“I don’t know—”
“Because you’re blind, Wyatt. You’re always blind to those who love you.” She started to cry, and I started to panic, not sure what to say to her. “I’m a bold person! If I want… If I want something I go…go after it! So I knowww… if I had gone away for a few yearsss and… come back, then you won’t only seeee me as yourrr… best friend…. or…or cousin.”
“Helen, what the are you trying to say?”
Her words were slurring. Wiping her face, she came around the coffee table, knelt down right in front of me.
“I love you.”
Just like that my heart stopped. I was sure. Staring at her, I felt as if I was falling…like the ground had opened up underneath me and I was falling. Maybe it was because I drank too much. Maybe because I was idiot, I could feel my body heating up.
What the hell is wrong with you, Wyatt?
“Helen, you’re drunk—”
Before I could finish speaking, her lips were on mine. Never in my life have I ever frozen up in front a woman, for any reason. But with her, now, it was if my brain had lost all communication with my nervous system. All I could do is just sit there.
“You’re disgusted, right?” she whispered and pulled away from me. “You wouldn’t have been if we hadn’t grown up together, and we grew up together because you brought me back home. So, I’m going to resent you. It’s not fair, I know. But like I said, people are complex. We don’t make sense…I don’t make sense. So, can you go home now? I want to be by myself.”
Maybe I’m dreaming? Maybe I’ve lost my goddamn mind. No, it’s the wine. That was the reason I was getting hard even though I didn’t mean to. The longer I stared at her, the more I noticed her. How curls fell on her face and down over her bare shoulder. The strap of her tank top had fallen down. Her shorts so high I could see all the way up her thigh. Her lips so soft…I wanted to…
My throat closed, and all I could see was danger.
Wyatt what the fuck are you thinking! She’s your cousin!
“Thanks for helping me, Helen. I’m going to head home.” I got up and quickly grabbed my shirt and jacket, nearly tripping on my way out.
Pressing the elevator button at least a dozen times in the span of a second, I just wanted to run. The pain in my shoulder was completely gone and replaced with a new pain. I tried to push the thoughts out of my head as I got onto the elevator, but they came anyway.
I could taste the wine on her lips. I thought and licked my lips. The moment I did, I wanted to slap myself. She’s my fucking cousin! Adopted cousin? We weren’t biologically related.
Why the hell am I making distinctions now?
“Where to, sir—”
“Home now!” I snapped at him when I got into the car.
Sitting in the backseat, I rubbed the bridge of my nose. I silently prayed for my cock to come back to its senses. Instead, I found myself still thinking.
She’s actually my adopted second cousin. Uncle Declan was my father’s cousin. Marrying your first cousin is legal in twenty-five states. Some lists claim that twenty-six states allow cousin marriage... No states ban marriages between second cousins. Why the hell do I know this?
Why the hell am I even thinking this?
Helen is my best friend. She is my cousin. Nothing else.
“Sir, we’re here.”
I glanced out the window at the mansion for a moment before getting out. I didn’t speak. I couldn’t speak. I just walked past our butler, O’Phelan, the maids and made a bee-line into my room, fearing someone would ask me what happened. I was right outside my room. So close to putting this night behind me when a familiar red head suddenly appeared beside me.
“Good evening, sir. I was just about to leave dinner in your room,” she said softly, her blue eyes met mine.
It was far too late for dinner. And the odds of her just so happening to bring it when I got back were slim to none. But I opened the door for her anyway.
Helen is my best friend. She is my cousin. Nothing else.
“Do you need anything else, sir?” She asked when she put the tray down in the corner of my room.
“What do you think I need?” I asked back, and with that she slowly unbuttoned her blouse. I didn’t have time for slowly.
Closing the distance between us, I ripped the blouse off her, kissing her lips before lifting her up, her thighs wrapping around my waist. And I pushed down the nagging feeling I had in the pit of my stomach.
ELEVEN
“The less you reveal
the more people can wonder.”
~ Emma Watson
HELEN
Buzz.
Buzz.
“Hello?” I muttered into the line, still not opening my eyes.
“Wake up. I’m mad at you.”
I didn’t need to open my eyes to know who it was. “Dona, I have a really bad hangover, can you call back—”
“You are aware it is improper to not answer the phone when a princess of a foreign nation is calling you, right?” she asked, obviously not giving a damn about the fact that it felt like my brain was trying to escape out of my damn ears.
Sighing, I turned over on the couch and brushed my hair out of my face. “Last I checked you weren’t married, only living in absolute sin. Therefore, I’m not being improper by screening your calls.”
“Do I look like an idiot to you? I made him sign the marriage license before I got off the damn plane.”
It’s too early!
“Donatella, you’re supposed to marry the handsome prince after you kill the wicked witch not before,” I said to her. Then again, she was hell bent on breaking all the rules. God only knows
