Simone Shiraziの小説

It had been five days since Sebastian Phillips’ party, and Taliana still hadn’t found the ring.She’d gone back to both the hotel and the club where the party had been held, hoping someone from the management had found it and was keeping it safe, but no one had seen or heard anything.By then she was beating herself up for having been so careless that night, wanting nothing more than to turn back time and make it so she’d never gone to the party. The calls from her mother weren’t helping much either, since all Andrea had to say was how upset she was with Taliana for losing such a priceless item. Luckily, she hadn’t disowned Taliana yet, but if that thing didn’t turn up in the next week or so, Taliana was pretty sure her name was going to be erased from the Colton family tree.“I hate my life.”The boy stretched out on the chaise to Taliana’s left turned his head to shoot her a pitiless look. “Would you quit it with the dramatics?” Jude sighed, obviously tired of her bitching. “Really,

After slipping around a few more people, she made her way into the living room. It was obvious the sprawling space had been party proofed, but symbols of the Phillips family’s wealth were still present. Antique portraits hung from the walls in impressive frames, first edition books sat on a built-in dark wood bookcase, and there was a grand piano by a bay window in the corner of the room. Even though those precious items were put up to be admired, the people currently in the room looked like they hadn’t noticed much more than the impressive sound system and fully stocked bar.Then again, that bar was kind of hard to ignore.Wanting to blend in with all the others who had drinks in their hands, Taliana made her way through the crowd toward the bar on the other side of the colossal room. Some clever moves got her to the center of the room in no time, but from there she lost sight of her target. She cursed under her breath as she moved farther into the writhing mass of people, which even

Taliana’s heart thudded dangerously against her ribs as her head snapped up. “You knew Zak was here? Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”“I forgot?”“Mom!”“Sorry!”“I can’t believe this,” Taliana seethed, clutching her comforter. “When did you find out?”“Well...”“Tell me.”Andrea groaned, obviously not keen on answering Taliana’s questions. “The day before you left,” she finally conceded. “But you’d already made up your mind that you were leaving! I tried to get you to stay, but you were having none of it!”“Well maybe if you told me that cheating scumbag was moving here as well, I would have changed my mind! God, Mom, why didn’t you say anything?”“Because I didn’t see the point! DC.is a big place, and I never thought you’d run into him.”“Next time you need to take all possibilities into consideration,” Taliana snapped, furious and slightly hurt that her mom would keep such a thing from her.“Don’t use that tone with me, young lady.”Taliana didn’t apologize, but she attempted t

Chapter 7: Lost and Unfound The interior of Jude’s car was all black leather, dark wood, and reeked of that new car smell. If Taliana had the choice, she would’ve stayed in the air-conditioned cabin for the rest of her life, especially if it meant she didn’t have to face what was waiting for her at home.“This isn’t going to end well.”Currently, said car was idling in front of Taliana’s home in the heart of Georgetown, and she was silently debating whether or not she wanted to enter the place. Her father was probably throwing a fit inside, prepared to ground her the instant she set foot in the foyer. Had she still been living with her mother, Taliana could have slipped in unnoticed since Andrea was rarely home anyway. But this was Charles Avilla, the man who’d blown a gasket the day Taliana had been expelled from Georgetown Trinity Day School and sent her packing to live with mommy dearest as punishment. Taliana wasn’t sure what she would do if this situation had the same outcome.“

With her hands tangled in his hair, his tongue tracing her bottom lip, and her legs wrapped around his waist, he was having a hard time figuring out where he stopped and she began. Not that he honestly cared—but he wanted more.The elevator dinged not a moment too soon, and they tumbled out, gasping for breath as they moved down the hallway, somehow still getting in a few impatient kisses as they continued on. Sebastian swore it took forever to reach the door, but it took longer to get it unlocked. With the way this girl was currently kissing his neck, he could hardly concentrate enough to get the damn keycard in the slot. After a few seconds of fumbling, the door finally gave way, and he pulled her inside with him.It slammed shut with enough force to shake the room as they staggered toward the bed. His fingers finally snagged the zipper of her dress and yanked it down, though much to his chagrin, the fabric didn’t instantly pool at her feet.He bristled when she laughed, but before

How he hadn’t noticed the girl before was a mystery, but now he couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away. She was leaning against the far wall of the club, a drink in her hand and pure boredom plastered across her face, the only other person besides him who seemed to hate being there. She practically towered over the other guests in her almost-too-high heels, and her dress looked like it might as well have been painted on her. Something about her was vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t quite figure out why.It wasn’t until she met his gaze that Sebastian realized how long he’d been staring, still attempting to place her. Part of him was tempted to look away and pretend he’d never seen her, but she glanced away before he could try. He watched as she rolled her eyes and passed her empty drink off to a nearby partygoer, and he wondered if it was him she’d even been looking at. But those doubts faded when she began moving in his direction.He took a step forward, determined to meet her halfway,