Knowing His Secret

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Knowing His Secret Page 10

by KC Falls


  "I assumed you were just baiting me. Surely you know I'm not going to let you take some menial job that is going to run your life and take up all your time."

  "What do you mean 'you're not going to let me'?"

  "Just that. For god's sake, Raina, do you think I'm going to just allow you to float away from me?'

  I was caught between the urge to slap his face for assuming he could dictate my life to me and the desire to have him tell me how he intended to keep me from 'floating away'.

  "What do you suggest I do?"

  He brought his hand under my chin and lifted my face to his. "I suggest that after our final Saturday night performance, we skip the godawful cast party and get on my plane headed…I don't know yet, but somewhere spectacular. After we have fucked each other senseless and are at the brink of a passion induced coma, I suggest that we put our heads together and figure out something you'd like to do with yourself when your legs aren't wrapped around some part of my anatomy."

  When I didn't answer immediately he went on.

  "I assume you won't allow me to just 'keep' you." I shook my head. "I thought not. Marjorie and Donald would disapprove at any rate and that won't do. So that leaves a number of options. You could work for me…"

  "Doing what?" I shook my head again. "I don't think that's a very good option."

  "How about a business? Or a consultancy? Or freelance writing--I'll buy whatever you produce! Or websites. There are endless possibilities."

  "You make it sound easy."

  "It is easy. We'll sort it out on our vacation."

  "You certainly manage to take plenty of vacations."

  "I'm filthy rich and self employed. It's a beautiful thing."

  "Modest, too."

  "Modesty is overrated." He burst into a big grin. "Ah-ha! I've just hit on where we're going to go on vacation."

  "Where?"

  "So you agree that we're going on vacation after the play?'

  "That was a trap."

  "Effective, wasn't it?"

  "Where, Tristan?"

  "Somewhere where modesty is not permitted. Let it be my secret."

  ***

  Tristan went into New York on Sunday night, after the matinee performance wrapped up. Tom had asked for a run through on Wednesday night to refresh the cast before the last Thursday performance but that met with universal thumbs down. All the men were tying up the loose ends of their summer and their minds were switching into 'work mode'. They'd all be using the few days in between the weekend performances to wrap up last minute things they needed to do to close their houses and return to the city as soon as they closed the last play of the season.

  Monday night Mom called to give me an update and let me know that they had decided to return to the city a few days earlier.

  "Your Tristan has been a godsend. For some reason he seems to be the only person your father has met in years who's able to break through that man's pigheadedness."

  "I wouldn't call him 'mine', Mom. But I'm glad he's on our side."

  "His private detective has been up to see us and debriefed us on what he's learned about the men who attacked Don."

  "And?"

  "They're bad business. I wouldn't say your father is scared, because other than the time you girls got lost in Manhattan I've never seen him scared, but he has accepted that this is something he can't just handle with his fists and maybe a wrench."

  "So, what's the plan?"

  "Tristan's man, Kwan--what a nice young fellow--has gotten a couple of his associates who'll be staying with us until we're satisfied that the threat has been 'neutralized' as they put it. I guess that means arrested."

  "That's one thing it means."

  Mom chose to ignore the implications. "Tristan has had a company 'secure' the house in Park Slope. I guess I'll find out what that means when I get home."

  "Well, I've been telling you for years to put bars on the street level windows so I hope that's part of it."

  "I hate bars."

  "So, you feel pretty safe?"

  "Yes and no. All of the fuss has made me realize that this is a serious situation."

  "Better to know rather than have something more or worse happen to Dad."

  "You're right. Without Tristan's help and Mr. Archie we'd be much easier targets."

  I thought it was a good time to bring up my trip with Tristan. "Mom, Tristan and I are going away for a few days after the play closes. Is that okay with you?"

  She laughed. "Since when do you ask my permission to go off somewhere?"

  "Since I found out you are in danger, that's when."

  "You go. There's nothing your presence is going to do to help. In fact, you'll be one less body to worry about."

  "That's what Tristan thinks, too."

  "Where are you going?"

  "It's a secret…but Tristan told me to bring my passport."

  "That sounds exciting."

  "With Tristan, pretty much everything is."

