Masters Forever (Masters #3)

by Ginger Voight

  Once upon a time, a million years ago when we were happy, he had told me that he wanted to consume me. I saw that hunger again in his eyes. As the one who ‘got away,’ I was lodged as deeply in his brain as he was in mine. The power that gave me was intoxicating, even more so than all the alcohol I had consumed. He bent closer, until his mouth hovered over mine, but all I could see were those eyes.

  My undoing.

  His lips claimed mine the minute I heard Adam Levine’s howl fill my living room. And I knew that I was lost to what was happening.

  I wasn’t a good girl. Not by a long shot.

  “Face it, sweetheart,” Caz had said once upon a time. “There’s a part of you that needs the darkest part of us.”

  I hadn’t known what he was talking about the day he said it. I knew it now. I leaned back against Caz as Dev knelt down on his knees in front of me. His eyes captured mine as his hands slid up my bare legs, up under my dress, sliding all the way up my thighs. I nearly tested the theory of spontaneous combustion when his deft fingers curved around my underwear and slid them slowly down my legs. I stepped out of them and he inhaled them deep before he tucked them into the front pocket of his pants, which reminded me instantly of that first day in Las Vegas.

  “You’re not going to need these the rest of the night,” he had said.

  “Dev,” I breathed, as I relived the memory.

  He rose again to his feet, pulling me against him, and by default pulling Caz tighter against me. “Tell me the truth, Coralie. Tell Caz the truth. Tell yourself the truth. You still want me.”

  I didn’t want to admit anything, considering he was sadly right. I did want him. And here he was again, like all those times before, trying to erase all of his indiscretions with his masterful seduction. He knew how to play me. He had always known how to play me. But it had never changed anything. No matter what happened, he’d run back to Suzanne in a second.

  This shockingly sober revelation punched right through the fog in my brain.

  “I do want you, Devlin,” I finally admitted. “I always did. The lies, the bullshit and the heartache not so much.”

  He studied my face before a smile dawned upon his. “There she is,” he finally said. “My beautiful wife.”

  “I’m not your wife anymore,” I reminded softly.

  “I don’t care what any piece of paper says,” he repeated as he bent closer. “You are Coralie Masters. Forever.” His kiss was slow and tender, tantalizing, with all of his hunger simmering just below the surface. He toyed with me just long enough for me to submit. He was grinning as he pulled away, to look down at me victoriously, having made his point. I belonged to him, even when I was with another man. He called the shots. He led the dance. He raised the stakes. And ultimately he was the one who walked away, knowing I’d never be satisfied unless he stayed.

  “Happy New Year, Coralie,” he murmured, before he stepped away, grabbed his jacket, shirt and tie, and walked straight from my living room.

  CHAPTER TWO

  My head felt like it was caught under a jackhammer the minute my eyes peeled apart the next day. I was in my bed, though I couldn’t tell you exactly how I got there. It was like I had blinked and an entire night had passed me by, as proven by the sunlight trying to filter through my tightly drawn curtains.

  I lifted up in my bed, propping myself on my elbows, trying to piece together my spotty memories of the night before. I remembered the party. I remembered Devlin. I remembered driving Caz to the house, where Dev showed up, nearly beat Caz to death and then tried to seduce us both.

  I heard the echo of the music we danced to, all together, like the sinful hedonists we were. In a flash I remembered being pinned between their hard bodies, as their hips ground against me, promising a night of ecstasy I had never before contemplated.

  Two men. Two sexy men. Both of whom wanted to please me.

  With a flop I landed back down on my back, which made my bed partner groan as he turned to face me.

  I would have recognized those amber green eyes anywhere.

  “Not so loud, will ya?” Caz mumbled as he rolled onto his back. “I have a hangover.”

  That his chest was bare and the sheet covering his hips suggested he was sporting morning wood made me even more frantic to piece together our evening.

  I remembered that Dev had ultimately left us a little after eleven, before he could fulfill his sexy promise for some wild threesome. My brow furrowed as I tried to remember what happened after he left.

