by Mallory Fox
He nods and then we’re running right up until we get to the main road.
It’s almost a shame to sit on the premium leather in my damp and dirty clothes but Seth doesn’t seem to care, so I flop back in the bucket seat, head against the curved part, allowing all the emotions I’m feeling to come flooding to the surface. He must have been tracking me in his car to be so close. That explains why he was late. He was probably fucking trying to find a parking space that would accommodate the monster on the country lane.
Breathing in and out, trying to calm my fluttery heart, I let my eyes find my Seth. Dark hair, almost black and messy from the rain, angular jaw, razor-sharp cheekbones, and a divine body partly hidden under that ripped t-shirt…
My Seth.
Everything that he is, is mine. Even his moody bastard flaws.
Suddenly, I’m tired. I glance at Seth who is still in beast mode. “Where are we going?”
“Somewhere safe.”
“Not the chateau?”
He shakes his head. “Not the chateau.”
My eyes grow heavy, so I close them for a moment only to pass out. I wake up only a little while later and Seth is still driving like I love, all fast corners and sexy engine noises.
“We should go back,” I murmur.
His eyes flick to me between watching the road. “You’re awake.”
“Seth, we should go back.”
The muscle in his jaw ticks. Have a sudden urge to lick his jaw and then kiss that beautiful mouth of his. “I heard what you said, and the answer is no,” he says.
Okay, maybe not after he tells me no.
I sigh. “You’re worried about me and I’m fine. But if we leave now, we won’t get what we came for.” After all this, I didn’t get around to bugging Marcel’s office or secretly taping him so we could use it to expose him. All I did was get harassed and shot at.
“Pearl, there are other ways.”
“You know as well as I do there aren’t. The cabin might still be empty.”
He swears, baby blue piercing into me as he looks my way. “I’m not taking you back there. No discussion.”
I don’t mention that he fucked off and left me this morning. He messed up and this is how he reacts. I get it.
I give my Seth a soft smile and close my eyes to sleep.
Chapter 21
Pearl
I wake up to the noise of blaring traffic and of honking horns. We’re on a large main road with a huge arch-shaped monument. It’s the Arc de Triomphe. Seth has driven us all the way to bloody Paris.
I sit up and stare out the window. “Why are we in Paris?”
Seth, as though coming out of a day dream, blinks his hooded eyes, bloodshot and dark-circled, and shoots me a look. “You’re awake, finally. I was beginning to think I’d lost you for the night.”
“You didn’t answer my question,” I say, stifling a yawn.
“We both have friends in Paris.”
That half satisfies my answer. “Which friend are we going to impose on?”
The muscles in his jaw twitch. “The one Marcel would think twice about crossing.” He means Levi. The Baudelaires are probably the only family the Montfords would be respectful of on French soil.
“That must seriously piss you off.”
He yawns too. “Like you wouldn’t fucking believe.”
It’s close to midnight when we finally pull up outside Levi’s hotel. The fact that Seth has driven six hours, all the way from the south of France, is not lost in me. I catch myself staring at him as he parks up in the underground carpark. He looks like he might drop dead at any moment.
“Seth, I’m covered in blood, I can’t go in like this.”
He gives me a look that I haven’t seen for a while. A soft, adoring look that makes me melt inside. “I called ahead. They’ve opened the service elevator for us. We’re good.”
Twenty minutes later, the service elevator opens on the penthouse floor. There’s only one door. Seth types in a code on the keypad and it opens. Thankfully, the suite is empty of any staff. Usually these places have a butler waiting as soon you walk inside. Levi must have known we’d want some privacy and told them not to bother us. Good mafia prince.
The decor is typical Parisian modern with a distressed look about everything, which I don’t hate. It just reminds me of the chateau a little too much. As soon as we’re inside, I check in each room in case there’s a bad guy lurking, and then collapse on the couch. I must have passed out because the next thing I know there’s the sound of water running.
Seth must be having a shower.
Fuck. I want one.
