Pure Lust: The Complete Series Box Set

by Parker, M. S.

  When I had no response, he smiled. “He’s not a bad guy, Gabs. Don't get me wrong. I love my brother. But he’s spent so much time being groomed, and then grooming himself for Bouvier, he never saw the world outside what Mom created for us. Flynn and me?” He shrugged and his voice softened. “Sometimes I think Mom wished she’d had another little Edward instead of me.”

  “That’s not true,” I contradicted him automatically.

  “Yeah, it is,” he said it with no malice and no bitterness. “She loves me, I know that, but I’m a queer in a rich, fairly conservative family, Gabs. It's PC to say that you're all for equal rights, but it something else to have someone like me as part of the family. But, Mom didn’t throw me out when I told her and she hasn’t tried to change me. She's even been fairly decent to the few guys I'd brought home for the family to meet. For her, that’s fairly impressive. But I know I’m a disappointment.”

  Uncertain of what else to do, I went to him and hugged him. I wasn't even close to petite, but Cody made me feel tiny, even when I was the one offering him comfort. “I’m sorry.”

  He squeezed me back. “You can’t pick family. Blood anyway. Sometimes, though, we get lucky with the ones we can choose.” Then he kissed my temple. “I’ll tell ya what, Gabs. If I could've been the one choosing, I don’t think I could have picked any better than you.”

  ***

  This so-called family event that Edward had invited me to wasn’t just some backyard barbecue. Granted, I hadn’t expected it to be, but I’d thought maybe it was a small family gathering.

  Cody let me know just how wrong I was and I was even more grateful I'd thought to ask him to help me.

  It was an annual event and there were usually anywhere from four to five hundred in attendance. Just hearing the numbers made my head swim. And, of course, because the Bouvier family was one of the biggest names in the fashion industry, their family was held to the highest of standards. Since Cody had been to more than one of these before, I put myself in his capable hands. His capable hands led me, via the subway system, to Saks.

  I was just dressed in what I had come to accept was ‘my’ style: country girl meets city chic and while I thought I looked pretty damn good, I doubted it was up to Bloomingdales—or Bouvier—standards. Since I couldn’t change that, I decided not to worry about it. I’d fake it. Fake it until I make it.

  I’d been doing a lot of that since I’d come to New York and so far, it hadn’t failed me yet. With Edward's— no, I corrected myself—my credit card inside the one good purse I had, a second-hand Coach purse I’d found on eBay, I let Cody draw me inside the magical and intimidating sphere that was Saks.

  The beautiful people were everywhere. People in elegant fashions, designer labels, the kind Kendra was starting to get called in to model. The kind I couldn’t even hope to afford. I was certain people would look at me and see me for what I was. A backwoods Tennessee nobody who didn't belong.

  Cody must have sensed something was off because he hooked his arm through mine and started pointing funny things out, but he didn't say a word about it.

  “That's one of the fashion lines my mother helped launch. Hideous, isn't it? Flatters nobody and makes everybody look like that one weird girl from The Breakfast Club.”

  “I liked the weird girl,” I told him, trying to let go of the tension building in my neck.

  “So did I. Convinced myself I had a crush on her for a while. Then I accepted the fact that the only guy on there that interested me remotely was Judd Nelson.” Cody grinned down at me. “The age difference though? A bit of a problem. And he’s not that hot now.” He switched easily from one topic to another. “See over there? Today’s hottest fashion, recycled straight from the seventies. Of course, the designer was bragging all over about how he had this hot new trend that had never been seen before.”

  The skinny-fitting jeans with flared legs were done in eye-searing patterns. The only thing ‘new’ about them were that the psychedelic prints might actually glow in the dark. Had that technology existed in the seventies? I wasn’t sure.

  “Next it will be beehives and poodle skirts.” Cody shuddered.

  “Vintage is coming back,” I told him.

  “Hush.” He shoulder-bumped me. “You're ruining my vibe.”

  I would have said something else, but he dipped his head and shushed me. Then, before I could process what he was thinking, he unhooked his arm from my neck and hooked our elbows instead. In the next five seconds, I watched Cody Bouvier do a total personality change.

