Misadventures Of A Good Wife

by Meredith Wild

  * * *

  “Lewis!”

  The pleasure and the fantasy abruptly ended at the sound of my name echoing harshly off the walls. I blinked awake with a grimace, finding myself in a small shadowed room. The silhouette of a man caught my eye. I turned, but the small movement invited a bullet of pain shooting through my head, so violent that I immediately rolled off the bed and vomited in a nearby toilet.

  Then I remembered everything. Someone had clocked me. Probably with his sidearm. The gates of what I identified now as a cell rolled open, and every movement of metal on metal seemed to reverberate in my brain. Without a doubt, I’d sustained a concussion from the blow. But even through the pain and the sickness, only one thought was truly clear.

  I glanced up at the beefy guard. “Where’s Kate?”

  He shrugged. “Agent Martino is waiting for you. He’s got the answers if there are any. Get up, kid.”

  I wiped my mouth and got to my feet. He led me to another room where, as promised, Agent Martino stood.

  A deep purple bruise marked his cheekbone. He shot me a tight smile. “Lewis. We meet again. How are you feeling?”

  Truthfully, I felt like I could probably use a doctor, and no matter how much trouble I was in, I should be entitled to one. But I only had one goal. One gnawing fear that penetrated the pain and my foggy brain.

  “Where’s Kate? She could still be with them. Did you look for her?” I couldn’t hide the raw desperation in my voice.

  Martino’s expression didn’t change. “Sit down.”

  I hesitated a moment before dropping into a chair. He sat across from me, his body crooked, his arm slung casually off the back of his chair. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at the over-confident tough guy routine.

  “You said you’d explain everything,” I began.

  “Then you fucking slugged me. What the hell?”

  I slammed my fists on the table. “Do you know where my wife is or not?”

  He shook his head, and my heart beat so loudly I barely heard his next words.

  “You’re going to tell me everything you know, Lewis. And then I’ll tell you where your wife is.”

  My jaw fell a fraction and I snapped it shut. I wanted to slug him again and tell him precisely where he could shove his FBI power trip. But what could I do when I was this hopeless, not knowing where she was or if she was safe?

  “We’ve been tailing you for a few weeks,” he said. “You’re slippery. I’ll give you that.”

  I winced. “You’ve been tailing me?”

  “Sure. We hung on the outskirts of the property you were staying at in Leiloa. We just watched, hoping your wife would lead us to whoever you guys are working for.”

  “Working for? What the hell are you taking about?”

  “Cybermark Enterprises. Ring any bells?”

  My jaw tightened.

  “See, Lewis, I’ve been working this Cybermark case since before you fell off the map. People in their accounting department have been dropping like flies.”

  “I know.”

  “We figured you did. Or at least we thought your wife did. We followed a few tips that led us to your friends, Sven and Krister. We weren’t too surprised to find them headquartered next to your old apartment. I can tell you we were pretty fucking surprised to find you alive on an island in the Pacific, though.”

  “Those blond hitmen are not my fucking friends. They’ve been stalking Kate ever since I reached out to her again.”

  “Is that so? You want to explain why you faked your own death if you have nothing to do with these murders?”

  My lips fell agape. How could this be happening? How could they have it so wrong?

  “They tried to kill me.”

  He lifted an eyebrow.

  “I had been following their company through my work and noticed some odd numbers. I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to dig deeper, so I reached out. They invited me to their headquarters in Switzerland and then put me on a goddamn death trap plane.”

  “The pilot’s body was found. No trace of yours.”

  I shrugged. “One parachute.”

  He nodded.

  “I didn’t have anything to do with this. I…” I rubbed my forehead, unable to allay the physical or emotional pain that coursed through me. “I couldn’t stay away from Kate anymore. I made a decision. Still not sure if it was the right one. But I couldn’t live without her another day, at least not until she’d had a chance to decide whether to come live off the grid with me.”

  Agent Martino leaned in, pulled out a small notepad and pen from his jacket, and tapped the tip of the pen on the paper. “Let’s start with what you know about Cybermark.”

  I shook my head even though it hurt to do so. “I’m not sure I know any more than you do. I have a history of financials that don’t add up and a list of dead accountants.”

  He dropped his pen and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’re going to need more than that to get out of this. You faked your death, and you’re in possession of falsified identification. Your wife collected on your life insurance. That’s fraud. These are felonies we’re talking about.”

  The list of offenses Martino ticked off meant so much to him and so little to me.

  “These men are killing people! I faked my death to protect my wife. They would have killed us both. Jesus, they still want to. By some miracle, I survived a plane crash that should have killed me. I spent a few months doing manual labor, and after that, I bought a boat, taught myself to fish, and debated whether or not to risk Kate’s life by reaching out to her. Whatever they’re involved in, it has nothing to do with me. I swear to you.”

  A knock sounded at the door. Agent Martino rose, opened the door a crack, and spoke in a hushed whisper to whoever was outside. He poked his head back into the room. “I’ll be back. We’re not finished.”