  Caz easily read my face. “Don’t worry, pussycat. We didn’t fuck. The minute Dev left, you crawled into the nearest bottle and didn’t come back out again. You passed out before the stroke of midnight.”

  Super. That had been my plan. “So why are you in bed with me?” I asked as I watched him ease out from under the covers. “Naked?” I asked as I looked away.

  He chuckled. “What can I say? I believe in being prepared.”

  He rose from the bed and crossed to the bathroom, sporting an impressive, and intimidating, erection as he went. Again I had to look away.

  I looked down at my nightshirt. “If I passed out, how did I end up dressed for bed?”

  I heard the toilet flush and some water running. Finally Caz reemerged. “I undressed you,” he admitted. I remembered the night before, when Devlin had stolen my underwear. That meant that Caz got an eyeful of everything when I was too unconscious to know it. I curled myself into a ball, feeling instantly violated.

  Caz sat on the other side of the bed, rolling a joint on my nightstand. He took the first puff before he handed it to me, which I finally took just so I wouldn’t feel so vulnerable. He read me like a book.

  “Don’t worry, pussycat. I’m one of those guys who find consent sexy. The challenge isn’t fucking you. It’s making you want to fuck me,” he grinned, as per usual. He leaned back on my bed, completely naked, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

  “Caz,” I started but it only made him chuckle.

  “New year, new rules, baby. Leave that repressed fraud of a good girl in the taillights where she belongs.” I looked away and he relented by putting on his underwear. “There. Better?”

  The briefs didn’t do much to hide his enormous package. I turned away. “A little.”

  His voice was soft, like velvet. “There’s nothing little about what I got, sweetheart.”

  I shivered a bit before I took another hit. “Why are you here, Caz?”

  “Don’t you remember? I quit my job last night, CC. I’ve gone rogue. I’m off the chain. I expect Suzanne to unravel my life in a weekend flat. I’ve seen her do it before,” he said. “To Devlin.” His eyes met mine. “I have nowhere to go, Coralie.”

  His use of my given name only indicated the severity of our situation. “Maybe it’s not going to be that bad. So she can’t control you with the agency stuff anymore. I’m sure she’ll find something else.”

  “She already did,” he confessed softly. “You.”

  My eyes swung around to his. “What are you talking about?”

  He sighed as he reached for the joint. “I was supposed to break up you and Dev. That was always the plan. I get close to you. I create doubt and suspicion. If I fuck you, even better, because that would mean that Devlin could never trust you again. I honestly didn’t think it would be a challenge. I had seduced hundreds of women like the person I met when I first met you. Kind of insecure. Lonely. Neglected. You had to be, what with your new husband off fucking Suzanne and all.” I scowled at him. “Should have been a walk in the park. Little did I know you really loved the son of a bitch. You really were a good girl,” he decided as he handed me the joint.

  I accepted it. “I was,” I agreed. “Can’t say that after last night.”

  “Why? Because you wanted to enjoy sex? There’s nothing wrong with that, CC. You didn’t even do anything.”

  “But I might have,” I confessed. “I wanted to.”

  “Of course you did. It feels good.
We’re gluttons for pleasure. Food. Fun. Friendship. Fucking,” he added with a suggestive arch of his eyebrow. “All those fun little ‘F’ words.” He rested his head against my headboard. “I knew how to use each and every one, too. Aimed ‘em just like an arrow, trained to hit the bull’s eye with every shot fired.” He mimed pulling an arrow back and releasing it, complete with sound effects he made with his mouth. “I only missed with two people. You, and Devlin.”

  I watched him closely. The revelations from the night before bubbled up in my consciousness. “Are you gay, Caz?”

  He chuckled. “I’ve always benefited from what you might call a fluid sexuality.”

  “So you’re bisexual.”

