“This isn’t a good time,” he snapped at the unsuspecting caller.
“I know you’re heading out soon, Arturo, but we’ve got a lead and it might be the break we’ve been waiting for.”
Merde! His assessing eyes shot to Mari; she was having a heated discussion with her kids, the boy’s face decidedly more red than before.
“What do you know about this guy? He sounds French. How did you meet a French guy?” Jordy whispered, but his voice carried.
“Isn’t it soon for you to be going away with him, Mom?” Beth asked. “I mean he said it’s only been a few weeks. He’s the first one since, well, since Dad. You don’t know what guys are like, not having dated for a while. Are you ready for someone so, so… French?”
“She means sophisticated. He drives a Porsche. And you know what they say about French guys.” Then he paused, his eyes shifting to Arturo. “Does he know you’ve got money? How do you know he’s not trying to con you or something?”
He needed to get off the phone and go rescue her, she was pale and they were grilling her like she was a witness in a material crime. He returned his focus to the call.
“This is extremely bad timing, mon ami.”
“I wouldn’t pull you away if it weren’t crucial,” Jonas assured him.
“I’m all right, Arturo, its fine,” Mari assured him, having moved up behind him. “See to your business before we go.”
“I don’t want to leave you with this.”
“I’ll be fine.”
He tipped her face up to his with both hands, holding her cheeks between his palms, he searched her eyes. “If you’re sure…”
She nodded.
He ended the call, needing to go, but he felt compelled to say something before he did. “I know this is a surprise, finding a stranger with your mother. Let me assure you I care about her and have no nefarious schemes to bilk her out of her funds. That Porsche you’ve mentioned didn’t come cheap. I have no need of her money and only want to get to know her better.” They still stared at him with skeptical expressions. “And one other thing. It’s not my place to say, but as I said, your mother is important to me. In the weeks I’ve know her, I haven’t heard you call, or been told that you’ve visited. I understand you are busy with your lives, but perhaps if you came home more often or called every once in a while you might know that she’s got a new man in her life. With you away, she has admitted to feeling lonely.”
“Arturo, please.”
But he’d already started down this path and sallied forth. “She also missed you both. Perhaps, it’s time to remember after losing one parent, that family is precious, your mother especially.” He turned back to her. “This shouldn’t take long. An hour, two at the most.” His eyes darted to her kids. “I’ll call as soon as I find out exactly how long.”
“Maybe we should cancel.”
“No, you’ve been looking forward to this and need a break. You’ve been working too much and need some down time.”
She nodded, managing a small tentative smile. “I’d really like to go.”
“And you will. I’ll handle my business, you handle this, and we’ll take off.” With a tender kiss on her forehead, he reluctantly left, brushing by her two chagrined children as he did so.
* * *
“What do you have?” Arturo demanded as he stalked into the temporary headquarters set up downtown. “I had to leave Mari in a very tenuous situation.”
“About the case?” Jonas asked, concerned.
“No, in a confrontation with her judgmental adult children, I’m afraid.”
Jonas frowned, tilting his head in question.
“They walked in when we were—” Jonas’ broad grin stopped him from going further. “Not nearly as bad as you’re thinking; still it was awkward for her. But never mind that, bring me up to date so I can get back to her.”
“We got action at Mari’s house last night. Someone with a key searched it and found her safe. When she tried to open it—”
“She?” Arturo interrupted.
“Yes. It was Adriana, Mari’s shop manager.” Jonas brought up a surveillance feed revealing the woman systematically searching the house. She started in the office downstairs, thoroughly searching Mari’s desk even running her hands inside the drawers, at one point she dropped to her knees and looked at the underside. Not finding what she wanted, she cursed and moved onto the bookshelves, looking between the books and fanning the pages, before searching behind pictures on the walls.
“She’s looking for a key,” Arturo stated aloud. “Or a combination to the safe.”
“That’s what we figured,” Jonas concurred.
From the office, she moved from room to room eventually going upstairs to the master suite. There she rifled through Mari’s dresser, looked under the bed, and searched the big walk in closet. As time passed and Adriana didn’t find what she was seeking, she became visibly irritated and careless. At one point, she stopped and walked to a family portrait on the wall. As if she knew it was there all along, she pulled it down and exposed a safe. Her fingers punched a code into the keypad. When she failed, she cursed volubly and tried again, and again.
“She knew about the safe, but doesn’t have the combination,” Arturo surmised.
“Agreed. She’s at this for a while, trying every possible personal combination that Hoffman might use, no doubt.” Jonas stopped the video. “That’s all that’s worth watching. Finally, having come up empty, she stormed out about an hour later after taking the time to set the chaos she’d made to rights and cover her tracks before she did so.”
Arturo’s heart ached for Mari as he thought of how she’d handle another betrayal, her husband, her manager, who she thought was her friend, and her current lover, who would have to break the news of it all to her eventually.
“So what is her motive? Revenge? Wanting to get back at the corporation after she was let go? Or is it less personal and simply greed?”
