A Vengeful Affair (14 page)

Her brain lost the ability to keep up with her body, which needed release, and soon. He kissed her, a passionate kiss that lasted longer than she could bear. When he pinched her nipples, a long, intoxicating wave of pleasure washed through every part of her body.

At the end, it was like a double act on a trapeze, where they had successfully balanced, swung, and danced—with the exception that all they had was each other. No bars. No ropes. No safety nets. And they had made it.

…

Vivian reached for another strawberry and slid it between her lips, still tender from being kissed. She refused to look at the clock, knowing that her time with Javier was coming to an end. In between dozing and making love, she hadn’t left his side. They’d showered together, eaten together, and made love with such passion, she ached just remembering.

Vivian shook her head. It wasn’t time for thinking. Not just yet.

From her position on her stomach beside him, her chin propped on her hands, she glanced at Javier’s glorious body sprawled on the bed beside her. A satisfied smile played over his lips.

“What is it?” he asked.

She said the first thing that came to mind. “How did you get to be so successful? I mean, didn’t you say you left home? I was just wondering.”

His slight frown and the surprise in his eyes indicated she had said the wrong thing.

“I was always good with numbers. I studied economics at university, and my first goal was to work at every opportunity I was given. I wanted to repay my mother for paying for my studies. She didn’t want me to, but I insisted, because the money came from him.” Bitterness laced his voice, the hatred he felt for his stepfather coming through.

“I joined a finance group as an intern, started to work my way up, learned about stocks, and soon I had enough contacts to find investors for my own business.” He swallowed. “I paid them. I don’t owe them anything.”

“It’s hard for you to see your mother, isn’t it?” She remembered the awkward run-in at the ball.

He reached over and stroked the length of her back. “She thinks because they divorced that none of it ever happened.”

Vivian thought of her loving mother and her doting stepfather, who had done the best he could for his new family. She wished she could take away the sadness of the little boy who still lived inside Javier and replace his childhood memories with better ones. “Do you miss her?”

“No.” His fingers made invisible circles on her back.

She ignored the currents of heat traveling through her body and embraced the warmth of this rare moment of shared intimacy. “I miss my parents.”

“Is that why you have those nightmares?” His hot palm closed on her lower back, the gentle tap of his fingers encouraging her to keep talking.

“I haven’t had them for a long time. I guess after Molly’s death and being away from home… I dream of them going away in a car and not coming back. Even when I run after them and call them from the street, they just look at me in slow motion and keep driving away.”

Javier’s arms tightened around her, wrapping her as if he wanted to protect her from her sad thoughts.

A new awareness tugged at her heart.

She had broken the promise she’d made to her mother never to look for her biological father, and that had ended in an even worse heartbreak. She’d wondered, for years, if maybe her father had changed his mind about her. After her mother’s death, it had made sense to reach out to him, but she’d been terribly disappointed. He had turned out to be indifferent to her, and even a bit bothered by her looking for him.

Could that be the reason for her nightmares? Were they about the promise she’d broken to her parents, and her conflicted feelings about the vow she’d made after Molly’s death?

“Enough thinking,” he said. His fingers ran through her hair, and when they began to massage her scalp, all the tension inside her melted.

…

“The tea is lovely.”

Javier simply nodded, stirring his black coffee in the small white cup as he looked anywhere but in her eyes. Since waking up, he had avoided her. He’d used the bathroom before she was out of bed and left for the restaurant a few minutes ahead of her.

Now he focused on the space above her shoulder as he bit into his toast. Vivian turned around to see what he was looking at. There was nothing but the flowery wallpaper of a virtually empty restaurant.

It was as if he had carefully engineered this distance to make it hard for her to talk to him. Watching the way his long fingers outlined the coffee cup, the way the tight black shirt clung to his muscles, made her fingers ache with wanting to touch him.

“Are you done?” He glanced at his watch.

“Yes.”
Not if I can help it.

She followed him out, covering a yawn. Only when they had returned to hiking toward Laura’s campsite did she speak to him again. “Javier, you’ve been silent all morning. What’s wrong?”

“I’m focusing on getting to the right place,” he said in a clipped tone. Although he had refused to see a doctor, Javier had taken another ibuprofen this morning. She could tell by the way he moved and his slower pace that his foot was still bothering him.

