Captivating You (How to Marry a Billionaire #2)

Episode 42

EPISODE 42

MISTY AND RIVER'S DATE, PART THREE—REVELATION

River

I stand after giving Misty my ultimatum, take her hand, and pull her to me. I cup her cheek, lightly thumbing her lower lip.

“You’re beautiful, Misty, and so very sexy. But if anything is going to work between us, there can be no secrets.”

She glances around the pool area. “I’ve already said too much.”

“You can trust me.” I brush my lips lightly over hers and then trail kisses to her ear. “What’s the story, Misty? What do you know about me? And what’s going on with you and Evangeline?”

She pulls back, her mouth dropped open. “Evangeline?”

I tip her chin up. “I told you. I know all your secrets.”

Misty swallows, darts her gaze to the bar to the hot tub and then to the pool. Everywhere except on me, where it needs to be. I gently nudge her chin until our eyes meet.

“I...” She drops her gaze to the concrete. “It’s hard to say.”

I tip her chin up for the third time. “No secrets, Misty. I need to hear it all from you.”

“River...”

“Just say it. You can trust me.”

She opens her mouth, and then she jerks as she looks over her shoulder as the screen door to the pool area opens with a soft click.

Emily and June—in nothing but short silk robes—walk through the door but stop abruptly when they see us.

“Oh. Dreadfully sorry,” Emily says. “June and I thought we’d have a quick hot tub.”

Damn. Not that I have an issue with Emily and June hot tubbing, but their timing majorly sucks. I was just about to get Misty to spill everything.

“This area is occupied.” Misty turns ice cold. “Our dinner hasn’t been served yet.”

“That’s hardly a problem.” I smile. “We can eat anywhere, Misty. Please, ladies, enjoy the hot tub.”

I expect Misty to pout, but she surprises me.

“Yes, please. River and I can have our dinner served elsewhere.” She smiles and walks toward the screen door.

I point to the remnants of the Dom Perignon. “Help yourselves to some champagne if you’d like. There are extra flutes behind the bar.”

I follow Misty out of the screened area and into the courtyard. The table where Ariel and Alex were dining is now vacant.

“I’ll just go to the kitchen and tell Chef to serve us there.” I point to the table.

“Okay.”

“Or”—I gently nudge her hair behind her ear—“we could go to my suite.”

Her blue eyes brighten.

She truly is beautiful. Too bad that underneath her beauty is a snake waiting to strike.

Normally, I’d want my dinner, but this day has taken its toll on my appetite. I’m still reeling from what happened to Rachel on the catamaran, and all I really want is to get this date over with. But before I can end it, I have to get more information out of Misty. Though I’m curious about what she has on Evangeline, more important is what she knows about me and my past.

I can fuck a beautiful woman in my sleep, and though I’d prefer to have the sustenance of a decent meal before doing so, it’s not necessary.

“That would be lovely, River.” She entwines her fingers with mine.

We walk to the mansion, through the French doors, and up the stairs. My suite is on the second floor—the women are staying on the third—and I hover my key card over the reader and open the door.

“After you.”

Misty walk in, and within an instant, she’s shed her satin robe.

She turns, her tits rosy and her nipples hard. “You’ve already seen what I have to offer, but it doesn’t hurt to give you a second showing.”

I resist the urge to shield my eyes.

This afternoon, she was Misty Holmes, spoiled hotel heiress who for some reason has her sights set on me.

But now...

Now she’s Misty Holmes...half-sister of my long-lost friend—and the reason my life is everything it is, for better or for worse.

When I look closely, I see it. Lisa Patterson’s nose and jawline. Thick blond hair just like Jake’s—only a shade or two darker.

Once I see it, I can’t un see it.

So much for taking one for the team. This is not happening. I just can’t.

I got hard for her earlier, but my dick has gone on vacation. It won’t be going inside Misty anytime soon.

She’s the same woman she was before, but now to touch her would be to break the bro code—no moms, sisters, cousins, or exes.

Jake may be gone, but he’s still a bro. And I still miss him.

Then I stifle a laugh. Bro code? This whole event is breaking the bro code. We’re here on a luxurious tropical island—my three best friends and me. Along with eight—er...six—women, all of whom we’re literally sharing.

Fucking bro code has gone up in flames.

I can hear Jake inside my head.

