Chapter 21

Danielle

I let us into the villa and walk past the sofa and—wait, what?

I stop dead in my tracks. “That’s—what?” The sofa has been exchanged with another one. This one is forest green and leather. “What happened?”

“They obviously realized they needed to clean up in here,” Joey says.

“Wow.” But sofa exchanges are the least of my worries. I march across the boards and into my bedroom. The bed is already made, though I left it a mess this morning, and the windows are open, the curtains hanging either side, touched every now and again by the breeze.

I drag open the top drawer of my dresser, ignoring my reflection in the mirror above it, and bring out the small pieces that I packed for this trip. Personal things, like underwear and bras, though I haven’t used them since I’ve been here, and my journal.

In its pages are countless fantasies about loving Holden, living with him, being with him. Being a second mother to his daughter.

I’ll miss Jessie. Obviously, I can’t go back to the house and see her again.

That’s going to break me up inside, but it’s what’s best for her.

I bend and grab my little carry-on bag from under the dresser, then dump it on the bed. I follow that up by tossing the other stuff down next to it. I’m not angry at anyone but myself.

I’ve ruined everything.

I should never have come to Mystique. I’ve tossed so much out of the window just because I had a proverbial itch to scratch.

Idiot, idiot, idiot.

“Dani, stop.” Joey grabs my wrists and drags me around the side of the bed, toward him. I’ve done my best to ignore his presence. To pretend he doesn’t exist so I can keep a clear head while I pack.

It’s not working.

“I have to go. It’s the right thing to do,” I say.

“No, it’s not.” His grip bites into my wrists. It hurts a little, but I don’t care. He’s touching me, and I love that. I love that even though I shouldn’t.

God, I’m such a fucking mess.

“I’m falling for you,” he says.

“What? How? We don’t know each other. It’s been a few days.”

“You can’t tell me you don’t feel the connection between us,” he replies, probing me with that ocean gaze. He’s so clear about what he wants, and I envy that. “I don’t care if it’s crazy. I’m fucking crazy. I always have been. I’ve been living an empty life without you in it. I thought I had it all, Dani. I thought my life was the best life. Fucking whenever I want, drinking, eating out. But I have no home. I have no soul. Not without you in my life.”

“I can’t be your soul,” I say. “I can’t be your soul because I still love Holden, too.”

“I don’t fucking care.” He shakes as he says it. Shakes so hard that I tremble along with him. “I don’t fucking care if you love him, too. All I want is you. If I lose you because I’m too stubborn to admit that you love him and he loves you, I’ll never forgive myself.” His eyes water. It can’t be tears. He’s too strong for that. So much stronger than me.

“Joey—”

He interrupts me with a kiss, so hot and sweet I can’t muster up any thought. I run my fingers up his chest and cup his cheeks, relish the scrape of his stubble against my skin. God, I’m falling for him, too.

I barely know him, but the connection between us is intense. Every time he touches me, he unlocks something different. Heat, passion, submission.

Joey’s kiss is frantic. He tastes my tongue, then sucks my bottom lip, nibbles it, then moves to my chin, my left eye, the tip of my nose, my right eye. “I won’t let you go,” he says, punctuating each word with a kiss somewhere else. “I don’t fucking care. You’re my drug, Dani. I won’t let you go.”

I moan and dissolve into him, taking all the kisses he gives me.

“I told you at the start of this weekend that you’re mine,” he whispers. “And if you have to be his, too, to be mine, then fine.”

“What are you saying?” I ask, gasping for breath as if I’m drowning. Maybe I am. Drowning in him and us, and his lust.

Joey lifts my legs and wraps them around his body. He grabs my ass cheeks and walks me backward until I hit the wall. He grinds his dick against my pussy. We’re separated by two layers of clothing, my shorts and his chinos, but he’s so hard. So very fucking hard.

He grinds into me and I cry out. “Joey.”

“You want me,” he says. “You want me inside you. I’ll make you come again, Dani. I’ll make you mine.”

Oh, god, I need that from him.

Joey sucks on my neck, holds me up with one arm, while the other hand reaches for my breast. He pinches my nipple through my camisole, then rips the cotton down and bends his head. He suckles on my pink nub, rolls it between his teeth, bites.

“Oh, fuck,” I moan. I’m lost. He’s got me good.

He sucks, then circles my areola with his tongue, licks a long line up the slope of my breast to the base of my neck. “Fuck, I need you. I need you here, and I need you in my life. Don’t you fucking dare leave.” It’s the closest to a plea he’s probably ever come.

I kiss the top of his head, and he lifts it, stares into my eyes as he grinds against me, placing more and more pressure on my clit. I’m pulsing for him already, aching, needing. Captured again by this man whom I’ve simultaneously never known but known for an eternity. That’s what it feels like, at least.

“That’s it,” he says, and rubs up against me, kisses me again. His tongue massages mine in a slow dance. I’m drunk on him, dizzy. “I’ll love you until you can’t anymore, baby, and then I’ll still love you.”

I whimper and catch his bottom lip between my teeth. I scrape along it.

“I need you out of these shorts,” he says. “I’ve got to come in your pussy.” He backs us off the wall, then carries me over to the bed. He tosses me onto it, and I land right beside the journal. It flops open.

Holden’s looking gorgeous today. He was so sweet. He opened the car door for me this afternoon before we went to fetch Jessie.

I squeeze my eyes shut, but I can’t block out the words.

Joey lowers himself on top of me, unaware. He kisses my neck, growling low in his throat.

“Stop,” I say. “Joey, stop.”

He does, immediately. He pushes himself off the bed and stands in front of me, watching, still hard. He waits, his arms at his sides—at least, they’re not folded.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I can’t do this with you until everything’s figured out with your brother. It feels wrong. He made it clear what he wants, and this isn’t it.”

“Fuck,” Joey says.

“I’d do the same if it was Holden here instead of you.” I nod. “I have to be fair.

“And fair means what? Leaving the island?”

Maybe not. Joey said earlier that if I want Holden, too, he’ll deal with it. The fact is, choosing between them is tearing me apart. Leaving will destroy me in so many ways. What if I can take the fourth option Eva mentioned?

Is that so crazy?

Obviously, I won’t be able to work for Holden anymore, but…

“Dani,” Joey says. “You need to give me your final answer.”

“I will,” I say. “I’ll give it to you, to both of you, tonight.”

“Tonight?”

“On the beach,” I say, thinking fast. “Meet me on the beach at ten, near the cabana, okay? Be there, please.”

Joey grinds his teeth but nods. “All right, I’ll be there, Dani.” It’s so final, and I ache for him all over again. He bends over me and kisses the tip of my nose, then straightens and walks out.

I lie there and listen to him—the bare feet across the boards, the click as the front door shuts behind him. I’m alone with my thoughts again, not that I want to be, but at least this time I have a plan.

One I’ll need help to put into action.

I dart upright, filled with hope and energy for the first time all day.

This might work, and if it doesn’t, at least I’ll have tried.