“You don’t have to be monosyllabic. I asked you what the time was earlier, and you didn’t respond.”

“It’s nine o’clock.”

“It doesn’t matter now. My point was, I get it that you can’t wait to be rid of me, but you don’t have to be hostile.”

“Hostile,” he repeated with sarcasm, his head tilting from side to side as if he didn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Since it’ll be all over soon, why keep trying, right? Why try to make it civilized?” Perhaps he wanted to make sure she didn’t expect any more than he was willing to give. He was done with her, and instead of letting her down easily, he’d chosen the more effective route of trying to drive her away.

“You think I’m avoiding you because I don’t want you anymore.”

“It makes sense, doesn’t it?”

She had barely finished speaking when he slammed her against a thick tree trunk and closed the gap between them. Vivian gasped.

“
You
are what’s wrong with me, Vivian,” he said. There was an unveiled intensity in his dark eyes. “I can’t stop wanting you.”

Swiftly, Javier leaned in and kissed her hard, almost as if in punishment. She fought to breathe, raising trembling fingers to his chest. His heartbeat matched hers. He looked down at her, his eyes blazing with desire, his deep gaze a promise and a challenge. He wanted her surrender. She linked her arms around his neck as she almost stumbled, her knees weak and shaky with yearning. Javier only embraced her tighter.

“I’ve got you,” he told her, and she didn’t know exactly what he meant. What she knew was that right or wrong, guilty or free, she wanted—no,
needed—
him.

“Come.” He guessed her thoughts, took her hands in his and led her deeper into the woods. Although it didn’t take him long to find a quiet spot where the trees arched closer together and boulders created a bit more privacy, for her the minutes went on forever.

Chapter Eleven

The thump of the backpack falling to the earth let her know he’d found the right spot against a heavy tree trunk. They were alone in the middle of the woods in daylight…about to make love.

An escalating quiver spread through her body when his fingers unbuttoned her jeans.

“Clothes off,” he demanded, squatting down to remove her panties and jeans. He got to his feet. Taken over by an instinct that was new to her, she raised her arms up so he could take her tank top off.

She glanced around once again, but a blackbird singing in a nearby tree was their only witness.

Javier pulled her bra aside. His fingers found her painfully hard nipples. Propping her against the tree trunk, he lifted her from the ground as she wrapped her legs around him. She noticed how he sucked in his breath and suppressed a groan. Was he in pain? Her lips parted to ask him, but he kissed her, nibbling on her lower lip as his tongue swirled with hers. She matched his urgency, her fingers splayed on his large chest, her thumbs caressing his nipples through his shirt. If his foot still hurt, he didn’t care. She saw in his eyes that all he wanted was to bury himself inside her.

“Javier, please,” she begged. Her fingers dipped down to his waist, outlining his bulge and sending a wave of heat through her system.

He found her entrance and thrust inside her, pumping so hard that they both moaned. Vivian hugged him as tight as she could. He held her at her waist, moving his powerful shaft in and out of her, making her insane with desire as the tree branches swayed overhead and the blackbird took flight.

Javier increased his speed, and soon she moaned louder. An overwhelming climax burst inside her, overpowering her, and she bit her lip to keep from screaming his name out loud in the middle of the woods. His pleasure followed hers, and they both collapsed to the ground.

Vivian could have stayed there forever, with Javier still semi-erect and pulsating inside of her, their bodies linked, her head resting on his shoulder. But the forest had other plans. A group of ants tickled behind her leg, and she moved, shaking the ants away. Javier stood and pulled his pants up.

The sound of his zipper reminded her she was stark naked, and embarrassment heated her cheeks.

What had just happened? She had never given herself to someone with such abandonment and need in any setting, let alone a public place.

Javier looked around them and leaned down to retrieve her clothes. Her jeans, her top, her bra…her panties, for goodness’ sake! He deposited all these items in her lap without daring to face her, then offered his hand to help her stand up.

Vivian rose to her feet, avoiding looking at him, and put her clothes on as quickly as her trembling fingers could manage.

“I apologize,” he said under his breath. She smoothed her top down with her hands and met his disappointed eyes. “It wasn’t my plan to take you like this. I lost control.”

