“Do you think if I got a copy of her text messages, I could use that as my defense if I killed the guy?”
“I already talked to Jim,” Lilly says. “If you’re good with it, he can give her her own detail so she won’t be alone all week, but she also won’t be tethered to us.”
“Yes! I think I love you,” I blurt, realizing too late what I’ve said.
“It’s not that big of a deal,” Lilly promises.
She seems unfazed by my outburst. Whew. But it is amazing how on top of all this she is for me.
“Well, if you’re staying for now, are you ready for dinner?” I ask, trying to focus on something other than my blunder.
The buffet is full to overflowing, and I find I’m starved. Lilly and Bex join me in line. I start with a pear salad drizzled in olive oil and balsamic vinegar from the Bellissima estate, and for the main course I choose veal shank in a freshly milled polenta.
When we sit down, I announce, “I think my eyes are bigger than my stomach.”
Bex has three desserts, and Lilly has the white fish and shrimp risotto. Katrina is still off at her table, her fingers pushing out thousands of words on her cell phone. Jim and Kate join us.
“I’ve asked Yolanda to look after Katrina while we’re here,” Jim says. “She’s normally part of Tinsley’s team, but she’s fine without single coverage this week.”
“Thanks, man.”
I’ve known Jim since we were in the Marine Corps, and he was part of my Raider unit in Afghanistan. He and Kate were what got me up every morning in the early days after Cecelia’s death.
“Kate, tell us about some of the places you’ve been in the last three months,” Lilly says.
“We got off to a rough start, but it got better,” Jim says.
Kate smiles. “It’s been a lovely honeymoon. We were delayed a few hours into Paris, but that wasn’t too big of a deal. We stayed in a beautiful hotel on the Champs-Élysées. We spent three days wandering Paris, which was wonderfully romantic, but I quickly learned that my high school French was worse than the grades I got in school.”
Jim shakes his head. “She did great. We knew what was on every menu, and she could ask for the bathroom. What more could we need as long as we had each other?” He reaches for her hand and grins.
Wow. I’m really happy for him. He jumped from juggling multiple women to worshiping Kate—something I never expected. When he brought her to meet Cecelia and me for dinner, Cecelia was convinced she was the one. It wasn’t until a little later that I realized Cecelia was right, but now it’s clear. Kate was meant for Jim.
“Then we went to Seychelles for three weeks,” Kate adds. “It was a lot of sleeping in and relaxing. We explored and spent time at the beaches. And we drove through Europe in a rental car after that, having a great time.”
She and Jim look at each other, and I can only imagine all the parts of the trip they’re not mentioning right now. I miss those intimate moments—not just the time Cecelia and I spent making love, but the time sharing pieces of ourselves. I’m so happy Jim found that. He’d been a lost soul for a long time, but now I feel a little that way.
“How long are you guys sticking around after the wedding?” Kate asks Lilly.
“Not long,” Lilly says. “The girls need to get back to school.”
“What a great education they’re getting here in Europe, too,” Kate says.
“I don’t have a Bash Pontius and Gage Easton to keep my company up and running like Jim does,” I point out.
“You could do it. You have much more support than I do,” Jim insists. “Before Katrina graduates, you should consider a long family vacation. Maybe it’s over summer break or another time, but it’s great to have an adventure together.”
I wish it would be doable to take three months to explore and enjoy my family, but I don’t see how it’s possible. “We’ll see.”
Kate turns to Lilly. “That’s his way of saying it’s not going to happen.”
Lilly holds up her hands. “He knows what Lancaster Holdings is capable of and what it’s not. I’ve got the house covered, and if I have to downsize the budget, the girls can buy fewer clothes or we can return Katrina’s fifteen-hundred-dollar glasses.”
I turn to look at her. “Who said she could buy fifteen-hundred-dollar glasses?”
“According to her, you did,” Lilly says.
I shake my head. “I’m sure if I agreed, I wasn’t paying attention.”
