Your Fault (Culpable Book 2)

Jesus, I’d missed her! The days had been endless. And don’t get me started on the weeks. I’d had to work twice as many hours so I could go home early, but for this alone, it had been worth it.

“You all right?” I asked, my breathing still agitated. We’d never done it like that before. I tried to control myself with Noah, to treat her the way she deserved, but this time, I’d been unable to wait. As soon as I’d seen her, I’d wanted to make her mine.

She smiled and said, “That was…” but I kissed her before she could say more. I was afraid of what she’d say, and my desire was too strong to talk just then. She was gorgeous that night, especially in that virginal white dress, and I could barely contain myself.

“I love you like crazy, you know that, right?” I said.

“I love you more,” she responded, and as she did, I noticed there was a little blood on her lips.

“I bit you too hard,” I said, running my thumb across her lower lip and wiping away the tiny dot of blood. Fuck. I was an asshole. “Sorry about that, Freckles.”

She licked her lip, distracted.

“That was different,” she said. It sure was.

I stepped back and buttoned my pants. I felt guilty: Noah deserved to do it in a bed, not against a wall and on the fly.

“What’s up with you?” she asked, worry in her eyes.

“Nothing. Sorry.” I kissed her again, pulling her dress back over her legs and suppressing the temptation to start right back up where we’d stopped. “Happy birthday, by the way.” I took a small white box from my pocket.

“You got me a present?” she asked, excited. She was so sweet, so perfect… Just seeing her put me in a good mood. Just touching her turned me on in a way I’d never known.

“I don’t know if you’ll like it…” I said, suddenly nervous.

Her eyes opened wide with surprise as she looked at it.

“Cartier?” she said. “Are you crazy?”

I shook my head and waited for her to open it, revealing a tiny silver heart on a chain that glimmered in the darkness. She smiled, and I sighed with relief.

“It’s beautiful,” she said, rubbing it with one finger.

“This way, wherever you go, you’ll always have my heart with you,” I said, kissing her on the cheek. It was the cheesiest thing I’d ever said, but that was what she’d done to me. I was now an idiot in love.

I could see her eyes were watering.

“I love it. I just love it!” she said, then kissed me on the lips.

I smiled and told her to turn around so I could put it on her. Her dress had a generous neckline, and I couldn’t help but kiss her while I was back there. She shivered, and I restrained my urge to be inside her once more. When the clasp was closed, I turned her around and looked at her. She was radiant.

“How do I look?” she asked.

“Perfect, as always,” I replied.

I knew we had to go back, even if it was the last thing I felt like doing just then. I wanted to be alone with her—I mean, I always wanted time alone with her, but especially then, after so long without seeing each other.

“Am I presentable?” she said innocently.

I smiled. “Of course you are,” I said, buttoning my shirt and picking my tie up off the floor.

“Let me,” she said, and I laughed.

“Since when do you know how to tie a tie?” I asked, remembering that I’d always been the one to tie hers when I still lived there.

“I have to learn because my hot-ass boyfriend abandoned me for his bachelor pad,” she replied, tightening the knot.

“Hot, huh?”

She rolled her eyes. “Let’s go back before everyone figures out what we’re up to.”

I’d have preferred everyone did know what we’d been up to. That would keep all the little boys away from my girlfriend. But even after all we’d been through, most people still thought we were just stepbrother and stepsister.

I let her go first and lit a cigarette while I waited. I knew Noah didn’t like me smoking, but if I didn’t, I’d lose my mind. Before I walked back, I noticed something. Her underwear was under my feet.

Had she left without anything under her dress?

Back at the party, I saw her talking with a group of friends: two guys, one of them with his arm resting around her back. I took a breath to calm down and walked over. When Noah saw me, she gave me a hug and leaned her head against my chest.

That was enough to calm me down.

