[Beneath 01.0] Beneath This Mask

by Meghan March

  Connected to my big mutt.

  Huck’s head jerked up, and a series of deep barks ripped through the stillness of the late morning. His huge body lunged forward, tugging the leash from Simon’s hand.

  Simon turned and froze.

  He looked like hell. Tired. Ragged around the edges. He was barefoot, wearing khaki cargo shorts and a black T-shirt. His hair was shaggy, curling around his ears in a way that suggested he’d had more important things to worry about than making time for a barber. Several days’ worth of beard covered his jaw. He was still gorgeous, but once again, I was faced with a different Simon than I’d ever seen before. His expression gave nothing away. And it certainly didn’t fill me with hope.

  Huck trotted—without limping—toward the fence. He whined and pawed and licked my hand through the bars.

  I scratched behind his ear, and he leaned into my touch. “Missed you, too, baby,” I whispered.

  Simon took his time crossing the lawn. When he finally came close enough, I could see the dark circles under his eyes.

  “Hi.” It was the lamest opening line, but I didn’t know what else to say.

  Simon stopped in front of the gate and watched me. He didn’t reply.

  I’m not sure how long we stood, just staring and trying to guess what the other was thinking. The seconds ticked by in almost painful silence.

  I remembered the last time we’d played emotional chicken. It seemed I’d have to swerve first this time, too. “I—”

  He spoke at the exact same moment. “I waited at the airport yesterday. For four hours. When you didn’t show up, I thought you’d decided to keep running.”

  I swallowed. The time had finally come for absolute honesty. “I thought about it.” A flash of anguish arced across his features, but I pushed on. “I probably should have. It probably would have been better for you in the long run never to see me again.”

  He laughed humorlessly and gripped the back of his neck with one hand. He looked skyward. “Don’t do me any favors, Charlie.”

  “Trust me, I’m not. I don’t see the upside for you in this. I pretty much see nothing but downsides on your end. Being with me is a bad deal. The secret’s out, and unless I run and hide and become someone else again, everyone will know who I am—the daughter of a thief, and a liar in my own right. That’s who I’m going to be for the rest of my life. Anyone who stands by me is going to be ruined by it.” I took a deep breath and cut to the heart of the matter. “But it turns out I’m not strong enough to walk away from you again. This time, you’re going to have to tell me to go. Because otherwise, I’m not leaving.”

  At some point during my speech, Simon had moved closer to the gate. He gripped one bar in a white-knuckle hold. The muscle in his jaw ticked, and I braced myself, hoping like hell I hadn’t said too much. Hoping like hell I hadn’t finally convinced him that I wasn’t worth it.

  “I’ve spent all day trying to figure out what I was going to do if you’d decided to run. How I was going to deal with the fact you might not be coming back.”

  A shaft of pain lanced through me. Had he already started trying to figure out how to cut me out of his life? “Simon—”

  “No. You’ve said your piece. It’s my turn.” He reached a hand through the fence and toyed with a lock of my hair. “Because there’s still one thing you don’t seem to get: I don’t care who you are. I don’t care if you’re Charlie or Charlotte or Lee, or anyone else. Because all that matters is that you’re mine. I wasn’t going to let you go without a fight. If you’d run, I would’ve chased you. Just like I have since the beginning.”

  “But—”

  He cupped my face with his hand and ran his thumb over my lips to silence me. “If you’re going to tell me one more time how bad you are for me, I don’t want to hear it. The only thing I want to hear coming out of your mouth is you telling me that you love me.”

  His thumb moved away from my lips, and the words tumbled out. “I love you.”

  Simon leaned against the fence and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. A smile stretched across his face, and his eyes met mine.

  “Welcome home, Charlie. I missed you.”

  He pulled his hand back through the bars and reached for a button to open the gate. As soon as there was enough room, I left my bags on the sidewalk, slid through the gap, and launched myself at him.

