Sinfully Rich: A Steamy Billionaire Box Set

by Vivian Wood

  I make an offended noise. “Uhh! I should work anywhere I want to, Gabriel.”

  He narrows his eyes. “Seriously. You should get out of here. I don’t have time or attention for someone… someone like you.”

  I huff. “That’s funny. I think that you don’t want Mr. Byrne to know that you slept with me. Why would that be?”

  Gabe reddens. “Get. OUT!”

  Normally I would leave. My mother always taught me that a woman should only be in places where it was clear that she was wanted. Desired, even.

  This is definitely not one of those situations.

  But if I don’t take this internship, I’m out of options. And I’m damned sure that Gabriel isn’t going to stand in the way of me getting a good rotation when school starts again.

  I fix him with my gaze. “No. You probably don’t know this, but the school looks at these next few months when they are determining who gets what position next year. This internship is my last chance not to end up at the bottom of the pile.”

  Gabe leans back against the wall, peering outside again. “I don’t care.”

  “Well, you should.” Grasping at straws, I pull out my only ammunition. “Otherwise I… I will tell your father about the drunken night we spent together.”

  The corner of his mouth turns down. “So?”

  Oh, fudge. I start to sweat, even in the air conditioned office.

  “I think you care what he thinks,” I accuse. “If not, I’ll just… I’ll march out of here and tell him!”

  Gabriel studies me, not too different from the measuring gaze his father gave me earlier. Then he shifts his stance.

  “Fine,” he says, gritting his teeth. “Just keep your mouth shut, all right?”

  That actually worked? He’s just… letting me work here?

  “Okay,” I agree hastily. “You have my word.”

  He snorts. “You’ve already blackmailed me. Do you really think your word is worth anything to me?”

  Gabriel pushes himself off of the wall, heading out of the tiny office. I look at him as he goes, feeling a weird ripple of guilt.

  “Wait!” I call.

  He pauses, already halfway out the door. “What?”

  Swallowing, I try to think of what to say. Surely I can reassure him somehow. Explain that I’m really a good person, I just need this job.

  He starts to move away, shaking his head. So I blurt out the first thing I think of.

  “You… you won’t be sorry,” I manage.

  Gabe turns his head, disgust written plain on his features. “I already am.”

  What does that even mean?

  Then he’s gone, lumbering down the hall. I jump when I hear him slam a nearby door. Standing and clutching my medical bag, I swallow.

  I got the internship, yes.

  But at what cost?

  I fidget with the silver bangles on my wrist, thinking of how angry Gabriel was.

  How did he get like that?

  And what do I have to do with anything?

  Daniel soon returns, ushering me to sit. But I’m left churning those same questions over and over again in my head.

  And remembering those steely sea glass eyes…

  5

  Gabe

  One mistake. One damned mistake. I let go of my control once, for a night on the town in Vegas. I got drunk and hooked up with the prettiest, brightest girl I’ve ever met.

  Soft blonde hair, just touching her shoulders. Beautiful dark blue eyes set in a face that could’ve been a doll’s. A slender frame that made my hands ache to touch her, to grip her curves as I did that night.

  And that smile… when she turned it on me, I felt like it lit up every single space inside my chest. She looked at me like I held all the secrets in the world, if she would just listen…

  The way she looked at me made my guilt and anger recede. It made my current feelings dissipate, leaving only the electricity between us… the connection…

  Of course then I kicked myself every day for months afterward. I know that no one else cares about my self-proscribed year of mourning, but I cling to it doggedly.

  It’s all I have left of Michelle. I’m going through the motions, feeling practically nothing.

  Nothing but anger and bitterness.

  So I slipped. It was only one time…

  I thought that I had left all my shame behind in Vegas, but… there she was in my dad’s office, being interviewed to be the new medical intern.

  Luna Leone.

  One look at her — blonde, petite, hotter than the sun itself — and my mouth dried up.

  She makes me remember things. Dirty, shocking things that I did.

  The way she felt in my arms, so fragile yet so strong. The faint taste of strawberries when I first kissed her glossy mouth. The way she clung to me as I took her standing up, rough and wild.

