Chapter 7

Alyssa rolled over in bed and watched the breeze rustle the curtains. The early morning coolness filtered into the room. The day’s heat hadn’t blasted that coolness away yet. She snuggled under the blankets into the warmth surrounding Mason’s sleeping body.

She burrowed into the dark and found his slumbering cock between his legs. She rubbed his soft shaft in her hand for one stroke and then took it in her mouth and sucked it until it was fully hardened. His breathing changed, and he jerked away. A groan found its way under the covers to her ear.

She sucked faster, and his body stiffened. His arm wormed under the covers to knot his fingers through her hair. He crushed her head down on his cock and her tongue tickled his balls, but she took the whole thing into her throat. He had full control now, and she was more than happy to surrender it. His cock jabbed deeper to its full length and cut off her air for a second as it swelled even bigger and harder. He exploded inside the back of her mouth and she swallowed the sticky mixture, and he went limp.

Alyssa broke free into the fresh air and quickly jumped out of out of bed to take a shower. When she returned she still lying in bed with his eyes closed looking completely satisfied. His head angled back, and his cheeks twisted in a cruel grimace.

She smiled down at him. His muscled shoulders folded in on his chest. He looked like he’d been shot. She slipped between the sheets and cuddled up to him. She took him in her arms and rubbed her body all over his smooth skin. He softened and came to life. His mouth discovered hers, and they swam in an eternal kiss.

She stroked his hair back. “Good morning.”

He breathed into her mouth. “You make it the best morning I can remember in a long time.”

She chuckled. “Did you like it?”

“Let’s stay in bed all day. Let’s stay here for the rest of the two weeks.”

“What about your family? Don’t you want to see them?”

“Forget my family. They’ve seen you. That’s all that really matters. I don’t care if I don’t see them again.”

“What are you talking about? You paid enough to bring me down here. You might as well get your money’s worth.”

“Oh, I’m getting my money’s worth. Believe me.”

She wrenched out of his arms and swatted his shoulder. “You bastard. You make me sound like an expensive prostitute.”

He hugged her closer. “No prostitute could be as good as you. I’ve been with prostitutes before, and it was nothing like last night.”

She jumped away. “Don’t say things like that. I don’t want to know… Anyways, I don’t want to stay in bed. If you don’t want to see your family, let’s go for a walk on the beach again. That was nice.”

He rolled over on his back and propped his head on his arm. “Okay. We could do that.”

She slipped into her clothes, but he didn’t get up. He lay there and watched her get dressed, his eyes excitedly appreciating every part of her. “What’s the matter? Aren’t you coming?”

He burst out laughing. “I wish I was. Maybe you’ll get back in bed and I will be.”

She threw her shoe at him. “You’re filthy. Get up and take your wife for a walk on the beach. I didn’t come here to service your sexual appetites.”

He swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Well, I definitely came here to service yours.”

She rolled her eyes while she gathered her things and headed out the bedroom door.

“Hold on! Wait a second. I was only playing.” He slid his legs into the same surf shorts and chased after her.

This time, they walked farther down the beach than yesterday. They discovered some huge caverns carved in the cliffs beyond the area frequented by tourists. The sand swept under lowering stone arches, and the surf crashed against the walls.

Not a living soul moved in any direction. They had the place to themselves. Mason glanced up and down the beach. When he didn’t see anybody, he hustled Alyssa into the caves. He pushed her against the dripping walls and covered her mouth with his lips.

His body excited her so much she couldn’t stand it. What would happen when they got back to the room? Could he really be serious about spending the rest of their vacation locked inside and rolling around in bed? She could think of worse ways to spend two weeks in a luxury Mexican resort.

That kiss came to an end all too soon. They began the long walk back, but he never let go of her hand. More than ever, they acted and thought like a real couple. She squeezed his hand, and he looped his arm over her shoulders. He hugged her against him while they walked. They smiled up at each other. Anyone who saw them would assume they were a real couple.

They headed for the veranda door. Alyssa already responded to the anticipation of getting back in bed with him. Before they got there, though, a dark-haired man rushed out of the hotel. Alyssa didn’t recognize him, but she wouldn’t recognize anybody from the reunion last night.

