by Cherry Adair
“So not done with you,” she told him, voice so breathless she wasn’t sure he heard, let alone understood her. Reversing their positions, she sat astride his hips, palms braced on his chest, the damp heat of her center directly over the hard spar of his dick. “Uh-uh.” She shook her head as his hands came up to hold her hips.
“This is still my rodeo, slave-boy. Lock those hands under your head.”
She rode him until perspiration slicked their bodies and her muscles quivered, until her wet hair clung to her sweaty skin, and there didn’t seem to be a bone left in her body. “I’m liquefied.”
Her dismount was less than graceful as she fell over beside him, her breath coming hard. “No mas?”
Arm flung over his eyes, Rydell groaned.
Addy knew how he felt.
Spent, satiated, satisfied.
“Is that a Yes, I give up, mistress?”
“Ask me again in fifteen minutes,” he said with an exhausted chuckle, barely moving his lips.
Addison managed to squeeze a laugh from her constricted lungs, not capable of movement, either. “Always the optimist. We’ll see how perky you feel in an hour.” Or three.
Without removing his arm flung over his eyes, Rydell snaked out his other arm and scooped her closer. “Come here, woman.”
Their chests immediately became glued together with their sweat. Addison loved it. Flinging her arm over his belly, head nestled under his chin, she said quietly, “Tell me about these French investors.”
Eighteen
They had to have the conversation. Now, when they were both bonelessly relaxed, and in sync, seemed like the perfect time.
A ripple of tension ran through him, and beneath her cheek his chest muscles tightened. “You spoke to Peri.”
“She’s worried about you.” She kissed his sweaty shoulder. Making love with Rydell Case was like a workout on steroids. “So’s Callie. So am I.”
“God.” He lifted her chin so that their eyes met. “I don’t want any of you to worry. I’ll work it out. I’ll take care of it.”
So Rydell. The man who wanted to take care of everyone and everything but himself. “I’m sure you will, and I’m going to help you. I know it’s hard for you to let go, but we’re three grown-ass women, you know. You don’t have to protect us from the unpleasantness of life.” Addy slid over his body, nudging his ankle with her foot so that he spread his legs to make room for her hips. Settling into the V of his muscular thighs, she folded her arms on his broad chest, ready for a real conversation.
“I’ve watched out for Peri and Callie since they were kids. My brother, too, when he was alive. You. Whether you wanted me to or not. It’s hard not to worry and try to make sure that you’re all safe, healthy, and happy.”
“People aren’t meant to be safe and happy all the time. Life has ups and downs for everyone. You can’t stop the bad from happening, Ry. And knowing you’re in trouble automatically rallies all of us, you know that.” His sister and sister-in-law were too far away to do anything hands-on.
Addison would get the skinny, and then contact the other two and fill them in if she deemed it necessary for them to have all the details.
Ignoring his semi-erect penis as it twitched with happiness at her position, she brushed his mouth with one finger. “Start at the beginning, and don’t leave anything out.”
“Hard to concentrate on talking if you insist on wiggling around like that.”
“Sorry.” Not very. But she lay still.
With a wicked smile that made her heart flutter with something more powerful than lust, Rydell stroked a lazy hand down her spine, then curved his fingers around her butt cheek. She wanted to wiggle to encourage him to move his hand somewhere more intriguing. But she’d wanted to talk, and since this was important, she lay still and tried to forget that the part of him that wanted part of her were squashed together in dangerous proximity.
As the sweat dried on their bodies, and her heartbeat slowed, Rydell told her about the letter from the Baillargeons’ lawyer, and the terms of the loan, and what would happen should he not be able to repay it in time.
Pretty much everything Peri had told her, and Callie had hinted at. But it was much worse than she’d been led to believe. Callie and Peri had no idea of the real dollar amount, and it was staggering.