  Simon’s strong arms caught me and lifted me off my feet. I wrapped myself around him. This man was mine, and I was never letting him go again. He pressed his lips to my hair, and whispered, “Missed you so fucking much. Not letting you out of my sight for a goddamn year.” My only response was to hold on tighter.

  When he finally set me down, the lightheartedness left me, and my expression turned serious. “How’s your mom? Is she going to be okay?”

  Simon’s smile didn’t fade. “She’s going to be fine. A lot of therapy, but she’s going to be just fine.”

  “And your decision not to campaign … was that because of me? Because I—”

  Simon cut me off. “No. I’d already decided that before the Fourth of July. You just didn’t stick around long enough for me to tell you about it.”

  Heat flared up my cheeks. “I knew if I wanted a chance with you, I had to make things right.” I looked down at the ground and the toes of my ratty Chucks. “It just didn’t exactly work out like I’d planned.”

  “If Ivers had gotten to you before—”

  This time I cut him off. “It wouldn’t have made a difference. It needed to happen this way. I definitely could have lived without setting foot in Rikers, but at least people are getting back what they lost.”

  Simon scowled. “Like I said. Not letting you out of my sight.”

  The front door swung open, and we both turned toward the sound.

  Simon’s father stood behind his mother’s wheelchair. She smiled, her face still slightly askew, but she lifted a hand and waved. Mr. Duchesne called out, “Welcome home, Charlie. Maggie would like to invite you to lunch. Nothing fancy. Just family.”

  I smiled as a lump rose in my throat. Just family. Their easy acceptance humbled me. And I knew I was truly home.

  “I’d love to.”

  Simon pressed another kiss to my hair, and whispered, “I love you.”

  I threaded my fingers through his, and we walked hand in hand toward the house.

  Forty-Six

  Simon

  I parked across the street from Harriet’s and turned to Charlie.

  “When I said I wasn’t letting you out of my sight, I wasn’t kidding. If this is where you want to stay tonight, you’d better be ready for some company.” I hoped she realized how serious I was. After more than six weeks apart with nothing but questions and unknowns between us, I wanted us on the same page when it came to our future. I knew what I wanted—Charlie in my bed every night, with my ring on her finger. My store of patience had run dry. After facing the possibility of losing her, I wasn’t going to rest until I’d locked down forever with this woman.

  She looked up from beneath her dark lashes and shot me a saucy smirk. “Since I wasn’t planning on letting you leave, that works for me.”

  I reached for my door handle, but Charlie was already out of the car and crossing the street. What the hell was her hurry?

  Impatience or anxiety or something else I couldn’t quite identify had been rolling off her since she’d asked me to bring her back to the apartment after dinner. As much as I’d wanted to tuck her into my bed, I hadn’t argued. Strangely enough, she’d suggested leaving Huck curled up at my mother’s feet. Something was up, but I had no idea what. With Charlie, it could be anything.

  When I climbed out of the car, she was already shoving her key into the ancient lock. “Excited to see Harriet?” I asked.

  She smiled and held open the gate. “You first.”

  “What’s going on here?”

  She bit her lip, unsuccessfully holding back a laugh. “Just roll with it, Simon.”

  I lea
ned down and brushed a kiss across her hair. “Only for you.”

  I walked through the narrow passageway into Charlie’s garden oasis and stopped dead. Dozens of fat, white pillar candles sat on the table, the edge of the fountain and koi pond, on the ledges of the brick walls, and around the splash pool. The yellow flames flickered in the evening breeze.

  I spun in a slow circle, taking it all in. A romantic gesture from Charlie. I liked where this was headed.

  “How did you manage to pull this off?” I asked, finishing my circle just as she tugged her black T-shirt over her head and dropped it on the ground. The best sort of déjà vu rushed through me.

  “Harriet. And she was kind enough to give us some privacy.” She reached behind her back and unclasped her bra. It dangled from her fingertips for a moment before it landed on her shirt. She was so goddamn beautiful she stole any other thoughts straight out of my head.

  I watched with pure male appreciation as she toed off her Chucks and reached for the zipper on her jeans. She shimmied them off as she said, “Last time I tried this, you told me to let you know when I was ready for more than a quick fuck.”