“All of it, maybe,” Jonas suggested. “But something is happening recently. She’s feeling the heat from something or someone. She seems desperate. I pulled her cell phone records and she has several calls back east. I couldn’t track the number registered to anyone, likely a burner phone. But it was issued in New York. I checked and can’t see any connection in her present or past with anyone on the east coast.”
“She’s shrewd and conniving, but I don’t think she’s smart enough to pull this off by herself.” His eyes narrowed on the frozen screen and Adriana’s face.
“That’s why she needed her scientist buddies at BSE.”
“No, she was clearly calling the shots there. I mean she had to have someone in the know internationally to get these kinds of connections and to get a weapon prototype into the hands of a foreign extremist group. Where does a secretary get those kinds of contacts?”
“Someone else at BSE is involved.”
“Perhaps,” he murmured, still staring intently at her face. Beneath her anger, he read desperation and fear. There were circles under her eyes from lack of sleep. “She’s scared shitless and is going to screw up.”
“I think she already has,” Jonas offered. “And the noose is getting tighter.”
“I need to get into that safe.”
“Agreed,” Jonas said with a nod. “Do you have those skills or do you need one of our men?”
Arturo arched an offended brow his way. “I am quite capable on my own.”
Jonas inclined his head, conceding the point.
“Tonight, after we’re settled at the beach, I’ll come back.”
“You’re still planning on coming? I thought in light of the new intel—”
“No, Mari’s safer out of town and having her away from Adriana suits me fine. I’ll make up some excuse about an urgent business matter.”
“This is looking good to clear her name, friend.”
“Yeah, but it’s another blow to her circle of trust. I’m not sure how much more her armor can take.”
“The beach is a perfect place to get in with her deeper.”
“It smacks of manipulation.”
“All’s fair in love and war, she’ll come around. You’re doing this to save her ass.”
“I hope she realizes that when it’s over,” he murmured as he rose to leave, wishing he could be as optimistic as Jonas.
* * *
“Who is he?”
Mari met Jordy’s eyes. “He’s a very charming man that I met.”
“Where? He’s French. In what circles do you meet French dudes?”
“It was a social event. I’ve been trying to get out more and meet new people. He was right when he said I’ve been lonely. With you two at school, it’s been worse.”
“What do you know about him, Mom?” Beth asked. “He looks, I don’t know, kind of dangerous.”
Her brows gathered, they’d been so busy fucking, she’d never asked about his job, his family, his plans for his life. Dang, that made her feel as slutty as the looks on her children’s faces clearly proclaimed when they caught her making out with a stranger in the kitchen. And wasn’t that what he was, really, a stranger?
No. They had a connection, she was sure of it. The details were simply that, details.
“He’s not dangerous, honey. He’s here in Houston on business and we hit it off.”
“Is it serious?” Jordy asked, his tone more respectful, but his expression full of suspicion.
“It’s still new,” she answered evasively. “We’re seeing where it leads.”
“But if he’s French, and it gets serious…” Beth alluded. “Are you going to be moving to France?”
“Honey, it’s way too early to even consider anything like that.”
“So it’s about sex?” Her daughter’s voice cracked as she asked that personal question.
“That’s not really your business.”
“That’s a yes,” Jordy answered. “But that’s okay. He was right when he said you’re still young. You are, and you’re beautiful. Just do like you’re always telling us, go slow and be careful.”
She smiled. “I never thought I’d be hearing this same old lecture from the receiving end.”
“Rather awkward, isn’t it?” Beth giggled, her cheeks crimson.
“Yeah. So let’s change the subject. What are you two doing here?”
Jordy looked away and Beth’s face crumpled.
“You came for money, didn’t you?”
“Oh, Mom. I’m sorry. I got so caught up in me, and school, that I forgot to worry about you.” Her daughter threw herself into her arms, sobbing.
“It’s okay, baby, but I have felt distanced from you. Can we work on that?”
“Absolutely. I can come home at least once a month, I promise.”
“Me too,” Jordy said, approaching much slower. “And I’m sorry, too. I’m supposed to be the man of the family and I let you down.”
Mari opened her arms to include her son. He moved in and they all held each other in a great big group hug.
“I can come up some, too, and we can meet in the middle. The shop will be back to normal with Adri back.”
She then urged them to a seat at the breakfast bar and as they caught up on each other’s lives, she made their favorite—French toast with almond extract, stuffed with cream cheese and raspberry preserves. As she whipped the eggs and milk together, she smiled to herself at the irony of the menu. Arturo would approve.
Chapter Fifteen
Standing on the warm sand as streaks of red and pink painted the sky, with the smell of salt air surrounding her, and the gulf breeze gently blowing through her hair was a wonderful way to wind down any day, but having Arturo’s strong arms wrapped around her, his broad chest supporting her back and his lips brushing occasionally against her temple, made it perfect.
“Come eat, you two,” Lexie called.
They turned to see her on the second level deck waving them over as Jonas manned a smoking grill behind her.
“I like them,” she said as she waved back, Arturo’s arm slipping around her shoulders as he guided her up the sandy path to the steps.
“I do too. And this house is amazing,” he added, as they climbed steadily, side by side up to where their hosts were laying out dinner. “It’s a far cry from damp, dreary London, this time of year.”