The Frenchman had subsidized Rydell’s father for years, pouring multimillions of euros into the failing salvage company. Interest had compounded, the euro had gone up in value, and the family had been unaware of the loan until after old man Baillargeon died. Now his heirs wanted the money repaid. It didn’t matter that the debt belonged to Rydell’s father. Case Enterprises was his company, and Rydell took his responsibilities as seriously as a heart attack.
In a gesture of comfort, Addison rubbed her palm over his heart, feeling the play of his pecs under the soft dusting of crisp, dark hair. “Is that everything?”
He made a pained grunt of amusement. “Isn’t that enough?”
“Yeah, it is.” She slid off him to sit up, curling her legs under her butt like a mermaid amid the rumpled leopard-print sheets. He stroked her thigh, and she plucked his fingers off her skin because she didn’t want to be distracted, even though she was. Very.
“Behave for another minute,” she told him sternly, clamping her hand over his when his fingers went exploring. “Clasp your hands under you head and keep them there until further notice!” She waited until he did as she asked.
He looked like a sexy, bronzed pagan god with his muscular arms over his head and that knowing glint in his eyes.
“Stop looking at me like that.” As if you’re about to jump my bones and consume me in one gulp. Then she saw what he was doing and it almost broke her heart. He was deflecting. Even though he’d shared the truth about the seriousness of his finances, he didn’t want to suck her all the way in. His overt sexual playfulness was a way to sidetrack how he really felt and the depth of his despair.
It took a few moments for her tight throat to ease so that she could speak. “I know what you’re doing, but don’t. Please, Ry. I know you’re scared. But you don’t need to worry about myself or Callie or Peri. We’re all big girls and can take care of ourselves if this shit ends up hitting the fan. You can’t always protect us from the world. Besides, in this case we’re family and we’re all in it together. You’re not alone. Let me tell you where I am on this, and you can take it from there.”
Addison filled him in on her conversation with her financial adviser. “Those funds will be wire-transferred late tomorrow afternoon.” When he stared to protest, she leaned over to put her palm over his mouth. “I want to do this, Rydell. You won’t change my mind, so save your breath.
“I realize we’ll still be short.” She’d had no idea just how short. Dear God, the number seemed insurmountable. She didn’t understand why he wasn’t white-haired with anxiety. “I’ve been giving this a lot of thought since speaking to your sister—I don’t think selling Tesoro Mio is an answer. You’ll need her for the next salvage. Yes, I know you could buy or rent a smaller ship, but that would take money we can little afford—”
He shifted, lifting his hand to cup her cheek, eyes shining.
“What?”
“You said ‘we.’”
The way he said it squeezed her heart. “Our financials are inexorably tied.” It was better to come at this in a cool, non-emotional way, if she wanted Rydell to know she was dead serious. That this wasn’t a whim or a knee-jerk reaction to his dire situation. The last thing he’d want was her pity. “How sure are you of salvaging the silver from the Nicolau Coelho? Are you one hundred percent positive she’s where you say she is, and that she was carrying such a valuable cargo?” Sometimes a salvage was just as easy as being the first person to know where the wreck was located. “That’s a crazy amount of silver to be transporting just to buy spices.”
“Yeah. It was. My theory is that they were heading to the Spice Islands to spend what they had to, then retur
ning to pass through Africa again. This time to pick up slaves with what was left.” Somehow his hands were no longer stacked under his head, but curved over the small of her back. As if touching her was his talisman.
“And yes,” he said with quiet assurance, “I know exactly where she is. I was here six months ago, and again last month. She’s right where X marks the spot. Seventy or so feet down. Absolutely doable. We’ll have that silver on board in five days. I already have the buyers lined up. Photographic proof of what we retrieve, and the value, and the money will be transferred to my bank in London within twenty-four hours. Doable.”
“It sounds too easy.”
“Sometimes things are easy.”
Not for him. He’d had adversity from the moment his father walked out on him. He’d emotionally supported his mother, practically raised his siblings, brought in Callie from her abusive parents who’d lived next door, financially and emotionally supported his brother after he was diagnosed with leukemia, and supported Callie after Adam died. He’d been lied to about his daughter’s death, manipulated by Hollis and probably Naveen, and been divorced without knowing why.