There are two bathrooms, but the one Seth is hogging has the huge walk-in rainforest shower. I know which one I want. I wait at first, but ten minutes later I’m feeling antsy. I pause outside the bathroom, listen and then knock. He doesn’t answer. I try again. Nothing.
Tentatively, I open the door and step inside. Hot steam slides over my skin, warming me to the bone, making me sigh. Through the steamy glass is Seth, gloriously naked, with one hand on the wall and his head under the cascade of water allowing it to run all down his taut body. My mouth dries and my insides tense, making my toes curl at the sight of him. Fuck it. I’m done waiting, holding back. I’ve no idea what I’m waiting for anymore.
I strip off and open the shower door, allowing the hot fog to escape. He looks up, brow furrowed, intense blue eyes taking me all in.
“Are you going to use that?” I indicate to the soap.
“Pearl? What are you doing?” he croaks, seemingly in pain.
I roll my eyes. “You were taking so fucking long. Soap?”
He offers me the soap and steps back to allow me under the shower, never taking his eyes off me.
Instantly, the hot water is like magic on my skin, sending waves of contentment running through me. I spend time getting the blood and grime out of my fingernails, and the pieces of branch that have somehow got caught in my hair. I’m just lathering up for a second round when I catch Seth still staring, his cock rock hard and standing to attention.
Needing my attention.
I smirk and bite my lower lip. “You’re so fucking predicable.”
He shakes his head. “And so are you. You couldn’t have waited?”
“I was so done with waiting.” I run my eyes over his body. “And it’s not like I haven’t seen it all before.”
He comes up close until he’s under the water with me. “What if I’m done with waiting?”
“Meaning?” I say breathlessly, knowing exactly what he means. I want him to say it.
“I claimed you in the woods. You’re mine now.” His voice is baritone honey to my ears.
He bends down and shows me just what claiming me means, with his mouth, all slick and hot as his tongue darts inside. The taste of the water running over us and Seth on my lips has me moaning. I gasp as his hands slide over my wet body, pinching my nipples, teasing the ache building between my thighs.
Taking the slick, wet, hard length of him in my palm, I squeeze it, making him groan into my mouth. He breaks the kiss. “Fuck, Pearl, you don’t know how long I’ve wanted this for.”
I’ve wanted this for a long time too. Longer. I just never knew how much until now.
I moan again and he shoves me up against shower wall, kissing me until I can’t breathe. Instinctively, I wrap my arms around his neck and bury my face on his shoulder as he picks me up. The feel him pressing against me, hard and hot and so ready, has me melting into him. How easy would it be to let Seth fuck me until morning? Will it take all the pain and all the heartache out of me? I wonder…
I plant kisses on his neck, breathing in the smell of his skin. “What do you mean I’m yours? Why did Marcel call me your wife?”
“It means you can’t stop me doing this.” He whispers in my ear, pushing the tip of himself in between my legs and holding there, making me squirm. “You’re my prize and I’m going to fucking claim you. Do you have a problem with t
hat, princess?”
Panting, I breathe out a “No.”
“Good, because I’m not stopping.”
I brace myself as he eases himself all the way in, making my toes curl and my stomach tense. The feel of him buried deep, his body all over mine, has my soul on fire. Then, he fucks me, hard. He takes me mercilessly. As pleasure overtakes my entire being, as my core shakes, and every part of me feels like it’s being stroked back to life. The hurt, the heartache, even the loneliness. It all fades away.
I breath him in and he smells like divine, like my Seth. I bite his shoulder and moan louder, every nerve in tingling, every sensation heaven. The water running drowns out the sound of Seth claiming me, over and over. Until we both come, gasping under a rainfall of hot spray.
He nips me, bruising my neck with his teeth. “We should move to the bedroom.”
So we do, and he claims me in the hallway and in the bedroom too, until there’s no more energy between us to do anything else but lie there each other’s arms, all tangled in the sheets.
