“Maybe we could take Abigail out in the pool now,” I say. “It’s such a nice day.”
“Yeah, we could do that,” Garret says. “You’re not going back to the hotel, are you Dad?”
Pearce looks at me. “Maybe we should. There’s a swimsuit in the clothes that were delivered, if you’d like to go get it so you could go in the pool.”
“Yes, let’s get it.” I kiss Abigail. “Grandma will be back soon and then we’ll go swimming.” I hand her to Garret.
“Shall we go?” Pearce is standing up, offering me his hand.
Is it wrong that I secretly want to go back to the hotel to be alone with him and not just to get my swimsuit? An hour ago I was furious with him, but I’ve always had a hard time staying mad at him. And hearing Jade and Garret say how much they love Pearce, and seeing him with Abigail, diminished my anger. I know in my heart he would never intentionally treat Garret poorly. Those ten years when I was away were difficult on all of us and now it’s time to move past that and focus on the future.
I take Pearce’s hand and he keeps hold of it as we walk to the door. As we’re driving to the hotel, he takes my hand again. It’s like he doesn’t want to let me go, and I don’t want him to. I love feeling his hand around mine again.
“We’d like to book the suite for the remainder of the week,” Pearce says to the desk clerk. We’re back at the hotel and the same girl is working at the front desk.
She smiles at him, flirtatiously again. Does she not notice I’m here? Or does she think he’ll trade me in for a younger woman, specifically her?
“It’s all yours,” she says. “Just so you know, the rate goes up to $2000 a night on the weekend.”
“Just charge it to my card.” He turns away from her, his arm going around my waist.
“Enjoy the rest of your stay,” she says, but Pearce is already walking us to the elevator. He has no interest in the young exotic beauty who was definitely flirting with him.
When we reach the room, he shuts the door, then holds my face in his hands and presses his lips to mine. I wasn’t expecting the kiss. After having that argument at the house, I thought he’d hold back, unsure if I would let him kiss me. But Pearce isn’t one to hold back. When he wants something, he goes for it, which I’ve always found to be very sexy.
He talks over my lips. “I’ve wanted to do that since we left here this morning.”
I kiss him back, and feel him smile slightly at my response. I’m sure he thought I’d tell him I wasn’t in the mood or that we needed to talk some more before we did this. But instead my response is begging him to continue. My body is already aching to be with him. We did it this morning, twice, and yet I still crave more. Maybe it’s because I haven’t done it in fifteen years. Or maybe it’s just Pearce.
Yes, it’s definitely Pearce. He’s now kissing his way down my neck, awakening sensations along every inch of my body. I don’t know how he does it. How he makes me feel this way from just his kisses, but I don’t want him to stop.
I close my eyes and tilt my head, wanting to feel more of his soft lips along my neck.
“Pearce,” I whisper.
“Yes, sweetheart,” he whispers back, his warm breath by my ear causing bumps to rise up on my skin.
“Don’t stop.”
“I had no intentions of doing so.” His lips return to mine as he slips my dress off my shoulders, letting it fall to the ground. I hadn’t even realized he’d unzipped it.
I start undoing his belt, gently tugging on it as I walk backwards toward the bedroom. It seems to take forever to get there, and when we do, I quickly undress the rest of myself while he takes off his suit. I don’t know why he wore a suit today, but the sight of him in a suit is extremely hot. Maybe that’s why he wore it. He knows I love seeing him in a suit. Then again, he looks good in everything he wears.
Before I can even get a glimpse of his naked body, he’s over me, inside me, filling me completely. I close my eyes, savoring the feel of him. The feel of his body over mine. The feel of him inside me. The feel of his hands sliding over my skin, his lips covering mine.
“Open your eyes,” I hear him say.
I open them and see him looking at me. “I love you.”
I smile. “I love you too.”
Our eyes remain open as he continues, my body responding to his every move, the tension building, rising, waiting for the release. When it comes, I can no longer hold his gaze. My eyes fall shut as it washes over me, overwhelming me with pleasure, leaving me breathless. I hear Pearce’s deep, husky groan and feel his body respond as well as he releases.
He stays there a moment, then moves off me, and we both lie there, arms and legs entwined, my head on his chest.
“That’s the third time today,” I say, still breathless.
“I didn’t know you were keeping track.” He kisses my head.
I look up at him. “Don’t you think that’s a lot?”
“I’d do it again if the kids weren’t waiting for us back at the house.”
“We should probably get going.”
He sighs. “If we must.”
I laugh. “Pearce, I want to spend time with them.”
He kisses me. “I know you do, but you’re coming back with me next week, right?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
He sits up a little. “Rachel, I don’t want you out here all alone.”
“I wouldn’t be alone. I’d stay with Jade and Garret.”
“My house in Connecticut is much more secure than Garret’s house. A gate surrounds it and there are cameras and motion sensors and I have security guards working round the clock.” He rubs his hand softly over my cheek. “Plus…I don’t want to be apart from you. Not even for a day.”
I smile at him. “Then yes. I’ll go back with you. But how long are we going to stay?”
