Page 11 of From West, With Regret (NYC Billionaires #2)

SEVEN

LONDON

Water drips from his bottom lip, disappearing into his thick beard. His hair is slicked back, revealing familiar eyes—ones that tug at my gut with a taut string, directing me to follow.

West’s confession hangs in the air between us. There’s hesitation mingled with a bit of fear in his expression, as though he’s afraid I’m going to disappear.

“You’re not a Hall?” I ask. “What do you mean?”

He looks down, then to his right, then up to the party.

Anywhere but at me. But when his eyes finally swing back my way, I’m suddenly aware of everything.

The way my dress tries to billow out under me, the fabric dancing around my thighs.

The way the curves of my breasts rise above the surface of the water.

The way West has inched his way closer to me.

Being this close to my ex-brother-in-law feels like it should be wrong, but the taut string tugging at my stomach tells me it isn’t.

“My last name is Knight,” he confesses.

My eyebrows pull together. “Wait. So, you aren’t Heath’s brother?”

He runs his hand down his face and leans to his left, and within seconds, we’re slowly spinning in a circle, never looking away from each other.

“On paper, I am. I was adopted at fifteen.” He explains, the reflection of the pool a kaleidoscope of blue dancing across his body. “I never took their last name.”

I can’t pinpoint the sensation, but it feels as though a thousand needles are prickling under the surface of my skin. A vibration. A humming feeling I can’t shake.

“West Knight.” His name falls from my mouth on a whisper.

“My full name is actually Weston, but I go by West.” He gives me a small smile, again looking at me as if he’s imploring me to give him some deep response. But I don’t have one. He studies me in silence.

“Oh.” I nod, playing with my tongue piercing. I twist it in my mouth, clicking it against the back of my teeth while conflicted feelings brew inside me.

Even now, after learning West isn’t related to Heath by blood, I still can’t ignore the fact he’s part of the family, and I was married to his brother, despite Heath never seeming to care to be involved with his family. At least not enough to add me to the mix.

I also can’t deny the fluttering heat building in my stomach at West’s proximity.

The water is warm, but I know what I’m feeling isn’t just from Holt’s heated pool.

The sensation I got from West the first time we met wasn’t a fluke.

My body reacts to him in a way that makes me feel delightfully dizzy.

I want to reach out and press the tip of my finger to his.

Our hands dance beneath the surface, and every few seconds, I feel the force of the water behind his hand touch mine.

I ache to touch him but know I shouldn’t.

“So…” West sighs, his mouth curling to a satisfied smirk. “Now that I’ve told you a truth, it’s your tu rn.”

“My turn, huh?”

“Yes, your turn,” West whispers, leaning closer but staying a foot away from me. We’ve stop spinning in a circle, planting our feet to the tiles beneath us. My toes grate against the rough surface.

“Every memory I had before my fourteenth birthday is gone.”

West’s expression is unmoving, but I can tell he’s hanging on to every word—a stark contrast to his brother who always looked at me as if there were a million other people he’d rather have been with in any moment instead of his own wife.

And though West doesn’t ask me to elaborate. I feel compelled to, anyway.

“I don’t have a memory of how it happened.

I only know what the doctor’s told me.” I spin around, turning my back on West, my body humming as I sweep my soaking wet hair to the side, revealing the base of my neck to him, and glance over my shoulder as he inches closer.

I point to the scar I know is hidden beneath my hair, near the back of my head.

“My adoptive parents bought me a bike as a welcome home gift, and I immediately took it out for a ride, but I didn’t see the car coming when I rounded the street corner.

The person who hit me left the scene, and I laid there for almost an hour before a neighbor found me.

” I swallow the emotion thick in my throat.

“But like I said, I don’t remember any of it. That’s the story the doctors told me.”

Aware of every breath coming out of West’s mouth, I spin back around to face him.

Sad.

Regretful.

His face is still, but his chest rises and falls with his weighted breaths.

“Sometimes,” I say, bobbing up and down on my toes again, “sometimes I get these memories. At least what I think are memories. But when they pop into my head, I lock them inside a box and hope they’ll come to me later. Sometimes I see them like puzzle pieces, waiting to be put together.”

West closes his mouth and blinks for a few beats before asking, “Do you have any of them pieced together yet?”