The man raced up to Mason and chattered away in Spanish. Mason nodded, and the man ran off. Mason turned to Alyssa. “We better get down to the dining room. The family is going over the big family tree, and then a professional photographer is going to take pictures of everybody. I guess we’ll just have to save our play time for later.”

Alyssa nodded and raised her face to kiss him. “I knew we couldn’t spend the rest of the time in our room. I’ll change my clothes, and then we can go. I’m hungry, anyway.”

Everything played out the same as yesterday. They found the dining room packed with even more people, if that was possible. Mason raced off to join his family for the main event and get his picture taken. Alyssa got a plate of breakfast from the buffet and got herself a seat at a table. She breathed a sigh of relief when she didn’t see Tina anywhere.

She got halfway through her breakfast in relative peace. A few people tried to talk to her in Spanish, but when she shook her head, they disappeared. A few Americans—she assumed they were Americans—talked to her, too. That went a little better.

They made small talk about who they were and who she was, how she met Miguel and where she and Miguel lived. Mason’s words encouraged her. If she didn’t know the answer to one of these probing questions, she made something up. She started to enjoy the creative freedom of concocting a life she would never have. She let herself fantasize about what kind of life she would have if she really was Mason’s wife.

The last non-relative drifted away to reload his plate, and Alyssa sat alone. She finished her breakfast and looked around. Should she hang around and wait for Mason to finish? He wouldn’t care if she left. She could go play shuffleboard. She could go for a swim in the pool.

She made up her mind to leave and relax by the pool when a shadow crossed her vision. Her worst nightmare came true when Tina sat down in the chair next to her. Menacing hostility burned in the woman’s black eyes, and she twisted her mouth in an evil grin. “Hi, Alyssa.”

Alyssa sank back in her chair. “Oh, hi, Tina. How are you?”

“I’m just great. I’ll bet you’re just great, too. How are you enjoying Cabo?”

“I’m enjoying it. It’s really nice.”

“I’ll bet it is.” A hard edge crept into Tina’s voice to match the sharp spark in her eyes. “I’ll bet you’ve never experienced any luxury like this before, have you?”

Alyssa opened her mouth to say something about how she hadn’t when she froze. She stared at Tina. “What are you saying?”

Tina moved in close to Alyssa’s face. “You’ve never been to a luxury resort like this before, have you? This is your first time, isn’t it?”

Alyssa stared at her. Her mouth hung open. She couldn’t bring herself to accept what she was hearing.

Tina nodded. “You’re not Miguel’s wife. You never have been Miguel’s wife. I looked up your records on the internet. Your marriage license says you just got married a week before you came down here. You never lived with him in any house in the Roaring Forties, or in any rooftop apartment in Tribeca, or anywhere else. You’re staying in the same hotel room with him, but you never stayed with him anywhere else.”

Alyssa’s pulse pounded in her ears.

“This is all some big ploy to fool my parents,” Tina hissed. “I had a feeling he wasn’t really married. How much did he pay you to put on an act for his family? What are you really—some kind of prostitute? Ha! I thought so. You’re a low- life slut. That’s what you are.”

Alyssa’s heart sank into her shoes. “What are you going to do?”

Tina sat back in her chair. She’d won, and she knew it. “What am I going to do? I’m going to tell my parents. They’ll disown Miguel like they should have done twenty years ago. He’ll never be welcome in this family again. He can go back to his Ferrari and his billions, and we never have to see his ugly face again.”

“How can you talk about your own brother like that?” Alyssa cried. “How can you want to destroy your own family?”

“I’m not destroying it,” Tina shot back. “He is. He’s the one who’s dragged us down all these years. He had some nerve showing his face back here, and now he’s lied to all of us, especially my parents, about being married. He knows how important this sort of thing is to them, and he deliberately deceived them. He deserves to be thrown out on his ass, and I’m going to make sure he is.”

Alyssa hung her head. She couldn’t argue with this woman. Underneath it all, Tina terrified her. Anyone who would do something so vindictive must be more diabolical than anything Alyssa could imagine. She didn’t want to tangle with Tina. She wanted Tina to go away.

Tina leaned forward one more time and whispered in her ear. “If you tell Miguel what I said, I’ll destroy you along with him. I looked you up on LinkedIn. I’ll hound you all over the country. I’ll make sure you never get another decent job. I’ll smear your name so no one ever forgets what you did. You better keep your mouth shut if you know what’s good for you.”