  And the sounds that escaped her when I fucked her… the little mms and ahhh, the way she begged for more—

  “Gabriel!” Malkia cries, pulling at me. I’m snatched back to awareness as we walk along the docks.

  My sister just saved me from walking straight off the docks and into the water. She gives me a funny look. “What is your deal?”

  I shrug and shake my head. “Nothing. I just wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”

  She frowns at me. “Are you sure you want to do the staff orientation today? I can handle it if you’re not feeling well…”

  A panicky feeling rises in my stomach. Knowing Malkia and how easy it is to talk to her, I’m willing to bet she would have the whole story of my crazy night in Vegas out of Luna by the end of the day.

  “No thanks,” I say, ushering her toward the ship. From here, I can see a small group of people clustered by the yacht’s slip.

  Malkia wrinkles her nose at me but trudges toward the yacht anyway.

  Stuffing down the feelings of guilt and shame that plague me, I follow her. When we approach the group that is standing on the dock before our yacht, I cast an eye over them.

  Two new men, three women. One of the women is Luna, an expectant expression on her face. The rest of our new recruits are dressed like they have a fucking clue about boats. They’re wearing casual t-shirts, khakis or work pants, and boots or tennis shoes.

  Luna is dressed in a fancy white blouse, a clingy pink pencil skirt, and pink high heels. She might as well be wearing an astronaut’s puffy white suit; she sticks out like a square shape in a world of round holes, standing on this dock.

  Fuck me. My body responds to her presence here just as it did in my dad’s office. Though I want nothing more than for her to just disappear, there is a caged animal inside me.

  Pacing.

  Knowing that I have had lovely little Luna once.

  Anticipating what it would be like to taste her again.

  A shiver slides up my spine.

  Malkia claps her hands. “Hi. Hi, everyone. I’m Malkia Smith. This is my brother Gabe. I’ll be your First Mate, with Gabe here serving as your captain.” She looks at me. “Gabe, do you want to talk?”

  I shoot her a glare and clear my throat. “Yeah. Uh… I’m Gabe, like she said. I am the absolute and final authority once we step on that yacht. What I say goes, and it happens immediately. Does everyone understand that?”

  A round of quick nods from everyone, with one woman even giving my words an “aye aye!”

  “Great. We have a lot to learn and a short time to do it in.”

  Malkia jumps in, holding up a clipboard. “Can we just go through everyone’s names and positions really quickly? Let’s see… Ronald?”

  One of the guys raises his hand, but doesn’t say anything. Malkia nods.

  “Okay. You’re coming on as our new chief engineer. Great. Samantha?”

  “Sam,” one of the women says.

  Malkia smiles. “Okay. You’re going to be in the kitchen. Let’s see… Edward?”

  “Ed,” the remaining man corrects her. “Pleased to be here.”
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  “Right. Ed, you’re coming on to work in engineering as well. Welcome. Who’s next?” She flips a page, her eyes seeking.

  “I’m Luna.” She gives us all a little wave. “I’m the medical intern. I will have all the bandages and seasickness meds. It’s nice to meet you guys.”

  My jaw tenses. I don’t remember Luna being very talkative, but of course she is. She’ll be bright and cheerful and bubbly, all the things that I am not. She’ll talk to everyone else, with our casual acquaintance coming to light sooner rather than later.

  She’s basically my worst nightmare, come alive.

  “Thanks Luna. That leaves Alex,” Malkia reads. She looks up. “Alex is joining us as maintenance staff. Let me be explicit about this one, since we lost our last maintenance person over this: Alex is responsible for cleaning up after the clients, but not us. Everyone understand?”

  Everyone nods, but Luna also gives a loud, “yes!”

  I roll my eyes. “How many of you have served on a ship’s crew before this?”

  Every one of the crew raises their hands. Even Luna. Raising a brow, I look at her.

  “Really? You showed up wearing that outfit. You’ve worked on an actual boat before?”