“At times I think I have them put together,” I confess. “But I never know what to believe. I never know if they’re true memories or if they’re just made up in my head. Memories I think I remember.”

“The truth is always in front of us.” His voice is soft, barely a whisper. “Sometimes you just have to dig a little deeper to find it.” His hand moves closer to mine under the water.

“Maybe.” But I’m not as easily convinced. It’s been years, and the fear of my memory never coming back is a reality I hate facing.

“Did your parents not tell you about your life before they adopted you?” West asks. “I’m guessing they knew a little about your past.”

I’m overwhelmed with sadness. It’s not that I didn’t love my adoptive parents—I did—but I haven’t thought about the loss of them in a long time.

I’ve been stuck between the desire to move on from my past, and the desire to be there for Selene, since her and our grandmother are the only family I have left.

Sometimes pain is easier to let go of when you have distractions.

“I never asked them,” I tell West. “After my accident, they tried their best to give me the best life possible. I guess they wanted to move on and not dwell on it. I guess at some point I went along with it and accepted it. Then it just became habit.”

“Couldn’t you ask them now? Maybe it would help.”

Tears sting the backs of my eyes. “I can’t. They died a few years back.”

“I’m sorry.”

I think back to the first time we met, when West told me he was sorry for my husband’s death. Before he knew my husband had been his brother. I didn’t want it then. I wasn’t sorry for Heath’s death.

But his condolence for my parents is one I welcome.

Their death rocked Selene more than me. I was upset by their death, but seeing my sister distraught made me compare my emotions to hers.

Then when Heath died, I was relieved in a way.

Like I’d been set free. But thinking about Mom and Dad now, I don’t think I ever took the time to acknowledge the trauma of losing the only parents I’ve ever known.

I continue to bounce in the water while staying close to West, drawn to him despite every alarm bell inside me warning me to stay away.

Because of him, I don’t feel like I’m the only one not heartbroken over Heath’s death.

There’s history between the brothers. A reason why Heath kept his family away from me.

My fingers graze West’s. Our breaths are heavy in the space between us, both of us clearly aware of the shift happening. We’re standing dangerously close, closer than we should be, but West doesn’t make a move to break this trance we’ve found ourselves in.

“Can I ask you something?” His eyes fall to my mouth.

“Yes,” I breathe.

“Have you decided if you’re going back to Boston?”

I open my mouth to answer him when I spot the light catch the sequins of my sister’s black cocktail dress from the corner of my eye. She’s walking down the length of the pool, toward where West and I are swimming in the middle. Behind her, Charleigh and Julianna follow.

“I’ve been looking for you everywhere, London,” Selene says, crossing her arms over her chest once she reaches us. “I should have known I would find you here.”

“Oh, come on. Can you blame her?” Charleigh says, tucking a few strands of her brown hair behind her ear, which has been braided off to the side, revealing the newest flower she’s had tattooed behind her ear.

She asked Selene and me to go with her to the tattoo parlor yesterday.

I was tempted to get one myself but decided against it. At least for now.

Julianna taps Charleigh’s arm with the back of her hand. “Hey, what is that supposed to mean? Is my party boring?”

“I didn’t say that,” Charleigh argues, but I ignore her and Julianna’s back and forth.

Selene’s looking at me with pink cheeks. I’ve embarrassed her.

“I’m sorry, Selene.” I never meant to embarrass her. I was caught up in my own thoughts, but I know she’ll understand when we go back to her apartment later and explain.

Her eyes soften. She knows I’ve been through the wringer recently. “Julianna said there isn’t much more for us to do here, so we can head out.” Her eyes move over to West. She gives him a small, ghosted smile.

“Okay,” I tell her, recapturing her attention.

“I’ll meet you in the front lobby,” she mutters, glancing between West and me before she walks away.

I watch her ascend the stairs and disappear into the crowd.

“I think the stress of finishing this book is getting to her,” Charleigh says.

Julianna and I nod.

“I think so, too.”

“Well, since you’re here to stay, maybe we should set up weekly get togethers,” Julianna suggests. “You know, like girls’ night or something.”

“I like that idea.” I smile.

Charleigh and Julianna walk away arm in arm, promising to text the group chat later. I stare at the side of the pool for several seconds, wrapping my head around what has become my life .

Last month, I would have been surrounded by people like the ones upstairs, but now I’m here, with my sister and new friends. Not to mention that I’m swimming in a pool with my ridiculously handsome dead husband’s brother.

