A Black Tie Affair

by Sherrill Bodine

  “Remember, twinkle-toes, you dressing up for me used to be one of our favorite games,” Bertrum chuckled, turning his head to gaze at his wife, who blew him a kiss as the paramedics wheeled her out the door.

  She and Drew watched the ambulances roar away, sirens wailing. “That was the most…” Words failed her, and she laughed until she found her voice again. “Outrageous display of love reborn I’ve ever seen. Thank goodness for Bertha’s toxic stays.”

  “I couldn’t agree more.” Drew stripped off her mask and gloves. He pressed two long kisses on her open palms and gazed up at her with such mischief in his eyes that she laughed.

  “Athena, may we please go up the golden staircase together again? It has long and shall forever be my fondest wish.”

  CHAPTER

  17

  She couldn’t get him home fast enough.

  The instant they walked into her bedroom, she grasped his tux shirt and one by one loosened the mother-of-pearl studs.

  As each stud fell to the wood floor with a little ping, they both laughed.

  She knelt to nuzzle her face into his firm belly.

  He gasped. “Athena, stop. I’ll never last the ten minutes it takes to get you out of that damn dress.”

  She looked up into his face. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

  His skilled fingers were already moving over her back, undoing buttons. “Thank God, I’ve always been a quick study.”

  “At getting women out of their clothes in record time?” she chuckled, unzipping his trousers.

  “It’s the first thing little Clayworth boys are taught.” He slid her dress off her shoulders and her breasts fell free.

  His arms were around her, lifting her high on his bare chest so he could meet a sensitive nipple with his tongue.

  She pressed closer, wanting more. Wanting him.

  Cradling her head, he gently laid her on the bed, her hair cascading over the pillows and his arm as he stretched out on his side.

  Maybe it was the profound joy she’d seen on Bertrum and Leticia’s faces, or maybe it was the culmination of wanting this man, like this, for most of her adult life. Getting it, and finding him, this intimacy, everything and more than she had ever hoped, dreamed, fantasized about.

  Everything about Drew was so sweet to her senses it made her head reel with pleasure.

  Each chiseled bone in Drew’s face relaxed into tenderness. His hands drifted over her body, freeing her of the heavy dress.

  His fingers stroked her wrist and shoulder where the sailing bruises had faded into her pale skin. Stroked across her breasts, down her rib cage to her stomach and below.

  “Like a goddess, but not a statue. Warm, loving Athena.” His husky voice warmed her lips as the heel of his palm kneaded her until her thighs parted and she arched into his hand and mouth, bringing a tighter, brighter passion than before.

  Their gazes locked, his mouth hovering above hers, and with a slowness that felt like liquid fire, he entered her.

  The pattern of her breath changed, and so did his.

  Their other night of love had been as close to perfect as she’d dreamed. But this, this exquisite fit of their bodies, burned like a fever. They moved in primal rhythms, each sensual motion so tender, so loving, she closed her eyes and lost track of herself. There was only this power they created together.

  Like Drew had done his whole life when he knew he couldn’t under any circumstance oversleep, he woke every hour on the hour to check the time and to kiss the closest part of Athena he could reach.

  When he awoke the next time, he shifted down to lay his cheek under her breasts, listening to her heartbeat. He felt at peace.

  He tightened his arms around her and pressed his lips into the Jicky-scented warmth between her breasts and called her name, “Athena.”

  “Yes, I’m here,” she whispered and ran her fingers slowly through his hair.

  “I have to leave you in the morning. I’ll be away in England for a week or so.”

  He felt her stiffen in his arms, and he shifted higher so he could see her face. He could always read her feelings in her eyes.

  Her eyelashes were a dark fringe as she looked down and then up at him, staring with an intensity that demanded answers. “Why are you going to England?”

  “I’m sailing in the Fastnet.” He said it as quick as he could. She of all people knew what this meant to him. To them.

