by Carmen Green
“Let’s see if there’s a key.”
Hunter went back to the cabinet and climbed up. “There’s no key ring.”
“No single key?” she asked, her face turned up earnestly.
He felt around in the corners of the cabinet and hit an object. “Well, well, Ms. Alex. What do have we here?” Looking down, he smiled at her, waving two keys.
“Why, one of them must be an object that can make a luxury yacht go really fast with your wife’s stolen money. I don’t know about the other key, though.”
“Maybe to that address,” he said, pointing to the paper in her hand. “You have the title. You can sell the boat and recoup your money.”
“I don’t know anything about selling yachts. I guess I can look on the Internet. I can ask Jerry.” She sounded defeated and tired. As if she didn’t want to do another thing. She pulled her hair on top of her head and closed her eyes in disgust.
“Hey.”
Her eyes washed him in warmth as the sun had no more than an hour ago. Again, he wanted to be riding down the coast with her. “I’ll help you.” He wanted to add “forever,” but that word wasn’t part of his vocabulary.
Walking back to the living room, they sat next to one another on the sofa.
“Thank you,” she said softly. She put her chin on his shoulder. “I wanted to ask you, but you’ve done so much already.”
“Come on. Don’t get shy now.” He shook her knee. “Marc made these purchases with joint assets, but they’re in his name only. If you’re not his legal wife, you might have to turn over the assets to whomever that individual is.”
Rising, Alex walked to the windows overlooking the square.
“Renee mentioned that. I’ll add my name to the documents, and if it comes to a legal battle, they’ll have to prove it’s not my money he bought them with, and not my property. My godfather was right in that regard. I have the resources to fight, and I will.”
One thing Hunter understood was power. Alexandria now understood wealth and power.
“You up for a field trip?” he asked.
“Where?”
“I was thinking you might like to go find your new yacht.”
“I thought we were waiting until tomorrow?”
“While you’re still Mrs. Marc Foster, you should get the title changed on the paperwork. You’ve got the death certificate, right?”
“Yes.” Dawning brightened her eyes. “Yes. That’s a great idea.”
“Where you going?” he asked as he headed for the front door and she headed toward her room.
“I have to change. I can’t wear this to go yacht hunting.”
“Bring some clothes for tomorrow and your toiletries,” he called after her.
Already in her room, Alex stuck her head around the corner. “Why?”
Hunter waited down the hall. “Afterward you’re coming home with me.”
A slow smile crept over her. “All right. I’ll be five minutes.”
“I’m getting something to drink. Want anything?”
“No. Help yourself.”
Hunter walked into the kitchen and got up on the chair. There lay a document flat on the surface that he hadn’t pulled out, having left it intentionally.
He read it, hating a man he’d never known. He folded the paper, making the edges meet evenly, before slipping it into his pants pocket.
Alex would never see it. She would never know that Marc had been planning to divorce her.
* * *
Hunter drove through Atlanta heading north on I-75. He and Alex settled on letting the radio entertain them the whole way.
He questioned her about her mother’s agoraphobia and the depression that kept her cooped up in the house, and she got him to open up and talk about the lonely years after his parents died in his early twenties.
The hour-and-a-half ride passed quickly before it ended near Lake Allatoona, and they turned onto the Mason Boat Storage property.
Hunter and Alex went inside the office, showed the paperwork, and were given the electronic code to use after they unlocked the door with the key.
Each metal door resembled a garage unit, but was triple the size of a residential garage door. They parked in front of their door as instructed.
Hunter got out and opened Alex’s door. “You ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” Alex sounded quietly confident. He guessed she was incapable of surprise now where Marc was concerned. “Do you know how this is done?” she asked.
“We unlock the door with the key, sweetheart. Put the code in and then it goes up.”
She could tell he was joking, and cut her eyes at him.
“Let’s give it a try,” she said. Alex slipped her hand in his. “I’m ready.”
“You got the key?” he asked.
“I sure do.” Alex inserted the key, twisted, and the chamber released. “This is for real.”
Hunter tapped in the code and the door started up.
For some reason they both took one giant step back as the magnificent yacht came into view. “Wow. I’ve got to hand it to him. My husband had great taste.”
“In more ways than one,” Hunter said. She squeezed his hand a little tighter, but kept her gaze on the yacht.
“What about the car?” she asked.
He hit the automatic key lock but left the car where it was.
“Let’s find the lights and then take a look around the yacht. We’ll decide what to do after that.”
“Sounds good.”
Within minutes Hunter found them and the place was flooded with bright lights.
Flat ramps led up to the vessel and Alex went first, her smooth wedged shoes a great choice for the surface of the deck.
Gingerly she walked along the deck as if she was spying on Marc, but Hunter didn’t want to break her concentration. He had no idea what she must be feeling. Marc’s deception had deep roots. For him to have blatantly stolen from Alex and then to plan to divorce her was the ultimate slap in the face.
Hunter hoped Marc was in a place where men received no mercy for what he’d done to these three women.
After they’d walked the upper deck, Alex looked back at him. “Ready to go down below?”
“Are you?”