Addison didn’t want to think about his ship being hijacked and the added punch of the legal claim on his business. No, for Rydell, things were never easy.
“Not to be all doom and gloom, but sometimes that light we see at the end of the tunnel is a southbound train coming at us at a hundred miles an hour.” This close to him and knowing what to look for, she could see the lines of strain around his eyes and mouth. The tension in his strong jaw. “Do we have contingency plans?”
“Of course, love. Don’t I always? Liquidate what’s left, and start over.”
Oh, God, Ry … Her throat ached. “Can you do that if push comes to shove?”
“It depends on if you’re with me or not.”
“That’s not fair, Ry. I don’t know where I’ll be emotionally. In a week, or a month, or a year. One thing I can promise you, my money is your money. I’d planned on selling Tesoro Mio in Sydney anyway, so if that’s what you choose for us to do, I’m fine with it. We already have a buyer. She’s too big for me to live on, and honestly? I would never have taken her in the divorce if I hadn’t wanted to hurt you as badly as you hurt me. Petty, I know, but that’s how I felt.”
Needing to cover herself, she tugged at the sheet and held it over her bare breasts. She still felt vulnerable and exposed. “My book money can support me—not exactly in the manner I’m accustomed to.” By a long shot. “But it will be sufficient for my needs.”
“Hopefully it won’t come to that. I saw some of the silver, Addy. It’s there. The wreck is unstable, and it was too dangerous to go inside without someone watching my back. But I have the best salvage team around. We’ll get it to the surface. I’ll contact the buyers tomorrow after we do a prelim dive. Get that ball rolling. Barring unforeseen circumstances, we’ll be fine. I might have to tighten my belt until I hit a big payday on the next salvage, but it’ll work out. I don’t want you to worry about money, Addy. I promise you, I’ll always take care of you.”
“I’m not a Victorian maiden, Ry. I told you, I can take care of myself.”
He rubbed a hand along her arm. “I know you can. You’re one of the strongest women I know. But you’ve never had to do without. You’ve never given money a second thought in your entire life, Addy. You have no idea what’s it like to wonder how you’re going to pay your rent, or decide which is more important—eating or turning on the heat.”
“No, I don’t. But If it comes to that, I’ll learn and adjust. Is that what happened when your father left the family?” Ry didn’t like to talk about it. He’d walked out when Ry was fifteen, leaving twelve-year-old Adam, five-year-old Peri, and his wife without a backward glance. His father had run Case Enterprises from an apartment in Boston, taking his ship, their joint bank account, and Ry’s mother’s broken heart with him. A year later he’d committed suicide without leaving so much as a note.
At fifteen Rydell had been too young, too inexperienced, to run the business. He’d become the man of the family, the emotional and financial support for all of them. The ship was returned to his mother in London. She’d refused to sell it, holding it for when Rydell and Adam were old enough to sail her. Rydell had salvaged his first treasure and made his first million at twenty.
“There were some times I was looking up at broke, yeah. But I took care of my family, and Callie as well. Nothing trumps family, and nothing was out of bounds if it meant taking care of them. We were okay. I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. Rich is better, but I’ve done poor, and by God I’ll do it again if that’s what it’ll take to keep the Cutters’ hands off my business.”
Addison allowed the silk sheet to glide over her breasts to pool on her thighs. The time to need body armor was past. Now she could comfort Rydell with her body, and tell him without words what she was feeling. “Well, since it’s too dark to dive tonight, let’s keep ourselves busy in the meantime.”
“Hmm.” Rydell looked her over, a gleam in his eyes. “I believe it’s my turn to choose.”
“I don’t have the naughty-nurse costume anymore.” She’d never had a naughty-nurse costume, but it had always been a running joke between them.
“How about the hooker with a heart of gold, still have that one?”
Addison sent him a slow seductive smile. “I’ll improvise.