“We’ll decide that once we figure out what we’re going to tell the media about you.” He glances at the side of the room. “It looks like they put your clothes over there. Let’s get dressed and head back to the house. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave.”
I laugh. “Pearce, stop it. You want to spend time with the kids as much as I do.”
“That may be true.” He kisses me and runs his hand over my hip. “But I also want to be alone with you.”
“We’ll be back here tonight. Like you said, we don’t need to sleep. We have better things to do.” I give him a sexy smile as I step out of the bed. I turn and go over to the clothing rack set up next to the closet. It has some dresses, a pair of jeans, some shorts, a few t-shirts, and some button-up shirts. The shopper did a great job. The styles are cute and modern and look like stuff I would wear.
“What do you think?” I ask Pearce. “Shorts and a t-shirt?”
I turn around and see him eyeing my body.
“Maybe you could just stay like that a little longer.”
I smile. “Pearce, come on. Get dressed so we can go.”
“You do not look your age. You have the body of a 20-year-old.”
“That’s very sweet of you to say, but it’s not at all true.” I turn back to the rack of clothes and pick out a white t-shirt and tan shorts, then grab the swimsuit that’s hanging on the end of the rack.
“It’s true.” I feel Pearce behind me, pressing his naked body against mine. “You’re gorgeous.”
“Pearce, we don’t have time to do this again. They’re waiting for us at the house.”
He sweeps my hair aside and kisses my shoulder. “I’m quite certain our son wouldn’t mind if we stayed here just a little longer. In fact, he’d probably encourage it. He’s elated that we’re together again. As am I.” Pearce remains behind me, his hand cupping my breast, his other hand moving slowly down my stomach, landing between my legs.
I drop the clothes, my head falling back on his chest. And before I know it, we’re back in bed. We haven’t done it this much since our anniversary trip to DC, which was the last time I saw Pearc
e before I left. It was a great trip, but I try not to remember it because of the way it ended.
Now we’re making new memories. Better memories. Ones I’ll want to remember. Like today. Right now. I’ll definitely want to remember this.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
28
PEARCE
These past couple days have been like a second honeymoon for Rachel and me. We can’t get enough of each other. Yesterday, we came back here to get Rachel’s swimsuit and ended up doing it twice in one hour. The chemistry between us is as strong as ever. I’ve never felt anything like it with anyone but her.
This morning, we woke up early but stayed in bed, enjoying each other once again before having to leave to go to Garret’s house. We’re on our way over there now.
William Sinclair is arriving today. He may already be here. Garret was going to pick him up at the private airport. I offered to do it, but Garret insisted on doing it. He wants his mother and me to spend as much time together as possible, in the hopes that we’ll remain a couple beyond just this week. He’s concerned it won’t last, but I’ve assured him that’s not the case. Rachel and I are committed to making this work, but in order to do that, I need to make sure she’ll be safe being with me. That’s where William comes in. As a high-ranking member of the organization, we need his help to convince our fellow members to leave Rachel alone.
“I don’t remember much about William,” Rachel says as we’re driving to the house. She’s wearing a sleeveless yellow dress and sunglasses, her long brown hair falling over her shoulders. The dress reminds me of the one she wore when I first saw her at Yale. The yellow color caught my attention, and when I saw who was wearing it, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was so incredibly beautiful. She still is. She’s barely aged.
“Pearce? Did you hear me?”
“Yes.” I lift her hand up and kiss it, then set it back between us, my other hand on the wheel. “We’d talk to William at the parties we used to go to, but never for very long, so it’s not surprising you don’t remember him.”
“He’s not like Royce, is he?”
“No, not at all. He’s more like Arlin, his father.”
“But he’s the head of the organization? That worries me, Pearce.”
“He’s not the head of it. He’s just at the highest level. There isn’t one person in charge. It’s a group of men, and William is one of them. But he’s a natural-born leader and has, by default, taken on a leadership role among the other men at his level. He’s changed the way we do things. Made the members more accountable for their actions.”
“I don’t like it when you include yourself as one of them,” she says quietly.
I glance at her. “Rachel. I’m trying to be honest with you. You know this group is part of my life. I can’t change that.”
“Yes, I know. I just wish there was a way for you to get out of it.”
“For the most part, I am. As I told you, I’m no longer involved in their activities.”
She gazes out the side window. It’s going to take time for her to accept this other side of my life. And that’s fine. As long as she accepts me, and who I am, that’s all that matters.
“So what are we talking about with William today?” she asks.
“The story we’re going to give the media.”
“William is involved with the media?”
“Not just him, but the entire organization. We create stories and feed them to the media. The stories make it on the news because we have members in high-up positions at all the networks. In order to control things, you have to control the messages the public receives.”
“That seems wrong. And deceitful.”
“It’s not that different from advertising. Or political campaigns. You create a message that will convince people to buy what you’re selling, whether it be a product or an idea. In this case, we’re selling an idea. A story that will explain why you were gone and why you came back.”
“How do you know people will believe it?”
