over it, maybe their marriage wasn’t about money. Maybe they loved each other,” she says quietly, tickling my neck with her nails.
“You give my parents too much credit, Paige,” I whisper. “The only things they ever loved were their own reflections and how much booze they could knock back in one night. Anyhow, they’re still causing drama, and I’m goddamn sick of it.”
“The letters? The boat?”
“I’m sure you know it was a replica of the yacht Parnell died on. The letters were all personal and would’ve upset Grandma regardless. I’m not having it. She can’t have another emergency. That’s what my dad’s gunning for.”
“But she’s gone to Hawaii, hasn’t she?”
“People talk. If that shit got put in a museum, she’d know about it, and it could destroy her.” I look down, my hands balled into fists, feeling a fury that’s only under control because I’ve got this beautiful woman’s hands stroking me. “Believe me, I’ll do anything to keep it from seeing the light of day. Especially that stupid model yacht. A murder-negligence case might be the one thing to sour Winthrope on a deal. We’ve come too far for that.”
She shifts her hand, twining her fingers through mine.
“But not just that, right? It’s about more than the deal.”
Guilty.
I don’t want to dwell on it, though. I’ll sound like one of those homesick grunts I made fun of back in the day, but something in my chest cavity flutters when she asks me that.
Is she asking what I think she’s asking?
I close any space between us, cup her face with my hand, and lean in for a kiss. My tongue chases hers like a lion.
She matches my pressure, my vigor, my need to drink her in.
Her delicate hands come to my face, lightly stroking both of my cheeks.
I break away with a gasp. “Enough nightmares for today. Ready to go home?”
She nods. “But, Ward, are you okay?”
I answer with another kiss that feels like a mortal sin. “I’m a whole lot better than I’d be if I had to go through this crap with anyone else.”
We walk back to the car, arm in arm, and once we’re inside, I cradle her to me. She gazes up, her emerald eyes in a dreamy haze that makes me smile.
I love how she looks at me.
Hell, I could swim in that bright-green wonderlust all day long.
“You two look intense. What happened?” Reese’s worried eyes peer back in the mirror.
Paige’s chin juts out like she’s about to say something.