  “Why?” He heard the tears in her voice, saw them glisten in her eyes. He pressed his lips there, tasting the salt.

  “They sailed in that race because of me. I wanted it. I should have been on that boat with them. By racing in the Fastnet, I’ll have closure. Be at peace with their choices and mine.” He spoke aloud the guilt and pain he’d held close to him for fifteen years.

  “Drew, there are other ways to honor them.” She shivered, shaking so much he knew he’d said too much, too soon.

  He never wanted there to be another secret between them. He tried to hold her. “Athena,” he breathed.

  “Light a fire first,” she whispered.

  He flung back the covers, went to the fireplace, and found the long matches on the mantel to light the logs.

  The blaze cast strange long shadows across the room as he crawled back into the bed.

  He wrapped his arms around her and pressed kisses on her sleepy eyelids, her warm throat. “Don’t worry. Everything will be fine. I’m catching a plane to England at nine tomorrow morning. Just a few days. Then I’ll never leave you again. I promise.”

  He didn’t know how long they snuggled under the covers, kissing each other all over while he murmured that he meant his promise, they’d wasted too much time, she was perfect, wonderful, and he could never have enough time with her. Athena permeated his body and mind. He felt panic, like this night was momentous and he had to hold her tighter and make love to her hot, sleepy body and fascinating mind.

  Athena’s mind raced with feelings and images of Drew and the Fastnet and his leaving her. How could he? They had just found each other again. She wanted to understand his need to finish the race that his parents had never completed. His words had torn at her heart.

  She tried to hang on to these feelings but they faded beneath his slow, sweet kisses, which went on and on. His intimate words spoken amid the soft sheets filled her with so much longing she felt tears well up in her eyes.

  Drew had always been the reason she could never feel this with anyone else. Why she’d always felt like she was making a mistake with another man. It had always been Drew. Drew in her heart and mind.

  The leaded-glass windows with the stained-glass panels on top reflected the firelight, causing a prism of color to play across their bodies. His looked so beautiful and strong to her. So precious she never wanted to let him go.

  “I love the weight of your breasts in my hands,” he whispered.

  She thrust to meet him, wrapping her arms, her body around him.

  His voice, his husky sounds of desire, of wanting her, released something wild. She opened herself to him completely. With them there weren’t any inhibitions or pretense.

  He rolled on top of her, the crush of his weight, him hard against her, driving her a little mad.

  I won’t let him go.

  She felt so hot, so full of love for him she knew she would explode any second. She lifted her hips, welcoming him inside her.

  She withered under him, shuddering with each of his powerful thrusts. Rigid, heat pumping through him into her, Drew called her name and she held him. The overpowering sensation of being filled, complete, caused sobs of joy in the back of her throat.

  Like the Greek Sirens, Athena would call his name, hypnotize him, bind him to her so he could never leave.

  She held him tight, feeling his warm breath against her breasts.

  She held him until she knew from his even breathing he had fallen asleep. She pressed one more kiss on his forehead and slowly, carefully eased away from him.

  The way
his face looked in the firelight, the high cheekbones, the long, full curve of his lips, brought fresh tears to her eyes. It felt like a weight pressing down on her chest now that she understood what racing in the Fastnet meant to him. But what might it cost him?

  She’d been waiting her whole life for these nights with him. To show with her body what she’d always felt in her heart and mind for Drew. To have had this intimacy for so short a time and to have it be over at dawn reminded her of the worst of all the Greek tragedies her father had taught them. So many nights wasted, and more to come.

  Logically she knew he would be away only a few days.

  When his parents went to the Fastnet, they never came back.

  She padded stark naked into the small office. The light from the computer screen flashed three a.m.

  She googled the Fastnet.

  It was all there, the articles about the famous offshore yachting race. Particularly the Fastnet the year Drew’s parents were killed. The words conjured up the waves in the Fastnet storm big enough to capsize large and small boats alike. She could feel the frigid night with roaring white water surrounding her. See the rudder of Drew’s parent’s yacht snap off and the violent waves throw the crew out of the cockpit to the end of their tethers into the freezing, deadly ocean.

