I don’t know if she has one or many, but I’m in awe as this woman simply gives in to her pleasure. She’s breathing quickly, and her pussy clenches and unclenches, holding me as my orgasm surges.
I’ve never had sex like this before. I’ve never felt so in tune to the needs of my partner. We’ve synced our desires perfectly. I fall forward against her, and she wraps her arms around me and holds me close, the wetness between us a symbol of our enjoyment. I collapse beside her and lie gasping.
“That was amazing, Jonnie,” she whispers. “Thank you.”
I grunt in reply, unable to form words. I’m exhausted and spent.
She strokes my back and runs her nails over me, causing me to shudder.
There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for this woman. We have to find a way.
Chapter 20
Jonathan
“You’re amazing,” I gasp between breaths.
“We’re even better than I remember,” Maggie says shyly.
I chuckle. “We need to do this more often.”
“When are you going back to Las Vegas?” she asks after a moment.
“In the morning. You should come with me. I have plenty of room in my apartment, and I’d love to do a lot more of this.”
She stiffens. “I have meetings with a board member of Brighter Future, and I suspect I’ll need to meet with my lawyer again. I can’t leave San Francisco.”
I’m disappointed, but I worry if I push too hard, she’ll run away, and I want her to be assured I’m here for her.
“Okay. But this was a lot of fun,” I offer as I caress her arm.
“Let’s not worry about tomorrow quite yet…”
Barely able to complete her thought, she falls asleep in my arms. We’re supposed to be together—this only proves it.
Christopher told me he and Bella would meet us in the morning. And even when her work is done in San Francisco, Maggie can’t return to Minnesota. Not with everything going on. Maybe with their help, I’ll be able to convince her to come to Las Vegas.
It would be wonderful to have her with me. I’ve loved her since we were kids, and now that I can tell she feels the same, I’m impatient. I’ve waited long enough.
If we can just sort out this current mess, surely we can find our way to the future. I think of parties with her beautiful body by my side—and naked in private. I think of the time we could spend together—not all of it naked. There are so many fun things we could do together and enjoy. I finally fall asleep, dreaming of what I hope is to come.
******
I smell coffee before I open my eyes. The bed is cold. I roll over, and I’m alone. So much for my morning wood.
I pull on pants and a shirt and head downstairs. I hear Maggie laugh, and it occurs to me that I don’t hear that nearly enough. Then Christopher and Bella laugh. I realize I’m not sure what time it is.
Following the noise, I find my way to the kitchen where Maggie and Christopher are listening to Bella tell an animated story. I hang back a moment and take it all in. Bella’s arms are flailing as she talks a mile a minute.
In this moment, Maggie is almost the same girl I remember from my childhood—carefree, bright smile, and joy emanating from every part of her.
Bella sees me, and our eyes lock. “Hey! There he is,” she announces.
I walk in and join them.
Christopher pours me a cup of coffee. “Did you get any sleep last night?”
Maggie turns scarlet and looks away.
“I slept better than I have in months,” I tell them.
Bella gives Christopher a death-ray stare as he’s about to quip something, and instead he closes his mouth.
“What’s for breakfast?” I ask.
“I made huevos rancheros,” Bella says.
“Sounds delicious.” I take my seat next to Maggie and kiss her temple.
She gazes up at me and gives me the doe eyes I saw last night. We really did connect. I hope that means progress. I want her to understand what she means to me, that I’m here for her as she finds her way through this.
Bella serves up heaping plates of corn tortillas covered with her grandmother’s refried beans, two eggs sunny side up, cheese, homemade salsa, and sliced avocado. I didn’t realize I was hungry until the mix of spices permeates my brain.
I take a bite and moan my appreciation. “What are you doing toiling away at some startup? You should be sharing your cooking talents with the world.”
She shakes her head. “I can only make three things.”
“She’s an amazing cook. Don’t believe her.” Christopher smiles at her adoringly.
“How do you keep your figure with these meals? I’d weigh three hundred pounds,” Maggie says. “This is amazing.”
We hardly talk as we devour our breakfast. I have a second helping and struggle to finish.
Pushing back from the table, I groan as I enter a food coma. “That was delicious.”
“When’s your flight?” Christopher asks.
“I told them we should aim for ten, but we’ll leave when I get there.” I look around at the group and add, “I think Maggie should come with me, but she doesn’t want to. She’d be safe with me. Her team can join us, and she could be in seclusion without anyone knowing where she is until we find a clear path forward. What do you guys think?”
Christopher turns to Maggie. “I could see how that might work. Why do you believe going to Las Vegas is a bad idea?”
“Well, for starters, I’m supposed to meet with Emerson Healy and Caroline Arnault here.”
“What’s the meeting about?” he asks.
Maggie shrugs. “Foundation stuff.”
He raises his eyebrows and waits for her to continue.
“We’re brainstorming ideas on how to manage mentors and funding for rural areas when we expand Operation Happy Holiday,” she says with a dramatic eye roll.
“Kate is busy rolling out to sixty inner city locations this year,” Christopher stresses.