  I rose quickly. “Where’s Kate? You promised you’d tell me.”

  “You haven’t told me everything.”

  “She’s my goddamn wife! Tell me where she is!” My voice echoed loudly against the walls. My skin chilled with fear of the unknown. She could be in danger, or hurt. Who had fired the shots on the street? Had she found her way to safety? God help me, she could still be on the run. Or worse, she could be dead at the hands of those blond brothers, and these suits were just holding out to get more information from me before my whole world shattered.

  Martino ignored my shouting and ducked away. I sucked in a series of uneven breaths, but nothing could calm me down short of another whack to the head. I was going to hyperventilate at this rate. Fisting my shaking hands in my hair, I paced the room. I berated myself. I prayed. I tried like hell to put together a plan, but I had no idea what I could devise in my current state.

  Then, mercifully, Martino returned. Some of his smugness had slipped away. In fact, he appeared downright disappointed, like someone had tossed his ice cream cone on the ground.

  I halted and held his stare. Only then did I notice a manila envelope in his hand that hadn’t been there before. “What’s going on?”

  “Have a seat.”

  “Tell me where my wife is.” I balled my fists, entertaining a fleeting vision of using them to get the answers I needed.

  He lifted a hand, as if to wave off my unspoken wish. “Kate is being held here at the station. She’s fine.”

  The relief was so intense—like a sudden change in the pressure of my whole body—all I could do was drop back into the chair and cradle my face in my hands. Thank God. Thank God…

  After a moment I lifted my gaze to the agent. “What about the shots? I heard shots fired.”

  He nodded. “We had one team on Sven, one of the brothers, and another on you. We took down their driver, and when Alejandro Dominguez pulled his firearm on our guys, he went down. He died from his injuries. The brothers were taken into custody. We found Kate after everything went down, on her way to find you. We questioned her while you were passed out.”

  “An
d?”

  He shrugged, an almost bored expression flattening his already unremarkable features. “Her story checks out with yours.”

  Even as I buzzed with relief knowing Kate was safe, we weren’t out of the woods yet. Not if Martino really believed I could somehow be involved in Cybermark’s heinous assassination spree.

  “What now? What do I need to do to convince you I wasn’t in on this?”

  He leaned in and opened his folder. “Don’t have to. But I will need your cooperation in this case against Cybermark if you want to avoid jail time for the fake IDs.”

  I frowned. “I’ll tell you everything I know. But what’s changed?”

  “My partner just finished up with Sven and Krister. Typically we can get someone to roll over to save his own ass. This worked out a little differently. Turns out the brothers are quite close. You know, when they’re not sinking people to the bottom of a lake. They both offered to take the heat. Sang like canaries to save the other. Pretty adorable, actually.”

  “Will it be enough to take Cybermark down?”

  He shrugged. “It’s a start. We’ll need to fit the rest of the pieces together with their help. And yours.”

  “When can I see Kate?”

  He rolled his eyes with a loud sigh. “Jesus Christ. I can see why you crawled out of the grave to be with the woman.”

  “You have no idea.”

  I was relieved, sure, but nothing would be right until she was in my arms again. Until I could touch her and hold her. The urge to tell her how much I loved her again, to apologize for not being able to keep her safe twisted me up inside. I had failed her, but I never would again.

  The agent pulled a tape recorder from his pocket and positioned it on the table between us. “All right, Lewis. You’re going to tell me everything, from the first time you came to know about Cybermark all the way to them coming after you and Kate. I need to know everything if we’re going to take these fuckers down.”

  “And then what?”

  “Then you can see your bride and start to get your life back. How does that sound?”

  I nodded toward the recorder. “Turn that thing on. Let’s do this.”

  Epilogue

  Kate

  He always said I had the most beautiful blue eyes he’d ever seen…

  Price feasted between my legs, sucking and tugging, until I exploded into my third orgasm. I cried out as the ocean breeze drifted through our large window, coating my flesh in a cool blanket.

  My husband crawled up my body, his hard cock nudging my thigh, and took my lips as he thrust into me.

  Completion.

  Pure completion as I’d always known it with Price, but now it was even more profound after what we’d been through to be together.

  Our kiss was fueled by passion and desire, but mostly by the love and trust we shared in abundance. He pumped into me, touching every nerve ending inside me, melding into my body as only he could.

  When he finally broke the intense kiss, we were both panting, sweat dripping from his brow as he gazed into my eyes, his own dark and smoky with lust.

  No. Love.

  “I love you, Kate. My Kate,” he said, huffing.

  “I love you too, baby. Always.”

  He continued to slam into me, our lovemaking intense as ever, but something made it even more special tonight—something I’d tell him later.

  I looked into his blazing eyes, our gazes never wavering, and wrapped my legs around his bronze, muscular body, trying to push him deeper and deeper into me. When he nudged my clit, I shattered into pure bliss, the climax taking me through the glorious green hills of beautiful Bali, our home now.

  “That’s it, sweetness,” he groaned. “Come for me. Just like— Ah!” He thrust into me balls deep.