  Her sunny smile dims a little bit. “It’s been years. But yes, I have. And I brought another pair of shoes. I’m fashionable, not dumb.”

  It takes everything I have not to just fire her on the spot. It would be so much easier for me… except then the yacht wouldn’t have a medic. And without a medic, we don’t sail.

  I just shoot a glare her way, then continue on. “A few things about us. Here at Aurora Charters, we like economy. I don’t mind saying that we are budget conscious in all the things that we do. Our clients may have booked us for a luxury vacation, but as a crew, we strive to keep costs at a minimum.”

  “My brother makes us sound stingy,” Malkia says, frowning at me. “What he means is we are efficient and economical where possible. That is something that our family and therefore our company very much values.”

  Nodding, I clap my hands together. “Let’s go ahead and break into two crews. Malkia will take Alex and Luna. I’ll take everyone else.”

  Malkia shoots me a look. “Yeah, alright. Everybody on board, up the gangplank. Luna, you will likely need to change your shoes first…”

  I lead my team on board, showing them everything from the pilothouse sitting at the very top to the bedrooms and kitchen situated on the lowest deck. Going through some position-specific things takes time, and I milk it for all it’s worth. By the time I release the crew, I head back up to the pilothouse with the expectation that everyone will be gone.

  “And that’s why we sail that smaller yacht in races,” Malkia is saying. “We’re doing a regatta this fall, actually— “

  “Malkia!” I shout, popping my head around the corner. I see Malkia and Luna sitting in the plush seats just behind the pilot’s chair, chatting and relaxing.

  Malkia straightens up, her eyes going wide. “What? What’s happened?” she demands.

  My neck gets hot. I’ve put myself on the spot unintentionally. “Er… you left the life jackets strewn about downstairs. I need you to fix them.”

  She narrows her gaze at my words, but stands up nonetheless. “Of course. If you will excuse me, Luna…”

  Luna blushes and finds her feet. “Of course.”

  Malkia makes her way toward the lower deck. I watch her go for a second, then I turn and fix Luna with my gaze. “What are you still doing here? Everyone else has gone home for the day.”

  Luna seems taken aback by my tone. “Your sister invited me up to the pilothouse. I figured I shouldn’t be rude to the first mate.”

  Repressing a sigh, I wrap my arms across my chest. “I don’t think you should take this position, Luna.”

  It takes her a second to trace my line of thought. “I wasn’t under the impression that you had an abundance of choices. Am I wrong?”

  I give her a steely glare. “That’s not the point.”

  “Then what is?” She cocks her head, her blonde hair falling to the side. “Is this about us hooking up?”

  I double check to make sure that no one is nearby, then scowl at her. “I don’t want people knowing, okay? It’s not a big deal, but I like to keep my private life just that. Private.”

  She’s quiet for a moment, her eyes studying my face. “I don’t know what you think I’m going to do. But I assure you that broadcasting that we both got drunk and slept together is not on my agenda.” She licks her lips, leaning closer to me. “I need this internship, Gabe. It’s really important to me.”

  Before I can even think to respond, Malkia shouts my name. “Gabriel Archer Smith! You had better have a good reason for making me go look at the life jackets, because there was not a thing wrong with them!”

  Busted. I turn toward where Malkia comes storming up the stairs, then look at Luna. She tosses her blonde hair and rolls her eyes, then starts to descend the steps leading down from the pilothouse to the main deck. I can’t stop myself from noticing her ass in that tight little pencil skirt as she navigates her away down.

  Fuck. Luna being on my crew for any length of time is such a bad idea. I blow out a breath, reminding myself that I made this mess.

  I can’t have Malkia or my father know that I broke my state of mourning for a cute blonde. That will send the wrong message, tell them and everyone else that I don’t treasure Michelle the way that she deserves.

  Well, maybe she doesn’t deserve it. But it’s a point of contention between my family and me now, for better or for worse. If anyone knows that I couldn’t keep up my deeply felt mourning for a whole year, I will look weak.

  I can’t have that. Not even a whisper or a hint of the affair can come to light.