Kate laughs. “And I thought only Jim did that. I guess you really should hurry and get back to work if you’re paying for expensive sunglasses.”
I shrug and try to smile. Our business manager makes sure all the bills are paid, so I’m not overly worried about expensive sunglasses. However, Katrina lied to Lilly, knowing I’d probably not see the expense. Parenting has gotten so complicated.
Our dinner break is ending, and I want to use the restroom before we start. I stand and Lilly walks out with me.
“Don’t let your daughter’s fudge of the truth affect your game,” she says. “We’ll figure out the best way to handle it.”
“Thanks.” I take a deep breath. “We’d be lost without you.”
“That’s kind of you to say, but you’d be fine. One of these days you’ll be able to do this all without me.”
I grab my heart. “Don’t say that. I think we’ll always need you.”
She laughs and shakes her head. “Go win. I’ll take the girls upstairs to get some sleep.”
As I watch the girls and Lilly leave, I feel a bit disappointed. For the three years I’ve been attending these events alone, everyone has gone out of their way to include me. But now that they’re all pretty much coupled up, I realize I’m not…and I want to be.
Landon approaches and hands me a drink.
I look at him. “What’s in this?”
“Bourbon. And while I’m known as a prankster, I promise I would never do anything to someone’s drink.”
It’s nice that he thought of me, but despite what he said, I don’t trust that he didn’t put something in here that would make me have to go to the bathroom all night and, therefore, forfeit.
“Tinsley and I were going through the schematics of the silent engine on the boat those pirates—or whatever they were,” he continues. “It’s not gas powered; it’s electric. That helps with the noise, and the engine is also below the water, which cuts the decibels further. It’s impressive.”
“What would you do with that technology?” I ask.
“Man, you’re the one with the government contracts with Lancaster Holdings. I’d like to see it in person, but Andy has it put away. I’ve seen pictures though, and there seem to be Cyrillic letters imprinted on the engine.”
“I still don’t understand what they were doing,” I tell him. “Do we know if Andy found anything out from the police?”
He shakes his head.
“We need to sit down. This may be a good thing for Jackson to work with his alternative-energy experience. We can bring him in.”
“We can meet in the morning?”
I pat him on the shoulder. “I plan on being the last one standing, which means I don’t think I’ll be awake in the morning.”
“Okay, but I wanted to ask you about Lilly. I was thinking of fixing her up with one of my buddies.”
“Bad idea,” I say.
“Why? She’s single. She’s great with your girls, and when you talk to her, she’s pretty fucking smart.”
“I said, it’s a bad idea.” No way is he going to fix her up with any of his buddies. She doesn’t have time to date. Her schedule is packed. No, not a chance.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Landon says with a smirk. “Look, I can’t even imagine dealing with what you have in losing Cecelia. But we all like Lilly, and if you like her, too, we’ll welcome her with open arms.”
Landon isn’t known for being the adult in the room, but this time he seems serious. “I appreciate that. And I can’t lie�
�� I’m beginning to consider it. But it’s not that easy. If I fuck it up—and we all know I will—it’s the girls who’ll suffer.”
“I get it.” Landon nods. “But for some strange reason, she likes you too, and your girls adore her. The hardest part is finding someone who loves your girls as much as she likes you. I think you’re already there. As long as you guys can get along between the sheets, you could figure it out.”
Thankfully, Gillian rings the bell, asking us to return to the tables, so I don’t have to respond to that.
We resume playing, and it doesn’t take long before we lose the first player—and not because of a mistake. Christopher Reinhardt, a partner with SHN, chased a bet any one of us would have. The flop of three cards had a two, four, and a Jack. The river showed two tens. Christopher had a pair of fours in his hand, which gave him a full house of three fours and two tens, so he went all-in. Unfortunately, Walker Clifton, the US Attorney for Northern California, had two Jacks in his hand and used the Jack on the board with the two tens. Walker’s full house won with the higher cards, and Christopher is out.