There’s a warm glow over me and I don’t want to move. I want to stay like this, curled up into his taut body, safe, protected, forever. I’ve no idea what Seth means about me being his wife, but if this is what it’s going to be like every day… sign me up.
I breath him in and snuggle closer and he moves his arms to pull me deeper into his embrace. This. This is what I’ve been waiting for. Having Seth so close that I can hear the thud of his heartbeat and study the planes of his body to my heart’s content, is what my body has been craving. And the smell of his skin on mine, without his preppy cologne, fills me with peace.
Lazily, I trace my fingers over his tattoos, until I get to his scars. Memories, not good ones, come flooding back. I’m not actually his wife. At that, pain claws my throat. I promised myself I wouldn’t sleep with him again after what he did. And look at what I did.
I let out a sigh and turn so I can see his face as I lie on his chest, his arm around me. I know he’s not asleep because he’s awfully still.
And I’m right when he blinks and looks at me. His dark hair is still damp, so it looks darker and silkier that it usually is, making his blue eyes intense and mesmerizing in the low light. “My lawyers are going to propose a settlement. I think you’ll find it acceptable.”
I look at him blankly. Why do men bloody ruin things by talking about business when you’re thinking about hearts and puppies? “Okay, so you’re not suing me anymore?”
His eyes are still all soft though. “Not if you agree with the terms.”
“Okay,” I say, nodding slowly.
We lie in silence for a while longer.
Until he shifts, looking at me intensely again.
“What?” I say, feeling a trickle of unease. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
His brow furrows, eyes peering into my soul, as though trying to work me out. “When were you going to tell me?”
Immediately, I’m on edge, my heart racing like crazy in my chest. “Tell you what?”
His frown deepens. “Don’t be coy with me. You know what I’m talking about.”
The open wound of my heart aches and my shoulders tense. I open my mouth and then close it again. How on earth do I say this?
I don’t have to. Seth says it for me. “She’s mine, isn’t she?”
I move my head, nodding, moisture pricking at the backs of eyes at the pain flashing across his face.
His arm around me loosens as he looks away, brow still knitted. He stares into space for a few moments. When he finally returns his gaze to me, there’s that hard edge to it again. “Fuck, Pearl. What the fuck were you thinking?”
Fuck. I’m sorry.
Trying to breathe, I swallow over the pain in my chest and blink back the emotions threatening to spill out. “They told me not tell anyone she was yours. That you’d go down for rape if it ever came out and that the scandal would destroy the company.”
“And you fucking believed them?” he says, his voice harsher than I’ve heard it in a long time.
More heart-ripping pain.
“I don’t know. I was so lost, I just… I’m sorry.” All I ever do is say sorry. I tuck my hands into my chest as though I can hold the hurt in, unable to speak further. A sob tears through me but I squash it down and focus on just breathing. We stay like that for the longest while, neither of us talking.
Eventually, I feel the bed shift and his arms tighten over me again. Cautiously, I glance up, eyes glassy. Seth stares at me, body relaxing little by little, getting closer to mine. “I would like to get to know her. If that’s okay with you. Not right now, but soon.”
“Maybe when this is over?” I say, tentatively.
He runs a hand through his hair, nodding. “Not right now. With everything happening with Marcel right now. I don’t want her involved in this in any way.”
“That’s for the best,” I say, agreeing with him.
“It’s actually a blessing you kept her hidden or she’d be a target right now.”
Shit. “That’s not entirely true,” I say wincing.
His whole body stiffens again. “What do you mean by that?”
“Romain, he was at my house. Grams saw him and Sophie said a boy with blue hair played house with her,” I choke out.
“What the hell, Pearl?” He positions himself up on his elbows, moving his arm from around me. His eyes blazing. “And you didn’t tell this me this because?”
“Because I didn’t think you cared,” I snap, hugging the pillow instead.
“Why didn’t you think—” he exclaims, then suddenly stops, dragging a hand over his face. “Fuck… Nevermind. You have someone there, right? Watching her?” he says in a more level tone.