  She exposed the pale, white skin of her legs as she kicked her jeans and panties aside, and I fought to follow her line of conversation. “I remember saying something like that.”

  “This is me telling you, without a single reservation, that I want more. A whole hell of a lot more, Simon. I want it all. With you.”

  My heart hammered at her words and the sight of her before me. Naked in every way. No walls. No masks. No secrets. No lies. Just Charlie. My inked, pierced, beautiful Charlie.

  My already wide smile stretched further. “That’s convenient, because I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.”

  She tilted her head. “An answer to what?”

  I stuck my hand in my pocket and felt the ring that I’d been carrying around since yesterday morning. After my grand airport reunion plan had been derailed, I told myself I was going to wait. That I wasn’t going to do this tonight. That I was going to let her settle in for a few more days before I brought it up. But for some reason, I’d kept the ring in my pocket anyway. And I was glad as hell, because I couldn’t let this moment pass without asking.

  I dropped to one knee on the concrete in front of her, pulled the ring out, and held it up.

  She slapped a hand over her mouth. “Are you serious? Now? You’re doing this now? While I’m fucking naked? Seriously?”

  I grinned. Now was the perfect time. I reached for her left hand.

  “Charlotte Agoston, I love you. Every goddamn piece of you, including your past, because it made you who you are, and it brought you to me. I want to spend the rest of my life with you by my side. I want to stand up in front of God and everyone and make you mine. Will you marry me?”

  She squeezed her eyes shut. “Why do you never do what I think you’re going to?”

  I lifted her hand to my lips and kissed it. “That’s not the answer I was hoping for, baby.”

  “Jesus, Simon. You realize we can never tell this story to anyone. Because if you tell anyone we got engaged while I was naked...”

  I stood and drew her against me. “Is that a yes?”

  She reached up to wrap her arms around my neck. Just before she pressed her lips to mine, she whispered, “Of course, it’s a yes.”

  The kiss started sweet, but I couldn’t stop myself from taking over. I would never get enough of her. Never. When we finally separated, I remembered the ring, which I’d managed not to drop. I reached for her left hand again, and stared into her shimmering aqua eyes as I slid it onto her finger.

  She glanced down at it for a moment before twining her fingers in mine. The diamond flashed in the candlelight as Charlie led me toward the edge of the pool. Releasing my hand, she stepped down the stairs and sank into the water.

  With her hair floating around her on the surface, she looked like a pagan goddess. Thank God Derek got drunk enough to want Mandy’s name tattooed on his ass.

  “You coming in?” she asked.

  I tugged off my T-shirt and stripped off my shorts and boxer briefs in no time.

  “Wherever you are is where I want to be.”

  A soft smile stretched across her face, and I knew that if I could make her smile like that every day for the rest of my life, I’d be a damn lucky man.

  I descended into the pool and followed her as she floated backward. Trapping her against the concrete edge, I ducked my head to kiss her shoulder, her neck, and then her jaw. “So you say you’re ready for a whole hell of a lot more…”

  She threaded her fingers through my hair and met my eyes. “I’m ready for anything, as long as it’s with you.”

  “Not just anything, Charlie. Everything.”

  Epilogue

  Charlie

  The early afternoon sunshine heated my skin; I closed my eyes and soaked it up. A crowd of people poured from the arched doorways of St. Louis Cathedral. Simon pressed a kiss to my shoulder.

  “You look incredible. And I’m the luckiest bastard on the planet.”

  My vintage Dior dress had cost me almost two months’ worth of pay from my very beloved job—Director of Finance of The Kingman Project. It was perhaps the most indulgent purchase I’d ever made, but seeing the look on Simon’s face as I walked down the rose petal strewn aisle on his father’s arm was worth every penny. The strapless, champagne-colored bodice faded into a thinly layered tulle skirt of the same color. It was encrusted with hundreds of scattered crystals that glittered like diamonds in the sun.

