Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 189782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 949(@200wpm)___ 759(@250wpm)___ 633(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 189782 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 949(@200wpm)___ 759(@250wpm)___ 633(@300wpm)
“Two versions?” Kody pushes me to the side, squeezing past me. “What does that mean?”
“When we’re discussing business and planning your dreams, you get the brother. When we’re working out, dealing with Frankie’s therapist, or taking driving lessons, you get the brother. But right here, right now, I’m the husband. The husband in love with his wife. If I find you fucking her in my goddamn bed—” he stabs a finger at his suite “—you get the husband, not the brother. Understand?”
“Yeah.” Kody pushes back against me, stopping me from slipping around him. “We get you.”
“I need to hear it from Leo.”
He’s not demanding his wife back. He’s asking us not to be cruel.
“Yeah.” I drag a hand down my face and rein in my temper. “I get you.”
“Good.” He straightens, cracks his neck, and continues down the corridor like nothing happened.
I trail behind, my mind swimming. “So Dr. Jekyll is the brother, and Mr. Hyde is the murderous husband?”
He pauses and pivots to face us. “Put yourself in my shoes. How would you deal with it? What would you do?”
If I was married to Frankie and she loved two other men? I would steal her back, force her to be with me, whatever it took. I guess that makes him a better man than me.
“That’s what I thought.” He clicks his tongue.
“Am I talking to the brother or the husband? Because I’m a little confused.”
“The brother. Try to keep up.” He turns away, striding across the deck toward her.
“Good and evil are so close as to be chained together in the soul.” I shudder.
Kody grunts. He knows the classic lore of Jekyll and Hyde too well. Denver used to read it to us during the long, monotonous months of darkness.
Monty delivers the bourbon to her and heads in the direction of the galley.
The midday sun hovers, casting a glow over everything, especially Frankie.
I prowl toward her.
She was my only source of light in the hills of shivers and shadows. In the halo of sunlight, she shines even brighter, glistening with warmth and luminescence, her expression serene, a rare and precious kind of peace.
As I press in behind her, she reaches back, her hand slipping into mine. The touch of her skin calms me, centers me. I squeeze her fingers, grateful for her presence.
“What happened?” She glances at Kody, who follows Monty to help him with the food.
“Ask Mr. Hyde.”
“Uh oh. That sounds ominous.”
I tell her about the conversation at the bar and his offer to help us. Then I recount the confrontation outside his suite and his warning about his dual personalities.
She loosens a breath. “Why can’t he just move on?”
“Impossible.” With my arms around her from behind, I drag my nose through her hair, inhaling her cherry scent. “No one can move on from you. You’re the ultimate destination.”
“Were you thinking about my vagina when you said that last part?”
“Always thinking about that pretty pink part of you, love.”
“Knew it.” She sips her drink, eyes on the shimmering horizon.
Monty and Kody return, and the four of us share a quiet meal on the sun deck.
As usual, Oliver went all out, preparing a spread of smoked salmon with capers and some kind of creamy white sauce drizzled over it. The salad looks like art with mixed greens, bright cherry tomatoes, and slivers of something purple, all topped with edible flowers. Yeah, flowers we can eat. Who knew?
Steak is the main course, seared perfectly with a crust that smells like heaven. It’s sliced thin, juices pooling on the plate, and served with tiny roasted potatoes and asparagus.
We eat mostly in silence, the only sounds the clink of cutlery and the occasional call of a gull or puffin.
Throughout the meal, Monty tries to be the brother, commenting on the weather or some idle bullshit. But every time he looks at her, the husband burns in his eyes.
He’s delusional if he thinks he can separate the two.
When we clear the dishes, he and Kody head down to the bridge to turn us back toward Sitka’s harbor.
I follow her to the railing, wrapping around her back and running a hand along the bare skin of her thigh. I fucking love how easy it is to access her body in this dress.
She leans her head back on my chest. “I’m going to stay on the yacht while you guys do your driving lessons. Rhett is meeting me—”
“No.”
“Leo.” She huffs. “If I go with you, you won’t be able to concentrate on driving. Learning involves hard braking, over-steering, near collisions…not the safest conditions for a passenger. But if I wait in the garage while you take turns driving, it’ll only make it harder for you to concentrate. You won’t be able to see me, and you’ll be worrying about someone snatching me, even with the guards nearby.”