Vivian simply nodded, faking a strong front as her mind worked overtime to assess what had happened. She supposed he had taken the easy way out. He’d taken her in the wilderness, hot and intense, and then apologized. The apology unsettled her as much as it surprised her.

She couldn’t keep her mind from racing.

I want you in my life, Vivian
, he had said the previous day. Somehow, in the tumult of everything that had happened since then, his proposal had vanished from her brain.

They returned to their hike, Javier leading at a slightly slower pace. It was easier for her to follow now, yet she preferred to stay a couple of steps behind him. She had too much on her mind to face him now.

After a long hour of silent walking, she spoke, blurting out her question before she could lose her courage. “What did you mean when you said to me the other day that you wanted me in your life?”

Javier’s body stiffened, and he stopped walking. Vivian held her breath, waiting for him to turn and answer, but he strode off without speaking.

“I’m not asking if the offer still stands,” she called. “I was only curious about what you meant.”

“I thought we could explore this attraction. I would have set you up with a nice flat in London. We could have gone on trips, taken in shows, and enjoyed each other’s company,” he replied.

Vivian frowned. “I already live in London. Why would you set me up with a flat?”

“Because you could live somewhere nicer and closer to my office, giving me easier access when I am in town.”

Of course. His proposal—even before he had hated her as he did now, hated how she made him feel—had always been surface-deep. She would be his modern concubine, one of many.

Vivian crossed her arms defensively. “You wanted me to be your mistress.”

“That’s not how I see it.”

“I suppose it doesn’t matter how you see it. It wouldn’t have worked out.” She gave him a dismissive shrug. “I could never be satisfied being one of the many women you have at your beck and call.”

“I doubt there will be more than one of you.” His voice was flat, yet when her eyes met his, she saw a fleeting touch of sadness.

Vivian shook her head.
Enough with imagining things.
“Somehow I don’t take that as a compliment.”

His hand tightened around the strap of the backpack. “Take it as you like.” He strode off again, and she followed.

Soon, they approached the campsite. The tall trees gave way to smaller bushes and more colorful vegetation. Groups of hikers and campers strolled through the park, some taking pictures. The soft breeze caressing her face did nothing to relieve her anxiety.

“Can you see her?” Javier asked.

Vivian glanced around, paying more attention to the faces. She was about to say no when a petite brunette in her fifties emerged from a tent.

Vivian pointed. “I see her.”

…

“And that’s why we’ve come.” As Javier finished explaining, he raised his smartphone close to Laura’s face to record their conversation. “We wanted your take on what happened. I sent money to cover her funeral arrangements through my office, but I have never spoken to you before.”

They sat on rocks apart from Laura’s friends. Vivian wrung her hands. “I’m sorry to surprise you like this,” she said. “It must have been hard for you. You left England so quickly after the funeral.”

Laura Richardson crossed her arms, a self-protective gesture. “Molly and I didn’t share everything,” she said after a long silence. “We didn’t have the typical mother-daughter relationship. But she always came to me when she was in trouble.”

“Is there a chance she invented the threats against her?” Javier asked.

“No. She was in trouble.” Laura sighed. “Molly always enjoyed the nice things in life. She often got into debt and dipped into her savings account. But when her debt increased and Roger—I mean Easton Finn—offered her money to get some information to him, she took the opportunity.”

She accepted money?

“So this wasn’t revenge against Javier, like she told me,” Vivian said.

She lied to me.

“She didn’t mean to deceive you, Vivian. She just didn’t want you to know how deep in league with Roger she was.” Laura gave her a sympathetic smile. “As she started to work for you, Javier, I guess she became involved with you, and that affected her task.”

“How so?” Javier asked.

“She told me she had the opportunity to give Easton some important numbers, but she began to question what she was doing.”

The blood drained from Vivian’s face, and a chill formed in the pit of her stomach. “Easton got mad at her then,” she said. “Frustrated. I bet he hired the men to stalk her.”

Javier’s tight nod echoed her suspicion.

“Laura, do you think Molly would have killed herself?” Javier asked.

“I dwelled on it a lot. No mother wants to bury her own daughter.” Laura blinked back tears. “That’s not how it’s supposed to happen.”

