by Lucy Leroux
“I agree, but up until recently, her finances had a massive drain in the form of her butthead father. It’s a long story, one I’m sure she’ll tell you soon enough. You two have grown very close…”
“She’s fun. Between her and Maia—it’s like having real friends.”
“They are your real friends.”
She blushed. “I—yes. Yes, they are.” The bright happy expression didn’t last. She lapsed into silence, staring off into the distance.
“Are you okay?”
Her head jerked up. “I hope so.”
He frowned as the elevator dinged, opening on the penthouse floor. “What’s going on?”
It had been weeks since the warrant was issued for Tahlia’s arrest, but they were using every legal resource at their disposal to get it rescinded.
Their lawyers were cautiously optimistic. The Boston police department declined to serve the warrant until some of the discrepancies in the case were resolved. Thanks to Ethan, the flight plan listing Tahlia as a passenger helped invalidate the timeline her family was trying to establish. But he was still working on getting actual crime-scene photos.
“Ethan called. He heard from the cops in Florida. They’ve decided to cancel the warrant.”
“Well, that’s great news!” Why was she upset? This was cause to celebrate.
Tahlia rubbed her arms, stopping outside of her suite door. “It’s good news.”
“But?”
“But you don’t know my family. This won’t be the end of it. I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
She began to open the door to the suite when he stopped her. “Tahlia, no matter what they throw at us, we’ll handle it.”
He paused, his hand on the door. As sumptuous as the suite on the other side was, it didn’t make up for not being able to go outside. “I know it doesn’t help you’ve been stuck in the hotel this entire time.”
They tried to make up for that. Maia and some of Tahlia’s classmates from the math department came for dinner once a week. They joined his siblings for meals every other night. Tahlia was also hard at work revising her dissertation, so she kept busy.
She cuddled against him before going inside. Her hands swept up to encompass the room. “As prisons go, this place is freaking awesome. I’m lucky. There are some nice people working here. Some hot ones, too.”
She moved her hand to cup his ass cheek.
Trick didn’t need any more encouragement. He had her naked and underneath him in her bed less than a minute later.
Guilt flared as he noticed the fingerprint-shaped bruises on Tahlia’s hips and thighs. Crap.
Ever since he’d learned the details of her father’s death, he’d gone off the deep end. But he couldn’t seem to help himself. A relentless hunger overwhelmed him every time he touched her.
And I used to think I was so civilized. Now I’m little more than an animal.
Trick knew he had to calm the fuck down. He was leaving marks on her for the love of God. But this resolve flew out the window whenever he lay his hands on her.
Thankfully, Tahlia was stronger and putting on weight. She was no longer the gaunt figure she’d been when she first her arrived. Her golden curves were fuller, the creamy glowing skin an unholy temptation.
“Patrick.” Tahlia gasped as he flipped her over, pulling her onto her hands and knees. He slipped on protection, taking hold of his cock and rubbing it between her creamy cheeks before working the rigid staff into her tight sheath.
Undulating like a siren, she rocked back, swallowing his length up, enveloping him in her sublime heat. “Fuck, you feel so damn good.”
This was better than drinking. It was better than any drug he’d tried. Hell, it was better than winning at poker.
That’s good. Cause once you marry her, you’ll never win a game again.
That didn’t matter. He’d willingly lose every hand if it meant having this for the rest of his life.
Trick let his head fall back, languorously pumping in and out, letting his rhythm build slowly and then fast until his hips were slapping against her satin and gold backside. The feel of her was everything.
The only thing that would have made it better would be to take off the condom, to feel her naked heat wrapped around him. He’d only skipped protection the one time. As much as he knew he wanted to marry and have a family with Tahlia, they didn’t have to start right away. She deserved to see the world and have some fun before that—as soon as he got rid of the threat hanging over them.
Sweet Jesus. Tahlia was moaning now—literally his favorite sound in the world.
Trick hissed involuntarily when she flexed her inner muscles, clenching around him, threatening to strangle his length. He tried to count hotel staff in his mind, anything to last a little longer, but Tahlia wasn’t helping.
The curve of her ass, the line of her thighs as she strained against him—not to mention that long sweep of golden skin of her back. He’d never seen anything sexier.
Her long brown hair was too much of a temptation. Trick nudged her down until she was lying flat. He licked the back of her neck, wanting her taste in his mouth. He took hold of the length of her hair, wrapping it around his fist as he pounded, fucking her until he went blind.
Unable to hold out any longer, he let go, erupting with a convulsive wrench. Tahlia unsuccessfully buried a scream in the mattress, shaking and shivering as she climaxed with him.
When his awareness returned, his face was buried in Tahlia’s hair. It smelled like vanilla. There was also some in his mouth.
He removed the strands with his index finger before shifting to trace the line of her hips with his fingers. A faint white web of tiny stretchmarks marked them but they only enhanced her beauty, saving her from being utterly perfect.
“This may be the wrong time to ask this, but I was wondering if you wanted to move into my suite.”
“What?”
Tahlia’s voice was hoarse, as if her throat hurt from screaming.
It’s a good thing the walls are pretty soundproof.
