34. Halliday
34
HALLIDAY
“You’re back early?” I call absentmindedly from the couch as I twirl the manila envelope between my fingertips.
Sterling walks into the living room behind me, and the scent of his aftershave fills the air as he tosses his jacket onto the back of the chair to my left. I turn to look at him, noticing that his usually warm blue eyes are dark and troubled.
“Sterling?”
He swoops in, claiming my lips in a searing kiss that sets my pulse racing.
“What is it?” I whisper as he cups my face and kisses me again, the taste of brandy on his tongue.
“Lavinia came to see me,” he says, his lips traveling to my neck and delivering lingering kisses. “God, I missed you.” He inhales deeply like he needs the scent of me to ground him.
“Was she coming to…” I swallow, not wanting to think about that night. “Was she coming in the hope something would happen between you both?”
He rests his forehead against mine.
“No. She came to ask me if I knew what I was doing, getting married again to a woman twenty years younger than me.”
I search his eyes, waiting for the punchline.
But it’s not a joke.
“What?” I scoff. “But she was the one who defended you to that guy she was with at Sullivan’s party.”
“I know.” He runs his thumbs over my cheeks softly and looks into my eyes. “I don’t think she has a problem with me moving on. But she wanted it to be with her.”
I place my hands over his wrists, cupping them and keeping his palms wrapped around my face, needing his touch as much as he needs mine.
“I knew she had feelings for you, but… she actually said that? She threw our age difference in your face?”
He sighs. “That’s not all. She admitted to searching out Neil online.”
“What?”
“She said she did it to test Elaina. Hoping she’d either get scared and stop thinking about him, or that we’d break up, and that she could… that we might…” His eyes pinch as tension flows off him in waves.
“She thought she could love you better than Elaina did,” I finish for him.
He exhales heavily and I press my lips to his in a soft kiss.
“She had just lost her husband. I’m not excusing her behavior, not for one second. But you said it yourself, we do some stupid things when we’re grieving.”
“You’re amazing.” He tries to smile but it doesn’t reach his eyes. There’s a weariness in them that makes my heart sink. “You always try to see the best in people, Hallie. It’s one of the infinite things I love about you.”
“Her world had just collapsed. Do you think she regretted it, but it was already too late once she told Elaina where to find him?” I ask, wishing that’s the case. Sterling’s been betrayed enough already.
“No,” he says softly. “She knew exactly what she was doing. She’s the one who made first contact. She sent him a message, posing as Elaina.”
“No,” I gasp.
“Yes.”
I look back at him, pain lancing through my chest at how after everything, he’s still getting hit with more hurt. More betrayal.
“I don’t understand. Why would she even...? And she thought you and her could have a future together after that?”
“I doubt she ever planned to tell me. I think hearing about our engagement is what brought it out. The way she was when I saw her earlier was nothing like the person I thought she was. She was vicious and spiteful, trying to make me doubt what you and I have. I told her to get the hell out.”
Unease curls up my spine.
“What exactly did she say?”
“That I’ve lost my head over sex with a younger woman.”
“Wow.”
My shoulders sag. Lavinia might be proving that she was never a good friend to Sterling. But now she’s another person in his life that he’s lost. And I hate that he’s going through this.
“She really feels that way?” I ask, stroking his wrist.
He presses a kiss to my lips and sighs as he moves back and sinks into the couch.
“She does.”
“I thought she seemed off when she gave me a ride. But I never thought she was so bitter about you being happy.”
“Neither did I. She actually looked like she enjoyed telling me about the fact Elaina fucked Neil in our old apartment the first time they met up.”
“Sterling,” I soothe.
“I already knew, Hallie. Every sordid detail was in those letters between them both. Elaina and I hadn’t…”
“You can say it.” I place my hand on his thigh and squeeze reassuringly.
“We hadn’t had sex in months. I’m just glad she wasn’t screwing us both at the same time. I still got tested the moment I found the letters, and I’ve always used condoms since?—”
“I know. You don’t need to explain.”
He pushes a hand around his jaw. “I’m sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing?”
His eyes meet mine and my heart goes out to him. He looks shook. Like the past has all been stirred up, and it’s burning him all over again.
“We’ve just got engaged. We should be celebrating and enjoying every minute. Not dealing with stuff like this.”
My eyes fall to the manila envelope on the floor that I dropped when he came in.
“Would it make you feel better if I added some shitty stuff in as well? So you’re not the only one bringing it home?”
His expression morphs into concern instantly. “What is it? Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you the other night, did I?”
I take his hands in mine. “No! You didn’t hurt me. I’ve told you that already. We’re definitely doing that again.” I smile at him, but it falters as I slide my hands free and pick up the envelope, handing it to him.
“I mean, this.”
He takes the envelope, pulling the card out that I’ve spent the past half an hour staring at.
“What the hell is this?” His brows lower, and he grits his teeth.
“I hoped maybe, just an innocent gesture?” I shrug.
“This isn’t a damn gesture, Hallie. It’s a great big, ‘screw you’.”
He throws the ‘Congratulations on your engagement’ card down on the couch and scrubs a hand around his jaw with a muttered curse.
“Rory was sending a message when he sent that.” He points at the card, glaring up from the cushion like a taunt.
“So what if he was? He doesn’t matter anymore. He can’t hurt us. My clients know about us. My parents know about Vegas. He has nothing.” I curl my fingers beneath Sterling’s jaw and turn his head, so his eyes meet mine. “He has nothing,” I repeat. “He’s just doing what Rory does best—being a prick.”
“If he won’t leave you alone, I’m going to have to make him. You understand that, don’t you?”
I look into his darkened eyes, my stomach clenching. Sterling is a gentleman, like everyone says he is. But he’s no saint. I know he had a fight with Rory. He told me how Rory came to the apartment after he tried to pay him off. And I know Rory took the first swing, but that Sterling ended it.
