His brother clenched his jaw and his lips thinned. His eyes misted over. Rio dropped his own gaze because he didn’t want to witness his brother breaking down.
“Do you want to know why seven?”
“If you want to tell me.”
“Because that’s the magic number for durational alimony versus stop gap alimony.” Mason’s finger tapped the rim of the tumbler as he stared at the glass.
“She was planning on leaving you.” Of course, she was. Rio’s dislike for the woman quickly turned to a budding hatred.
“Yes, until Pops died. She got wind of the will, of the inheritance. She must have overheard me talking to the lawyer. She had no idea there was more money than just the trust we gained access to at thirty. Of course, my inheritance made me suddenly lovable again. But I didn’t tell her about the will, and I didn’t know she knew. I thought she was serious about making the marriage work. I tried so damn hard to make her happy.”
A tear snaked down his brother’s cheek unabated. Rio wanted to grab his brother and hug him, but fuck him, he didn’t know if it would be appreciated. Rio leaned back in his chair and waited for Mason to pull himself together.
“You know I can read a corporate player a mile away. I can smell out bullshit in a business deal, and my gut is never wrong. I’m fucking brilliant, and that isn’t conceit, but she played me for years. Years, Rio.”
“You didn’t see it because you loved her.”
“I didn’t see it because she is a master manipulator. Well, no more. My lawyer served her with divorce papers about an hour ago. His courier tracked her down at a social event.” An evil smile spread across his mouth. “I’m probably going to pay for that.”
“You up for this fight?” There was no doubt that Deanne would fight tooth and nail for every penny she could get.
“Not going to be much of a fight.” Mason’s shoulders seemed to droop more.
“You can’t just cave. She’s been milking you for years.” Pissed on his brother’s behalf, he may have shouted.
“No, over the last two months I’ve hired a private investigator. He’s given me more ammunition than I need to make her go away with minimal fuss. Seems my dear wife has a lover. Chandler Thompson.”
“Chandler Thompson… as in Roger Thompson’s father, the very married Chandler Thompson?”
“That’s the one and, if you remember correctly, Chandler’s wife is a Stork. Old money on her side. Very old money and she has the balls in that family.” Mason tipped his glass toward Rio and finished his second tumbler.
“Holy. Shit.” Rio took a sip of his own bourbon with that little gem of what-the-fuck-was-he-thinking news. He whipped his head toward Mason. “Proof positive? Not just pictures that could be salacious if taken out of context?”
“They were fucking on the floor of his den. She was riding him. Both faces clearly visible. My guy was outside the property line but had a lens that made everything crystal clear. He even moved down the street and got his massive ex-cop ass in a tree to take pictures of them in Chandler’s bedroom. She left not three minutes before Mrs. Thompson came home. The bedroom is on video.”
“Holy. Shit.” Any other words were beyond him right now. Deanne’s greed had painted her into a fucking corner.
“So, if she doesn’t go away quietly, you’ll talk to Mrs. Thompson.”
“That’s the plan. I’m willing to give her exactly what was in the prenup she signed but didn’t sign. God, I’m such a fucking moron.” Mason poured himself a third tumbler.
Rio leaned forward placing both forearms on the table. He tapped the top, drawing Mason’s attention. “No, you really aren’t a moron, as you said yourself, you’re brilliant. Your only fault was that you loved her. Your heart was in the right place, and you believed her. I hate like hell that she stole that from you.”
“It was just greed. I see it all the time. I understand the motive. I get that. What I don’t get was why she pushed a wedge between you and me. I fucking hated not having you at the wedding. It hurt, you know?”
“Believe me, I know, but it wasn’t us. We can get over it. I’m home to stay now. I have a vision for my trust and my inheritance, plus I'm in a relationship.”
“What? You’ve met someone? Is this recent?”
“I met her my first night back home. She sat down at my table at the Bistro thinking I was her blind date.”
“And you’re still seeing her? What about the guy she was supposed to meet?”