“Yes, Levi found someone for me.”
He nods his approval, lying back down next to me. “We’re going to owe that bastard a lot after this.”
I like the way he says we. Not you or me. We. “You mean Levi?”
“Who else? We have lunch with him tomorrow. I’ve no idea why but he wants to talk to you about Knife’s Edge. I’m not letting you out of my sight, so I’m going with you.”
Damn. I’d forgotten all about my college end of winter term project. The chancellor had agreed to let me move it over to this semester since I never got around to hosting before Christmas with the suspension happening. It’s the last thing I need right now.
“Where are we meeting him? Is he coming here?”
“Not here, Levi is going to send us his location in the morning. We have to be ready by then. We also have to get married.”
I’ve no idea if I’m hearing this right. “What?”
“Just a fake marriage. Marcel thinks we’re married. Levi is going to get us documentation to prove the ceremony took place a few weeks back. Marcel thought he was getting one up on me by killing Sully, the poor bastard.”
I’m not sure if I should be annoyed or relieved at his words. So I say nothing, continuing to hug my pillow.
Eventually, my eyes flit to his. “Fine, as long as I can choose the ring.”
Hours later, when Seth is snoring like a train and I can’t sleep a wink, I find my phone in the living room and curl up on the sofa with it. The concierge had delivered a spare charger to me, so I now have full battery again. I send Grams and Eleanor a message first and check the group chat with the girls second. Gabby is still in the south of Italy with her fiancé and Flick has made things up with Charlie. I’ve no idea how long that’s going to last.
Then I check my emails. There’s one from my lawyer and true to Seth’s word he’s sent over a proposal. I open the attached word document and read it carefully. When I get to the end of the page, I’m so shocked I have to reread the entire thing. Fully alert now, feeling the throb of my own heartbeat, I type out some long overdue emails to my Uncle Benji explaining the situation and asking for his help this one last time.
It’s about time I told him about his niece, after all.
Chap
ter 22
Seth
I’m usually a fan of the Louvre but not today. Levi, as I knew he would be, is a complete bastard. I had to grit my teeth while he hugged and kissed my wife a little too intimately when we first arrived. Now we’re sitting facing the glass pyramid on one of the external balconies while he talks about our debt to him.
The fucker wants a share of Darlington, just like I knew he would. Pearl keeps kicking me under the table whenever I bristle or say the wrong fucking thing. Halfway through she sent me text telling me to shut the fuck up, so that’s what I’m doing. Because if I say something else it’s going to be a threat. Dealing with Levi is better when Pearl isn’t around because I can’t stand the way he looks at her.
I’m doing this for her, and for Sophia. If Baudelaire wants everything I own to help me keep her and my daughter safe, he can have it.
Daughter. That’s going to take some getting used to.
It ruins me that I can’t do all of this for Pearl myself, that I have to beg protection from someone else. But like I said. I’ll do anything.
Pearl flashes Levi a heart-stopping smile. “We can certainly discuss that. Have your lawyers send a terms sheet over.” She’s wearing a black shift dress that the staff at the hotel obtained for us at some department store and I’m wearing an off-the-rack black suit. Compared to Levi’s tailored three-piece, peacock blue, I look like a fucking funeral director, but whatever. There was a time I worried about presentation and wouldn’t be caught dead wearing anything but Saville Row. That was before Blackheath beat it out of me
“Ma chérie, of course. Anything for you.” Fuck. He’s a smooth bastard, that’s for sure.
“Thank you, Levi, we appreciate everything you’ve done.” As she speaks, she tosses her mane of hair and licks her lips. Just watching her is making dick twitch in my pants. I have a memory of last night, running my fingers through her wet tresses and pressing my mouth to her sweet lips, fucking her hard enough to make her cry out.
I’m going to take her again tonight, and every night after that. This marriage may be fake but fuck it… I wanted her the first moment I saw her, and she became mine as soon as she signed her name on that contract all those years ago.
