Page 8

Why the fuck did I open my mouth and practically demand that they stay at my place with me? That was a goddamn stupid decision. If he sneaks into her room and I hear them fucking, I'm going to lose it.

Christ. She wouldn't do that, would she?

Something tells me no, but I had to listen to her giggling for an hour while she was getting ready for dinner. I finally stomped out before I lost my mind.

I've been sitting at the bar since, trying to drink my way to sanity.

Waiting for her to show up. I can't keep my eyes off her.

Connor doesn't seem to be having the same problem.

There's just something…off about the man.

I can't even put my finger on it. But he looks at her like she amuses him.

And the way she looks at him is nothing like the way she looks at me. There's no heat, no intensity.

And the way he keeps ditching her? Yeah, no loving boyfriend willingly dips out on a girl like Zoya five minutes after arriving in a paradise like this unless he's up to some bullshit.

I don't like him, and I don't trust him.

"What crawled up your ass?" Ridley asks.

"The jock," I grunt, narrowing my eyes on Connor. "There's something off about him."

"What jock? Teo?"

"No. The other one. Corey or whatever his fucking name is."

"Connor."

"Yeah, him," I agree, like I haven't already looked him up online to see what I could find out. Sadly, there wasn't much outside of news about his college baseball career, which is admittedly impressive. He'll go pro when he graduates. "I don't trust him."

Ridley laughs softly. "So she's the girl."

"What girl?" I turn a dark scowl on him, only to find him grinning at me, his green eyes full of humor, dark locks of hair sweeping across his forehead like he's been tugging on them all goddamn day again.

It's a telltale sign that he's been dealing with Bastian today, too. The man stresses everyone out.

"The one that has you all fucked up in the head."

Jesus Christ. Do all my cousins know about her already?

"Don't know what you're talking about," I mutter, lifting my bottle to take a drink.

"Right. You're just a moody dick like Bastian every day," Ridley says, chuckling again. His gaze drifts from mine to Zoya. "She's cute."

A growl rumbles in my throat before I can stop it, my bottle plunking against the stone bar top.

Ridley hears it and smirks at me. "Nope, you aren't at all fucked up about her."

"We met in Los Angeles a few months ago." No sense trying to deny it when he already knows I'm full of shit. "I kissed her, and then she told me she had a boyfriend and skipped town."

"Ouch. Is she the reason we're having this wedding here and Bastian is stressing the fuck out?"

I shrug instead of answering.

Ridley shakes his head at me and then glances back at Zoya and Connor. Zoya is chatting a mile a minute with her mom, sisters, and Teo's mom. Connor has wandered away from the group to talk to Huck, our bartender.

"You sure they're really dating?" Ridley asks after a moment.

"She has pictures of the two of them all cuddled up together on her phone."

"Doesn't mean they're actually dating."

"Does she look single to you?" I growl when Connor says something to Huck, making him laugh. "Her boyfriend is standing right fucking there, live and in person, talking to our bartender."

Maybe I should fire Huck for consorting with the enemy. Am I allowed to do that? Fuck. Probably not.

"And yesterday afternoon, he was sitting right where you are, swapping numbers with Huck."

"What does that have to do with anything?" I narrow my eyes on Ridley, who is grinning like he knows something I don't.

"Help me convince Bastian that we need to expand, and I'll tell you."

"Expand how?"

"Our own alcohol line. Whiskey, vodka, tequila, all the good shit," he says. "Top shelf, limited runs."

"We don't have the space for that kind of operation."

"Who says it has to be done here?" He arches a brow at me. "Or that we have to do all the work? We partner with small manufacturers to offer vino-inspired versions. They get the backing of the Goodson brand, and we don't have to start from scratch."

It's not a terrible idea.

"I'll back you if you take it to Bastian," I agree. "Now, what do you know?"

"Oh, I know a lot, motherfucker. Huck is gay. Loud, proud. Gay."

"Wait." I blink at him, shock running through me in a current. "Are you telling me that…?"

"They weren't arranging a wine tasting, if you catch my drift." Ridley waggles his brows. "Her alleged boyfriend is gay."

"Jesus Christ." Is that why he's been ditching her?

Because he's fucking around on her? I haul myself to my feet, ready to go confront him for being a cheating dick, but Ridley grabs my arm, yanking me back down onto my stool.

"What the fuck, Ridley? He's hooking up with men behind her back.

She deserves to know he's cheating on her. "

"Could be," he agrees. "But does it look to you like she doesn't know?"

I glance back over into the private dining room to see Connor and Huck making eyes at each other as they whisper back and forth. Zoya is watching them with an amused smile on her face, as if she knows exactly what's happening just a few feet away from where she stands.

"Holy fuck," I mumble, shocked all over again. "She knows."

"Looks like it."

"The little minx lied to me," I growl, shock turning to a slow-burning anger in the pit of my stomach. I've been losing my mind for weeks, and they're…what, exactly? Putting on a show to throw me off?

Do I even have to ask? That's precisely what the fuck she's doing.

We kissed, and it freaked her out so she made up the existence of a boyfriend to keep me at arm's length.

And I'm guessing he was a last-minute addition to the guest list because she only brought him once Nadia told her that the wedding was happening here.

"Looks like they're lying to everyone," Ridley mutters. "Before you spill the news, you might want to find out why."

Oh, I know why. She thought she could avoid me if she was with another man. Well, fuck that. I'm going to haunt her gorgeous ass all across this vineyard until she admits that Connor means nothing.

"I'm going to spank her pretty little ass."

Ridley's deep laugh rumbles across the bar before he slaps me on the back. "Good luck with that, man. Judging by the way she's glowering at you right now, it might be you getting spanked."

He isn't wrong.

If looks could kill, I'd be a pile of dust and bones right now.

Why does that turn me the fuck on? Oh, right. Because she's Zoya.