“It’s actually sixty inner city school districts,” Maggie corrects.
“But are you doing any rural locations in this phase?” he presses.
“No, that’s phase three,” she mutters, not looking at any of us.
“So it isn’t urgent?” he asks.
“Christopher! Please don’t discount my work. And besides, a meeting with Caroline Arnault doesn’t happen every day.”
“Maggie, trust me. I get it, and I’m not discounting anything, but your access to Caroline is not going anywhere. Right now you’ve piqued the interest of an organized crime group, so it might behoove us to put you into hiding until we can figure this out.”
She shakes her head. “I’m not going into hiding. They win that way.”
I can almost see the steam coming from Christopher’s ears. No one has ever been able to get him angry like this in all the years I’ve known him except for Maggie—or maybe his mother. Normally I’d find it hysterical, but now I’m right there with him.
I reach for Maggie’s hand as a show of support. I’ve said all I can say. Now it’s up to them.
“Maggie, you’ve been managing all of this by yourself for some time,” Bella says. “I’m sure it feels like you’re all alone, but please reconsider. Let these people help you.”
“I am committed to doing what I need to do to keep the family company intact, but I have control over almost nothing in my life at this point—nothing! I’m tired of sacrificing everything and having everyone else make choices for me.” Maggie breaks down in tears.
We rush to comfort her.
“We just want you to be safe,” I implore. “And we’re going to get you back in charge of your life. You told me you hired the best attorney in San Francisco to help, along with Clear Security, and those are fantastic choices. But let’s not race back to the Twin Cities where you don’t have any cover. With me, you can hide in my apartment while we figure out what’s actually happening, and what we’re going to do about it.”
<
br /> She looks less certain, and her tears have slowed. I think we’re making some headway with her.
“We can fly you in under the radar, and you can stay there with Jim’s team close by while we let Marci do her job,” I add.
Maggie starts crying again. She’s scared, and I know she’s also overwhelmed.
I pull her in close and hold her while she weeps. Christopher and Bella move in, and soon she’s getting a hug from all sides.
“We’re going to get through this, I promise,” Christopher says.
When the tears stop, we give her some room and she takes a deep breath. She bites her lip and twists the ring on her right hand as she visibly weighs everything we’ve said.
“I guess I can go to Vegas,” she finally says. “But I have to cancel my lunch with Emerson and Caroline.”
“Excellent, and I already have a plan,” I inform the group. I take a few minutes to walk them through my thoughts, and in the end, everyone agrees.
“You know, if you were to become a criminal, you’d never go to jail. You’re way too slick.” Maggie says.
I grin. “How do you think I got my hotel built on prime Las Vegas property in the middle of the Strip?”
Maggie shakes her head. She’s wearing mascara streaks and a smile, and she looks beautiful.
“Well, let’s hope your approach works in this situation,” Bella says.
“It has to,” I say, squeezing Maggie’s hand.
******
A little while later, Maggie and I have packed our things, and Jim and his team arrive with six black Suburbans, lining them up at the curb. It’s time to implement the first phase of my plan: getting Maggie to the airport unnoticed.
In less than a minute, the four of us each take a seat in a different vehicle. As we pull away, it becomes a giant game of three-card monty. The cars all appear identical, with the only difference being a number in the middle of the license plate.
We traverse the city in various ways, moving around and switching positions. The dark windows make it difficult to discern who might be inside any of the cars. When Maggie’s car gets on the highway to drive to the airport, the other five cars are left continuing down the street. Eventually most of them also enter the highway, but they get off at different exits and move around.
The shell game hopefully made it difficult to determine where we were headed, and we should have thrown off any tails. In the end, Christopher’s car goes to his office. One of the cars goes to Jim’s office. Bella goes across the Bay Bridge to Berkeley. One of the cars heads over the Golden Gate, and the cars carrying Maggie and me head down the peninsula on different highways, each making its way to the private airport entrance.
Maggie will arrive first at the airport. She’s wearing a bright red wool coat and has a green hat. The plan is for her to exit the car without the hat and look around as if she’s searching for me. Then she’ll put the hat on and walk up the stairs to the plane to wait.
When my car arrives, I don’t see her anywhere, so I bound up the stairs to the plane. We’ve registered the flight plan to drop me in Vegas and then go on to Minneapolis. When I arrive, Amanda, one of my staff members from the hotel with a similar build and hair color to Maggie has flown in with the plane and crew. She’s significantly older than Maggie, but they shouldn’t notice that. Maggie gives her the red coat and green hat, and she lifts it onto her shoulders.
“Amanda, you’ll have a bodyguard with you. You have nothing to worry about. Enjoy a few days in San Francisco on me.”
She cinches the belt of the coat, kisses me on the cheek, and hugs Maggie. “Whatever you two kids are up to, have fun and be safe. I’m going to go see my son.” She puts the hat on and walks down the stairs to the waiting car.
“I hope this works,” Maggie says.
