His Risky Mistress

Chapter 1

Chapter One

It’s been two years, I reminded myself as my little beat-up car crested a hill and the shores of Oystar Bay came into view.

Two whole years away.

Two years without a visit.

Without a call. Without a text. I’d blocked everybody and everything that even reminded me of my hometown.

The guilt should be gone by now, shouldn’t it?

As I approached the sign to Oystar Bay, I saw my best friend Pippa waiting for me, leaning against the glimmering pink 12-foot-tall pearl that was our town’s mascot.

That was something little and silly we had always done together, one of us waiting for the other by the sign. Like a one-woman welcoming committee.

Even though it felt like everything had changed for me, she looked the same. Strikingly beautiful as always, with sleek long brown hair, dark eyes, and of course wearing her usual understated chic fashion because she was so rich she’d never needed to flaunt it.

I wanted to run away, turn this car around and go back to the city, bury my shame in my graduate studies and forget that I’d ever come from this little tourist town on the coast.

But instead I pulled the car over and got out.

After all, she didn’t know—

Pippa was squealing with excitement, and I tried to suppress the guilt as she ran over to wrap her arms around me. My bestie still smelled like jasmine and vanilla, everything so familiar, even the dangly bracelet jangling in my ear.

At one point we’d had matching ones.

But I couldn’t have stood wearing mine now.

Like I wasn’t the worst kind of hypocrite.

Like I hadn’t betrayed her.

“Sosie!” she cried. “I’m so happy to see you! Look how long your hair has gotten! And you look so pretty, bitch. Damn! Feels like it’s been forever. Has it really been since my wedding?”

I shouldn’t have come back at all.

But it had been an offer I couldn’t resist. The chance to be one of wealthy billionaire Chamberlain Hollingsworth’s famous musical Sirens, an all-women troupe who played for his guests every summer.

And I’d be the only flute player, able to choose my own songs, with a front row to all of his wealthy friends.

And, of course, he was Pippa’s grandfather so I must have her to thank for this opportunity. . .

Not only was it a very generous salary, but who knew? Maybe I could find a patron among them. Someone who could help sponsor my music. I was in training to be a music teacher, but I also had a secret dream to be a full-time musician.

At this point that seemed like an impossible dream.

As a girl who came from nothing and no one, I had to take the opportunities I got, and this is one everyone in my graduate music course would have been green with envy over.

“So happy to see you,” I fixed my lips to say.

“This all you have?” she asked, sliding into the passenger seat and looking at my one battered suitcase.

“Yes,” I said. “That’s all I brought.”

Hadn’t that always been the way? Ever since we were little. The girl with everything and the girl with nothing.

So sweet, all my teachers had always said. That Pippa Hollingsworth is so sweet looking out for poor little Sosie Leigh.

When she could have been friends with anyone, any of the other rich little girls in Oystar Bay.

“Well, let’s go! We can drive around in my new Bentley while you’re here, of course. I’m afraid this old thing is going to die.”

“It’s fine,” I tried to say, although my cheeks burned with embarrassment at the way the engine was rattling and wheezing, but she wasn’t even listening.

“I’m so excited to show you what we’ve done with the guesthouse.”

We

I was older now, I was more mature.

I had finally even moved on with someone else.

The mistakes I’d made didn’t define me anymore.

But I was ashamed of my choices, and about what could have happened.

And of ever trusting that charming devil. . .

Two years ago I’d made a huge mistake. And I was about to come face-to-face with it.

“That’s where you’ll be staying, of course,” Pippa chattered on. “The other Sirens have to share quarters in town, but not you.”

Now we were passing the picturesque Oystar Bay downtown, deliberately cultivated to look like an old-fashioned beach getaway, with candy shops, fun houses, and diners, all for the benefit of the tourists.

The locals mostly came from generational wealth, and I drove past all the sprawling manors to the biggest one of all—Hollingsworth House, the driveway already filled with expensive sports cars and luxury SUVs for the first Sirens performance tonight.

“The place looks beautiful,” I said automatically.

Because of course it did. Their home was the jewel of Oystar Bay, a massive blue-and-white mansion, nine bedrooms, a ballroom, acres of jewel-toned lawn, all facing miles of pristine private white and pink beaches.

“My husband and I have been doing some renovations,” Pippa said excitedly, her massive diamond ring glinting in the sun as she pointed at a smaller house set off from the main one, up next to a rocky cliff.

