“When’s the wedding?” Emilia asked.
“We’re not doing anything fancy. Just something for the family and close friends, like Heath. I’d love to do something on the beach. But we don’t have a date yet because…” Her voice died out when it shook with emotion.
Peter took her hand. “We’re waiting until Mia’s scan comes back negative. We’ll figure out everything out then.”
Kim let out a long breath and smiled at her daughter. Emilia hugged her again and reassured her that that would be soon. God, I hoped so.
Not too long after, we saw them to the door, hugged them and congratulated them again. I was envious of their uncomplicated happiness. But it wasn’t like they didn’t deserve it. Peter’s wife had left him when his kids were still young and he’d had to raise them—and then me, later on—by himself. Kim had had her heart broken at a very young age by a worthless cheater and hadn’t found someone to share her life with until now. I did wish them happiness, and I was certain I’d get over the ick factor, hopefully soon.
Once the door clicked closed and they were walking back across the island to their car, I turned back to Emilia, who was looking at me with a crooked smile on her face. I took a deep breath and smiled back.
She moved up to me somewhat slowly, awkwardly and put her arms around my neck. To avoid that always-tense moment with that question of “will we or won’t we kiss?” I kissed her forehead and she blew out a sigh. I didn’t trust myself to kiss her on the mouth again. Not after last time, when I’d almost been sucked into forgetting that we were still trying to take it slow.
“So, um….can I ask you something?”
“Yeah, sure. Anything,” I answered.
“Aren’t you a little…um….grossed out by that?” she said, making a face.
I exhaled in relief. “Totally.”
She shuddered for a minute. “Um. Like, are you and I going to be cousins now?”
I shook my head. “Let’s not talk about it.”
“It’s like…I had to jump out of that chair and hug her right away and not let myself think about it, but the whole time I was congratulating them, my brain was shouting, ‘No! Ewwww!’”
We laughed and went to watch TV. She sat snuggled next to me in my recliner, her head on my shoulder. She smelled so amazing that I got a little bit of a high from the scent of her skin. I rested my hand on her waist, willed it to stay put. Fortunately I was so exhausted, I didn’t have to remind myself too many times to keep my hands off of her.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Mia
Two weeks later, the night before Adam’s twenty-seventh birthday, he got a car and driver for our first romantic night out in months. I would have liked to have been with him on the night of his birthday but he cited an unavoidable event that would be taking him out of town for the next week. To be honest, I was nervous to be without him, but he gave me no details.
Strangely, we drove up to Los Angeles for dinner. We rarely ventured up into the City of Angels. Most residents of Orange County acted like they had a phobia of Los Angeles, which, I’ll admit, was kind of silly. But everyone claimed to have the best of Southern California in their backyard, so LA became a necessary evil for things like transportation or big shows or the museums that just didn’t quite cut it down south.
I dressed in a classic little black dress with a matching flapper-style hat, thanks to Sonia the shopper’s impeccable taste. Adam had threatened to take me out for dancing—presumably the tango—afterward, so I almost, almost donned a wig. I owned two—one of them with bright purple hair, much to Adam’s dismay—but had never worn them for more than five minutes in the house before pulling them off in frustration. It felt fake to wear one and I knew that was a silly feeling, but it was there nonetheless.
The dress was short, showing off my now too-skinny legs, and had a high neckline—a requirement of my clothing these days. I never showed any cleavage at all, nor anything that drew attention to my chest. I was only worthy of dressing like a granny now. My body was no longer something to show off, to be proud of. It was a secret shame to shroud under layers of clothing.
Adam was as gorgeous as ever, wearing a dark blue evening suit with matching tie against a crème-colored shirt. I loved when he wore dark colors. It suited him, with his glossy black hair and dark eyes. It added to his alluring mystique. I used to feel beautiful beside him, like we complemented each other. We’d turned heads and I knew we were an unusually good-looking couple. But now it felt wonky, uneven. Like a teeter-totter overly weighted on one side so that it couldn’t move. He was stunningly handsome and I was a faded, insignificant, too-thin and sick-looking hanger-on at his side. We no longer looked like we belonged together. Quite possibly because in reality we didn’t.
I tried to push those thoughts aside as we slipped into the Beverly Hills restaurant together. As usual, Adam attracted a lot of female notice, which he either was unaware of or completely ignored for my sake. We had a quiet meal at the back and I was proud that I was feeling so much better that I ate a normal amount of food and kept it down without one bit of nausea.
Someway, somehow, my body knew that it wasn’t going to get any more poison and it was bouncing back. Reduced white blood cell count or no, I was starting, more than ever, to feel somewhat normal. Except for my faded looks.
But no matter. I was feeling good and Adam was ridiculously yummy all dressed up for his night on the town. I was going to try again and put the moves on him. He couldn’t hold out forever.
“Is it dancing?” I asked, when he wouldn’t tell me what he had planned for after dinner.
“Nope.” His dark eyes twinkled with mischief in the low light.
“Is it something on my bucket list?”
He smiled, my favorite dimple appearing just below his mouth. Sometimes when he did that, it stole my breath. “It might be.”