We settle into our seats, and the flight to McCarren Airport in Las Vegas is short. Maggie bounces her foot the whole time, crossing and uncrossing her legs. Her brow furrows as she stares out the window of the plane.
“We’re going to be fine,” I assure her.
She nods. “I know. I just don’t flake out on people, and I hate doing that to everyone back in San Francisco.”
“You have the burner phone we picked up, don’t you?”
“Yes, my phone is at Christopher’s, as if I never left, and it will forward calls to this number.”
“We’ve got this.” I hold her hand tightly. “Christopher will let everyone know you can’t make your meetings. I’m sure they’ll understand.”
“I just hate being the center of attention, I guess.”
I kiss her on the forehead, and the plane begins its descent.
Once we land, we deplane in our hangar, and the plane is on the ground for less than five minutes before it takes off again for Minneapolis. The car waiting drives Maggie and me to my hotel and into the parking garage. I take Maggie up to my apartment via the back stairs, where there are no cameras, and get her settled.
I give her a quick tour and put her things in my bedroom. If she isn’t comfortable with that, we can talk about it, but I’ve waited too long for her to be in my apartment to have her in the guest room and not next to me.
“I’m going to check on how things went while I was away,” I tell her. “Unpack. Get comfortable. Zack is remaining for a few days until my team gets onboard.”
“Thank you.” Maggie stands at the windows overlooking the desert with her arms wrapped around herself.
I gather her in my arms. “We’re going to get through this together.”
She gives me a half-smile. I tilt her head, and our lips meet. Our kiss is hot, aggressive, and full of need.
“I promise I won’t be gone long.”
It takes all my will power to leave. But if I don’t, they’ll interrupt me all afternoon. Closing the door behind me, I step into the elevator that will take me to the lobby with Caden on my heels.
“You’re back,” Connie, our head concierge, greets me as I step out.
“I am.”
Crowds wander the hotel, and the foot traffic is busy but not overwhelming. It’s typical mid-week, mid-day chaos.
“Anything exciting happen in the twenty hours I was gone?”
“Travis will have a report for you,” she says.
I stare at her. “That bad?”
She shrugs. “Something’s going on, but he knows more than I do.”
I nod and walk the long way through the casino to the security team’s nest and Travis’s office. He’s waiting for me when I enter.
“How bad was it?” I ask, not sure I really want the answer.
“We had another issue with Queen Diva.”
My heart stops. “What the fuck? What happened this time?”
He laughs. “Actually this time it was her. One of her shoes—you know the ones with the Swarovski crystals?”
I nod slowly. Those shoes are worth more than some people make in a year, and I do not want to hear they’re missing.
“Mark Butler was in her room the entire show,” Travis continues. “She wears them for the opening and the closing.”
I nod.
“She removed the shoes after the first act. And throughout the show, everything went well. There was a VIP birthday, and she sang to them. But then she ran back to put on her shoes, and her fitters couldn’t find them.”
My pulse quickens.
“They were in a panic. She was upset that she had to do the last act in a clear pump—whatever that means.” Travis rolls his eyes. “She does three encores before Frankie stops it and has the house lights go up. By this time, they’ve called me and Detective Kincaid.”
Now Travis seems to be fighting a laugh, and there’s a giant smirk on his face.
“We arrived within seconds of one another. I had the footage of the evening coming to my phone as soon as it was ready. I figured I’d be calling you to tell you she’s breaking her contract. Then Frankie sits down hard on the couch, and Kincaid notices it moves.”
> I’m waiting for the punch line, and my palms begin to sweat. I’m not sure if I’m going to vomit, shit my pants, or both.
“Kincaid asks Frankie to stand, and of course, he puts up a fight and doesn’t do it. But when Queen Diva screams at him, he does. We move the couch back to where it was earlier in the evening, and there are her shoes.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.” A wave of relief settles over me. “What else was under the couch?”
“Not what we were hoping for—no dresses or ring. We did find a condom wrapper, which we covered pretty quickly, although I’m positive Queen saw it.”
My sense of relief dissipates, and I stare up at the ceiling. Trouble between Queen Diva and Frankie could spell disaster for us.
“Well, it might not be Frankie’s,” I offer.
“Yeah, right.”
“At least that’s some positive news,” I try to rationalize. “What about the rest of last night?”
Travis shrugs. “Typical weeknight. LVPD was here for a drunk and disorderly and for two shoplifting events on The Boardwalk.”
He glances at the monitors on the wall. “How is your friend doing?”
“You’ve talked to Jim at Clear Security?”
He nods. “I have facial recognition software running on all the people in the hotel at all times. We’re looking for members and anyone else associated with the Kryetar.”
“No one should know she’s in the hotel,” I warn.
“I get it. Those are some nasty guys.”
I nod. “I’m already wishing all we were dealing with was drunks, gamblers, and a few missing expensive dresses.”
Chapter 21
Maggie
I take in the vastness of the apartment for a little while after Jonnie leaves. I wish he could just hole up in here with me, but I focus on being grateful for what I have. At least I’m here at all.
House of Cards (Tech Billionaires) Page 17
