My heart ached for him. For me. For us. “I don’t have a choice, Wilder. Being with you has certain implications. Not just for me, but for everyone. My mom. Your dad. My sister.”
“Oh, so now you’re a fucking martyr, Addison? What, you think you need to sacrifice your happiness, your life, so everyone else is happy?”
“I’m not a selfish person, Wilder.”
He rushed up, his body like a force field that backed me up against the wall once again without even touching me. With his mouth mere inches from mine, I wasn’t sure if he wanted to kiss me or bite me or both. “You’re a goddamn saint, Addison, and that’s your fucking problem. What do you want? Huh? What does Addison Andrews want?”
My mouth hung open, silently begging for him to quiet my thoughts with his lips. It worked before, it would work again. I knew it. If he kissed me, nothing else would matter, if only temporarily. Beneath my polished exterior, I was a weak woman. I couldn’t be an unbreakable diamond like my sister. “I want you.”
I stared at the marled pattern of the stained concrete floors and hung my head, as if declaring my true feeling sucked the life out of me. Wilder’s hand angled under my jaw, lifting my mouth to his and breathing life back into my exhausted soul one kiss at a time. Unapologetic love rained down on me as the heat of his body made the outside world fade away. He hoisted me up around his waist as he carried me back to his room, laying me gently on his bed.
My mind begged for him to stop, and it was only after we were both naked that I realized my body had won that war. His hands traced my naked flesh as his tongue tasted my arousal. I was his once again. The fight was stacked from the start.
I’d have to throw in the towel another day.
I couldn’t do it.
Not yet.
I pulled myself out of her and crawled beside her, laying my head on the pillow and widening my arms. She always slinked up next to me when we were finished, and while I wasn’t big on cuddling, I always secretly enjoyed the way she tucked herself against me.
Addison pulled away, rolling herself toward the edge of the bed.
She climbed out and fished around on the floor for her clothes, redressing as fast as she could.
“Where’re you going?” I sat up, watching her beautiful body disappear behind an armor of designer clothing.
“I shouldn’t have done that. I shouldn’t have given myself to you.” She turned to look at me, her face taut.
I slid off the bed and grabbed my jeans off the floor, stepping into them as she headed toward the door. “Addison, wait. Where are you going?”
“I’m really sorry. I sent the wrong message.”
She reached for the door, but I slammed my fist against it, holding it shut with the weight of my body. “Let’s talk, all right? We can figure this out. There’s got to be a solution.”
Her full lips formed a hard line across her pretty face. “Believe me, Wilder, if there was a way to make this work, I’d be all over it. I stayed up all night last night thinking about it. About you. Us. If anyone found out about us being together, now that you’re my stepbrother, it would destroy my career. My sister’s career. You can hide behind your corporation. You’re a nameless face behind a generic LLC. I am my own brand. So is Coco. We can’t throw away everything we’ve ever worked for to become known as a couple of backwoods Kentucky hicks who sleep with family members.”
“How would anyone know?” I scratched my head. “Who the fuck would know about our parents being married, and why would anyone care?”
“You’d be surprised what people can find if they dig hard enough. There are people out there who aren’t very happy that Coco is about to replace Susannah Jethro. And there are people who’d kill to have her spot and would love nothing more than a reason to take her down. And everyone in this city knows I’m her sister. She goes down, I do too.”
“So that’s it, then?”
“What choice do I have?” Her shoulders slumped, her blue eyes staring the ground as she blinked away tears. “You act like this is easy for me.”
My hand fell from the door. “Looks like you’ve made up your mind.”
Our eyes met as her lips parted, and I waited for her to speak, but nothing came out. There was only one possible thing she could say to make any of this better, and I knew deep down she didn’t have the guts.
“Go.” Pain settled in the base of my throat as I pulled the door open for her.
She drew in a deep breath and wiped the corner of her eye with the back of her hand. “I’ll send you some new agent referrals, if you’d like.”
“You fucking kidding me?” My hands flew to my temples, letting the door slam upon my release. “You’re breaking my fucking heart right now, and you want to talk business? God, I knew you were hot and cold when I met you, but this is really fucking pathetic, Addison. Guess it’s a good thing I found out now how frozen you are inside. Just flip a switch. It’s all about your fucking career.”
“I was trying to be polite.” Her voice was weak and thin and lacked her signature confidence. “Regardless of all of this, I know you still have a business to run.”
“Were you trying to be polite when you were riding my cock ten minutes ago?”
Addison’s lips trembled, making me realize I’d been yelling. I hated that I’d made her cry. I hated talking to her like that, but all I saw was red. I hadn’t felt this way since Nikki, and I sure as hell didn’t think Addison would remotely come close to the same category as that bitch.