  He shrugged. “Personally I think we’re all bisexual to some degree. Eventually need overpowers any kind of label. I can fuck anyone if the stakes are high enough. There’s only one thing that has ever mattered to me. Survival. If I’m with you, I’m straight. If I’m with some rich old coot who wants to get fucked hard in the ass just one time before he dies, I’m gay. My personal specialty was couples, where I could fuck the both of them good and proper. I have always been what people want me to be. That’s what made me so good at my job, though I guess those days are over.” He heaved a sigh. “I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do now.”

  Despite our past, I felt sorry for the guy. He had taken the first step to disengage from Suzanne, even though it could cost him everything. I had to respect that. “I can help you,” I said, because it felt right to offer. In a weird way, Caz Bixby was my friend. I wanted to help him get away from someone like Suzanne.

  His eyes met mine. “No. You can’t. Like I was telling you before, you were the deal-breaker with Suzanne. After we broke the two of you up, I was never supposed to see you again. I think she knew that for the first time in a long time, I wanted to…,” he trailed off, as if he said too much.

  “Wanted to what?”

  He sighed. “Be a good guy.” I fell silent as he continued. “The ultimate temptation for a bad boy is a good girl, CC. You challenge us. You change us. You make us want to be better. You make us think about things we have no business thinking about, and for me that meant seducing you not for your money, or because it would make Suzanne happy, but because I just couldn’t stop thinking about you.”

  “Caz,” I said, shaking my head.

  “I know you love him, CC. Still. Even after everything. I saw it last night. But even if he wasn’t a factor, I know I don’t have a shot in hell with you. Not after everything I’ve put you through. I certainly wouldn’t forgive me if I were you.”

  “So what’s this about?”

  He shrugged. “I guess I don’t want to be that guy anymore. Because he’s a guy who could never have a girl like you.”

  It was my turn to sigh as I studied him. “How do I know I can trust you, Caz?”

  “You don’t,” he said simply. “There are no guarantees trusting anyone. That’s why they call it trust.” He let that steep for a minute before he finally swung his legs out of bed. “I guess I should let you have your privacy. I need to go salvage what is left of my life,” he said as he reached for his slacks.

  “Caz, wait,” I said as slipped out of bed myself. I noticed that I now wore underwear, something Caz would have had to put on me himself. It seemed almost… sweet. “Where will you go? Do you have family?”

  He shook his head slightly. “If I had a place to go, pussycat, I would have gone there. Years ago.”

  I took a deep breath. It all smacked of the lies and manipulation I had endured with Devlin the previous year. “If this is another trick…,” I started.

  “No, it’s no trick,” he sighed as he pulled on his shirt. “Like I said, I retired.”

  “Fine,” I said before reaching for some clothes of my own. “I’ll go with you.”

  He gaped at me. “Why?”

  I stared back at this man who had proven such a thorn in my side, but also an accidental friend who had–in his own way–protected me from living a lie with my cheating husband. I owed him for that, if nothing else.

  “Because that’s what good girls do,” I finally answered. “But I swear to God, if this is another scam for Suzanne to manipulate me, it won’t be Devlin strangling you next time.”

  He chuckled softly. “You have yourself a deal, pussycat.”

  After we dressed, we sneaked out the back way of my Father’s estate. I drove him to the country club, where his fancy two-seater car was still parked. I followed him all the way to his beach house in Santa Monica. He stared at his opulent surroundings with a hint of regret. He knew this ride was over. “I’ll go pack,” he told me.

  I decided to prepare a small meal with the food still left in his fridge. He ate on his patio overlooking the ocean one last time, and I joined him. He poured some expensive champagne, the same kind that Devlin had kept on hand in the downtown LA apartment.

  “Lemme guess. Suzanne’s favorite?” I asked, indicating to the bubbly liquid in the glass.

  “Like a fish to water,” he confirmed. “Personally I can’t stand the stuff. I prefer Chateau du Cabot Timide or Joie Gras, a nice 2004 or 2006; 2012 if you’re in a pinch.”

  My eyebrow arched. “You know wine?”

  He nodded. “I know wine.”

  I wasn’t going to make this mistake again. “How do you know about wine, Caz?”

