Page 20 of My Horrible Arranged Marriage (Bancroft Billionaire Brothers #20)

ISAAC

T hat was well worth the wait.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t still reeling a little—mind spinning, blood humming, lips tingling from kissing her. From being inside her. I didn’t know if it was just the buildup or if it was the actual sex, but that was easily some of the best, if not the best sex I’d had.

Now we had to go back out there, to the party we’d intentionally sabotaged, the one everyone somehow still seemed to love. Mina looked properly satisfied with her hair wild and her cheeks flushed. Her lips were red and a little swollen.

I lay there for a moment, my heart still racing, my body still humming with the aftershocks of what had just happened. Mina’s head rested on my chest, her hand resting on my stomach. I could feel her smile against me, and it made me grin like an idiot.

“We should probably get up,” she murmured, though she made no move to do so.

“Probably,” I agreed, equally unmotivated. The thought of leaving this bed, this moment, felt like a crime. But the party was still going on downstairs, and as much as I wanted to stay here with her forever, we couldn’t exactly disappear for the rest of the night.

Reluctantly, I sat up, running a hand through my hair. I climbed out of her massive bed and walked into her adjoining bathroom to dispose of the condom. When I walked back into her room, she was still lying on the bed watching me.

“You’re staring,” I said, smirking as I reached for my boxers on the floor.

“Can you blame me?” she shot back, her voice teasing but soft. “You’re not exactly hard to look at.”

I laughed and pulled on my boxers before standing and offering her a hand. She took it, letting me help her to her feet. Then she put on her panties and bra and her dress. Without asking, I stepped up behind her and zipped it up.

She smoothed the fabric down, her movements graceful even in the aftermath of what we’d just shared. She caught me staring and raised an eyebrow.

“What?” she asked, a playful smirk on her face.

“Just admiring the view,” I said, buttoning my shirt. “You’re kind of hard to look away from.”

She rolled her eyes but I didn’t miss the blush that crept into her cheeks. “Flatterer.”

I stepped closer, unable to resist brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “Is it flattery if it’s true?”

She looked up at me, and for a moment, I forgot about the party downstairs. All I could think about was how much I wanted to stay here, in this room, with her. But reality had a way of intruding, and Mina seemed to feel it too. She sighed, stepping back and smoothing her dress one last time.

“I need to fix my makeup,” she said.

“Before you do,” I said and stepped up to cup her cheek. I took another kiss, knowing it might be the last one of the night.

She stepped away. “Two minutes,” she said somewhat breathlessly.

When she emerged from the bathroom, she looked put together. She stepped out first and then gestured for me to follow her.

“We look suspicious,” I said, unable to keep the grin from my face.

“We are suspicious,” she whispered.

We walked back into the chaos of the Duvall Summer Party like two kids sneaking back into class after making out behind the gym. I half-expected someone to point at us and shout, “GUILTY!” But no one did. We each snatched cocktails from a passing waiter and did our best to blend in.

The band we’d picked as a joke was now a crowd favorite. The older guests were swaying like it was prom night while some of the younger crowd were trying to figure out how to dance to it.

A woman in a sequined dress that clashed horribly with the tablecloths approached Mina, her glass of Rum Around and Find Out sloshing precariously in her hand.

“Mina, darling!” she gushed, her voice carrying over the din of the band.

“This party is absolutely divine! I’ve never been to anything like it. ”

Mina shot me a quick glance, her lips twitching as she fought back a laugh. “Thank you, Mrs. Whitaker,” she said, her tone perfectly polite. “I’m so glad you’re enjoying it.”

“Enjoying it? I’m loving it!” Mrs. Whitaker exclaimed, gesturing wildly with her glass. “The music! The decor! And these drinks—what did you call this one? Rum Around and Find Out? Genius! Simply genius!”

“Thank you,” Mina said again, her cheeks flushing slightly. I could tell she was trying not to laugh, and it took everything in me not to crack up myself.

Mrs. Whitaker leaned in closer, lowering her voice conspiratorially. “You know, I was skeptical at first. When I saw the tablecloths, I thought I was at the wrong place, but you did well.”

“Thank you,” Mina said.

I noticed it kept happening. More people were doing their best to compliment Mina but it felt more like pats on the head. Like congratulating a kid who colored within the lines.

“My father’s been making the rounds,” Mina said with a sigh. “He’s obviously telling everyone we planned this entire party. Every detail.”

I blinked. “Why?”