“Will you fly back to London and talk to the police? If you tell them what you know, we can try to look for security tapes from Molly’s building to see if we can identify the men who followed her, or if Easton came inside her apartment the night she died. Maybe her former neighbors know something. Since the police ruled it a suicide so quickly, they might have missed something.”

Laura’s eyes widened. “Do you think there’s a chance she was…murdered?”

“I don’t know,” Javier said. “But if she really was bullied into suicide, someone will pay for it.”

“I’ll fly to London.” Laura stood up. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”

And with that statement, the wheels got in motion quickly. Javier called for a helicopter, and the three of them hiked back to the bed-and-breakfast, which was near the closest area it could land safely to pick them up.

A wide range of emotions darted at Vivian’s heart long after the conversation had ended. Resentment at her friend for not trusting her the way she should have. Relief at the way Javier was acting, making it his mission to make the responsible party pay for Molly’s death. Pain, because she knew deep inside that once this all came to an end, Javier would walk out of her life.

One more person she loved who would leave her.

Her parents. Her biological father. Molly.

Molly. Now more than ever, Vivian wanted closure.

During the time it took for a helicopter to appear to take them all to Zurich, Vivian thought about what she would say. Finding the right words was hard, especially considering that Javier would not look at her. He stood with his arms crossed, gazing at the vast infinitude of green and at the mountains.

His profile was hard and unsmiling.

I owe him a proper apology.

A lesser man might have been happy that he had secured his merger, regardless of the cost. But Javier wasn’t the cold individual he pretended to be.

They landed on the tarmac in Zurich, only to board his private jet immediately. Javier and Vivian went on to Paris to meet with Edouard as planned. Laura was sent on a direct flight to London, where she would go to the police early the next morning. She seemed determined to do whatever she could to help. Vivian understood that Laura had been too caught up in her feelings of loss and guilt to imagine that Molly’s death had been caused by anything other than suicide.

Javier made a few phone calls, pulled a few strings, and got in touch with a criminal lawyer. He also asked his investigator to find security tapes from Molly’s building and the nearby cross streets, businesses, and ATMs, any of which might have caught footage of Easton or the two men.

On the jet to Paris, they were alone for the first time since that hour in the woods. Vivian’s anxiety grew, but it wasn’t until Javier chose a leather chair a couple of rows away from hers that she knew for certain he was avoiding her at any cost.

After takeoff, she unbuckled her seat belt and moved to the empty seat beside his.

“Javier, first of all, I want to thank you for doing this.” She watched him, holding her breath as his gaze drifted from his magazine to her face.

“I have my own interest, too. If Easton is guilty. I’m no saint.”

“I still say thank you. I’m sorry I’ve delayed your merger, and that I thought you were this horrible person.” She swallowed. “After my mother and stepfather died, I looked for my biological father. When I was a child, my mother made me promise never look for him. But I needed to connect with someone, I felt so alone, and I broke that promise. I looked for him, and he couldn’t have cared less about me.” Vivian pulled the words from deep inside. “With Molly’s death…I wanted her to be avenged, yes. But I’ve realized I also wanted to follow through with a promise that involved someone else.”

“Vivian—” he started, but she put her hand over his and continued.

“I’m truly sorry for compromising your merger. I hope you still get it.”

She looked down. Her hand was caught in his, and a wave of awareness traveled up her arm and through the rest of her body. Javier clasped her hand tight, his eyes on hers, but when she thought he was about to lean down to kiss her, he withdrew his hand. Pressing his lips together, he returned his attention to the magazine.

“I know you are sorry, Vivian. But that doesn’t change anything.”

It doesn’t change anything.

Of course.

The words stayed with Vivian, hammering in her brain as they left the jet and traveled by car to the Broussard office, where she sat opposite the old man across the antique table.

Javier stood, arms crossed, leaning against a floor-to-ceiling shelf stacked with leather-bound books. While the recording played for Edouard, the only voice she heard was Javier’s.

It doesn’t change anything.

But the words didn’t make sense.

A part of her couldn’t believe she was just another woman in his life. They had made love, he had savagely taken her in the woods in the morning after declaring he couldn’t stop wanting her.

Could everything that had passed between them really have been about the merger? Now that he’d gotten what he wanted, she was of no use?