“I guess that answers my question.” West’s deep voice slinks down my body like warm liquid. It slips between my thighs, vibrating against my skin.

I spin around to face him.

“So…” He smirks. “You decided to stay?”

“I was going to call you.”

He tips his head back, laughing. The back of his brown head dips into the water, and when he looks at me again, his mouth quirks, and his eyes turn a brighter shade of blue. “Were you?”

“I was.” My smiles fades. “It’s just been a crazy time lately.”

Realization settles in his expression. “Yeah. It has.”

“Not because of him,” I say, referring to Heath. “My life has just been a bit jumbled now I’m starting over on my own. But it’s in a good way, and while I do need a job, I just felt like…”

“… it was weird since I’m Heath’s brother?” he asks, lifting his brows.

I can’t look at him. Admitting the feelings he’s given me every single time I’ve seen him is a confession I shouldn’t make out loud. Even if Heath was a horrible, mentally abusive husband.

“Yeah,” I say instead. “I just didn’t know if it was okay or if it was strange to reach out to you.”

“It’s okay. I get it. For the record, though, it isn’t strange or weird. At least not on my end. Is it for you?”

“No, but it probably should be.”

Just like I should have been more heartbroken when my husband died.

I get lost in West’s kind eyes. Strangely, he’s comforting. Like home .

My hands vibrate with the need to draw. I need to release the thoughts threatening to drag me into the darkness. The sudden urge to get out of the pool as fast as possible takes over.

“I should go.” I turn and walk toward the set of stairs at the far end of the pool.

The water resists and keeps me from putting distance between West and me as quickly as I want.

The cool air pricks my wet skin the second my foot meets the first step and I begin emerging from the water.

My dress clings to my breasts and abdomen, goosebumps prickling down the length of my arms. I’ve only made it to the third step when I’m pulled to a stop.

West’s long fingers wrap around my wrist, his fingertips pressing to my pulse.

Can he feel how fast my heart is racing?

I look over my shoulder. He’s standing waist deep in the pool with an immense look of worry on his all too gorgeous face.

His, what I’m almost certain cost at least four-figures, suit clings to his skin.

Every muscle is accentuated as water drips from his towering frame, the blue light below casting a glow on his glistening skin.

But it’s the worry in West’s eyes that causes my heart to race. He’s looking at me as if I’m going to vanish if he so much as blinks.

“Wait,” his voice strains. “I probably shouldn’t be saying this…” He trails off.

“What is it?” I ask.

“I’m just not sure if I’m going to see you again, and… I want to. Fuck, I want to.” He clears his throat as his gaze slips down to his hand on mine, and my skin grows cold the second he pulls it away.

“Ever since we met, we’ve been honest with each other,” I say, rubbing the pad of my thumb across the birthmark on my left hand. “I meant what I said. ”

His brows pull together, and he takes a step back, but the worry in his eyes hasn’t changed.

I give him a small smile. “I was going to call.”

He blows out a heavy, relieved breath, and I can’t understand his reactions. I can’t shake this feeling that we’ve known each other a lot longer than since the day of Heath’s funeral.

Can you possibly know someone without actually knowing them?

The brutal truth slams into my gut, jumpstarting my broken heart.

I want to see him again. I shouldn’t, but I do.

“I could use the job,” I confess. “If the offer still stands, of course.” I swallow my nerves, worrying I sound desperate.

But it’s the truth. I need a job, and fast if I plan on staying in New York.

I can’t live with Selene forever, and I don’t plan on adding to the statistic of a being starving artist in the city. “I mean, I understand if it doesn’t?—”

“No!” He cuts me off, his smile reaching his eyes. “It does. The job’s still available.”

I crack a smile of my own. “Good.”

“Tomorrow. Meet me at The Veiled Door tomorrow. Nine a.m.”

“Okay.” I chuckle. “I’ll see you then.”

“Good night, London.”

Warmth weaves its way to my heart. “Good night, Weston Knight.”

I turn away from him and grab the bottom of my dress, pulling it up so I don’t trip on my way out of the pool.

Even as I push my way through the groups of people gathered at the auction, avoiding their confused stares, I can’t get West’s voice out of my head.

Not the entire conversation, but the part where he said my name.

Like he’s already said it a million times before.