She unbuttoned her short-waist leather jacket and left it on the upper deck. All she wore was a simple lavender T-shirt over jeans. “Yes. It’s going to get hot. There’s no air-conditioning down there.”
Hunter left his jacket too. “I’m going to close and lock the door to the unit. We don’t need any visitors.”
“I’ll wait,” she said, sweeping her hair to one side, putting her hand on her hip.
He thought about that naked hip in his hands. How it had responded to his tongue and his voice when he’d told her he needed more of her.
Later. Tonight he’d fulfill his fantasies and hers too.
He got the flashlight from the car and closed the door, locking them inside.
Turning, Alex’s head was down, and all he could see was her in profile, thoughtful and distant. They were days away from her being free of Marc. She’d be able to write her own future soon. He wondered if she’d take Jerry’s advice and walk away from Wright Enterprises. There were a dozen reasons to leave the company and begin a future free from stress and frustration.
Away from her disrespectful relatives who not only verbally abused her but threatened bodily harm. This was no future for a woman as good as Alexandria. He just hoped she’d find the incentive to leave.
Hunter headed up the ramp, already feeling the heat of being closed in. “Penny for your thoughts?”
“What else will we find in here?” she asked, her confidence bottoming out.
He tapped her under her chin. “All good things.”
“Here goes nothing,” she said, and inserted the key.
Walking down the steps, they entered the dining quarters, which were shockingly opulent. Cherrywood glistened as the backdrop of the spacious room that boasted a full
galley, regular-size appliances and a dining area with comfortable seating for six. There was a high bar area that served four and a plasma-screen TV built into the wall for viewing pleasure while dining.
“Alex? Come here,” Hunter said, heading down a hallway toward a stateroom. “You have to see this.”
He opened the drapes as far as they would go. “You have to imagine this on the open sea, but this is amazing. The master suite has two full bathrooms with a private saloon, plasma TV and DVD player.”
Alex sat on the bed and put her head in her hands. “This is amazing. It’s gorgeous…and awful. How?” she shook her head. “And Daddy was worried about me buying shoes? This is so much worse.” She started laughing.
Hunter came out of the bathroom and looked at her. “Have you completely lost it?”
“I think so. I can’t believe it. I’ve never spent a million dollars on anything. I’m over this. I wish I could just sail away from all of this. I give up. Let’s run away and play. Come play with me, Hunter.” She laughed.
“No, it’s not five o’clock.” She was having a sensual meltdown in this overheated boat, yet he didn’t find the need to stop her.
She tugged off her shirt. “It’s hot, and I want to play with you. We’re on a million-dollar boat and it’s dark outside.”
Hunter laughed. “Sweetheart, this wasn’t a million dollars, and I think you’re delirious. It’s dark because we closed the door.”
“You’re ruining my sexy mood.”
She reached for him and he went to her. She wrapped her arms around his waist as she sat on the bed.
He ran his hands through her hair. “You look punch-drunk.”
“Just a little stress that sex can fix.”
He caressed her cheek with his thumb. “Tonight. I want to get out of here soon. Let’s just make sure there’s nothing here and then we can leave. You can sell the boat and put back some of the money. I’d say it’s worth at least, I don’t know, maybe four hundred thousand.”
“We’re not even sure there’s anything here,” she told him as she closed her eyes and rocked him. “Where’s the rest of the money? Hmm? Where could it be, Hunter? In here?” She rolled over and opened the drawer on the night table.
He loved the curve of her behind and reached out to strip off her jeans when she pulled a stack of papers out of the drawer. Kicking off her shoes, she folded her legs beneath her and started reading. “Hunter.” She patted the bed beside her.
He sat down and looked at the papers in her hand. “They’re stock certificates,” he said.
“Do these say what I think they say?” she whispered. “That’s not Google, is it?”
Hunter could only nod. “Baby, I think your ship just came in.”
“How much do you think these are worth?”
Hunter estimated the stack to be about five inches thick. “Enough to pay back your family and give yourself a nice tip for the rest of your life.”
“My name and his name are on them.” Alex read them and walked around the stateroom. “This was his insurance policy. If something happened and I found these I would get my money back.”
She gestured, shrugged and pulled her fingers through her hair, never saying a word, working out whatever was going on in there.
Finally she stopped and looked at him. “Is this my yacht?” she asked softly.
“Yes. It’s yours.”
“So I can say ‘like new’ when I sell it?”
He smiled. “You can. Why?”
She turned her back and looked at him over her shoulder. “Because I want to give it a proper christening by striptease, and then sell it.”
She turned around and her jeans were unfastened and so was her bra.
Hunter laughed. “Woman. You’re a piece of work.”
“You’d better believe it. We’re gonna get hotter too. Take this off, Hunter,” she said, pulling on his undershirt until he brought it over his head. She wiggled out of her jeans and he saw that she was bare.
He wanted to take her right there, but this was her seduction and he didn’t want to rush her.
Alex pushed him back until she was sitting on his lap.
“Your belt is hurting all my tender spots,” she said and leaned down, her lips pressed against his.
