Sin personified.
Caspian was a dangerous kind of beautiful, like a garden full of wolfsbane or oleander. His dark brown hair was always styled to perfection and his chiseled jaw was smoothly shaven. He had full, kissable lips and golden-brown eyes. His faded jeans and casual white button-up shirt did nothing to hide the fact that there was an impeccably toned body underneath. Everything about him screamed polished, but beneath the silky surface lurked something ominous, something dark. Confidence seeped from every pore. When he was near, the air even had a pulse, and it quickened at the sight of him.
“Senator Polluck.” Caspian handed him a clear glass full of amber liquid. “You look a little thirsty.”
Lyric choked on a laugh at the veiled insult.
“Caspian, I’m surprised to see you hanging around at a teenage party,” the senator said with brazen arrogance.
Why would he be surprised?
Caspian may have been four years older than me, but so were at least a dozen other people hanging out on this deck. Age wasn’t a requirement for an invitation. Status was. And Caspian’s family was about as high on the totem pole as it got.
“Likewise. I figured you’d be on the lower deck playing high-stakes poker with all the other dads.” Caspian boomeranged the insult to his age.
Lyric cleared her throat as she fought another laugh.
Senator Polluck’s eyes crinkled with his tight smile. “Right. Well, I suppose I should be going.” He placed a hand on my shoulder. “Happy birthday, Tatum. I hope you’ll get back to me about that gift.”
Tension rolled over me as I watched the senator walk away then shot my gaze to Caspian. “I had it handled.” I hoped my glare burned right through him.
His eyes flashed dark as he tightened his jaw. “Yeah. I saw.”
“What she means to say,” Lyric broke in, giving me the same look my mom gave on the rare occasion I’d forgotten my manners, “isthank you.”
Caspian never moved his eyes from mine. There was electricity in his gaze, a steady force that demanded attention. His tongue ran easily over his bottom lip. “Nah. I know her better than that.”
He didn’t know shit.
Or maybe he did.
As far back as I could remember, Caspian had always been there. He waseverywhere. Always. Fundraisers. Galas. The annual regatta. There was nothing in our world that he wasn’t involved in, no place I could go where he wouldn’t also be. He watched me as if watching me was the very essence of life. He watched me as though I were his to watch. Over time, the watching had become a familiarity. I’d almost begun to rely on it. Sometimes I was even disappointed if I looked around a crowded room and he wasn’t there.
Sometimes I watched him too.