  He stopped walking and began to sashay.

  He went from talking to me, to chattering at me like a magpie, gushing at shoes and purses. It was almost like being trapped in the clearance sales with Kendra. If she’d been hopped up on speed.

  “Oh, my goodness, would you just look at those shoes…and just think, Gabby!” He held them up and gave me a sidelong smirk. “That purse. The one you had when we were out dancing the other day. These shoes would look perfect with that purse. You should totally buy them. Edward would love to see you buying a few more pieces…”

  I gaped at him, unable to believe what I was seeing and hearing. “Are you—?”

  My question was interrupted by a high squeal.

  Really, the girl squealed.

  I stared as she threw herself between us and wrapped her arms around Cody. He returned the enthusiastic greeting by hugging her back and then breaking away to grab the woman’s face and plant a lavish kiss on her mouth then each cheek. That part of him wasn't an act.

  “Sweetheart!” He beamed at her. “I had no idea you’d be here today, but aren’t you just the answer to this man’s prayers.”

  “Cody!” The woman all but bounced as she hugged him again.

  Then, as Cody glanced at me, she turned her head and I found myself staring into a pair of purple eyes.

  The contacts—they had to be—made her huge eyes that much more engaging and she flashed a wide smile on her pretty face. “Hello! How are you?”

  Before I had the chance to answer, Cody hugged me up against him with his free arm. “Dawn, we so need your help. This is Gabby. Gabby is marrying my older brother, Edward, you know the one…”

  While he droned on, I find myself squirming, miserably uncomfortable as the saleswoman held out a hand. I hadn't even thought about what it would be like to be recognized as a Bouvier in public.

  “Congratulations!” Another squeal.

  “Thanks.” I brushed my hair back in a nervous gesture and then my left hand was caught in hers while she studied my ring.

  “Wow, that’s some ring,” she murmured. Then she turned to Cody, suddenly all business. “You said you need my help. What’s up, beautiful man?”

  Fifteen minutes later, I was walking back towards the changing room. When I turned to close the door, however, I found that I wasn't alone.

  “What’s the deal?” I hissed as Cody squeezed into the changing room behind me. I glared at him. “Oh, you are not staying in here.”

  “You’re going to need help fastening some of them up.” He rolled his eyes. “Besides, I've already had my hands all over you and it didn't do a thing for me. Sorry, sweetheart. Still gay.”

  He was also still acting.

  “Yeah, I got that. And judging by the way you were behaving out there, you're suddenly my sassy gay friend. The accessory every girl needs this season.” I frowned at him. “Why are you acting like a damn caricature or a…a…” I fumbled for the best way to say this without sounding terrible.

  Cody finished it for me, his brows arched, face calm. “Stereotype?”

  “Well…” Blowing out a breath, I shrugged. “Yeah.”

  “Because that’s the mask Dawn expects to see.” He shrugged and leaned up against the wall. “You say gay and you say model, and a whole lot of people are going to expect the sassy gay friend type.” He shrugged. “Maybe it’s not who I am, but if it gets me what I need, I'll play the part.”

  Then he shouldere
d off the wall and looked down at me. He and Flynn may have only been half-brothers, but there was more of Flynn in that look than Edward. I felt like Cody's eyes could see straight through me.

  “The act also helped me avoid the result I didn’t want. You’re scared to death, Gabs. If she’s focusing on me, then she’s less likely to focus on you. People who know me already know I’m gay and if they're focusing on me, then maybe you’ll slide under their radar.”

  “I…” I swallowed, shame twisting inside me at the thought of him having to pretend on my account. “I don’t want you having to wear a mask for me. I can take care of myself.”

  Cody’s face softened and he reached up, pushing his walnut-brown hair back from his face. “I know you can. But everybody wears masks, Gabs. It’s not like I’m not doing anything I don’t do half my life.”

  I started to contradict him, but he arched an eyebrow and the words died in my throat.