Nineteen
Curled against his side, Addy’s head was nestled beneath his chin, one leg thrown over his calf. The gentle warmth of morning light bathed his face, but Ry didn’t open his eyes. He was content to lie there, Addy’s hand on his thigh, her heartbeat a faint bird’s-wing flutter against his chest.
“Don’t go,” she murmured, although he’d made no move to do so.
“I want to check my readings—”
Her lashes tickled his skin, and he felt the curve of her lips as she smiled against his throat. “For the millionth time.”
Ry opened his eyes. The cabin was still in twilight, the early-morning sun barely breaching the lower edge of the windows. He stroked a lazy hand up the smooth curve of her back, feeling the bumps of her spine and the silky spill of her fragrant hair across the back of his fingers. She smelled of warm musky woman. Of sex and flowers, and half-made promises. “It’s important.”
“I know,” she murmured, stroking his calf with the side of her foot. “Want me to come and help?”
“No, it’s insanely early. Get a few more hours’ sleep. Do you want me to stick around until Darshi pushes off?”
“And miss the big reveal? No way. I expect you guys to come up with baskets filled to the brim with silver. I’m a big girl. I made my point. He’ll take rejection like the prince he is.”
Darshi was like a testy child. Ry doubted the guy had taken it well at all. “No man likes getting the brush-off from the woman he loves. And especially not twice.”
“Yes, well, be that as it may. He knows it’s over. He’ll deal with it. He’s far too civilized and contained to make a fuss. At least in our presence. He can be as petulant and whiny as he likes when he’s in Malé.”
Ry chuckled. That about summed up the last few thoughts he’d give Prince Naveen Darshi for time immemorial. He combed his fingers through her hair, the strands cool between his fingers. “Much as I’d like to stick around, I’m going—nuh-uh,” he murmured, grabbing her wrist as Addy walked her fingers the few inches up his thigh toward his morning woody. “Save your strength for a celebratory fuck tonight.”
She gave his erect penis a gentle pat. “Go forth and bring home the silver, my pirate.”
“Aye aye, my love.” Ry swung his legs over the side of the bed. God, she looked glorious lying there, a siren’s smile worthy of bringing pirates to the rocky shore, her silken curves strategically covered with only her long hair.
She stopped his heart.
“Sleep,” he ordered, bending to brush a kiss to the swell of her hip.
“Co
me and wake me before you go down, ’kay?” Her voice was already slurred with sleep.
“Sure.” Ry watched her for a few moments, before he went to his cabin next door to shower and get his day started.
Excitement effervesced through his bloodstream as he shut the door to his own cabin. The silver was so close he could taste it. Last night had been … a relief. A blessing. A godsend. A fucking miracle he thought would never happen.
They were so close to having the happiness that grief and loss had stripped from them. So damn close. Talking had helped. But there was more to say. More wordless loving to blur the pain and help them start the process of healing.
Ry dropped to the floor for his customary five hundred morning push-ups. He’d skip his morning run since he’d be getting plenty of exercise with multiple dives throughout the day. His heart skipped several beats. Anticipation was a great motivator.
One thing at a time.
Push-ups.
Shower.
Swim trunks would be the uniform of the day.
A final—completely unnecessary—read of the charts.
A light breakfast with the team—“Four hundred and ninety-seven—crap.” The carpet beneath his hands shifted, putting him slightly off balance, but he immediately righted himself with the next push-up. “Don’t let a loose carpet fuck up your perfect day, Case.”
He finished five hundred, then came up on his haunches to inspect the loose carpet in the corner. One of the deckhands could come and tack it down later. The ship had dozens of spaces beneath the decking for storage. The tacks must’ve come loose during the storm. He hadn’t noticed it before. The carpet looked slightly stretched, as though it had been folded over multiple times. Perhaps Addy had stored some of the baby’s things in here.
“And would this be a good time to prod that sore tooth, Case?” Probably not, but what the hell. He pulled the corner of the plush carpet down to expose the storage compartment in the teak deck beneath, hooked a finger in the brass ring, and tugged up the heavy cover.
