Page 15 of Fake Engagement Arrangement (Wilde Billionaire Brothers #1)

‘That’s not how it always works, although to be fair, there are some wonderful foster carers out there.

We were mostly placed in care together, but occasionally we were separated.

One of the times we were apart, I begged to be with him, and finally we were sent to another foster home.

On the surface it looked like a wonderful family to be in.

The foster parents were nice people, but there was an occasional visitor to the house, the brother of the foster father.

He…’ Mollie swallowed tightly, barely able to get the words out.

‘He… Well, without going into too much detail, my little brother became a victim of his…attentions. Eliot didn’t tell me about it until he was an adult.

I felt so guilty because I thought the uncle was charming.

I would never have left Eliot alone with him if I’d realised.

’ Mollie knew deep down she wasn’t really to blame for her brother’s abuse—it was the perpetrator who was responsible and should be shouldering the blame—but her sense of failure haunted her regardless.

Jago came over to her and took her hands in his. Concern shone in his eyes. ‘You must stop blaming yourself. Men like that groom not just their victim but the whole family, even whole communities.’

‘I can never forgive myself,’ Mollie said. ‘Eliot is a train wreck but I can’t give up on him. He’s been in and out of rehab, but he doesn’t stay long enough for it to take any effect.’

Jago put his arms around her and drew her close in a hug.

Mollie leaned into his solid warmth and let out a heavy sigh.

He stroked her back in a soothing fashion, and her tight muscles slowly unclenched until she melted against him.

This was why she’d fallen in love with him in the first place.

He’d made her feel safe for the first time in her life.

She was a little bobbing boat in a wildly unpredictable ocean, and he was a lighthouse, a safe harbour, an anchor to hold her steady.

‘Where is Eliot now?’ Jago’s voice rumbled against her left ear.

‘In a very expensive rehabilitation clinic in Glasgow. He’s been there six months, but he needs to stay for a whole year for it to be effective.’

There was a silence that Mollie measured with the slow steady thump-thump-thump of Jago’s heartbeat next to her ear.

After a long moment, he held her a little apart from him so he could look down at her.

His expression was contorted with so many emotions, they flickered through his gaze as if he was thinking back over their relationship and their break-up and putting things together in his mind.

‘You took the money my grandfather offered you to help your brother.’ It was a statement, not a question, as if he had come to a final conclusion about her actions.

Mollie grimaced. ‘I’m sorry I can’t tell you anything…’

‘Because of the NDA?’

She gave a tiny nod, her lips pressed together before she spilled any more of the horrid secrets she carried. Heavy and burdensome secrets that had weighed her down for so long.

Jago picked up her hands again and gave them a gentle squeeze. ‘Why didn’t you come to me for help? I could have paid for Eliot’s rehab.’ There was a gruff edge to his voice, a side note of hurt that she hadn’t considered him as her go-to person.

Mollie was tempted to tell him about the deepfakes, but she couldn’t risk it, not until she saw Maxwell Wilde’s reaction to her being back in Jago’s life, albeit temporarily.

She pulled her hands out of Jago’s with a strained smile.

‘Hindsight is a beautiful thing, is it not? There are so many things I would do differently if I could.’

Jago was looking at her as if he were seeing her for the first time.

The real her, not the made-up version. It made her feel exposed and vulnerable, and yet there was a part of her that was relieved she had told him about her brother.

She felt like she was no longer carrying that emotional burden on her own.

‘Mollie…’ Jago scraped his hair back with his hand then dropped it back down to his side. ‘I think we need to get to Wildewood Manor as soon as possible. You need to call your boss and tell her you’re not coming in. In fact, tell her you’re not coming back.’

Mollie stared at him, not sure whether to be annoyed at his taking command of her employment situation or relieved he was rescuing her from a job she had grown to loathe. The clients she loved; it was her boss that was the problem. ‘But—’

‘I’ll cover any expenses you have until you find another job.’

‘You’re making me sound like a kept woman or, even worse, a gold-digger.’

Jago twisted his mouth in a rueful manner. ‘I can see you’re not going to forgive me for that, are you? I can’t forgive myself for ever believing it.’

‘I’m not a vengeful person, Jago.’

He came back over to her and lifted her chin with the tip of his index finger, locking her gaze with his.

His eyes were so dark a blue they reminded her of a bottomless ocean.

An ocean she wanted to dive into and explore those hidden depths.

His eyes lowered to her mouth, lingering there for so long she could feel her lips tingling in anticipation of the descent of his mouth.

‘If I kiss you,’ he said, ‘it will delay our departure.’

‘How long a kiss are you thinking?’ Mollie’s voice was just a whisper of sound, liberally laced with longing.

He lifted both hands up to frame her face, his eyes holding hers. ‘Longer than I anticipated when I first approached you about this weekend.’ His thumbs moved like twin metronomes, slowly stroking her cheeks in a tender but blood-heating manner.

Mollie was finding it hard to remember to breathe.

Her heart was beating with hammer blows that threatened to shatter her rib cage.

Her feminine core was stirring in response to the tempting closeness of his body.

She could feel the thickening of his erection pressed against her.

‘They’re your rules. You can break them if you want. ’

The dark intensity of his eyes sent a wave of heat through her flesh. Molten heat that left spot fires in its wake. ‘Not unless you want me to break them.’

Break them. Break them. Break them .

Her blood was pounding with the chanting of her feverish need. Mollie brought her mouth closer to his until there was barely space for a puff of air. ‘I want you to break them.’

Jago’s mouth fused to hers in a slow and deliberate kiss that sent shock waves of delight through her body.

Tingles raced up and down her spine, fireworks went off in her blood.

Her body melted with the hot, moist dew of desire triggered by his tongue entering her mouth and mating with hers.

Her hands wound up around his neck, her fingers delving into his hair, stroking and tugging in the way she knew he liked.

He groaned against her mouth and brought her closer to the hard ridge of his erection.

‘I want you so bad.’

‘I want you too.’

He eased back to look at her. ‘Are you sure?’

‘It’s only for this weekend, right?’

Something flickered in his gaze like an interruption in the transmission of a film. ‘It will certainly add authenticity to our game of pretend,’ he said, glancing back at her mouth as if he couldn’t keep his eyes off it.

Mollie raised herself up on tiptoes, bringing her body closer to his. ‘I thought you were in a rush to get to Wildewood Manor?’

He grinned at her and planted his hands on her hips, tugging her even closer. ‘I have a private jet on standby. The pilot will wait until I see to some outstanding business.’

Mollie raised her brows. ‘Is that how you see me?’

His mouth came down to just above hers. ‘You are more along the lines of unfinished business,’ he said and sealed her mouth with his.