  I felt every spasm of his cock as he filled me, every beat of his heart as our chests crushed together, every drip of perspiration from his body that I welcomed onto my own.

  We stayed joined for a few timeless moments until he rolled over. I crawled into his arms, nestling my head into the crook of his shoulder. I fit so perfectly against him.

  The breeze still whispered gently, tousling the curtains that surrounded the bed in our oceanside bungalow. Our home was small and cozy, with two bedrooms in addition to ours, a kitchen, and a living room. That was it. All we needed. All we wanted. Small enough that we’d always know where the other was. We’d both promised never to let the other out of our sight again if possible.

  Time would heal some of those wounds, I knew. But for now, I was content to always know my husband was never farther than a room or two away.

  I sat up. “Price.”

  “Yeah, baby?”

  “Come outside with me. I have something to tell you.” I stood, wrapped myself in a sarong, and then stepped outside on the lanai attached to our bedroom.

  I smiled, hugging myself.

  Life was good. Everyone who’d been a threat to us was either dead or behind bars. Price’s parents were back home, and Michelle… I laughed aloud. We weren’t sure where Michelle was at any given moment. She’d gone off on a romp with Otis after they’d answered all the FBI’s questions. Daily texts assured us that she was fine and happy. Price was keeping in touch with Otis, making sure his sister was safe and taken care of. He’d finally stopped grunting whenever the young man’s name—and we still weren’t sure if it was his real name—was mentioned. I’d never figured Chelle for a cougar, but life had a way of throwing curveballs into the best-laid plans. Price and I understood that better than anyone.

  Price joined me, wearing nothing but a pair of denim cutoffs. I couldn’t help but gawk at my husband. We’d been together for what sometimes seemed like forever, and my heart still beat a little faster every time I looked at him. And I’d always look at him. See him. Never take him for granted. I’d spent a year of my life without him, long enough to know I didn’t want to spend another microsecond in that situation. We’d been given a second chance at happiness. At love. I wasn’t about to screw that up.

  “It’s a gorgeous evening,” Price said.

  I nodded, staring at the sapphire ocean before us, the honey-hued sand, the tangerine ball of the setting sun. The waves hit the shore in a natural synchrony, creeping toward our haven and then easing away.

  “You had something to tell me, Kate?” he said.

  I turned to him, taking his hands. “I do.”

  He smiled. “Don’t keep me in suspense.”

  My nerves jumping a little, I rubbed circles into his palm as I looked toward the water. “Why aren’t there any seagulls here?”

  “Probably because there’s no food for them.” He brought my hand to his lips and kissed it. “But I doubt that’s what you wanted to talk about.”

  I traced the outline of his gorgeous lips. I had no reason to be nervous. This was something we’d always wanted, something I’d feared had been denied me. I was elated. I wanted nothing more than to have Price’s child. “I’ve tried to be a good wife, Price.”

  He gripped my shoulders, his gaze serious. “You’ve been the best wife, baby. Better than I’ve deserved sometimes.”

  “Thank you for that,” I said. “Do you think…?” I took in a deep breath.

  “Think what?”

  I cupped his stubbled cheek. “Do you think I’ll be a good mother?”

  “Are you kidding? You’ll be the— Wait. What?” He stumbled backward. “Are you sure?”

  I nodded, joy filling me. “I sneaked into the pharmacy while we were on our errands today. I got a pregnancy test. I was a couple days late, so I—”

  He grabbed me and crushed me to his hard chest. “This is the best news, baby. The best.” He brought his mouth down on mine.

  The sun continued its descent, and the waves sloshed upon the beach, their melody enveloping us.

  And we kissed. For a long time.

  * * *

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  Chapter One

  Reece

  She’s got the body of a goddess, the eyes of a temptress, and the lips of a she-devil.

  And tonight, she’s all mine. In every way I can possibly fantasize.

  And fuck, do I have a lot of fantasies.

  Riveted by her seductive glance, I follow her into the waiting limo. A couple of friends from the party we’ve just left—their names already as blurry as the lights of Barcelona’s Plaça Reial—swing hearty waves of departure, as if Angelique La Salle is taking me away on a six-month cruise to paradise.

  Ohhh, yeah. I’ve never been on a cruise. As an heir to a massive hotel dynasty, I’ve never wanted for the utmost in luxurious destinations, but I’ve never been on a cruise. I think I’d like it. Nothing to think about but the horizon…and booze. Freedom from reporters, like the mob that were flashing their cameras in my face back at the club. What’ll the headlines be, I wonder. Undoubtedly, they’ve already got a few combinations composed—a mix of the buzz words already trending about me this week. Party Boy. Player. The Heir with the Hair. The Billionaire with the Bulge.

  Well. Mustn’t disappoint them about the bulge.

  And I sure as fuck don’t plan to.

  If my brain just happens to enjoy this as much as my body…I sure as hell won’t complain.

  Maybe she’ll be the one.

  Maybe she’ll be…more.

  The one who’ll change things…at last.