  She switched off the computer and sat staring at the blank screen. The course of her life had altered because she’d been forced by circumstances, fate, to reveal her true feelings. Drew, too. She knew it, felt their unique bond forge in a new, more powerful way. She couldn’t, wouldn’t let him sever it again. She’d keep him here any way she could. Make love to him all night if necessary. She smiled into the darkness—no hardship there. Any thoughts that he might be a selfish lover were laughable.

  This feeling rivaled the stuff of legend, of myth. Maybe she was being silly. Giddy and stupid on love.

  No way would he be getting on that plane tomorrow morning to sail in the Fastnet. She’d convince him to never go.

  She’d stopped him once. She’d do it again to save him.

  She went back into her bedroom and crawled into the bed next to him.

  CHAPTER

  18

  When Drew opened his eyes, Athena lay beside him, her face dreamy in the flickering light. She curled up against him, and he pulled her closer. She felt petal soft and smelled of Jackie O’s perfume and him.

  She kissed him in a soft, drunk-on-love sort of way, and he couldn’t resist doing the same. She felt too good.

  The hot tension started building up inside him. Christ, he wanted her again. Even though he could hardly keep his eyes open, he fought sleep with everything he had.

  He needed to make love to her one more time. Before he left, he’d tell her he’d always loved her but was too stupid, too young, and too afraid to admit it.

  The sound of the shower beating against the bathroom tiles woke Athena. She sat up, shivering alone in the bed. Her Bose clock radio blinked five a.m. Obviously, she hadn’t tired him out enough. Too early.

  I need more time.

  When she opened the glass shower door, Drew was soaping all over, his beautiful hands sliding down his body, like she wanted to do.

  She stepped under the torrent of water and took the soap from his hands. Slowly, she rubbed the fragrant sandalwood bar over his shoulders, down his flat stomach, between his thighs. She lingered there, gliding her hand over and over, feeling him swell beneath her fingers.

  “Athena, stop it,” he said with a shaky laugh.

  “Don’t you like it?” She widened her eyes the way people do when they’re daring someone.

  “I like it too much,” he gasped, reaching down to take the soap away from her.

  Smiling, she let him remove the bar from her fingers. She slid to her knees and put her mouth where the bar of soap had been. The water flooded over her hair and face as she licked the contours of his body, sucking gently, all the while stroking his hips and thighs with her hands. She loved the feel of him, filling her mouth, her palms.

  “Christ!” He pulled her up into his arms, and she wrapped her legs around him. The water felt cool against her hot body as he pushed her against the cream tile and plunged into her until she felt too weak to do anything but cling to his slippery body, loving the feel of him inside her and his mouth open and gasping against her throat.

  Afterward he wrapped her in a large, soft green bath sheet, drying every crease and valley of her body. He carried her to the bed and lay down beside her, folding her into his arms.

  “Christ, Athena, I’m a mere man. I’m exhausted,” he sighed, kissing her lips.

  “I told you I’ve always been a demanding hussy,” she murmured, her head on his shoulder.

  “And I love every nanosecond of it. What do you command now?”

  “Go to sleep for a little while.” She kissed his shoulder. “It’s early yet.”

  “Yeah, but don’t let me nap more than fifteen minutes.” He yawned and closed his eyes. “I love you,” he murmured, already half asleep.

  “I love you,” she whispered back.

  Ripped in two between fear and love, she drew up her knees, ran her fingers through her damp, tangled hair, and watched him sleep.

  When the clock reached the appointed fifteen minutes, she wanted to throw it in the closet or drown it in the bathtub. Stop time.

  So much precious time had passed with them apart because, torn between love and fear, she’d betrayed his trust. She could do it again.

  He’d been young and vulnerable then. But he wasn’t an impetuous boy now, nor she a naive, terrified young girl.