He was still having a hard time speaking, too, but he needed to get this out. “It’s more of a symbolic move. You can still use this suite as an office. But perhaps, you could move your clothes. We spend every night together anyway. I want to make it official.”
Tahlia twisted to meet his eyes. “Are you sure you don’t mind? It may be symbolic, but you’d still be giving up your space.”
He couldn’t bring himself to pull out of her, and she was wondering if he minded living together?
He kissed her. “Waking up with you every morning is my current plan for the next fifty or so years.”
She wiggled out of his arms, but only to turn around to face him in order to press her gorgeous lips to his.
“Yes,” she whispered. “I’ll move in with you.”
“I hope you don’t mind, giving up what little space I’ve been giving you.”
Her mouth quirked, but her eyes began to shine suspiciously. “I’ve been alone all my life. I don’t need space.”
Trick rolled over, pinning her back to the bed. “Good. Cause you’re not getting any, not any time soon.”
Chapter 23
Tahlia hurried down to the Parisian-style café on the ground floor. It was one of her favorite places in the hotel. From the intricate art-nouveau lithographs gracing the walls to the brass accents on the coffee bar, it personified the Paris of her imagination, a spot she hoped to experience in person someday.
In the meantime, she drank strong coffee and ate chocolate and almond croissants pretending, quite easily, that she was in France without ever leaving the safety of the hotel.
Patrick told her only the decor was French. In truth, the layout of the cafe had been modeled after a little place he liked in Morocco. That didn’t matter to her. Regardless of the true inspiration, it was beautiful.
She was more excited than usual to get down there today. The front desk had called and told her Gina was
waiting there to see her. It was a surprise visit, but a welcome one.
Gina was probably in town to scout out schools with her daughter. She’d mentioned her daughter Jenny’s interest in a few Boston-area colleges several times and talked about visiting Tufts and Brandeis the last time they spoke. It was part of a mini-college tour she was planning.
I guess business finally calmed down enough for Gina to get away. Perhaps getting on the Caislean’s preferred vendor list finally convinced her she could afford it.
Patrick was in meetings all day again, but hopefully, she could catch him in between two of them so she could introduce him to her friend. She knew Gina would be thrilled to meet one of the hotel’s owners—and it would be a lot less intimidating for her if that someone was Patrick and not Liam. Maggie was still away, covering for Patrick at some of their European properties, but the third-party vendors weren’t her purview in any case.
Tahlia walked into the cafe with a spring in her step, excited to catch up. She knew as soon as she saw the expression on Gina’s face that something was terribly wrong.
Her first instinct was to turn and search for threats, but there was nobody there outside of the Caislean’s friendly and efficient staff. Holding her breath, she walked over to Gina and sat down, her eyes darting around before settling on her friend.
Gina watched her with stark dry eyes—too wide. “You’re not wrong. They’ve been to see me.”
Tahlia’s heart sank. Gina stared down at the table, her fingers tracing aimlessly over the fine honey pine surface.
“They threatened you, didn’t they?”
“No.” Gina’s mouth twisted. “That wouldn’t have worked.”
Tears stung her eyes. “Then it was Jenny they went after.”
She knew how Uncle Lucas thought. He was ruthless when it came to getting what he wanted.
Tahlia started to rise, her impulse to run to Patrick, or to get Ethan and Jason down here, but Gina waved her back down.
“Don’t worry. Jenny is fine. Her father is watching her at home.”
Gina’s ex was a former junkie who hadn’t managed to clean up his act in time to save his marriage. Tahlia had never met him, but she knew his reputation was that of a hard man, one Gina would rather not deal with unless necessary. The fact she’d contacted him to watch her daughter was enough to convince Tahlia she knew the threat was real.
Don’t cry. The whole hotel would know something was wrong if she did.
“What did they want you to do?”
Gina pulled an envelope from her bag. Tahlia took it from her hands with trembling fingers.
Stop it. Falling apart wouldn’t help anyone.
Her fingers were so numb she could barely open the envelope. Tahlia peeked inside, her heart pounding, expecting a note detailing the dire consequences of not returning home to Florida. But it wasn’t a note. It was a picture.
“That’s your young man, isn’t it?” Gina asked as Tahlia stared at the photograph, the blood draining from her face.
Too overcome to speak, she nodded.
It had been taken from the street just across from the hotel. Patrick was standing next to a car in from of the hotel, chatting with one of the valets, presumably while he waited for his car to be brought around.
Tahlia traced his handsome face. It was open and friendly, the same expression he wore every day as he dealt with a staff he considered more like family.
A huge red slash was drawn through his neck. Tahlia crumpled the picture, holding it against her stomach. Words wouldn’t have been as effective.
“I’ll go back to them.”
“No.”
Gina shook her head until her greying ginger curls flew. “Don’t you dare. Not for me and not for him.”
“I can’t stay here anymore.”
They knew about Patrick now. They must know everything to have made a specific threat against him. He wouldn’t be safe until she gave herself up.
Gina hmphed, taking her hand in a tight grip. “I don’t know what these people want with you, but it’s evil. They’re evil.”