“Now that’s somewhere I’d like to go. I’ve never been out of Texas.”
“Never? Then I shall be happy to expand your horizons someday soon. We’ll plan a London excursion after the rainy season, which means we have a narrow two-week window of opportunity in May.”
She laughed. “You’re exaggerating, surely. Besides, you’ve experienced summer in Houston. Nothing is worse than the humidity and heat. And you were lucky to miss out on any tropical storms and hurricanes this year, which is rare.”
“I like what I’ve seen here so far, ma colombe.”
Her eyes met his swiftly. Seeing he was not talking about the weather, she blushed, glancing down at her feet as they tackled the second flight of steps.
“Are you thinking of staying longer, if your business pans out?”
“My options are definitely open, particularly if things keep going as well with the pretty submissive who has caught my eye.”
“Oh, what will she say that you’ve taken off on a romantic seaside weekend with me?”
He stopped and trapped her against the rail, his hips pressing into hers until she felt the hard evidence of his interest. “I’m glad you could get away, Mari.” The teasing clearly having come to an end. “Let’s say we leave talk of work and future plans for a later date and enjoy the company, the atmosphere, and best of all, quiet, uninterrupted time with each other.”
“Okay,” she replied, barely managing to get the word out before his mouth claimed hers hungrily.
“Hey,” Jonas’ amused voice called down to them, “I’d say get a room, but you’d miss the phenomenal job I did with these steaks and sea scallops. Lexie will tell you I’m a master at the grill too, but my fragile ego needs stroking.”
Lexie giggled, leaning over the rail beside her grinning husband as they looked down at them. “It’s true, he does require extensive stroking.”
Jonas and Arturo looked at each other and burst into laughter.
“Wait, that isn’t what I meant to say!” Lexie protested, her face turning red.
“Surf and turf, now, sunshine,” he said to his blushing bride, “extensive stroking later.”
“Jonas!”
“I knew what you meant, Lex,” Mari said, coming to the aid of her new friend, as they made it up to their level.
“See. You’ve got your mind in the gutter,” Lexie complained as she elbowed a still laughing Jonas playfully in the ribs. “Behave. I want them to like us.”
“No worries there, honey,” Mari assured her as Arturo pulled out her chair and held it, while she took her seat.
Jonas turned the conversation as he gave his wife an affectionate squeeze. “Beer, red wine—sorry, sport, it’s not French—or, Lexie made fresh lemonade.”
Drinks were passed around and they enjoyed a leisurely laugh filled dinner together. Afterward, Mari helped Lexie clear and get the dessert. After pulling a huge bowl of sliced strawberries out of the fridge and a can of whipped cream, she passed them to Mari while she grabbed a plate of pre-sliced pound cake, dessert plates, napkins and silverware.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Anything,” Mari replied, balancing the bowl of berries in one hand as she tucked the cold can under her arm.
“Why have you never stayed after at the club? I think you’d fit in great with the other girls. You always seem—”
“In a hurry?”
“No… lonely.”
Caught off guard by her perceptiveness, Mari stared back at her.
Lexie instantly apologized. “I shouldn’t have asked, truly. But I’ve been like you, sort of. My parents died when I was young and I kind of bounced
around from place to place, then before Jonas, I had a failed marriage. It’s not the same as your loss, but I grieved, and the loneliness took its toll. And I know how hard it is getting back to living again.”
“How did you do it?”
“I fell in love with Jonas, but first my friends dragged me to the club. That’s where we met. It helped that I knew some of the girls already, but it took courage to take that first step and even more to say yes when he asked me out day one. If I hadn’t taken the chance, I think I’d still be stuck.”
“That’s where I’ve been, stuck in limbo. Now I think I’m ready to take that chance with Arturo, but…”
“What?”
“I’m afraid. My heart was shattered when Derek died. He was my world. As were my kids, now they’re gone too.”
“But you’re young, honey, there are a lot of lonely years ahead if you don’t give life a try again.”
“I’m beginning to see that. And Arturo, well he makes me feel alive again. I didn’t think it was possible.”
“Are you in love with him?”
“It’s soon, and I’m trying to go slow—although I’m not sure Arturo has that speed—but I think I’m half way there, Lex. Truly.”
She hugged her. “I’m so happy for you. And does this mean you’ll hang around every once in a while after? Arturo likes to dance, as you know, I saw you two putting on a show the other night. And if you like music, Elena and her band are awesome. Plus, you need your girls, honey, other submissives. These men we’ve latched onto are bigger than life, you need sisters to help keep you from getting squished. We’ll help you navigate around the pitfalls. Believe me, we all need the support.”
“I’m beginning to realize that. Derek and I were loners, he didn’t share or want anyone to know about our lifestyle, but watching you at the club, the support you give each other, I think we really missed out.”
“You were isolated. That can be scary when you’re starting out.”
“I wasn’t scared so much as, I don’t know, embarrassed. Derek was too, and he worried that if others found out... Well, it would have been nice to know there were others out there besides us that were into kink.”
French Kiss (Decadence Nights Book 2) Page 15
