10
“I’ve been communicating with Benjamin Clancy,” Raúl said, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. “You and Mrs. Cross will be heading toward the airport at the same time, so you can travel together, if you like.”
“Of course.” I needed that time with Eva before we went our separate ways. The hours in the workday were too long to be away from her. A weekend was going to be torture. “I’ll call her and let her know we’ll be picking her up. We’ll need the limo.”
A professional to the core, Raúl showed no reaction. It would make more sense to use the limo for Eva’s friends, instead of us, but neither the Bentley nor the Benz offered the privacy I required.
Sitting on the couch in my office, I faced both Angus and Raúl, who’d settled into the two club chairs. We’d decided that Angus should stay behind while Raúl headed the security team accompanying me to Brazil.
Angus would be heading to Austin to dig into the background of Lauren Kittrie.
Raúl nodded his understanding. “We’ll make separate transportation arrangements for her friends and yours.”
“How is Eva getting to Ibiza?”
“Private jet,” he replied, “chartered by Richard Stanton. I suggested they stay at the Hotel Vientos Cruzados Ibiza and Clancy agreed. It took some doing, as the resort is fully booked for the summer season, but the property manager was able to make it happen. They’ve stepped up security in anticipation of Mrs. Cross’s arrival.”
“Good.” Having Eva stay in a Cross Industries resort gave me added peace of mind. We had two well-known nightclubs in Ibiza as well, one in Ibiza Town and one in Sant Antoni. I knew without asking that both had been pointed out to Clancy in advance. I expected he’d use the information. He was a smart man and would appreciate the added support provided by their security and staff.
“As we discussed previously,” he went on, “we’ll have our own team in place at the airport, and they’ll follow Mrs. Cross over the weekend. They’ve been instructed to stay in plainclothes and blend in, providing backup for Clancy’s team and interceding only when absolutely necessary.”
I nodded. Clancy was good, but he had both Monica and Eva under his watch, and they considered Cary family, so Clancy would be watching him closely, too. His focus would be divided three ways, with Monica taking precedence as the wife of his employer. Eva wasn’t the priority for anyone else that she was for me. I wanted dedicated eyes on her every moment she was out of the hotel.
Thank God this weekend was a once-in-a-lifetime event.
Raúl stood. “I’ll touch base with Clancy to discuss the protocol for getting to the airport.”
“Thanks, Raúl.”
With a nod, he left.
Angus rose to his feet. “I’ll be hieing off to take Lucky to your sister. She’s texting me every hour to see if I’ve left yet.”
That almost made me smile. Ireland had been excited when I asked if she would watch the dog for me. I figured Lucky would like that better than boarding, and Ireland could use a distraction from our mother’s depression over the divorce.
Angus paused on the way to the door. “Have fun, lad. It’ll do you good.”
I snorted. “Call me if you find anything.”
“Of course.” He departed, too, leaving me alone to finish up the workweek.
I noted the time on my phone before I speed-dialed my wife.
“Hi, ace,” she answered, her voice light and bright. “Can’t stop thinking about me, can you?”
“Tell me you were thinking about me.”
“Always.”
I remembered her as she’d been last night, lying prone on the bed with her heels kicked up behind her. She had watched me pack with her chin propped on her hands, commenting occasionally on my choices. She’d noted that I didn’t pack either the graphite gray slacks she fantasized about or a black V-neck T-shirt. The deliberate omission was the one thing that made her smile. Otherwise, she had been mostly quiet and moody.
“You and I are going to ride to the airport together,” I told her. “Alone.”
“Oh.” She let that sink in. “That’ll be nice.”
“I’m shooting for more than nice.”
“Ohhh … ” Her voice lowered, took on the soft huskiness that told me her thoughts had turned to sex. “Got a little transportation fetish yourself ?”
Warm amusement slid through me, helping to ease the stress brought on by thinking of the days ahead. Eva would let me have her anywhere, but she frequently seduced me while we were en route to somewhere. Having previously been restricted to having sex only in the hotel, she’d rocked my world by inciting me to make love to her in cars and planes, as well as my home and various places of business.
I would never say no to her. I wasn’t capable of it. When she wanted me, I was ready and more than willing.
“I have an Eva fetish,” I murmured, turning around something she’d once said to me.
“Good.” She took a breath. “Is the weekend over yet?”
I heard Cary say something I couldn’t quite make out. “Soon, angel. I’ll let you go.”
“Don’t ever let me go, Gideon.” There was a fervency to her words that moved me, betraying how unsettled she was by the weekend ahead. After the separation she’d enforced, it was good to know she wasn’t looking forward to another, even under much happier circumstances.