  My eyes devoured Simon. He was, as always, devastatingly handsome in a tux. “You don’t look so bad yourself.” I tilted my face up for a kiss. “Guess that makes me one lucky girl.”

  And I was lucky. My father might not have given me away, and my mother might not have looked on with tears in her eyes as her daughter married the man she loved, but today—every day—I was surrounded by people who accepted me for who I was. They’d welcomed me without question when I’d had no past, and embraced me unconditionally even after my secrets had been revealed. They’d shown me what true family was supposed to be.

  Simon brushed his lips across mine before straightening as Con approached, Huck at his side. Handing off the leash to Simon, Con said, “Better treat her right, Duchesne. Or you’ll answer to me.” While his words carried a warning, the tone wasn’t harsh. Simon and Con had, after a few fits and starts, formed a solid friendship of their own.

  The men shook hands. “You have my permission to kick my ass if I don’t.”

  Con released Simon’s hand and focused on me. Leaning down, he pressed a kiss to my cheek. “Happy looks good on you, Lee. Give ‘im hell.”

  “Thank you. For everything,” I whispered.

  Con nodded and slipped away to find his date.

  “He’s right; happy looks beautiful on you.” I turned toward the familiar voice to see Juanita dabbing at her eyes with a delicate handkerchief.

  I stepped away from Simon to wrap my arms around her.

  “Thank you for being here.”

  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” She squeezed me tightly for a long moment before releasing me.

  “Don’t forget this, girly,” Yve said, holding out a feathered parasol. “It’s almost time.”

  I accepted it from her, along with a hug.

  “Thank you. Both of you.” The smile that stretched across my face was so wide it made my cheeks ache. It had been that way for days. Blinking back sentimental tears, I twirled the parasol, making the feathers bounce.

  Simon returned to my side and accepted hugs from both Yve and Juanita. Then he held out his free hand. “Are you ready, Mrs. Duchesne?”

  I laced my fingers through his and smiled up at him. “I am now.”

  The bandleader called off a beat, and the sound of jazz filled the air as the wedding party, followed by all of our guests, moved en masse toward the streets of the French Quarter.

  The End
r />   The Beneath series continues with Beneath This Ink and the story of the sexy, tattooed Constantine Leahy. You are not going to want to miss it! Keep reading for a sneak peek. If you’ve already read Beneath This Ink, don’t worry, there are still more deliciously addictive alpha males and strong, sassy women in the Beneath world to devour:

  Beneath This Ink (Con and Vanessa)

  Beneath These Chains (Lord and Elle)

  Beneath These Scars (Lucas Titan and Yve)

  Beneath These Lies (Rix and Valentina)

  Beneath These Shadows (Bishop and Eden)

  Beneath The Truth (Hennessy and Ariel)

  I’ve also included the first chapter of the first book in my new Anti-Heroes Collection as well after the preview of Beneath This Ink. Looking for something darker and dirtier in New Orleans?

  Check out Ruthless King.

  To stay up to date on the latest Meghan March happenings, including new releases, sales, special announcements, exclusive excerpts, and giveaways, subscribe to my newsletter.

  Want more of the Beneath series?

  Keep reading for a sneak peak of Beneath This Ink.

  Preview of Beneath This Ink

  Chapter 1

  Con

  “Con, can you take this walk-in?” Delilah called from the front of the shop.

  I pushed back from the desk and shoved my hair away from my face. It was too damn long. I needed to get it cut, but the girl I’d been going to for the last year had basically fallen onto my cock last week, and I wasn’t going to be letting her near my jugular with scissors any time soon. She wasn’t enamored of my, ‘I don’t go there twice unless there’s something worth going back for’ mentality. I probably could have phrased it a little nicer, but why give the girl false hope when I’d all but forgotten her as soon as I’d slid the condom off my dick? I didn’t have time for bullshit, and I didn’t like to be misunderstood when I spoke. So I was firmly in the ‘tell it how it is’ camp. Women didn’t seem to appreciate my particular brand of honesty. Mostly because it didn’t line up with what they wanted to hear. Not my problem.