  So when Malkia comes raging up the stairs, I just shrug at her. “The life vests were a mess. One of the new recruits must have fixed them already.”

  She puts her hands on her hips, her gaze narrowing on my face. Malkia has an amazing knack for knowing when I am full of shit. And this is no exception.

  “Do I want to know why you sent me downstairs on a mission meant for a fool?” she demands to know. “Please tell me that you had a good reason, Gabe.”

  I hesitate for a few seconds. One part of me just wants to admit that I had a fling to my sister, my closest confidante.

  My hesitation makes her impatient. She throws her hands up. “I do not understand you at all, Gabriel. This is just like when I found out that you had been lying about Michelle. You are too honest a person to be a good liar. I can smell it all over.”

  My face heats. “It isn’t the same at all. And I only lied about what I found out that Michelle had been doing because I had to. Most of it was illegal!”

  She shakes her head in disbelief. “I do not care, Gabe! I am your sister. You can tell me anything about your life. Anything. You understand?”

  I hesitate again, meeting her gaze. I want to tell her. Really I do. But I don’t.

  “Yeah,” I just say. I drop my arms to my sides, struggling not to clench my fists. “I understand. But that has nothing to do with the life jackets. Okay?”

  Malkia’s eyes hover over my face for several more seconds. Then she abruptly drops it. “Fine. You do not want to tell me, that is fine. I should go home anyway. I do not want to miss dinner.”

  I let a sigh slip out that I didn’t know I was holding in. “Sounds good. I’ll lock up everything here. You should go enjoy Mom’s food while you can.” I force a smile. “Once we are out on the sea, we don’t even know if the food will be edible. I just hope that Dad tasted the new chef’s food first instead of being too cheap to shell out for a meal.”

  Warmth comes back into Malkia’s eyes. She smiles. “You are too right, brother. You’re not coming, I would guess?”

  A smile on my lips, I shake my head. “Sorry, but no. I’ll come back to the house when Mom apologizes for being such a witch when I announced my engagement.”


  She rolls her eyes, turning to head down to the main deck. “That happened almost two years go. You should get over it, Gabe.”

  She starts down the steps. I cup my hands around my mouth and call out. “I’ll apologize as soon as she does!”

  I hear Malkia’s low chuckle as she leaves but she doesn’t say anything more. I walk to the front of the boat, dropping into the captain’s chair with a sigh. Looking out over the quiet sea, I ruminate to myself.

  6

  Luna

  “Wait wait, wait.” Cate waves her chopsticks in the air and cocks her head, her dark hair pinned back. She’s beautiful and graceful and soft-spoken… I can understand why my brother Luca decided that he had to marry her. “You’re saying that you applied for the internship, you wowed the interviewer, and then… your Vegas hookup walked in the door?”

  I push my takeout container of sushi away and make a face. “Yep. His name, it turns out, is Gabriel Smith. And he’s every bit as sexy as my hazy drunk memories made him out to be. God, he’s really ridiculously good looking. He has cheekbones for days. And don’t even get me started on his eyes… they are just this perfect shade of light blue-green…”

  “Hmm,” she says, amused. “Sounds like a good match for you.”

  Cate leans closer to her container of food, selecting another roll and popping it in her mouth. She closes her eyes for a minute, making a mmm sound that I’m almost certain she makes when she’s having sex.

  Luckily we are just having a little lunch at the Attic before the bar opens to the public. So Cate can make all the lewd noises she feels like and no one is even around.

  I set my chopsticks down on the bar, leaning back in my chair and quirking a brow. “Is it really that good?”

  Cate’s eyes open. Blushing, she swallows. “Yes. And don’t change the subject. Basically you are going to be stuck on a boat with this super hot guy. Am I getting that right?”

  My lips press into a thin line. “Yeah, that’s the job title.”

  Cate gives me a bright smile. “Well, that’s great. This could be a great opportunity for you. If you two are on a boat together, with cramped quarters, there is almost zero chance that you can avoid getting to know him.” She picks up her soda, taking a sip. “I think that’s been your problem with dating lately. The second that someone gets too close, you dump them and move on.”