“That’s a long story.” Rio felt a smile spread across his face.
Mason picked up the bottle of bourbon and examined the level of its contents. “I have at least two more drinks, so I have the time. You’ll call me an Uber, right?”
“I’ll drive you home.”
“Nope. I’ve got a room downtown. The movers pulled into the house to remove my personal belongings as soon as Deanne left this afternoon. There is nothing I need or want at that house.”
Rio applauded his brother’s planning, but Mason was a phenomenal businessman. There was little doubt he had everything planned to the last detail before he set anything in motion. “Good for you, but you could stay with the ‘rents instead of a hotel.”
“Not bloody likely. I’m a big boy now.”
“Then stay with me.” Hell, he had two bedrooms and would have two beds if his household goods ever got delivered.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll think about it. But enough of my fucking drama. I need to think about something else. You were telling me about your woman.”
“Ah, well we meshed that first night. She’s funny and we can talk about anything. She’s finishing her degree in project management.”
“Yeah? Where does she work?”
“Honeycutt, Inc.” Rio chuckled when he saw his brother wince.
“A ruthless company. That son of his is a bastard and out for blood. Thank God we are big enough to consume them if they ever turn their eyes toward us. They take down companies just to tear them apart and sell them as salvage. The bastard has built some efficient companies, but I'm not a fan of the way he works.”
“Yeah, she’s the bastard’s administrative assistant.”
“Whoa, then she has nerves of steel.”
Rio’s mind flashed to the way she handled her family in the last two months. Nerves of steel, yes. Compassion? In spades. The ability to keep her past from making her feel less than beautiful? Not so much. It was one of the things he was working on.
“So… the date?”
“Yeah, her sister set her up for it. The guy was a total tool. He was drunk when she got there and was making a stink in the restaurant. I asked her to stay with me, which cost her.”
“How so?”
“Her sister guilted her into seeing the guy again because she stood him up on the first date. He ended up clocking her with a beer stein and sending her to the ground. She fucked up her wrist and had a shiner. And get this, she swore it was her fault because she was pulling her arm away from him after he grabbed her, and she spilled his beer on him.”
For the first time since he sat down, Mason let go of his bourbon and leaned forward. “First, did you explain he had no right to grab her, and second, what did you do?”
Rio smiled and asked, “How do you know I did anything?”
“You like the woman. This prick hit her, and you’re a SEAL. Not hard to assume you kicked his fucking ass. So, spill.”
Rio rubbed his beard and nodded. “Well, first, Meg and I have talked about her need to take blame for that incident, and second, I may have paid the waitress to call me when good ole’ Carl showed up again.”
“Seriously, do not harsh the buzz I have going on right now. Did you or did you not kick his ass?”
“Carl had a problem that night. Just couldn’t stay on his feet. Can you believe he was so drunk that he fell down and broke his jaw… and his right hand… and a rib?”
Mason’s hand reached up and ru
bbed his own jaw. “From experience I would say, yes, I can believe it.”
“The fucker was with another woman that night, too. Mason, I swear he slapped her right in front of me. I talked him into going outside for a smoke with me to give her a chance to get the fuck out of that place. She was heading out the side door when I looked back. The motherfucker was laughing at the way he made her cry. He had the audacity to tell me that women wanted men to put them in their places.”
“And that is when he magically broke his jaw?”
“I pushed him into the alley on the other side of the building, and we had a man-to-man talk.”
“Is that what they are calling a beatdown now?”
“I didn’t start it. Initially I just wanted to confront him about Meg and warn him off trying to see her ever again, and the stupid bastard threw a punch.”
“And then it was done.”
“After what I saw in the bar and what Meg told me happened, yeah, pretty much.”
Mason grabbed his glass and leaned back. “Was it hard, in the SEALs?”
“Wow, hard is a relative term. BUD/S was a living hell, but it taught me so much about myself. The follow-on schools were intense, but nothing like BUD/S.”