“Have you seen Lion?” I asked her, looking around. I was a little worried about him. He had called me when I was in San Francisco to tell me his brother, Luca, was getting out of jail soon. He’d been in for four years; he’d gotten caught selling drugs, and there had been nothing they could do to keep him from going behind bars. I wasn’t too happy about him coming home. I guessed I was glad for my friend, since he was on his own and his brother was the only family he had left, but I knew what the brother in question was capable of, and I wasn’t sure having an ex-con around was what Lion needed at that point in his life.

“Not for a while, actually,” Noah said. “Anyway, it’s probably a good time for you to go see our parents.”

Hearing that made me tense. Since Noah had been kidnapped, there was no more hiding that we were serious about each other, and our parents didn’t like it one bit. And they tried to make that clear to us every time we saw each other. I knew my father wouldn’t let something so scandalous get out: after all, we were a family in the public eye, and to the outside world, we would go on being stepsiblings and nothing more, he insisted. What surprised me was that Raffaella refused to take our side, after what she’d told me the day the police came to our house. In fact, her attitude had become increasingly suspicious.

“Well, well, well, my son’s returned,” Dad said with a false smile.

“Hey, Dad,” I greeted him. “Hey, Ella.” I tried to muster a friendly tone. To my surprise, she smiled at me and gave me a hug.

“I’m happy you made it,” she told me. “Noah was forlorn till you showed up.”

I looked over at her. She was blushing. I winked.

“How are things at the firm?” my father asked.

The bastard had put me under Jenkins, a bossy asshole who would run the firm until I had enough experience to take the reins. Everyone knew I was perfectly qualified, but my father still didn’t trust me.

“Exhausting,” I said, trying not to scowl at him.

“That’s life,” he said. Now I was getting in a bad mood. I was tired of hearing that shit. I’d matured a great deal in the past few months, was playing the part that was expected of me, and was busy every hour of the day. Not only was I working for my father, but I was still in my last year of law school and had my finals and the bar exam to think about. Most of my classmates knew nothing about the ins and outs of running a firm, and I already had more experience than most attorneys. But there I was, with my father still not trusting me.

“Can I have this dance?” Noah interrupted me, trying to keep me from talking back to him.

“Sure.”

I walked with her out onto the dance floor. They’d put on a slow song, and I pulled her in tight, trying to keep my anger and frustration from affecting the only person at that party who mattered to me.

“Don’t get angry,” she said, stroking my neck. I closed my eyes, letting her touch relax me.

My hand slid down her waist and stroked her lower back.

“I can’t feel mad around you knowing you’ve got nothing on under your dress.”

“I didn’t even realize it,” she said, grabbing my biceps to stop me from caressing her.

She was gorgeous. I leaned my forehead into hers.

“Sorry,” I said, disappearing into the beauty of her eyes.

“Are you spending the night?” she asked with a grin.

Dammit! Always the same argument. There was no way I was staying there. I’d moved out months ago, and I hated having my dad around keeping an eye on me. I couldn’t wait for Noah to move into town. Everything would be better when she was with me.

“You know I’m not,” I said, looking over at the crowd. Occasionally, some bystander glanced back over. I didn’t suppose brothers and sisters were supposed to dance like that, but I didn’t give a fuck, either.

“I haven’t seen you for two weeks. You could make the effort to stay over,” she said, her tone changing. I knew that if this kept up, we’d be arguing, and I didn’t want that.

“So we can sleep apart? No thanks.”

She looked down in silence.

“Come on, Freckles, don’t be like that… You know I hate staying here, I hate not being able to touch you, and I hate all the stupid shit my father feels compelled to say to me.”

“Well, I don’t know when we’re going to be able to see each other, then, because I can’t go into town this week. I’ve got finals and graduation, I’m up to my ears in obligations.”

Damn it.

“I’ll come pick you up so we can hang out,” I said, trying not to raise my voice.

She sighed and looked away.

“Don’t make me feel guilty, please,” I asked her. “You know I can’t stay here.”

I grabbed her face, forcing her to stare into my eyes.

“You used to,” she said.

“Back then, we weren’t together.”

We kept dancing, the argument apparently over. Raffaella kept her eyes on us the whole time.