My husband

“That’s where you’ll stay. It used to be servant quarters, but it’s so hard to get them to stay overnight these days that it’s become a guest house.”

“Very nice,” I said, because it seemed like something was expected of me.

“You can park here, behind one of these gardener’s sheds, and I can have one of the servants move it further back, so it’s out of the way. Now come on!”

She took off down the pebbled path, and I hauled my suitcase behind, the heavy thing knocking into my knees as I tried to keep up.

The fresh sea breeze whipped my auburn hair into my face, bringing with it an achingly familiar smell of salt, so potent my mouth watered.

“How are you doing?” I asked.

Because that would be expected, wouldn’t it? To ask how your best friend was doing?

“Work is going well. You know I’m practically running my Grandaddy’s charitable foundation these days. And it’s a lot of work. So many people begging him for money.”

“Oh. . .of course,” I said.

“He just needs to actually give me the job, but of course you know how he is. So stubborn. He thinks just because there’s been some auditors sniffing around the foundation that he needs to be extra careful.”

“Well, I hope you get it,” I said, a little out of of breath from trying to keep up with her.

“Granger and I are trying to have a baby,” she added in a chatty tone.

My heart constricted inside me, seemed to tighten like a fist as the blood rushed to my brain so fast I felt dizzy.

So many times I had tried to argue with myself.

It wasn’t all my fault. He had seduced me.

But who had been the one to follow him? Who had been the one to take his hand? Who had been the one to take that first wicked step into the hotel room?

Because I had wanted it. Wanted that man more than I wanted to breathe. Wanted him badly enough to throw away all my morals for him.

And after all that?

Now he was trying to have a baby with another woman.

She had won and I had lost. That was all.

“How many months have you been trying?” I asked, because I knew something more was expected of me.

Was that a weird question? Asking how long the man I’d thought was the love of my life had been taking her raw?

“Like ten months now. We’ve already both been tested, too, nothing wrong with either of us. Obviously, Granger has plenty of that good seed and my uterus looks fabulous. The doctor just said to keep trying. And of course no problem there.”

The way she said the words sounded almost obscene. His seed. Yes, I wouldn’t know anything about that would I. . .

I tried to concentrate on the path, the way the sea air smelled after so many years away, fresh and salty and a bit wild.

Like you never knew what was going to happen.

“I’m sure you’ll have a positive test soon,” I said.

Since when did she even want to have a baby?

That had always been my dream. Not hers.

The little white guesthouse was neat and tidy, and pleasingly private, tucked away into the steep beach cliffs, and hidden from view from the big house.

The soft pale pink sand came up to the door, and it was ringed with a low white fence. For a minute I desperately wished something like this was really mine.

But I couldn’t afford dreams like that. I had to focus on my job as a Siren.

Inside, the space was small but cozy. A living area/kitchen, then a series of steep stairs up to the second floor, where there were two small but tidy bedrooms.

“And how are you doing, Sosie?” Pippa asked as I dropped the heavy suitcase on the floor with a sigh of relief. “I haven’t heard much from you.”

Her eyes were bright and sharp.

“Oh. Yes. I’ve been—busy at college, of course.”

“Some of my messages even got returned.”

“I—got a new phone,” I said lamely. “I lost all my contact information. It sucked.”

She said nothing for a minute, worrying her overlined lips with her teeth.

“My brother is back in Oystar Bay for the summer. I always thought you two should have gotten together.”

Yes. Everyone did. But I only had eyes for one man that summer. . .

“I was just so focused on getting into graduate school,” I said.

But that wasn’t it at all.

“You did go on a few dates, didn’t you? Wouldn’t it be so cute if you had a second chance? Hayden’s been asking about you. . .”

“I have a boyfriend now,” I said.

Pippa’s thin lips split open into a bright, sharp smile.

I don’t want your husband, if that’s what you’re worried about. In fact, I hate him.

“Oh, come on. Is it actually serious? You know, Hayden is quite a catch. Such a nice guy. And, not to be crass, but he’s loaded.”

“It is serious,” I said, nettled.

Pippa only gave me another little smile, and sat down on the couch, stretching her long, elegant legs out in front of her.

“It feels like we haven’t talked in ages! You never come home for Christmas.”

Because I couldn’t bear to see you and him together.

To know he chose you over me.

“So busy. . . tickets so expensive,” I muttered.

But that wasn’t it at all.

“What’s happening with Hayden?” I asked, to change the subject. “I thought he was married.”