“Did you see much action?”
Rio nodded.
“Is it like what’s portrayed on television?”
“No. Not every mission is a bloodbath or classified, although we had those types of runs, too.”
“Maybe sometime you could tell me about the war stories that weren’t classified?”
“I could do that, if you’ll consider helping me understand this mass of paper.”
Mason pulled a file to him and glanced at the document on the top. “What are you trying to do?”
“I want to set up a nonprofit clearinghouse for SEALs transitioning from the military service to civilian life. I want to create an organization that functions as a liaison of sorts between the companies seeking the skillsets SEALs have and the service members themselves.”
“Just SEALs?”
“To begin with. After I get the organization set up, I want to open it to the elite forces for all services.”
Mason flipped a page and then another. “Hell of an undertaking.”
“It is.”
“Selfless.”
“Meh… I’m in a position to help.” Rio wasn’t going to get sucked into the whole philanthropist mindset. He was just doing a solid for his brothers in arms.
Mason snorted and threw back the last of his bourbon. “Well then we have ourselves a deal, but you need to help me downtown. I believe I’m shit-faced.”
Chapter 20
Meghan lay back against the corner of the couch and sighed. N.R. had been on a royal tear today. He made Sarah cry, which had Connie in her office not much later. She pitied Connie when she had to set N.R. straight. The only saving grace was that, as the head of Human Resources, Connie worked for N.R.’s daddy and as much as he huffed and puffed, N.R. couldn’t fire her. Although he’d tried. The man had ranted at his father over the phone for about thirty minutes after Connie had told him he’d once again fucked up handling his employees. Sarah had every right to file a complaint, and Meghan was glad she had. N.R. needed to be taken down a notch or two every so often, and Connie was damn good at it.
She lifted her wine and took a drink as she dialed Rio’s number.
“Hi-ya.”
There was a tinny sound coming across the phone. “Hey. Are you driving?”
“Yep, just pulling into the complex.”
“Wow. You’re late getting home.”
“I had a drink with my brother and drove him to his hotel.”
“Oh, there is way too much in that sentence to be unpacked over the phone. Come over.”
“Sounds like a plan. Do you have to work tomorrow?”
“Nope. N.R. flew out to New York this afternoon, and I finished all my work tonight, so I’d have the weekend free.”
“Excellent. Let me get clothes for the morning, and I’ll be over.”
Meg tried to hold back the laughter in her voice, “Mighty presumptuous, aren’t you?”
“Nah, I’m easy like that.”
Laughter did escape that time. She said goodbye and put her glass of wine down. Her new apartment was more spacious than the one she’d had before, and she loved it. The fact that it was in the same apartment complex as Rio was also a big selling point. She headed into the bathroom to brush her teeth and check her hair. Maybe it was vanity, but she wanted to look nice for Rio. No matter how many times he told her that she was beautiful, the input warred with the programming of her youth and young adulthood.
She wandered out of her bedroom’s en suite and headed to the kitchen. She poured him a drink from the whiskey he’d left at her house and had it in her hand when she opened the door at his knock.
He wrapped her up in his arms and held her as if she were some precious possession. There, in the doorway to her apartment, in full view of anyone passing by, he kissed her. It still shocked her into breathlessness. When he finally pulled away, she was boneless. “Is that for me?”
She glanced at the tumbler in her hand. Damn, she’d forgotten she was even holding it. “Ummm… yeah. Come in.”
Rio dropped his gym bag by the door and kicked it closed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as they moved to the sectional. He flopped into the corner and waited for her to situate herself between his legs. It was “their” position whenever they sat on the couch. “God, I needed to see you tonight.” Rio kissed the back of her head before he took a sip of his drink.
Meg twisted so she was leaning on his chest with her shoulder. “Tell me what happened with your brother.”
“He’s divorcing his wife, and I think we are on the way to making amends in our relationship.”
“Did he apologize?” She knew his brother's accusations had wounded him.