“Dammit,” he sighs. “I guess I get the women’s no-name watch.”
“Sorry, man,” Walker sympathizes.
In the next hour, four more players fall. When we take our break at midnight, we’re down to thirteen players, but we need to lose one more to end the night.
I’ve been watching Shelly. She knows how to play, and she’s figured out many of the tells around the table. I’ve also figured her out. When she has a good hand, she fidgets in her seat. With a bad hand, she touches her face. After the midnight bio break, I’m careful. I bluff her out of three-million dollars with a king and an ace. She’s down to her last million.
It seems William has been watching Shelly, too. I don’t have the card I need the next hand, but it appears he does. I bump the pot, and she knows I can’t hold strong-enough cards, so she thinks I’m giving her money. She meets my bid. Then William pushes her to go all-in. I drop out, and she thinks William is bluffing, but he beats her with a pair of aces. She’s out.
“Players, that takes us to twelve,” Gillian announces. “We’ll meet tomorrow afternoon here at four. Enjoy your day.”
“Sorry about your loss,” I mumble.
Shelly shrugs. “It’s only money. I hope to see you later.” She smiles at me, but it doesn’t really light up her face.
I’ve dealt with gold diggers ever since Cecelia died, and I’m not about to bother with one now. It’s two thirty in the morning, and I’m beat.
“You up for a glass of something?” Mason asks.
“I need to spend some time with the girls in a few hours, so I’m going to pass.” I run my fingers through my hair. “Don’t stay up all night and sleep all day. I hear there’s a big wedding here in a few days, and I’d hate for you to miss all the fun.”
Mason nods. “It wouldn’t be a great gift to my bride if I napped through our ceremony.”
I chuckle. “I think her brother would string you up.”
“Trey likes me.”
“Maybe,” I tease.
Mason points to the leaderboard. “Looks like you ran your table tonight.”
I shrug. “I wasn’t too aggressive. I let people hang themselves. William finished off Shelly. But you’re not too far behind.” He’s two slots below me on the board.
“What’s your plan for your day with the girls?”
“They want to go into town and do some shopping and probably have some pool time—at least I hope that’s it. I’m too tired to do too much.”
He nods and claps me on the back, and I wave as I leave. I know several who’d like to stay up and watch the sunrise, and if I was here alone, I might consider it. But I really do want to be with my girls.
When I get to our rooms, I’m surprised to find Lilly sleeping on the couch in the living room portion of our suite. It can’t be comfortable. I pat her shoulder. “Lilly?”
She wipes her mouth. “Sorry. I was waiting up to see how you did and fell asleep.”
“You didn’t have to do that, and you can’t be comfortable sleeping on the couch. It’s very narrow and short.”
“It works. No big deal.”
“I thought you were sleeping with Bex?”
“She used to be okay to sleep with, but these days she sleeps in the middle of the bed and spreads out.”
I walk over to the girls’ room and find Bex contorted into a strange position with her head at the bottom of the bed. “I assume she started with her head on a pillow?”
“Where is it now?” Lilly asks.
“At the foot of the bed.”
She sighs and seems to shake the cobwebs from her head. “How did you do?”
“For the first time in a long time, I’m at the top of the leaderboard in the chip count. I bled my table pretty dry. William Bettencourt might be able to come back if he has a few good hands, but the other three won’t last long when we pick it up tomorrow afternoon.”
“That’s really great. That means you’d host next time if you win the whole thing, right? How many of these have there been?”
I nod. “Christopher Reinhardt introduced all the players when we were out in Vegas for an SHN celebration. His childhood best friend built and owns the Shangri-la Hotel and Resort. I hosted the first game there, and we kept going back to the Shangri-la until Cecelia disappeared. At that game, Jackson Graham won a beautiful beach house in Maui, so we started making the winner host the next event. Since then, we’ve had a great time in Montana, Whistler, and you remember we played with the president in DC last month. Mia won that one, but because we were all coming to the wedding, the location had already been picked. She’s just the hostess.”
