The Secret (The Evolution Of Sin Book 2) (15 page)

Sinclair closed his eyes and breathed deeply before touching his forehead to mine and admitting in a soft, quiet voice that mended my heart as quickly as it was broken, “I can’t leave it like this. I thought I could but,” his sigh feathered against my lips, “I need more time with you. Give me more time with you.”

It wasn’t quite a question but it didn’t matter. I pressed my lips to his nose and whispered, “Okay.”

His full smile took my breath away and I laughed when his lips crashed inelegantly against mine. Pushing a lock of hair gently behind my ear, he bent his knees so that our eyes were level and when he spoke, his voice was pure smoke.

“Tuesday night, my siren. That’s when I’ll have you.”

“You look flushed.”

I was startled out of my day dreaming by Sebastian, who had joined me at the bar where I waited for a glass of wine.

“Hmm?”

“I said you look flushed.”

His eyes were sharp and I straightened up self-consciously. It was dangerous to have ones head in the clouds around one of the twins; they saw things most people shouldn’t.

“It’s warm in here.”

“But you were just outside,” he countered, too casually. “With Cage?”

“Yes, the poor guy can’t keep his hands off me,” I giggled nervously.

He didn’t buy it.

“Interesting, he can’t seem to keep his hands off of that one too.” He tilted his head to indicate Cage, who was kissing a beautifully clad woman’s neck on the dance floor.

“My heart,” I joked, clutching at it dramatically.

Sebastian bit down on his smirk, which made me realize how serious he was about seeing this line of questioning through to the end. I didn’t know if it was because I was still high on Sinclair’s kisses or if it was because I was so tired of lying and feeling guilty but either way, I crossed my arms and gave Sebastian my best no-nonsense glare.

“Seems like another poor guy can’t keep his eyes off you.”

Ah
. I knew without following his gaze behind me, who he was referring to. I had felt his eyes on me as soon as he and Cage had followed me inside after a short private conversation. I wore that gaze with pride as an invisible mantle across my shoulders, infusing me with a cheeky confidence and power.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Seb,” I demurred. “But I may have been distracted by Savannah Richardson’s multiple attempts to catch your eye.”

We stared at each other for a long moment and I wondered if this is what yet another of my familial relationships would be reduced to – acridity and defensiveness.

But Sebastian mocked me for my pessimism by dissolving into full-throated laughter. Still chuckling, he leaned forward to swing his arms around me and tug me closer.

“
Ti amo, bambina
.”

“I love you too,” I said as I pressed my smile into the soft fabric of his blazer.

A slight cough alerted us to the arrival of Elena who stood with her fingers clutched tightly before her gorgeous Grecian inspired velvet gown. Despite her dark coloring and slumberous sexy eyes, Elena conducted herself like an ice queen. I wondered idly if she had ever seen Frozen.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing.” I waved away her question and nodded at the older man behind her. “Who is this?”

Elena’s eyes narrowed even though her lips automatically formed a genteel smile as she stepped backward to introduce him. “Mr. Paulson, please let me introduce my siblings, Sebastian and Giselle.”

Mr. Paulson wore a light metallic silver suit that perfectly matched his coiffed helmet of hair and stern expression. Despite his austerity, there were deep brackets around his broad mouth that indicated he smiled often and his pocket square was orange, which meant that he couldn’t take himself too seriously.

“Wonderful to meet you.” He clasped my hand in both of his and even though I understood he wanted the gesture to be warm, welcoming, the feel of his eyes cataloging every inch of me negated the effect.

“Mr. Paulson is the CEO of Dogwood International Hotels,” Elena explained with a significant eyebrow raise, trying to convey the importance of this fact. “Daniel and I invited him tonight to meet the family. Unfortunately, my youngest sister Cosima is away in Miami at the moment on a photo shoot but she sends her regrets.”

“Ah, Cosima.” Mr. Paulson had a surprisingly soft voice, his words carefully spoken. “She is a delightful young woman. I thought for certain she would be married by now.”

I frowned and opened my mouth to question his odd comment but Elena shot me a glare before I could.

She laughed lightly and placed a gentle hand on his arm. “She receives proposals by the dozens but my younger sister believes in the sanctity of marriage and doesn’t take entering into it lightly.”

While they smiled at each other, I nudged Sebastian in the ribs and he shrugged, rolling his eyes.

“You and Sinclair have been engaged for ages now, when are you love birds going to tie the knot?” Mr. Paulson asked Elena, but his eyes veered towards me.

It was a smart move. It took me at least three seconds to rearrange my shocked features into some semblance of normalcy. Engaged?

Sebastian’s hand pressed between my shoulders comfortingly and I watched him jerk his head slightly from side to side.

Aware of Mr. Paulson’s eyes, I swallowed my relieved sigh.

“We are happy as we are,” Elena was saying but she fiddled with the long string of pink pearls at her neck nervously. “In fact, I’ve never been happier. My entire family is living in the same city for the first time in years.”

Seamus wasn’t here, but he had long ago ceased to exist for us so I guess our father’s absence didn’t really matter. Still, Elena’s increasing insincerity made me uncomfortable, and my fidgeting brought Mr. Paulson’s attention to me.

“Family is the most important thing in a person’s life, I’ve come to realize. My wife is the most important person in my life. Are you married, young woman?”

I bristled slightly at his condescension but hid it behind a flashy smile. “I am not.”

“And you?”

Sebastian laughed. “Happily, single.”

Mr. Paulson’s disapproving frown was nowhere near the magnitude of Elena’s glare. A sharp prickle of foreboding lanced my spine.

“Companionship is the greatest treasure in life,” he said.

Sebastian’s answering grin was glorious. “I assure you, Mr. Paulson, I do not lack for companionship.”