  She touched his shoulder. “Drew, it’s time to go.”

  He opened his eyes and blinked. Turning his head, he gazed at her with such open trust, she knew in her soul that she hadn’t made a mistake.

  “I hate leaving you.”

  “I know. Do you want me to drive you to the airport, since you left your Porsche last night for Connor?”

  “No, the driver will pick me up here, stop at Clayworth’s for my luggage, and then go on to the airport.” He gave her one quick kiss and flung back the covers. “The only way I’m getting out of here is to take a cold shower.”

  “And I’ll go make you hot coffee.” Trying to be mature when she wanted to launch herself into his arms, she threw on a silk robe instead.

  She heard the shower as she padded toward the kitchen. The doorbell ringing stopped her.

  The driver had arrived early. No sense in hiding the obvious. Athena opened the door.

  Tall, his pure white hair still as thick as a sable pelt, eyes the identical aquamarine of hers and her sisters’, Athena’s father stood staring down at her.

  “Dad!” Athena gasped, clutching her robe tighter across her chest.

  “I know it’s early, but I landed an hour ago and I wanted to come here first to see for myself that you’re all right.” He lifted one thick eyebrow. “Aren’t you going to let me in?”

  “Athena, have you seen my wristwatch?” Drew, his tux shirt hanging open over his trousers, wandered down the hall.

  His eyes locked with her father’s, and all the oxygen seemed to be sucked from the room.

  Drew recovered first, coming closer, buttoning his shirt. “Hello, Alistair.”

  Her father nodded and stared down at her.

  She felt totally vulnerable, but she flung back her head and returned his gaze, searching his face for answers.

  “I’m with Drew, Dad,” she said simply.

  “I see that. I’ve interrupted. We’ll talk later.”

  “No, Dad, wait!” She reached out to stop him, but he didn’t turn, his back ramrod straight.

  The door swung shut, and she stared at it, dazed with disbelief.

  She swayed back, and Drew caught her in his arms, holding her. She turned, burying her face in his chest, and soaked his tux shirt with her tears.

  “I can’t believe Dad found out this way,” she shuddered, trying to breathe between her sobs.
>
  “I’ll talk to your dad. Make him understand.”

  His voice sounded so full of warmth and love, she believed he could make anything happen.

  “Yes.” She looked up at him through her tears. “We’ll fix whatever’s wrong between you and my dad. Together, we’ll make this right. All of it.”

  He cupped her wet cheeks in his palms and stared into her eyes. His were so brilliant, and open like she’d never seen, even when they were making love.

  “I love you, Athena. I want a life with you. A life based on truth and trust. You hurt me for what you believed to be the right reasons, and it separated us for years while we grew up. I don’t want something I did for what I believe to be the right reason to tear us apart.”

  His fingers tightened around her face. “We can’t fix what happened with your dad and Clayworth’s. He’s guilty of going outside the boundaries of his fiduciary responsibilities. Then he went further to make up his losses. Took bigger financial risks than he should have, and it put the store in jeopardy. Mine was the deciding vote to reprimand him and demand his resignation.”

  The warm air in the hall became frigid. Drew had said she wasn’t a statue. Now she might have turned to stone.

  “But he can’t be guilty of doing that. You know what kind of man my father is. The years he devoted his life to Clayworth’s. How could you have voted against him if you weren’t absolutely sure?”

  “I am sure, Athena. The only other people who could have signed off on the transactions are my family. I know none of them would have done this.”

  The truth slammed into her.

  Clayworths closing ranks. Standing shoulder to shoulder.

  I can’t fix this.

  “Oh, yes. The famous Clayworth family loyalty.” Her voice cold, her body shivering, she pulled away from him. “So to protect them, you made my father the scapegoat. When were you planning to tell me? Why didn’t you tell me when I asked you on the boat?”

  “I was afraid it would tear us apart before we had this second chance.”

  She knew the truth was doing exactly what he’d feared.