Lilly yawns. “That was a pretty impressive watch the winner will get.”
“I’d love to see Viviana win. She’s come close a few times but never gotten there. Neither has Christopher or Mason. But I think the two of them work hard not to win.”
“Why would they do that?”
“They invested to start most of our companies, so they’re not out to show off and take our money.”
Lilly stretches, and my eyes move to the swell of her breasts beneath her shirt. I want to reach for her, but I have to think other thoughts.
“All the money goes to charity, regardless of who wins, but we enjoy getting together,” I say. “We understand each other and can relax together in a way we can’t out in public.”
Lilly nods. “I will say it was great to walk up to Jim and tell him my concern about Andy’s cousin and Katrina. He understood that I couldn’t keep an eye on her, and an eye on Bex, and support you at the same time.”
“I’m so lucky to have Jim.” I smile as I try to find the right words for what I want to say next. “I liked having you there tonight. Thanks for coming. The girls will probably rebel against attending tomorrow night and again on Thursday.”
“We can figure it out. Maybe Yolanda can hang with the girls, and they can watch a movie here. Katrina’s new security has lots of benefits.” Lilly pulls the blanket up to cover herself. “If she will, I’d love to watch the game. Everyone is very friendly and nice to me.”
I chuckle. “Why wouldn’t they be nice to you?”
She furrows her brow. “Because I’m your nanny. I’m not a wife or a girlfriend. I’m your employee.”
An awkward silence settles over us.
“Anyway… Caroline asked how things were going, and I told her you want to send Katrina to a convent high school. She agreed with me that those girls always turn out to be the wild ones.”
I roll my eyes. “I still can’t get over the sunglasses. I need to talk to her about that.”
“The credit card company can set up a limit so if she wants to spend more than a set amount per day or per purchase, they have to call to get your approval.”
“I like that idea.”
“You can threaten her with it at least. But I might wait until we get home. Enjoy your tim
e together here.”
Lilly knows my girls so well. Her insight is invaluable. I’m still not sure how I ended up convincing her to stay past that first weekend, but I’m so glad she did.
“Great idea.” I look around and stretch. I feel sort of nervous and awkward, which is crazy. I should get out of here before I overstep my bounds. “You’re planning on sleeping here?”
She nods. “It’ll be okay.”
“Why don’t you sleep in my bed and I’ll sleep out here?”
“I barely fit. You’d never make it and would land on the floor. I’ll be fine.”
I slept in worse places when I was in the Marine Corps. We’ve got to figure out a better sleeping situation. But I can tell there’s no persuading her.
I head to my room and feel like a major heel the moment I settle into the king-sized bed. She’s out there on that tiny little couch. I get up, but when I walk back into the living room, I can hear her breathing. She’s asleep.
I return to bed and I think about how many people are pushing us together. What if Landon’s right, and as long as the girls get along with her, we would be fine? I’ll never find what I had with Cecelia again. She was my great love. We had this amazing chemistry. I lived in the basement of her house when we were in high school. She and I learned things together, and eventually I knew exactly what it would take to get her to her climax.
What if I can’t do that with anyone else? What if I can’t even get an erection with another woman? Jeez.
But I don’t want to be alone.
I lie there thinking about Lilly. I’d love to run my fingers through her long, blond hair. Her toes are always painted red or pink, and she smells so good. With that, my dick gets hard. Okay, so maybe I can get an erection with someone else.
Chapter 6
Lilly
I wake to the sound of Bex thrashing and yelling in her bed. I race into the girls’ room. It’s unclear what she’s saying, but I crawl into bed with her, and she wraps her arms around me.
“Promise you’ll never leave me,” Bex finally says.
“Shh...” I rub her back. “I’m here. Don’t worry.”
Showdown: Tech Billionaires Page 6
