“Yeah.” His brow furrows deeper with each letter sound. “We had a one-night stand that I don’t remember. I wanted to co-parent while unattached, but her father’s involved…”
“Eeew, you ‘you-knowed’ with her and her dad?”
“No, no, no, Mr. Carter definitely had no part in the baby’s conception,” he says, gesturing like an umpire calling a ballplayer safe. “He promised me enough money to buy the moon to marry Amber. I agreed days ago, and I can’t break my word. It’s more money than someone like us could make in a lifetime. A dream world I thought too lofty for someone like me can become reality.”
“I see,” I murmur. Amber’s daddy hopes to make her decent by buying her a husband. The Carter family caught Horus in their web of lies. “Do you swear she knows you don’t love her?”
“I’m pretty sure she hates me. I could never fall for her and she knows it,” he says with a snort. “I don’t even like her.”
“Works for me,” I say, rolling toward him. I get the jump on him and we’re lip-locked before he can protest. My greedy hands hold his jaw in place while I plunder his mouth. I thrust my tongue between his lips. Sweetness beyond the lingering banana sundae on his breath drowns my senses. My first kiss is everything I’ve dreamed of…but not because I stole it from some man.
Horus’s hands knead my behind as he kisses me back…
“You’re a dangerous woman,” Horus whispers against my lips. He softens the comment with tiny nips to my bottom lip. “Your kiss makes me reconsider my future plans and question the importance of my integrity.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” I say with a flip of my hair. I roll onto my back to cool the passion blazing between us. “I wanted to check ‘first kiss’ off my bucket list.”
“So, my kiss is your dream come true?” He says with a smirk. I’d be annoyed, but I’m happy his relaxed vibes are back. It’s like I kissed the troubles from his mind.
Mental high five. You go sex kitten.
“Stop before your ego inflates further and you float away,” I say with a giggle.
“You wound me,” he says, clutching his tee over his heart.
Our laughter quiets to soft chuckles before relenting to the night sounds of the forest. The crickets sing their song loudly to signal their mating season. Romance surrounds us—literally—but Horus’s moral dilemma is one I understand. Our tryst can’t blossom into something beautiful. If we met in another life, we’d be a dynamite team of conservationist partners. But with his blackmail and my secret, pursuing a relationship further is too dangerous. Even if it means dying a virgin…
Oh, my soul, that’s depressing.
“If it’s not my kiss, what’s your dream, Millie?” His question is a breath of fresh air, blowing my maudlin thoughts from my head. The next music set starts. Horus reaches backward to shut off the phone. I can’t believe he’d rather listen to me than dance. Me? An owl hoots a reminder to answer the man before his attention flitters away.
“I read a biography about a model discovered at a football game. The agents saw her on the screen and were swept away by her beauty. She lived an untamed life, full of romance and adventure, while the whole world watched—”
“So, your dream is to walk the catwalk in your sky-high shoes?” I check his face for sincerity. His tone isn’t snippy. In fact, I’m shocked by the genuine interest shining in his blue eyes. The humbling feeling of someone finding me interesting warms my belly like a wood-burning stove.
“No,” I say with a huff that blows my bangs. I’ll look back on this and wonder what wasp’s nest my hairstyle resembled during the best night of my life. “The events leading up to her discovery interest me. She attended an event with friends. The camera guy or producer picked her out of the crowd. She was seen. Her joy radiated into the crowd and someone—the agent, producer, whatever—connected with her. The connection built a life she loved.”
“A superficial connection,” he quips.
“I’ve never had a connection—superficial or otherwise. No one is allowed to see me. How am I supposed to build a life?” I swallow my tears. They will be with me long after Horus returns to his money piles and loveless marriage. “What’s your dream?”
“The butterfly sanctuaries,” he says with a shrug. If he recognizes I’m holding back a river of tears with an autumnal beaver damn, he ignores it. “I wasn’t spraying bullsh—err—lip service at dinner. Saving bees and butterflies is all I want in life. If we don’t have the bugs, we have no food to eat or air to breathe. I don’t feel people realize how dependent we are on pollinators. My dream will come true because of Mr. Carter—or at least his daughter, Amber. The best part is that she hates the outdoors, so I can enjoy nature by myself. The forest will be a sanctuary for me, too.”
“Do you ever dream of having someone to share your mission?”
“A woman who isn’t scared of bugs and spiders? One that would spend hours in the forest without making noise while I collect and tag insects? One that won’t be jealous when the mission to save the forest is as important as our relationship? On top of all that, she will have to learn to love my stellar personality. Haha, nope,” he says in a voice dripping with sarcasm.
“What about Amber? Does she realize she will have to share your heart with your mission?”
“She never had my heart in the first place,” he says, rolling onto his back. “She hasn’t shown interest in getting to know me since she announced our pregnancy and subsequent engagement.”
“You make it sound like you put a price tag on your heart,” I say.
“Bought and sold.” He gathers me into his arms.
His right shoulder pillows my head while I clutch the other one. Skinny people make terrible pillows, but the thrill of being in a man’s arms outweighs the knobs and lumps. He rubslazy circles on my lower back under my wings. His breathing is too shallow to be sleeping, but I leave him to his thoughts. Might as well enjoy the stolen moments, pretending to be loved by a man like Horus…or Horus himself. It won’t be long before the bulldozers wake us from our perfect dream existence. There’s nowhere to hide from Mr. Carter, his mining company, and his daughter, Amber.
Chapter 7