What the hell, Riv? Why’d you go along with this matchmaking scheme? It was Brett’s idea, wasn’t it?

Jake. Always the voice of reason before everything went to hell.

Misty cups her breasts as if holding them out in offering.

I’ve been a hell of an actor up to this point, but I can’t go any further. This is done. Not just Misty and me. This whole fucking thing.

I open the door. “Get out.”

She drops her jaw. “What?”

“You heard me. I’m tired of your games, Misty. Get the fuck out of my room.”

“But you invited me?—”

“And now I’m un inviting you. Get out, or I’ll pick you up and throw you out myself.”

“But I?—”

“You think you know something about me? Some secret? Take it to hell for all I care. I’m done with this stupid charade. I’m leaving in the morning.”

“But Evangeline...”

“She’ll get paid.” I cock my head, eyeing Misty. Something’s off. “That’s it, isn’t it? You set this up with Evangeline, and you’re taking a cut.”

“I may have set that in motion.” She nibbles on her lower lip. “Evangeline had a match go wrong, and?—”

“I know all about that. Brett thought he found her, but you orchestrated the whole thing.” I shake my head. “You never wanted me at all, did you? This is all a game to you, for a cut of profit that you don’t need.”

“No, River. It’s not. It’s not a game. I... I’ve always wanted you.”

“Get out,” I say again through gritted teeth. “Put that fucking robe back on and get out .”

She grabs her robe, slides it over her shoulders. “Please. Don’t make me leave.”

“Then talk,” I demand. “Tell me what you think you know about me.”

“It’s... It’s only that my birth mother had an older child. A boy. And they both disappeared from their small Montana town twenty years ago.”

I already know that. It eats at my soul daily. “That’s it?”

“Not exactly.”

“What else? It’s not like I’m keeping any secrets about who I am.”

She gulps. “It’s your town, River. That was easy enough to figure out. But it’s also where Alex, Sebastian, and Brett grew up. My brother would have been your age, and in such a small town, you must have known him. What happened to him and my mother, River? What happened to them?”

Ghosts...

Invisible ghosts surround me, haunting me.

I can’t escape them. I’ve tried and failed so many times. They’re always there—specters in my mind, just like that hissing cat in the barn that somehow embodied all that was wrong in that old fucking house. The cost... Such a cost... Our antics came at too high a price.

“R-River...?” Misty’s voice shakes. “Do you know?”

I know, but that information goes with me to my grave. I curl my hands into fists. “Why me, Misty? Why did it have to be me ?”

“I...”

I’m perilously close to shaking the truth out of her, which means I need to leave.

All those emotions—anger, rage, fear, pure terror—twenty years in the making and aggravated by the near loss of Rachel today, are about to explode inside me, and I’m not sure how they’ll come out.

“You tell me now, or I swear to God I’ll have you escorted off this island tonight. You’ll be on the next ferry to Jamaica.”

Her lips tremble as she ties the sash to her robe around her waist. “It had to be you, River, because when I learned where my mother came from...and then I saw your photo...” She winces, closing her eyes, as if she’s having trouble finding the words.

“What? Damn it, what?”

“I just knew,” she finally says with a sniffle. “You still live there. Where my birth mother used to live. It's you. I just knew it had to be you. You're the keeper of the secrets.”

Her words stun me, and for a moment I tense, ready to pounce. Keeper of secrets? So familiar... But I'm sick and tired of her games, and I’ve had it up to my fucking ears. It’s her. She’s got someone following Shelley around back home. It’s been Misty all along.

I’m out of here tomorrow. I’ll tell the guys what I learned, and they can do what they want. But I’m done.

“You need to be gone by the time I get back,” I tell Misty.

I storm down the staircase, through the mansion, and out the French doors. Emily, in her silk robe, sits on the deck alone.

“What happened to the hot tub?” I ask.

“June’s still there. I had enough.”

I meet her gaze. She’s blond and blue-eyed like Misty, but her hair is paler, and her body is luscious. I’ve seen her tits...and I’d like to see more.

I need to work off this aggression, and sinking into Emily’s hot little cunt might be just the medicine I’m looking for. I narrow my gaze and hold out a hand to her.

“You want to go fuck on the beach?”

She raises an eyebrow as she stands and walks toward me, letting her robe fall off her shoulder and bare her breast. “That’s the most splendid idea I’ve heard all day.”