“I don't think I'd ever ask for an apology. His wife manipulated him. He loved her and trusted her. Asking him to apologize... nah, I couldn't do that. He's been hurt more than I have.”
Meg scrunched her nose, “Yeah, not quite his fault was it?”
“Nope. She played him.”
“I wonder how he didn’t see through it?”
“He was in love with her. Hell, if I hadn’t gone into the military, I could have fallen victim to her greed. Thankfully, I dodged that bullet.”
"Hindsight being twenty-twenty, do you think she would have played you the way she did your brother?"
Rio nodded. "She dropped me like a hot rock as soon as she found out I was going to be in the Navy. She pursued Mason and married him before he was able to access the trust fund. That meant the money, when he received it, would be communal. The plan was damn near perfect until she screwed up."
Meg leaned forward and placed a kiss on the side of his mouth. He chased her lips, but she pulled away. "Let's promise to be completely honest with each other. No secrets that will fester and come between us."
Rio's whiskey colored eyes lost some of their glimmer. "I can do that, with the exception of my time in the service. I have secrets from those times I can’t ever share.”
"I can live with that."
Meg relaxed and let herself roll on top of Rio. His arms enfolded her in a warm embrace as his kiss captured her lips.
How had she fallen in love with the man so quickly? She had no doubt she was in love. How could she not fall in love with a man whose mission in life was to care for others? Rio hid his kindness, but if he saw a person in need, he made sure to help. He was amazing and she was terrified her feelings for him could be one sided, and for that reason, she kept her admissions locked away in her heart for a time when she could admit her love without fear.
Meg pushed the thoughts away and squirmed down his body, unbuttoning his dress shirt as she went. She'd learned Rio loved foreplay. Over the last two months he'd shared what turned him on, and she loved making him insane with need. She kissed his nipple
before taking the little nub between her teeth and worrying it. Rio's hand grabbed her head, keeping her there as his body bowed under her, his erection pressed against her belly.
"Fuck, baby. Like that. Just like that."
His free hand slid down her back and under her shirt. She wasn't wearing a bra and his fingers played with her skin, leaving warm tingling trails across her back and side. She worked her tongue to his other nipple, gave it the attention it deserved, and then migrated slowly down his torso. As she kissed and licked around his lower abs, her fingers popped the fastening of his very expensive suit slacks. When she tugged on the waistline to pull them off, Rio lifted his hips.
His cock pushed hard against his briefs. Meg licked the waistband, his erection hot against her neck and cheek.
"Baby, if you're trying to kill me, it’s working."
Meghan glanced up at him. His face and chest were flushed red. His eyes were half open and fixed on her. She held his gaze as she pulled the cotton away from his cock and grabbed the base. He pulled a sharp breath when her hand circled him. She smiled before she closed her lips over the crown of his shaft.
Instantly a burst of precum spread into her mouth. She pumped up with her hand as she took him farther toward the back of her throat. Her gag reflex wouldn't allow her to take him any farther. She had no idea how women could swallow a whole cock, but she worked him the way he said he liked, adding a few things she'd learned into the mix. Teeth were to be avoided, unless she ran them up the bottom side. Rio had nearly shot off the bed the first time she'd tried that move. She sucked the sides of his cock, laving it with her tongue before sucking the crown of his shaft into her mouth. His hips lifted sharply. He was not the only one crazy with need. She squeezed her legs together. Her sex throbbed, and her own want and desire fought for attention.
Rio pulled her up his body. He kissed her, consuming her attention as he pushed her yoga pants down. He broke away long enough to mutter, "Off."
Meg pushed against his chest to lift up and away from him and whipped off her shirt. She shoved down her pants. This wasn't about seduction. It was about getting as much of her skin against his as possible—as quickly as possible. Fuck, he looked sexy. His shirt splayed open, exposing his chest. His slacks rode down around his hips and his cock lay hard and huge against his stomach.
Hot SEAL, Savannah Nights Page 16