The older man’s face twisted with disgust. “
True
companionship is about loyalty and commitment. It does not come and go as the changing of the tide.”

“Not the best analogy,” Seb winced theatrically. “The waves always kiss the shore.”

The two men stared at each other but I couldn’t take my eyes off Elena whose lips were so pursed, I wondered if I put coal between them, they would produce a diamond.

“Paulson, I see you’ve met Giselle and Sebastian,” Sinclair said as he stepped slightly in front of Sebastian to shake the businessman’s hand.

I hid my smile behind my hand as my brother glowered at the back of Sin’s head.

“Yes, yes, it’s good of you to bring your fiancée’s family to an event like this. It’s important to have your support system beside you,” Paulson said with a broad smile that brought out surprisingly charming dimples in his cheeks.

He was definitely a man stuck in the 1950s but he did seem to genuinely like Sinclair.

“Fiancée,” Sinclair murmured softly.

Elena fidgeted nervously and it was obvious that I wasn’t the only one who knew he spoke quietly when he was upset.

Paulson was pleasantly oblivious. “Yes, yes, though I have to say you’re making it an awfully long engagement. I had my wife at the alter before she could change her mind, let me tell you.” He guffawed.

Sinclair smiled slightly but when Elena placed a hand on his arm, his entire body stiffened.

“Pauly, please don’t tell me you are embarrassing me again,” a surprisingly young woman protested in a brassy Brooklyn accent.

Mrs. Paulson was maybe forty, at least fifteen years younger than her husband, with long dark permed hair and acrylic nails painted a vivid red that matched her lipstick. Though her dress was the same demure silver as her husband’s suit, it was obvious that she was rough around the edges, not born into the same stock as most of the other guests in the room. I instantly liked her.

“Never,” Paulson assured her, with a dramatic wink before introducing Teresa to the rest of us.

I watched him tuck her firmly into his side, how she placed her hand over his heart as if it was meant to be there. I sighed, long and gustily, before I could help it. Seb elbowed me gently and I realized that she was saying something to me.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re Giselle Lombardi, the artist,” she repeated, her brown eyes wide with excitement. “Sinclair told me how wonderful you were and I just had to look you up. I would be over the moon if you’d do a commission for Pauly and me.”

I really didn’t have the time with the showcase coming up but I understood how much it would mean to Sinclair to make the couple happy and I was delighted that he had taken the time to mention me to them.

“I would be honored, thank you Mrs. Paulson.”

Her laugh was brassy and, I thought, awesome. “Terry, please. We must be on familiar terms if you are going to paint me.”

Elena hid her smile behind her hand and even though it was studied to look like a subtle gesture, it drew the eye of everyone in our little group.

“Is something funny?” Terry asked.

My sister waved her hand airily. “It’s nothing really.”

But I recognized the sharp edges in that lady-like smile and my stomach cramped, because I knew what was coming.

“No really, what is it?”

Elena sighed. “If you really want to know, I just thought it was funny because Giselle’s upcoming collection is a series of nudes.”

The Paulsons both turned their heads to me in tandem. If I hadn’t been about to vomit, it might have been kind of funny.

The men – Sebastian, Cage and Sinclair – were all frowning at Elena with varying degrees of condemnation but it was the latter who wrapped a strong hand around her wrist in warning.

She didn’t heed it.

“Yes, I know, that was exactly my reaction at first. It might make more sense if you understand the theme. It’s about sexual perversions,” she explained, as if
a
plus
b
equaled
c
.

“Elena,” Sebastian gasped.

Cage just shook his head in disgust.

Mr. Paulson looked at me with unmitigated horror. 

I had never seen Sinclair so still, his entire body hard as marble with restraint. One more wrong word, one breath released the wrong way, and he would shatter into a terrifying fury.

Terry looked at me for a long time. I waited without breathing for her to berate me, to laugh or even turn on her heel in disgust. But she just looked at me until I felt dizzy.

Then she did the most interesting thing.

She tilted her head to the side, squinted her eyes and threw back her head in raucous, completely genuine laughter. No one moved an inch as she laughed and laughed and clapped her red-tipped hands.

“How wonderful! How does one paint sexual perversions? I imagine it’s something like
Fifty Shades of Grey
but done in paint,” she said, laughter still bouncing through her speech. “I have to admit that I usually find art kind of,” her nose wrinkled adorably, “stodgy but I could definitely sink my teeth into something like that, couldn’t I, Pauly?”

To my shock and mild horror, Mr. Paulson blushed like a schoolboy and patted his wife on the arm. “I’m sure you could, darling.”

“Tell me,” she leaned forward to stage whisper. “Would you be willing to paint me like that?”

It took me a few seconds to find my voice again but I could feel Cage and Seb at my back like the warmth from a fire and it filled me with confidence.

“I would be absolutely delighted. And, to tell you the honest truth,” I leaned forward with my hand over my mouth, imitating her dramatics, “I think art can be pretty boring too.”

Terry laughed. “My God, you are a treasure. I’m going to give you my card and you, you amazing girl, are going to promise to call me no later than tomorrow to make an appointment with me.”

“I promise,” I said solemnly though my eyes sparkled back at her.

She nodded decisively and patted Mr. Paulson over the heart. “Good. Well, I’m sorry to pull my handsome husband away but I fancy a dance before we get dragged into another business discussion so, if you don’t mind?”

“Not at all,” Sinclair said, inclining his head.

Terry laughed at him and actually reached up to pat his cheek. “So polite, Mr. Sinclair, but I see the trouble buttoned up under your coat.”

She winked at me as Mr. Paulson said his goodbyes.

We were all quiet for a moment after they left before we turned on each other.