She snatched the balled-up photograph from Tahlia’s unresisting hands. “You need to run. Get yourself out of here. Go someplace safe and regroup.”
The older woman held up a hand. “I know what you’re thinking. You ran scared the last time. This time, run angry.”
Gina exhaled harshly, her eyes sweeping Tahlia up and down. “I know it seems weird coming from me, the messenger. But those assholes made me mad, and that’s what you need to be. You’re stronger than you think. According to your boyfriend, you have a one-of-a-kind mind and crazy mad skills. Use them. Come up with a plan. And then you get them.”
She pulled back, her face almost as red as her hair. “This isn’t over yet. Use those brains. Think of a way to make them sorry. Make them hurt. I know you can. Do it.”
Chapter 24
Trick was shaking with anger. “What do you mean she’s gone? We have cameras everywhere. How could no one have seen them take her?”
No one had seen Tahlia in over twelve hours. He’d gone to meet her for lunch in their room when he first noticed she was gone. At first, he assumed she’d lost track of time with Peyton, or had holed up somewhere to work on her nearly finished dissertation.
When he didn’t find her, he assumed she was at the pool, which was part of her routine now that she had left the cane behind. He texted, reminding her to meet him for dinner. But when she didn’t turn up for that meal, he started hunting her down.
The entire hotel had been searched. None of the guards posted at the doors or the camera’s trained on them caught her, which relaxed him for a minute.
She’s probably fallen asleep somewhere. Maybe she’d gone for a massage and passed out in one of the spa suites. He called the staff there to ask.
The spa employees hadn’t seen her all day. Trick was fighting off a panic attack in the security center, going through the feeds with a worried Peyton when Liam walked in.
Trick glanced up, but he ignored his brother’s grim expression. He always looked like that these days. “Can you check the south doors again? Maybe someone came in that way.”
Peyton shook her head. “I’ve checked there. I’m telling you after that Gina woman left, Tahlia went back to your suite. Has she called you back yet?”
“N—”
“Patrick.”
He turned to his brother. “What?”
“Her things are gone.”
Trick blinked. “What?”
“I was just in your room. I wanted to see if she’d left her phone in the bedroom. It was still plugged into the wall.”
“I know, I saw that when I went upstairs.”
His brother’s face could have been carved from stone. “But you didn’t check the closet.”
Trick’s chest tightened. “No, I didn’t. Why?”
“Her clothes are gone. So is one of your travel suitcases.”
He stared at his brother. A buzzing sound started in his ears, and it was getting louder. “She wouldn’t leave me. She knows this is the only safe place for her.”
“Not anymore.” Liam handed him a mangled piece of photo paper—a photo of him.
The huge red slash through his body told him everything he needed to know.
“She left to protect me.”
“And you’re sure she didn’t go to Florida?” Ethan asked for the tenth time, opening a beer and setting it down untouched. “Because we haven’t heard a peep from those assholes. Maybe it’s because they have what they wanted.”
Trick rubbed his hands over his face, exhausted. He could always count on Ethan to be the voice of doom.
If only he and Liam would stop snipping for more than an hour at a time. They were so similar and would undoubtedly be great friends… if they didn’t hate each other so much.
“Not according to Gina.” He sighed heavily. Tahlia’s ballsy friend had been more subdued the last time he talked to her. “She told Tahlia to run
and regroup.”
He’d been sick to his stomach when he’d heard about the threat to the woman’s daughter, enough he hadn’t railed at her for what she’d done.
If only she’d come to him before seeing Tahlia. He could have convinced her they could protect Jenny.
At least she told Tahlia to run and not give herself to those bastards. He could only pray Tahlia heeded her advice.
She’d been gone for over a week. As Liam had discovered, she’d taken most of her new clothes, her fake ID, and all the Visa gift cards he’d given her to buy whatever she wanted from the shops downstairs.
She’d refused to use the cards when he first gave them to her, but he’d insisted they sit in her drawer unused in the hopes she’d change her mind. The grand total for all the cards combined was in the ballpark of a few grand.
At least she has some cash. The question was where would she take it?
“I still don’t get how she got past your security unless she had help,” Ethan grumbled, giving him the side-eye.
“Peyton didn’t help her. She knew how much was at stake.”
“And just where is Peyton?” Ethan glanced around as if looking for her, then glowered when she didn’t magically appear.
He did that quite a bit when he was visiting the hotel.
If only Peyton could see something in Ethan and not my idiot brother. Her life would be so much easier.
“Sleeping. She’s been scouring the poker boards for me. She’s was up all night setting up some tracing programs. She’s trying to track Tahlia’s alias.”
Peyton was also monitoring the dark web at his behest, but he knew better than to mention that aloud to the FBI agent. She was trying to dig up anything she could find on Tahlia’s family and their dirty deeds.
A flash of guilt passed over him as he saw Ethan pick up another file. His friend had devoted a lot of hours to this, and he deserved to know everything they were up to. But sometimes the lines they had to cross for the sake of expediency didn’t mesh with Ethan’s narrow point of view. Black or white. That was how the agent’s mind worked.