I also know Sterling has the strength to kill him with his bare hands if he’d wanted to.
But he didn’t.
“I don’t want you to do anything that could get you in trouble. I know Rory. He’s just trying to stir things. But that’s all he’s got. We need to ignore him.”
Sterling sucks in a breath, his nostrils flaring and his hands flexing against his thighs. I reach out and take one in mine, feeling it soften instantly before he entwines his fingers with mine.
We sit in silence for a few minutes as I stroke the back of his hand with my thumb, watching the tension slowly ease from his body.
“Do you want to hear what else I did today that I think will make you feel better?” I ask in a sweet voice.
His eyes soften a fraction. “Of course, I do. Tell me what you got up to, Baby girl.”
“So after I spoke with some potential new clients, I met up with Sinclair and Zoey, and we had a video call with Sophie. They want to plan my bachelorette party.”
Sterling smiles for the first time since he came home, and the sight makes my heart swell.
“Whatever you want to do, just let me know how much you need.”
“You can’t pay?—”
“Hallie.” He arches a brow. “We’ve had this conversation before. I want to take care of you. You’re going to be my wife. I’m paying for it.”
I hold back my huff as I look into his unwavering gaze. I want to argue it out with him but now’s not the time. He’s only just starting to relax.
“The same as the wedding,” he adds. “Your mom and dad want to buy your dress, but I asked if I could take care of the rest.”
“And my dad agreed?” I shake my head with an incredulous laugh. “Gosh, he must really like you to let you talk him into that. He can be so stubborn.”
“That’s where you get it from, then?”
His eyes twinkle as I bat him on the chest.
“How about you? What are you going to do? I know Mal has some ideas, and Sullivan said he’ll take care of all the planning.”
Sterling brings our joined hands to his lips.
“I don’t need one.” He turns my hand so he can press a kiss to the inside of my wrist.
“Yes you do.”
“You know what I do need?”
“What?”
He pulls me into his lap so that I’m straddling him and looks up at me as he slides his hands down my sides and curls them around my hips.
“Right now, I need to make love to my fiancée while I have the chance. Because if you think I’m waiting a long time to make you my wife, then you’re wrong.”
I settle happily in his arms, rolling my hips and smiling at the aroused groan that rolls out from the back of his throat.
“We need time to plan it.”
“One month,” he rasps, pressing a kiss to my windpipe as he uses his hands on my hips to grind me on the erection in his pants.
“What? That’s impossible. I need at least nine.”
His lips travel down my neck, peppering kisses over my collarbone, and he slides one hand up to cup my breast.
“Two,” he groans, circling my hard nipple through my dress with his thumb.
“Six,” I counter.
He yanks the neckline of my dress down, freeing one breast. His hot mouth engulfs it, and he sucks.
“Sterling,” I whimper.
“Four,” he murmurs, flicking his tongue over it as his other hand continues to circle me down over his dick.
“Four?” I gasp as he slides one hand up my thigh beneath my dress.
“Four,” he repeats.
He slips his thumb underneath the edge of my wet panties and presses it to my clit. He rubs in circles, and I sink my hands into his hair as he sucks and kisses my breast.
“Deal,” I gasp as he slides two fingers inside me.
“Good girl,” he rumbles, lifting his head.
His blue eyes capture mine and we stare at one another as he fucks me slowly with his fingers. My breathing quickens and I pull his lips to mine, kissing him as I dig my knees into the couch cushions so I can ride his hand.
He gives me a sexy smile as I work myself up and down it, my fingernails scraping his scalp with how good it feels.
“Just so you know,” I pant, shuddering as he curls his fingers and rubs my G-spot. “I’d have done it in one if you’d insisted.”
His eyes glitter with amusement. “And just so you know, if I’d had to, I’d have waited nine.”
He dips his head to suck my nipple again, making me cry out.
“Sterling,” I moan as my wetness covers his hand.
“Hallie,” he mumbles as he sucks.
“That feels so good.”
“ You feel so damn perfect,” he groans, bringing his lips back to mine and kissing me hungrily. “If you really need to take nine months to plan it, then I’ll wait. I’ll be a man on the edge, counting down every single day, but if it’ll make you happy?—”
“Four,” I whisper into his kiss. “I don’t want to wait, either.”
“I’ll give you everything,” he promises, his voice deep and hoarse as my thighs tremble.
“You already have.”
A lust-filled gasp hitches my breath as my body clenches around his fingers. I run my fingers through the hair at the back of his head before trailing one along his jaw.
“And I’m going to give you the most incredible wedding you’ve ever seen. In four months’ time,” I whisper against his lips as my core pulls tight. “Okay?”
“Okay,” he replies, holding my eyes. “Four months.”
I cry as my orgasm hits, sending my body hurtling into waves of pleasure around his fingers, each one gripping him tighter than the last.
His eyes blaze into mine as he maintains his pace in and out of my body, wringing out every spark of delicious release from me like they all belong to him.
He tears his zipper down and repositions me, replacing his fingers with the fat head of his cock.
“I’m going to fuck you fast and hard. But it’s only a warmup, just so you know,” he groans, holding me above the tip of him. “I said I wanted to make love to my fiancée, and that requires you being naked so I can kiss every inch of you.”
I smile against his mouth. “Again... Deal.”
He chuckles and kisses me back, his hands going to my hips and gripping hard.
“Hold on, Baby girl.”
He thrusts up inside me, making my eyes roll.
His eyes are glued to my face as I look at him through hooded lids as he works me up and down him like his own fuck toy.
His lips curl into a sinful smile, the tendons in his neck popping with the force that he’s driving up into me.
“Deal,” he growls.