“Apparently he’s made a point of letting people know he had absolutely no part in this travesty. This is his way of washing his hands of all of it.”

I laughed. Loudly. “He’s disowning the party?”

“Fully.”

A few minutes later, one of her aunts came up to us. “This is the most beautiful Duvall Summer Party I’ve ever attended.”

Mina made a sound that was half snort, half choke, right into her glass. “Thank you, Aunt Emma.”

They talked for a couple minutes before the aunt wandered off.

“That woman thinks the pool water is purple,” she said. “She’s completely color blind.”

“I mean, it might be with all the chaos we added.”

“True.”

Then came Hectar with a frown on his face.

“There you are,” he said. “I wanted to make an announcement forty-five minutes ago and had to delay because I couldn’t find you.”

Mina blinked at him, innocent. “Oh?”

“Where were you?”

I wasn’t about to let her stumble through a lie alone.

“We were—uh—fixing a wardrobe malfunction,” I said, gesturing vaguely toward Mina’s dress. “Very urgent. Zipper emergency.”

Her father’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t believe us, but he also didn’t want to know more. He turned with a huff. He spotted someone new walking in and stalked off.

“That was close,” I muttered.

“We’re terrible liars,” she replied. “Also, we were definitely not fixing a zipper.”

“No,” I said, resting my hand on her hip, grounding myself in the fact that I’d had her in my arms only minutes ago. “We were making excellent use of your bedroom. And technically I did touch your zipper.”

Her answering smile made my stomach flip.

I thought we were in the clear. That nothing could ruin this buzz. But I should’ve known better. Because of course, life has a way of throwing a wrench into perfect moments. And this wrench had a name: Sampson.

He appeared out of nowhere, his designer shoes clicking too sharply against the polished wood floor. He had a very calculated expression on his face that made me want to hit him.

“Mina,” he said. “Do you have a minute?”

Her spine stiffened. My arm immediately went around her waist and I tugged her against me.

“Not for you,” I said before she even opened her mouth.

Sampson blinked at me like I was an insignificant bug. “This isn’t your business.”

“Everything involving her is my business now,” I said, stepping just a little in front of her. “Try again.”

He turned his focus to her, eyes softening like he thought he still had some kind of right. “Mina, I just need a few minutes. That’s all.”

“She said she doesn’t want to talk to you,” I replied, sharper now.

“I didn’t hear her say that,” Sampson said.

“I don’t want to talk to you,” Mina muttered.

Sampson pressed on. “I owe her closure.”

Mina actually laughed . Not a real laugh. A disbelieving, tired one.

“Closure?” she repeated, brows raised. “You think closure is what I need?”

“I just want to explain?—”

“You already did. When you cheated on me. With my bridesmaid.” Her voice didn’t rise, but it cut like glass. “That was explanation enough. That was you slamming the door closed. That’s closure.”

He flinched. “It wasn’t that simple.”

“It was,” she said, shaking her head. “You wanted something. You took it. I found out. That’s the end of the story. Simple.”

He looked like he wanted to argue, but she wasn’t giving him the satisfaction. And neither was I.

I stepped in again, hand firm on the small of her back. “You heard her. Move along.”

“I didn’t come here to fight,” Sampson said, voice tense now. “I came to be decent.”

I scoffed. “You had your chance to be decent, before you humiliated her.”

His gaze flicked between us, calculating. “This is about you, then.”

“No,” Mina said, stepping out from behind me, voice cold now. “This is about me being done letting people like you pretend your selfish choices were somehow noble. You don’t get to feel better by dumping your guilt on me.”

I could’ve kissed her again right then. And maybe I would’ve if we weren’t in the middle of a very public, very tense standoff.

Sampson looked like he wanted to argue more. Maybe he had some big speech prepared, some dramatic “I still love you” moment he was hoping would play well in front of all these rich, powerful people.

But Mina wasn’t giving him a stage.

“You can leave now,” Mina said.

“We both deserve closure,” Sampson said.

Mina sorted. “That’s the dumbest sentiment ever.

No one gets closure. Closure is nothing but a fancy word to make people feel better about something bad that has happened.

You don’t get closure. Ever. You just suck it up and move on.

Closure isn’t a pardon. It isn’t a magical healing potion.

It’s there. The betrayal is always going to be there. ”

“You’re being ridiculous,” Sampson muttered. “We weren’t married.”

I stepped forward, my jaw tightening as I got right in Sampson’s face. “You heard her. She’s done with you. So unless you want me to make this a lot more uncomfortable for you, I suggest you walk away.”