  ***

  The lights at Teterboro airport spread out below us. I was on the second helicopter ride of my life. The thrill hadn't worn off. After we landed a speedy little golf cart dropped us off at Tristan's plane. Once again, I wasn't quite prepared for what awaited me. He told me we were taking his jet, but I hadn't really been expecting to climb stairs into a plane the size of a commercial airliner.

  Tristan had also been very specific about the fact that I was to bring nothing with me other than my passport. Nothing at all.

  "This trip marks a new beginning and I want everything fresh and perfect," he had said. "Will you trust me to see that you're properly taken care of?" When I opened my mouth to protest that it wasn't about trust, he continued. "Tell me you'll take the risk…"

  It wasn't about the clothes or the make-up I would leave behind and he knew it. He knew how vulnerable a woman would feel getting on a plane to an undisclosed location without her things. He wanted that vulnerability handed to him. He was testing me and testing himself against me.

  The plane had a spacious salon, dining area and open kitchen. It was furnished in a sleek, modern design and reminded me a little of a high end recreational vehicle, which I suppose it was. Only this RV was bigger and it flew.

  He gave me the grand tour and I tried very hard not to act like a bedazzled child. Of course I knew it was possible to have a full sized bedroom and a Jacuzzi tub on an aircraft. I just never thought I'd be standing at the foot of a king-sized bed getting ready to take off into the night sky with a man who was literally changing my life in the most dramatic possible way.

  The pilot announced that it was time to take our seats.

  "You mean that even on a private plane like this you have to buckle up?" I asked as we settled into one of the dove gray leather sofas and found the belts.

  "I always want to keep you safe. You know that, don't you? There are so many things that we can't control. So many unknowns. Even a small danger can create a big risk." He tightened the belt low on my hips and I saw a flash of sadness cross his face.

  I took his hand in mine. It was my turn to ask for his trust. "I'll stay safe, Tristan. I won't desert you. Nothing will happen to me. I'll be here…for you."

  The lights in the cabin dimmed and the plane roared up into the star sprinkled sky. As our lips met I knew we were sealing an unspoken bargain that was yet to be truly defined. It was a promise to share something, but the 'something' had soft focused edges. There were still secrets that hid behind fleeting shadowy boundaries of the new born us.

  No matter what the future held for us, Tristan had forever altered what I thought I was capable of feeling about a man, what I was capable of doing with a man. He had changed my world in ways subtle and profound. I didn't know our final destination and perhaps that was a good thing. I thought maybe it was true about the importance of the journey. As the plane reached higher in the sky, I promised myself I was going to enjoy the ride.

  ###

  More From K.C. Falls

&n
bsp; Sign up for my mailing list at K.C Falls.com and receive a FREE book and the first look at new releases that will set your heart on fire and wet your panties (but only in a good way, I promise).

  Year of the Billionaire Series Continues:

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  I was hurtling across the ocean, a mile high, destination unknown. I'd brought a passport and nothing else.

  He seemed determined to make everything in my life brand new. He revealed me, peeling back layer after layer until all that was left was my raw intimate core. Yet, I hardly knew him.

  Crazy is a pretty good word for the kind of uncertainty that comes with a man like Tristan King. I never knew what the day would bring, but I began to expect surprises. That was the biggest problem. Managing my expectations with a man who'd told me I couldn't have any.

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  I underestimated his power and didn't give him nearly enough credit for determination. He had me on his jet again, flying high and wanting him. Consequences be damned.

  Who could be prepared for what he had to say? I wasn't going to hold him to the promise he intended to keep. When he opened the heavy door to his heart we both knew it would change what we had. Trouble is, I still didn't have a word for what it is we had.

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  Two families meet and collide in the heat of Carolina Low Country in this steamy beginning to the Brotherhood of Souls Series. This free book introduces you to their world.

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  Darren and his brothers are fixtures in the lives of Sarah Covington. From the day he rode up her driveway when she was just a girl to the horrible day he left her at eighteen, Darren's marks on Sarah's life filling her coming of age with passion, desire and the frustration that comes from wanting someone you cannot have.

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  A Hero's Love Story

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  I married a man with peculiar taste in whores. I didn't see it coming. I was a shattered survivor. I didn't trust myself or anyone else.

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  Finding myself naked beside him was inevitable. The strength I found there revitalized me. The soul-deep longing he inspired brought me back to life. His penetrating wounds were a gift that only I was allowed to share.

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