  He turned to the dresses the attendants had rounded up for us. He selected a couple, seemingly at random. “You wear a mask too, you know,” he spoke while his back was to me. “You speak your mind around me, around Flynn…but around Edward, you hesitate. I bet you wouldn’t have up and fired off what you said to me the first day we met. And I know you wouldn't have flipped him off like Flynn says you did to him.”

  He turned and handed me a dress of pale, soft blue.

  He was right. I wasn't as open with Edward as I was with his brothers. Cody made me feel comfortable. Flynn...well he just pissed me off and I lost what little filter I had. I didn't say anything about that though. I couldn't admit it, not even to him. So I said the only thing I could think of.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” He kissed my forehead and gave me a small, but genuine smile. “People don’t wear masks because they like them. They wear them because they think they need them.”

  ***

  The party was held at the Bouvier family estate, nearly forty-five minutes outside the city. I was wrapping my head around the fact that Edward had grown up here when he gave me a kiss on the cheek and then left me with Cody and his parents while he went to mingle.

  Albert McCreary, at least, was nominally polite, but Claire Bouvier couldn’t have made her displeasure any more plain.

  After Edward was gone, she gave me a narrow look and said thinly, “At least you learned to dress for the occasion.”

  Cody responded before I could. “I tried to talk her into wearing latex and leather. If she had fun, I could, too, but Gabriella wouldn’t budge. She insisted on being conservative…the brat.” He winked at me.

  Claire’s mouth tightened in disapproval before the scowl faded and she sighed, shaking her head at Cody. “How is…” she paused briefly and then smiled. “Jordan?”

  “Lousy, I hope.” Cody shrugged. “We broke up. He wanted family money. I told him to get lost.”

  “I’m sorry.” Claire's sympathy at least sounded genuine, but then she turned towards me and narrowed those icy eyes. “My boys always figure it out in the end when they're being used.”

  “I’m not using Edward.” I didn't raise my voice, but I did make sure the words were firm.

  Her nostrils flared and I could see the words forming, but before she had a chance to give them voice, Cody caught my hand in his. “Right. So, Mom, I promised Edward I’d introduce Gabriella to people while he's off talking business. Come on, Gabs!” Cody put his glass down on the tray of a passing waiter and then caught mine, and did the same. “Let’s go mingle.”

  Without wasting another second, he had us lost in the crowd and I gave him a grateful look. “Thank you.”

  He squeezed my hand and then let it go. “No problem.” He put a sedate distance between us and then nodded at the crowd. “Some of Mom and Dad’s friends still don’t know about me. I’m not exactly in the closet, but it's not like we had a big coming out party or I invite any of my boyfriends to family gatherings. Until I do, we can’t risk having anybody thinking I’m hitting on my brother’s girl.”

  Immediately, Flynn’s voice came rose from the back of my memory. I’m not into poaching.

  I didn’t have time to dwell on it. I was acutely aware of the fact that I was catching a lot of looks and not many people made an attempt to hide their curiosity. We were halfway across the elegant pavilion when a tall, curvy blonde with near-black eyes came up to Cody and gave him one of those air kisses.

  “Stacia. You look lovely.”

  “Cody.” She stepped back and then smiled at me. Her hair was that sort of blonde that was almost white. “You must Gabrielle.”

  “Gabriella,” I corrected with a smile.

  “Of course.”

  Something told me she knew the right name.

  She sipped something from an elegant flute. It was clearly crystal and sparkled in the sun. No plastic stemware for the Bouviers, I see.

  “Stacia Vanderbelt and her family are old friends of my parents,” Cody said, staying close to my side. He gave me a friendly smile, but I could see the caution there.

  “Cody, you make me sound ancient.” Stacia laughed, the sound bright, like water dancing over bells. She sipped from her glass again, still smiling at me over the edge. “Edward and I went to school together.”

  Ding, ding, ding…

  That smile on her face suddenly made sense. It was a catty and sly smile.

  “Did you?” I feigned interest. “How nice.”

  “Well, we weren't in the same class. He is a few years older than me.”

  Of course she had to make sure I knew she wasn't thirty and not married. Among people like this, she'd almost be an old maid.