“I’ll let you get back to it,” I corrected. “So you can be ready when Raúl comes for you.”
“Never mind him. I’ll be ready to come for you,” she purred back, leaving me hard and aching as I ended the call.
Arash entered my office shortly after four, sauntering in with his hands in his pockets and humming a tune. He grinned as he sank into one of the chairs in front of my desk. “You ready for the weekend?”
“As ready as I’m going to be.” I sat back and drummed my fingers on the armrests of my chair.
“You’ll be happy to hear that Anne Lucas’s assault complaint is going away.”
I’d expected as much, but it was still good to have confirmation. “As it should.”
“I haven’t heard if she’ll be charged with falsely reporting an incident. In the meantime, if she attempts contact with you, Eva, or Cary in any way, I need to know immediately.”
I nodded absently. “Of course.”
He studied me. “Where’s your head at right now?”
My mouth twisted wryly. “I just got off the phone with one of the Vidal Records board members. Christopher is continuing to work on acquiring the capital for a buyout.”
Arash’s brows shot up. “If he pulls it together, would you consider getting out?”
“If I only had him to worry about, I would.” Whether Ireland chose to join the family business in the future was still to be seen, but regardless, she had a stake in the success of the company, and Christopher made poor decisions. All of my offers to support him and offer guidance had been rejected. He often refused to listen to Chris as well, apparently assuming his father’s wisdom came in some part from me.
“What does the board think?”
“It’s viewed as a family feud and they want me to find a quick, painless resolution.”
“Is that possible? You’ve never gotten along with your brother.”
I shook my head. “It’s a nonstarter.”
I knew Arash couldn’t understand. He had a brother and sister of his own, and his family was extremely tight-knit.
He sighed. “Sorry, man. That’s tough.”
In an ideal world, Christopher would be attending my bachelor party weekend. We’d be close. He would be the best man at my wedding …
… which was a position I hadn’t yet asked anyone to fill. Arnoldo had taken the reins with the weekend planning, but I didn’t know if he had done so because he assumed he’d be standing beside me at the wedding. Maybe he just had more initiative than the other guys.
Only a few short weeks ago it would have been a no-brainer to have Arnoldo stand with me. Part of me hoped that he still would.
Arash was also a good choice. Unlike Arnoldo, I saw Arash nearly every day. And as my attorney, he knew things about me—and Eva—that no one else did. I could trust him with anything, even without the protection of attorney/client privilege.
But Arnoldo was direct with me in a way no one else was, aside from my wife. I’d long thought that Arnoldo’s blunt, incisive advice had kept me from becoming too cynical and jaded.
This weekend should make the choice between the two men clear.
It felt … wrong to stand outside Eva’s apartment door and wait for her. As I leaned against the wall opposite the doorway, I considered how swiftly things had turned a corner and how violently opposed I was to having them ever go back. I hadn’t known it could be like this between us. Open, nothing to hide, so deeply in love.
There had been glimpses of this life before. Some of the nights we’d spent together in the apartment next door. The weekends we’d sneaked away to be alone together. But those times had existed in a vacuum. Now, we lived those moments openly. It would be even better when the world knew we were married and she lived completely in the penthouse with me.
The door opened and Eva stepped out, looking cool and sexy in a sleeveless red wrap dress and heeled sandals. She had sunglasses perched atop her head and was wheeling a suitcase out beside her. The next time she packed, it would be for our honeymoon. We’d leave together, like we were doing now, but we would stay together from that moment forward.
“Here,” I said, straightening to take the suitcase from her.
She tackled me as I reached for it, her body soft and warm against mine. She pulled my head down and kissed me, a quick, sweet kiss. “You should’ve come in.”
“You and me with a bed nearby?” I caught her around the waist and steered her toward the elevator. “I would’ve taken advantage, if I didn’t think Cary would bang on the door and bitch about missing your flight.”
Eva separated from me as we descended to the lobby, reaching behind her to grab the handrail and showing off her sexy legs. It was a full-body flirt, with her eyes playing the game, too. They sparkled at me as she licked her bottom lip. “You look super sexy.”
I glanced down at the white V-neck T-shirt and khakis I’d changed into before leaving work.
“You usually wear dark colors,” she pointed out.
“Too hot for that where we’re going.”
“You’re too hot.” She lifted one foot off the elevator floor and slowly rubbed her thighs together.
Amused and feeling the slow heat of building arousal, I settled back and enjoyed the show.