  His eyes met mine. “Bixby wasn’t the name I grew up with, CC. It was Gaboury.”

  My eyes widened. I recognized the connection immediately. “Of the Napa Valley Gaboury Vineyards?”

  “That’s the one,” he admitted with a slight scowl.

  “So wait a second. You’re rich?”

  He chuckled. “My family is rich, CC. I haven’t been rich since they kicked me to the curb five years ago, when I refused to play their game. They wanted me to go to the proper school, get the right education; take over the family business. They even had a girl already picked out for me to marry and produce a bunch of little Gabourys. That wasn’t the life I wanted. I took a stand and that was that.”

  I was struck by how familiar our stories were, but I knew better than to trust it fully. “But they’re your family, Caz. Surely they would adjust…,” I trailed off. He just shook his head.

  “You know, that was my argument as well. That’s when they told me that I wasn’t really blood related after all, since I was adopted as a baby. This made me a mutt. Funny thing about mutts. They’re the first ones to put down.”

  “Caz,” I said as I reached for his hand.

  Again he shrugged it off. “Life sucks. What are you going to do?”

  “What are you going to do?” I asked.

  “I have a little bit of money saved. I learned some things from watching Suzanne. I funneled a bit of it to offshore accounts where she can’t get to it. Maybe I’ll change my name again and move to some tropical island. I’ll stay drunk on mixed cocktails with cute little umbrellas in them while chasing around hot little islanders in their grass skirts.”

  Again with the shit-eating grin. “Can’t you ever be serious, Caz?”

  “What’s the point? Life’s a bitch and then you die. Doesn’t matter how much money you have or where you come from, these rules apply to everyone. Just have what little fun you can squeeze out of it before you check out. It’s all any of us can do.”

  He spotted something from the boardwalk below. I followed his line of vision, which landed on a bald man in a dark suit talking on a cell phone as he looked right at us.

  “We gotta go,” Caz said in a low voice. I nodded.

  He took only a couple of suitcases with him as we headed towards the front door. He placed his car keys in the bowl on the shelf beside the door. “Care to give a guy a ride to the airport?”

  “Don’t be silly. You don’t have to go anywhere. We can figure something out.”

  He pointed to his face, which still bore the bruises from his encounter with Devlin. “You see this? If I stay in town,
this will look like child’s play in comparison to what her goons are going to do with me. She doesn’t let go easily, CC. I sometimes think that’s where Dev gets it.”

  I frowned. “Despite that, I don’t think you should leave. It’s time to show Suzanne Everhart that she doesn’t run this show.” With a start, I realized that Dev had said something very similar a long time ago, only in reference to Caz. “Come on,” I told Caz as I grabbed one of the suitcases. “Let’s go home.”

  He didn’t say much more by the time we packed his suitcases in the trunk of my car. The man from the beach had circled around the house and was now taking what appeared to be photos of us as we got into my car. He didn’t even try to hide what he was doing, which clearly meant he wanted to intimidate us.

  I responded by withdrawing my phone and snapping photos of him. I flipped him off before I peeled away from the curb, which amused Caz.

  “You keep this up and I’m going to have to upgrade you, pussycat.”

  “Good. Because I hate that name.”

  He chuckled. “No, you don’t. You like it. And you like me,” he added with that smirk of his.

  “Don’t let it go to your head,” I warned.

  He linked his fingers behind his head and leaned back in my passenger seat with a happy smile. “Too late.”

  I drove him back to my father’s estate for a few reasons. One, I figured that Suzanne wouldn’t send her goons to my place and risk her underhanded behavior being uncovered by my father, who was a powerful, wealthy man in his own right. He was also someone who currently thought she was everything she pretended to be on the campaign brochures, which meant it was much more valuable to her to maintain that illusion than to get even with Caz.

  Two, I was scared that Devlin might return now that he knew I wasn’t strong enough to send him away. I couldn’t risk jumping back on that demented carousel ever again. My body still hummed with everything he had done to me the night before, trying to seduce me in tandem with another man who was sexy and alluring himself.