“Take it off,” he said, forcing himself not to ravish her. She tasted so good. His hands swept up the back of her and he couldn’t resist wanting to fulfill desires he’d had all day.
His zipper made a jagged sound as it went down and he let her go long enough to get out of his jeans. She was standing on the bed and Hunter captured her breast in his mouth.
“Harder,” she urged, her hands caressing him.
Hunter loved the feel of her hair against his skin as it draped him in black luxury.
“Is this where you got shot?”
“Yes.”
She licked the scar and kissed it, bringing feeling to a wound that hadn’t felt anything in years. Her hands moved over him and stopped on his chest.
“And this?”
“I had open-heart surgery a year ago.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” She held him against her and rocked him. Her mouth pressed against his, her lips capturing need he didn’t know he had. Loneliness he thought he’d gotten over. She reached inside of him and soothed the man in him that needed to be cared for. “Are you better? If you’re not, I’m okay with that, too.”
She took him down to the bed with her, wrapping her legs around him, her arms and body almost fused to him and his to hers.
“I’m better. I take medicine for it, love. I’ll be fine.”
He got lost in her gaze.
“Of course you will. You’re with me.”
He rolled her over and she squealed, laughing. “Where are you taking me?”
“To ecstasy,” he said, parting her thighs, seeking the secret folds of her sex. He loved the way she smelled and he loved the way she tasted. Alex moved, her fingers digging into him. “Tell me what you want.”
“More, please,” she pleaded, scissoring her legs across his back.
Hunter obliged until she came in body-shaking shudders.
He brought her onto his lap and entered her.
“Alex,” he groaned.
“Yes?” She sat up straighter, her body moving in sync with his. She moaned as he gained deeper access. “Mmm?”
“I need more of you.”
She hugged him around his neck and he held her tight around her back until he was so deep inside of her he couldn’t go any farther. “I’m coming,” she cried. “Oh. I love you, Hunter. I love you.”
Alex’s words undid every caution he’d put in place to guard his head and heart, and he allowed himself to her love.
The hole in his heart closed.
CHAPTER 16
Alex gripped Hunter’s hand and held him back as they stood outside her parents’ house, then she kissed him softly. “Maybe I should see my mother by myself. She’s kind of shy.”
“Alex, I know all about depression. I suffered from it when I was paralyzed, so come on,” he said against lips he’d never tire of kissing. “I told her I would visit her. I’m here.” He pulled her to him and kissed her again. “We’re going to see your mother.”
“I hate when you make sense.”
“I love your hair.”
“I think that’s all you love about me, but that’s okay, Mr. Smith. I love a challenge.” Alex laced her fingers through his and used her key to open the door.
“Mama, it’s me. I’m home. Mama! It’s Alexandria.” They stood in the marble foyer of the grand estate. Hunter was impressed. He’d never seen something so ostentatious, yet so beautiful. There was even a knight positioned behind the grand staircase.
“Lexi. I’m upstairs.” The voice had come from an intercom near the front door.
Hunter followed Alex as she ascended the curved staircase leading up to her mother’s rooms. Alex opened double French doors and walked inside.
Dorothy Wright lounged on a pink chaise with a magazine, a blanket covering her legs. “Darling, this is an unexpected, joyful surprise.”
“Hello, Mother. How are you?”
“Fine now that you’re here. Hunter, pleasure to see you again. Tea?”
“No, ma’am, the pleasure is mine. You have a beautiful home.”
She smiled as if she didn’t believe him. “You only saw the foyer and the stairs. But that’s sweet of you.”
Dorothy’s gaze returned to her daughter. “You sure look pretty. You’re glowing.”
“I love your hair down, Mama. Where’s Daddy?”
“Not here, honey, but we’ll save that for another time. What brings you by?”
“Hunter, you want to sit there?” Alex asked, offering him the desk chair.
“No, he doesn’t want to be so far away. Bring that over here so you can join us.”
Hunter smiled and obeyed. At the desk he saw the familiar stationery that matched the threatening note Alex had received. He wanted to tell her, but there was no good time.
Alex sat at the foot of her mother’s chaise. “Mama, I know that you know there’s a lot going on at the company. I believe you know that Marc stole a lot of money from Wright Enterprises. What you don’t know is that he stole from my personal account as well as from the company. The total came to over $1.1 million.”
“I know, and I blame myself.”
“Why, Dorothy?” Hunter asked.
“I could have stopped him. I sit here all day with this crippling fear of the outside world. I literally can’t leave this house. My marriage is over, and my family is in a state of disrepair because I’ve not been able to be a good mother.”
“Mama, we’re grown. Even if you were able to leave the house, there are just some things you can’t control.”
Dorothy didn’t believe her. There was a stubbornness to her jaw. “This I could have stopped. I saw that money disappearing. I watch the accounts online every day. Those large drafts.” She put up her finger. “No, Lexi. I wondered what was going on. I could have confronted Marc. Initially I thought they were for land purchases, but there were no contracts to coincide with the purchases. Your father would bring home his briefcase, and I’d go through it with a fine-tooth comb. No deals, no contracts. No log sheets. I knew someone was stealing.”
