and she’s STD-free, just an FYI. In case she’s in there waiting for you naked and tied up.” He winks and smirks.
My jaw clenches. “Get on with it,” I grit out between my teeth.
“I looked into her parents.”
“Okay, and what did you find?” I look over my shoulder and make sure she hasn’t sauntered this way.
“Her father has lung cancer.”
“Shit.” I push my hand through my hair. That’s her look I couldn’t decipher earlier this evening. The same one I’d see on Harper’s face when we’d come home from school and Mom would be laid up in bed.
“He’s already undergone chemo, but from what I can see, he’s starting radiation treatment.”
“Fuck.”
All the damn dots I couldn’t connect suddenly make sense. The way she was distracted all night, how she flipped out when I was going to smoke my cigar on the patio, the fact she drank too much and didn’t want to go home.
“Yeah. I’m not sure why that would interest your father, but it’s the only thing I found.”
“No one will know you were snooping, right?”
“Fuck you. I’m insulted.” He turns and steps back into the elevator, pushing the button.
“Hey, you weren’t at the gala,” I say, stopping the doors from closing.
“Yeah, you know how I get.”
“Yeah.” The outside world disappears and any obligations cease to exist to Lincoln.
He leans forward and presses the button to keep the doors open. “Well, let me know if you think of anything else you want me to dig into. I’m headed to Allure, so I’ll catch you later.” The doors shut.
I shake my head—he must visit that sex club every week. The man could go to any club and get laid easily. Then again, who am I to talk?
When I step into the living area, ready to make my apologies to Isla, she’s nestled into the corner of the couch, asleep.
I stuff my hands into the pockets of my tuxedo pants and stand a few feet from her, watching her for a moment like the creeper I am. The gentle rise and fall of her chest as she breathes, her long lashes fanning out from her closed eyes, her two hands tucked under the pillow.
Her father is sick, with cancer no less.
That’s why she returned to Cherry Creek.
I wish it didn’t make me feel more connected to her. I know what it’s like to be forced to watch from the bedside as you slowly lose your parent. Again, that protectiveness erupts inside me, and I want to keep her from the pain she’s obviously already living through.
Bending at the waist, I gently lift her into my arms. The fabric of her dress slides to the side, and that large slit that’s been tempting me all night opens up to reveal her shapely leg.
My steps echo once I’m off the area rug and heading down the long hallway toward the bedrooms. I open the door to one of the guest rooms that have never actually had a guest in them and lay her on one side of the bed. On the other side, I pull back the blanket, then lift her again and carry her to the other side, tucking her in.
I stand and watch her again for a minute while memories from my past, ones I’ve locked away in a double vault, resurface. It’s been a long time since I let myself sink into the memories of my mom dying, but I have a feeling I’m going to be fighting off the nightmares tonight.
21
Chapter Twenty-one
Isla
I stir awake when I try to turn onto my side and can’t. When I open my bleary eyes, it takes me a minute to realize that I’m in a room I don’t recognize. There are no lights on, but I can make out the vague shape of furniture dotting the space from the small amount of light coming in from the floor-to-ceiling windows on my right. The world outside is dark except for a small number of stars twinkling in the sky, matching the dotting lights from below.
Where am I?
My brain is sluggish as I try to remember what I was doing this evening, and then it comes back to me. I was at the gala with Garrin. I must have fallen asleep.
I sit up, and that’s when I make out the shape of a man sitting in a chair in the corner, his legs spread and one hand holding a glass perched on his knee.
“Hey,” I say, my voice scratchy.
Garrin says nothing.
Maybe he’s asleep? His face