Once we’d reached the lobby, I gestured her out in front of me, catching up to her in two strides so I could place my hand at the small of her back.
She tossed me a smile over her shoulder. “There’s going to be traffic.”
“Damn.” Traffic—and the time it would add to the commute—was what I was counting on.
“You sound sooo disappointed,” she teased, before smiling at the doorman, who opened the door for her.
Raúl waited outside by the limo. In moments, we were on our way, merging into the sea of cars battling their way across Manhattan.
Eva took the bench seat that spanned the length of the vehicle, while I settled on the seat in the back. “Want a drink?” she asked, looking at the bar across from her.
“Do you?”
“I’m not sure.” Her lips pursed. “I wanted one earlier.”
I waited for her to make up her mind, my gaze sliding over her. She was my joy, the light in my world. I would do anything to keep her carefree and content for the rest of her life. It weighed on me to think I might have to hurt her. She’d been through so much already.
If we found out that Monica was not who Eva thought she was at all, how would I break that news? My wife had been crushed when she realized her mother was tracking her via her mobile phone, her watch, and a compact mirror in her purse. A false identity was a much worse betrayal.
And what did that fake identity hide?
“I can’t find a dress,” she said abruptly, her lush mouth turned down in a frown.
It took me a beat to snap out of my thoughts and register what she was saying. “For the wedding?”
She nodded, looking so despondent I wanted to pull her close and press kisses all over her beautiful face.
“Want me to help, angel?”
“You can’t. The groom isn’t supposed to see the wedding dress before the big day.” Her eyes widened with shock and horror. “You saw the dress I wore when we got married the first time!”
I had. I’d picked it out. “It was only a dress when I saw it,” I soothed. “It wasn’t a wedding dress until you wore it.”
“Oh.” The smile came back. She peeled off her sandals and joined me, lying down with her head in my lap, her hair a silvery gold fan across my thighs.
Running my fingers through the thick silk strands, I took a deep breath, relishing the smell of her perfume.
“What are you going to wear?” she asked, her eyes closing.
“Are you picturing something in particular?”
Her mouth curved. Her answer came out slow and dreamy. “A tux. You’re always gorgeous. But in a tuxedo, you’re something else.”
I brushed my fingertips over her lips. There had been times when I hated my face, hated that my looks attracted intense sexual interest at a time when being lusted after made my skin crawl. Eventually, I got used to the attention, but not until Eva did I begin to value who I was for my own sake.
She took so much pleasure in looking at me. Clothed. Unclothed. In the shower. Wrapped in a towel. On top of her. Underneath her. About the only time her eyes weren’t on me was when she was asleep. Which was when I often took the most pleasure in looking at her, lusciously naked, wearing nothing but the jewelry I’d given her.
“A tux it is, then.”
Her eyes opened, revealing the soft gray I adored. “But it’s a beach wedding.”
“I’ll make it work.”
“Yes, I bet you can.”
Turning her head, she nuzzled her nose against my cock. The heat of her breath drifted through the khakis to my sensitive skin. I hardened for her.
I played with her hair. “What do you want, angel?”
“This.” She ran her fingers along the length of my erection.
“How do you want it?”
Her tongue darted out to wet her lips. “In my mouth,” she breathed, already freeing the button of my waistband.
My eyes closed for a moment on a deep inhalation. The sound of my zipper lowering, the release of pressure as she carefully freed my cock …
I steeled myself for the wet heat of her mouth, but it was pointless. I jerked hard when she pulled me in with easy suction, hunger and need tingling down my spine. I knew her moods and how they translated to sex. She planned to take her time, to enjoy me and drive me out of my mind.
“Eva.” I groaned as she stroked me with gentle fingers, her mouth working softly. She tongued the head of my dick with slow, savoring licks.
Opening my eyes, I looked down at her. The sight of her, so perfectly presentable, her focus entirely on the feel of my cock in her mouth was both searingly erotic and achingly tender.
“God, that’s good,” I said hoarsely, cupping the back of her head in one hand. “Take it deeper … yes, like that …”
My head fell back as my thighs tensed, straining with the need to thrust. I fought the urge, letting her take what she wanted.
“I won’t finish like this,” I warned her, knowing that was her goal.
She hummed a protest and fisted me, pumping my cock in her soft, firm grip. Challenging me to resist her.
“I’ll be riding your perfect cunt, Eva. My cum is going to be deep inside you while you spend the weekend away from me.”
My eyes closed as I imagined her in Ibiza, a city famous for its wild nightlife, dancing with her friends in a crush of bodies. Men would covet her, dream of fucking her. All the while she’d be marked by me in the most primitive way possible. Possessed, even though I wasn’t there.