“You’d be surprised how easy it is to convince people to believe something that isn’t true. Not many people question what they see on TV or read in the papers. They accept it as fact, which makes our job much easier. Add in some photos and videos and it becomes even more convincing.”
I can tell she doesn’t like what I’m saying, but she needs to accept it because it’s what we need to do in order to reintroduce her to the world.
“Manipulating the media was how I got Garret out of his obligation,” I say. I wasn’t going to tell her this yet, but maybe doing so will help convince her this will work for her as well, because right now, she seems very skeptical.
“Do you mean his obligation to be a member?”
“Membership, yes, but also another obligation.” I glance at her. “You can never anyone tell anyone this.”
She nods. “I understand. Go ahead.”
“The organization had plans to force Garret into a top political position. When I found out about this, I was determined to stop their plan. The way I did so was to create a negative media campaign with fake news stories and videos of Garret crashing cars, destroying hotel rooms, and doing other unfavorable things. The organization didn’t know any of this was fake, and eventually they decided Garret couldn’t be trusted with the organization’s secrets and was too out of control to take part in their plans for him. So they let him go.”
“You’re saying people think Garret really did all those things?”
“Yes. And if you do an Internet search of him, you’ll likely find some of those news stories and videos. But none of them were real.”
“So his reputation was destroyed,” she says quietly.
“It had to be done. And it worked, which is why I told you this. I know you’re worried about being reintroduced to the world, but I promise you, this will work. People will believe whatever story we tell them.”
She nods, but I don’t think she’s convinced.
We reach the house and go inside and see William already there, holding Abigail. Jade and Garret are standing next to him.
“Pearce.” He extends his hand.
“William.” As we’re shaking hands his eyes move to Rachel. “Rachel, it’s good to see you.”
She shakes his hand. “It’s nice seeing you as well.”
His eyes remain on her. “Forgive me for staring. It’s just so surprising to see you again.”
“Papa.” Abigail’s reaching for me.
I take her from William and kiss her cheek. “Grandpa has some business to attend to. I’ll see you a little later.”
She hugs me. She’s getting used to seeing me every day. She’s not going to be happy when I leave next week.
“I’ll take her,” Jade says. I give Abigail to Jade and they disappear to the back of the house.
“Do you mind if I sit in?” Garret asks.
William looks at me. “It’s up to you, Pearce.”
I don’t want Garret involved in this, but he at least needs to know the story we’re going to tell. “It’s fine. Let’s go sit down.”
We take a seat in the living room. Rachel’s next to me on the couch and Garret and William are across from us.
William starts. “Rachel, Pearce didn’t tell me the story about what happened to you. We tend to avoid talking about such things over the phone. So if you wouldn’t mind, could you explain how you ended up here?”
She spends the next few minutes going over the basics of what happened. She doesn’t tell him everything, and I think it’s because she doesn’t trust him, which is understandable. But he needs to know the whole story, so I fill him in on the rest, including Leland’s role, which Rachel hadn’t mentioned.
When I’m finished, William says to me, “I assume we’ll discuss Leland later.”
“Yes.” I give him a look. He knows what it means. William knows I plan to kill Leland. He also knows I could be punished for doing so, but he understands why it needs to be done, and since we�
��re family, he’ll help me do it in a way that will keep me out of trouble. “Let’s discuss what to tell the media.”
“I’ve given this some thought,” he says, “and I think we should go with kidnapping and memory loss.”
I nod. “Yes. I was thinking the same thing. The memory loss will keep the press away from her. The public will feel sorry for her and will be angry at the press if they try to hound her for interviews when she’s in a state of recovery.”
“Exactly. So let’s go with that. As for the kidnapping, we could say she was at the airport that day, waiting to board, but had been followed on her way there. Someone entered the airport, injected her with a drug that knocked her unconscious, and stuffed her body in a crate, which they then loaded onto a private plane and flew overseas. When they arrived in Italy, a rival crime ring, unaware of Rachel, shot her handlers and took off. When she awoke, she found them dead and realized she didn’t know who she was. Her memories were wiped clean from whatever drug they gave her.”
“Why would they take her in the first place?” Garret asks.
“To get your father’s money. They were going to demand a ransom in exchange for her safe return, but it never happened because they were shot and killed. And it took fifteen years for Rachel to get enough of her memory back to figure out who she was.”
“Wait a minute.” Rachel sits forward, glancing at the three of us. “This sounds like a Hollywood film. You really think people are going to believe this?”
“Absolutely,” William and I say at the same time.
She eyes us as though we’ve lost our minds.
“Rachel.” I put my arm around her. “Trust me, this will work. As I mentioned earlier, we’ve done this many times. And honestly, the more far-fetched the story, the more likely people are to believe it. It seems counterintuitive but we’ve found that to be the case.”
“As the saying goes, truth is stranger than fiction,” William says. “That’s why people believe stories like this. And we’ll use our resources to create evidence that supports the story.”
“Will I have to go on TV and talk about this?” Rachel sounds nervous. I rub her arm, trying to get her to relax.
Only Her Page 27