“You’re annoying,” I said, folding my arms with mock irritation. “It’s your birthday. I’m the one who is supposed to be surprising you.”
“Well, you know…control freaks don’t take surprises very well.”
My smile faltered for a moment and there was a long pause before the waiter showed up and Adam made a point of telling him that we didn’t need to order dessert.
Then he turned back to me. “Don’t worry…this is something I’m going to enjoy, too. It will be your gift to me.” He winked.
My hopes were soaring high when we slipped back into the town car, especially when Adam hit the button to raise the partition between the driver and us. I’d never listed limo sex specifically on the now-infamous bucket list but maybe he’d decided to substitute that for the apparently awkward sixty-nine?
He bent to kiss me and my heartbeat raced. It was a light, affectionate kiss. It was playful and there was something in his eyes that corroborated that feeling. A spark, a twinkle. It wasn’t his usual look of passion or lust but I’d take it. I was beginning to regret that I’d worn panties under my dress but figured he’d resolve that situation easily enough with one of his famous panty-shredding maneuvers. My mouth went dry at the thought of it.
Then he reached into the seat pocket in front of him and pulled out a scrap of black silk.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“You’ll see,” he replied. Turning in one quick move, he slipped it over my head. A blindfold.
Oh, so we were going to get kinky? I sat up straight.
“I’m getting excited now,” I said, reaching for him.
He pressed another long, lingering kiss on my mouth. “You should be,” he whispered darkly and I shivered with anticipation.
The thought of his hands, his mouth on me made my entire body come to life, flushing with heat. Limo sex. Hmmm. When I got home I’d quickly add this one to my bucket list and then just as merrily tick it off. The first time we’d be together in over four months. Oh yes, I was hotly anticipating it.
The next thing I knew, he slipped headphones on me. Big heavy ones. The k
ind that canceled out the noise outside. He lifted one of them and said, “I’m going to put some music on right now. No peeking until we get there.”
“Get where?”
He laughed. “Nice try.” The next thing I knew, I was being treated to the sounds of the eighties from Adam’s playlist. “Sweet Dreams” by Eurythmics.
I sat back with a sigh and concentrated on the motions of the car. Adam didn’t touch me. So much for the limo sex. I quietly hoped he had something even more exciting in mind. After getting my heart set on him and me together in the back of the car as it drove down the long stretch of Wilshire Boulevard, anything else was going to be a letdown.
A half hour later, the car was slowing, turning and parking. Adam’s hand closed around mine and tugged me toward the car door as I felt him rise and get out. Like a wobbly newborn giraffe, I did the same and he steadied me against him. I raised my hand almost automatically to the blindfold but he pulled it away, planting a kiss on my forehead. He wrapped a solid arm around my waist and pulled me along beside him. I tried to concentrate on any sounds that might escape the relentless beat of the Pet Shop Boys.
We walked on concrete and it was really windy. My skirt blew up before Adam folded his coat around my shoulders. After a few hundred yards of walking, we made it to a set of stairs. I tentatively lifted my foot to rest on the first step—textured metal to make it nonslip—but almost stumbled. Adam then lifted me and carried me up the rest of the way. I clamped my arms around his neck and we entered a building at the top of the stairs. When he put me back on my feet, I held a hand out to steady myself, landing on an upholstered wall.
Where the fuck were we, and why had it been necessary to blindfold me and muffle all the noise around me? Soon Adam was nudging me into a chair and settling beside me. It was wide and comfortable, like a couch, and the floor rumbled beneath us. My mind sifted through the possibilities.
Adam reached out for his music player, which hung around my neck, and turned down the volume.
“Do you know where you are?” he asked.
“Um. An airplane?”
He pulled off the earphones. “Good. Take off the blindfold.”
I did and looked around. This was not like any airplane I’d ever been on before. It was a private jet and it was about to take off—very soon, if the rumble under the floor meant anything. The area where we sat had couches and lounge chairs grouped so that they were facing each other. The seats were comfortable, leather, padded, but they still came with seat belts. Wherever we were going, we would be traveling in style.
“A private jet? I thought you didn’t use these on principle.”
He grinned. “This is an exception.”
I twisted my mouth. “So you weren’t lying when you said you’d be out of town on your birthday. You just didn’t inform me that I would be out of town, too. How typically you.” I stuck my tongue out. It only seemed to increase his pleasure. “Where are we going?”
“You think after all the trouble I went through to get you on this plane blindfolded that I’m going to tell you that easily?”
“How long will we be flying, then?” I said, glancing behind us. I could see a sitting room and a bedroom through the doorway. A dim light emanated from the bedroom, with a bed all made up and looking as luxurious as any fine hotel room.
“We’ll be flying through the night.”
Holy crap. Then we were going far. Either the East Coast or even farther, Europe. Or maybe we were going the other way and headed to Hawaii? Or maybe we were headed back to St. Lucia, I thought with a sudden thrill. Wonderful things had happened between us in St. Lucia. I couldn’t think of a better place for us to revitalize our relationship.
“I hope you packed my bathing suit and some suntan lotion.” I grinned.