I felt her moan vibrate along the length of my dick.
She pulled back, her lips already red and plump. “That’s not fair,” she pouted.
I caught her wrist and lifted her hand to my chest, pressing it against my pounding heart. “You’ll be right here, angel. Always.”
“Mano, you can’t be working right now,” Manuel complained, dropping into the lounger beside me. “You’re missing the view.”
I glanced up from my phone, the ocean breeze rifling through my hair. We’d remained in Barra today, directly across Avenida Lúcio Costa from the hotel we were staying in. Recreio Beach was more laid-back than Copacabana, less touristy and crowded. All along the shore, women in bikinis frolicked in the surf, breasts bouncing as they jumped waves, nearly-bare asses glistening with tanning oil. On the white sand in front of them, Arash and Arnoldo continued tossing a Frisbee back and forth. I’d bowed out when I felt my phone buzz in the pocket of my board shorts.
I looked at Manuel, finding him flushed and glistening with sweat. He’d disappeared about an hour ago and it was obvious why, even without knowing him as well as I did.
“My view is better.” I turned my phone to show him the selfie Eva had just sent me. She was lying out on the beach, too, stretched across a lounger not much different from the one I occupied. Her bikini was white, her skin already lightly tanned. A thin chain hooked around her neck, nestled between her plump tits, then wrapped around her trim waist. Sunglasses shielded her eyes and bright red gloss stained the lips she’d puckered in a kiss.
Wish you were here … she’d texted.
So did I. I was counting down the several hours remaining until we’d get on the plane home. Saturday had been enjoyable enough, a blur of alcohol and music, but Sunday was a day too long.
Manuel whistled. “Hot damn.”
I grinned, as that about summed up my thoughts on my wife’s photo.
“Don’t you worry that things will change after you say I do?” he asked, leaning back with his hands tucked behind his head. “Wives don’t look like that. They don’t send selfies like that.”
I exited out to the home screen and flipped my phone around again.
Manuel’s eyes widened at the wedding photo that served as my wallpaper. “No way. When?”
“A month ago.”
He shook his head. “I can’t see it. Marriage, I mean, not you and Eva. How does it not get old?”
“Being happy never gets old.”
“Isn’t variety the spice of life or some shit?” he asked, in some sort of half-assed philosophical mood. “Part of the fun in fucking a woman is figuring out what makes her tick and being surprised when she shows you something new. You keep tagging it, doesn’t it become routine? Touch her here, lick her there, keep the rhythm she likes to get her off … Rinse and repeat.”
“When your time comes, you’ll figure it out.”
He shrugged. “You want kids? Is that why?”
“Eventually. Not any time soon.” I couldn’t even picture it. Eva would make a wonderful mother; she was a nurturer. But the two of us together as parents? One day, I’d be ready for that. One day far away, when I could bear to share her with someone else. “Right now, I just want her.”
“Mr. Cross.”
I looked up and saw Raúl standing behind me, his mouth a tight line. I instantly stiffened, then sat up, my legs swinging off the side to plant my feet in the sand. “What is it?”
Fear for Eva settled heavily in my gut. She’d just texted me moments before, but …
“You’ll want to see this,” he said grimly, drawing my attention to the tablet he carried.
Standing, I shoved my phone in my pocket and closed the distance between us. I held out my hand. The glare from the sun darkened the screen, so I shifted to cast my shadow over the glass. The photo that came into focus froze the blood in my veins. The headline made my teeth grind.
Gideon Cross’s Wild Brazilian Bachelor Party.
“What the fuck is this?” I snapped.
Manuel slapped a hand on my shoulder as he came up beside me. “Looks like a good time, cabrón. With two very hot babes.”
I looked at Raúl.
“Clancy sent that to me,” he explained. “I ran a search and it’s gone viral.”
Clancy. Fuck. Eva …
Shoving the tablet at Raúl, I yanked my phone back out. “I want to know who took that picture.” Who knew I was in Brazil? Who’d followed me into a club one night, into a private VIP area, and taken pictures?
“Already on it.”
Cursing under my breath, I called my wife. Impatience and fury rode me hard as I waited for her to pick up. Her voice mail kicked in and I hung up. Dialed again. Worry crowded in.
The worst fears of her fantasies were captured in living color in that photo. I had to explain, even without knowing how. Sweat beaded my forehead and dampened my palms, but inside, I was chilled.
Her voice mail picked up a second time.
“Goddamn it.” Hanging up, I dialed again.