  As though he’d been summoned, Edward emerged from the crowd and his eyes warmed as they met mine. My heart thumped hard and fast against my ribs at the sight of him. He looked incredibly handsome, the slim fitting suit highlighting the breadth of his shoulders, his narrow hips. His hair was lighter now, the sun picking out the blond highlights among the brown and my fingers itched to comb through it.

  He was watching me with a new intensity and my skin heated under the slow appraisal as he walked towards me. The green sheath Cody’s flighty friend Dawn had helped me select seemed to meet with approval all the way around, but the only approval I'd needed had been the heat in Edward’s eyes when he’d arrived with Paul earlier to pick me up.

  Now, as he smiled at me, my heart set to racing all over again.

  When he reached me, he bent down and pressed his lips to mine, the kiss chaste, but still managing to heat me straight down to my toes. His hand stroked down my arm to my hand, clasping my fingers. “I see Cody is showing you around.”

  “Yes.” I shot his brother a grin, but then looked back into Edward's eyes. “Cody is fabulous, but you know he isn't you.”

  “Ouch.” Cody clapped a playful hand over his heart.

  Edward gave us an amused look before shifting his attention to Stacia. “You're looking well, Stacia. How have you been?”

  I got the impression that he'd purposefully put off talking to her until after he'd made it clear that I belonged to him. The thought made my stomach twist. He might've left me in Cody's care for a while, but he was going to make sure everyone knew who I was.

  She was a quick change artist, I had to give her that. In the blink of an eye, the sly smile was replaced by a dewy, sweet one and she moved to lay a hand on Edward's arm. She managed to sway closer without moving her feet at all. “Well enough, although I've missed seeing you.”

  My eyes widened and I shot him a look. Edward was oblivious to the come on in her voice and stamped all over her features. From the corner of my eye, I saw Cody smirking. Anger burned within and I eased closer, curling my hand through Edward's arm.

  “We'll have to get together. You, Gabriella and I could have lunch.” He nodded at her, all courtesy.

  Like hell we will.

  Stacia beamed.

  Edward kissed the top of my head and murmured, “I'll catch up with you soo
n.”

  “But...” When his eyes came back to mine, concern and a question there, I swallowed my protest. I wasn't going to be one of those women. “Never mind. Go do what you need to do.”

  He kissed my hand, sweeping his thumb over the inside of my wrist. Then he was gone.

  “Clingy, aren't we?” Stacia’s sweet smile was gone, replaced by that snide one.

  I whipped my head around, something ugly bubbling on my lips. I needed somewhere to direct the negative feelings Edward's departure had stirred up.

  Cody laughed, a surprisingly nasty edge to it. “She wasn't the one making a play at an engaged man, was she, Stacia?”

  Fine lines of strain fanned out from her dark eyes but in the span of heartbeats, her expression cleared and once more, that bright, airy laugh echoed around us.

  “Flirting?” The dig in her voice was unmistakable. “I doubt you'd recognize it if a woman was flirting with you.”

  “He would.” I angled my head up to see my future brother-in-law's face. It was stony, completely devoid of any emotion. “He just prefers the other gender.”

  “Be more discreet,” Stacia hissed. She shot a look around the pavilion and the expression on her face couldn’t have been more plain.

  Don’t say the G word!

  I was suddenly so pissed off. Next to me, Cody stood silent and unmoving. Suddenly, he wasn't just future family. He was my friend and I wasn't going to let anyone talk to him or about him that way.

  “Why?” I demanded, the twang in my voice coming out loud and clear. “Oh, wait. I forgot the law of the land. Hypocrisy and bigotry are all well and good. But a man can't be gay. That's just unacceptable, am I right? And I thought ya'll up here were supposed to be more tolerant.”

  Stacia sucked in a breath, flags of color riding high on her cheeks. She suddenly looked older than Edward.

  “I thought I heard those dulcet tones, Tennessee.”

  My heart made a mad attempt to jump right out of my chest as Flynn came up at that very moment. He wasn't looking at me though. He had his eyes locked on Stacia and she was watching him the way a rabbit might watch a hawk, with fear and fascination. I completely understood the feeling.