His smile deepened. “You’re all packed up with everything you’ll need, thanks to Sonia. Hopefully you’ll like what she picked out for you.”
A flight attendant appeared, served us drinks and asked us to fasten our seatbelts, as we’d be taking off very soon. I sipped my mineral water and giggled, shooting a look at Adam. Maybe no limo sex, but what about mile-high sex? I could just as easily swap that onto my bucket list.
I decided to cheat and ask the flight attendant where we were headed. She smiled and glanced at Adam. “I was told that our destination is top secret. I can’t divulge.”
I sat back in a huff. “Okay, so how long are we flying for?”
“Eleven hours, forty-two minutes.”
Holy shit. I bounced up in the seat with a smile. “We’re going to St. Lucia, aren’t we?”
Adam shrugged and looked out the window.
“I’m excited to go back.”
He turned back to me. “Yeah? Things didn’t end well for us there.”
I took a breath, wondering why he focused on that negative ending rather than all the wonderful things that happened before that. “Things started for us very, very well there. Don’t you remember?”
He watched me, his mouth curving enigmatically. “I remember very, very well. Every moment of it.”
I smiled. “Time for us to go back and make some new memories, huh?” I leaned in and kissed him.
He returned the long, lingering kiss before pulling back, his eyes moving over my face. “You’re beautiful.”
“Hmmph. You’re a liar, but thank you.”
He put a hand to my chin and looked into my eyes without blinking or turning away. In that clipped, take-no-bullshit tone of voice of his, he said, “I’m not lying.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Adam
We slept in the bed together and I know she was expecting more. It was getting harder to resist her than ever before. For the first time in months, she looked healthy. She was still thin and pale but there was new life in her and before this, when I’d felt like I wanted something, and especially when she’d made advances, I’d told myself she was just starved for affection. I’d tried to supply that in other ways. And I wasn’t lying about being exhausted all the time. I was.
I made myself that way on purpose.
But tonight, well, it was different. It was like we were shedding our cares with each mile of distance we put between home and ourselves. Like our problems were location-dependent, when I knew damn well that that wasn’t the case.
I slept in my underwear and she was in a sexy black slip that she’d worn under her black dress. She had curled against me at once and tried to pull me into a kiss but I held firm—and was proud of myself. I didn’t succumb. She was vulnerable and I wasn’t going to take advantage. She just wasn’t ready, no matter what signals she was sending. We still weren’t ready.
Maybe soon, but not now.
We landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport in the late afternoon, local time. She still had no idea that we’d landed in Europe. And I hoped to hold out on that secret until the moment we hit a view with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Or maybe when we arrived at our hotel.
The weather was cold and wet when we walked from the plane to the waiting car. She screwed her head around, trying to look everywhere. But I hid most of what she could see with the umbrella that I’d been handed before we’d deplaned. We made it to the car before she could see enough to give her any clue as to where she was. And from what I could see, we could be in any nondescript U.S. town for all she knew.
As it was, the jig was up the moment our driver made a phone call in French. The cold weather was the first clue that we weren’t in the Caribbean. But the French was the second clue. She turned to me with saucer-shaped eyes. “You didn’t.”
I raised my brow to ask the question without saying a word.
“You didn’t fly us to Paris…”
I didn’t answer. I really wanted to smile but I kept my face straight. She was in absolute shock. “There are other places in the world that speak French, you know.”
“I’ve seen the bucket list that I supposedly dictated to you. You flew us to fucking Paris! Holy shit.”
I finally cracked a smile. Her reaction was amusing. I loved doing stuff like this. Thanks to Jordan, I could.
We’d driven far enough into the city that the tower was now visible. So I indicated it behind her and she spun. “No fucking way. We are in Paris!”
“We just might be.”
She spun back to me. “How the hell did you do this? Does my doctor know I left the country? How the hell did we get through customs without my even knowing?”
I waggled my eyebrows. “I have ways. I am an international man of mystery.’
“You are the coolest geek on the planet.”
“Hmm. Flattery will get you everywhere.”
She smirked at me. “That’s what I’m counting on.”
“Are you tired? Or do you want to do some sightseeing after we check in?”
“Umm. I do believe I have a few bucket list items to check off. How long are we here for?”
“Wait and see.”
“Is this trip going to be all like this? With you just giving me no info?”
“Is it bothering you?”
She smiled. “No, it’s actually kind of fun. I just won’t bother to ask any questions, then.”
“Hmm. I should have thought of something like this long ago.”
“Don’t push your luck, bub. I wonder if bald women get a better rap in Paris? Maybe I could start a new fashion fad if I parade down the Champs-Élysées in front of the Chanel store.”
“I think the most alluring models might just shave their heads but—again—still won’t be as hot as you.”
Her eyes shone. “Well, aren’t you just full of flattery yourself? It goes without saying that it will get you everywhere. Hell, as long as it’s been, you needn’t apply much flattery at all these days.”
“Mmm. Then I’ll save it for when it’s needed.”
She curled up a fist and playfully punched me in the arm as the limo slowed in the Avenue George V and the driver opened the door. This was going to be one of the highlights of our trip.
At Any Moment (Gaming The System Book 3) Page 18
