The Private Serials Box Set (39 page)

   I shook Parker’s hand and clapped him on the back, stilling when he leaned in and whispered to me, “Once you get settled in the hotel room, meet me down here alone.”  I nodded as I pulled away, knowing exactly why he wanted to see me.

   After Lena had given the girls another round of goodbyes, I took her hand and led her back to our room.  I could see her holding back more tears and as the doors to the elevator closed I pulled her to my side and kissed the top of her head.

   “Everything will be all right, Lena.  I promise.”  She nodded slightly as her arms squeezed my waist tighter.  The doors opened on our floor and we walked, still wrapped in each other, to our room.  I led her straight to the bathroom and started filling the bathtub with warm water.  I turned back to her and could hardly stand her tear-streaked face.  “Turn around, sweetheart.”  I pulled the zipper of her dress and watched as the fabric floated down into a pool around her feet.  I reached back up and unclasped her bra, watching it too fall to the ground, leaving her nearly bare.  She bent at the waist and slid her panties off, then, with the grace of someone so accustomed to wearing them, took her high heels off without a single totter. 

   She turned back to me with not one single piece of clothing marring her body, nothing to shield her from me at all, and with sadness in her eyes, asked me, “Will you join me?”

   I framed her face with my hands, saying, “In a little while, love.  I’m going to get some ice and settle in for a minute.  But then I’ll join you.”

   She leaned forward and pressed a small kiss to my lips, and I fought every urge I had to pull her in closer, to take her mind off her sadness by making her feel good again.  But I managed to watch her pull away and slowly dip her perfect body into the steaming water, then I turned around and walked out.

   I found my brother exactly where he’d said he would be, and to say he looked worried would have been a massive understatement.  He looked nervous and uncomfortable.

   “I will never, not ever, do this for you again.  So you better make sure you get this right the first time, Preston.  I know you’d go to the ends of the earth for Lena, and I’ll do anything I can to help you, but this,” he said, slamming a sealed manila envelope into my chest, “is outside my comfort zone.”

   I grabbed the envelope and breathed out a sigh of relief.

   “You don’t know how much I appreciate this.  It’s all there?”

   “Everything you asked for is in that envelope.  This
cannot
come back to me, brother.  You have to find a way to end this.”

   “Trust me,” I said, looking my older brother directly in the eye. “I’ve thought this through and this is the only way we all get what we want, and everyone gets what they deserve.”

   “You better be right,” he said firmly, his face a mixture of concern and apprehension.  Then he clasped my shoulder and brought me into a hug, forceful and startling.  “Keep her safe.  And keep yourself safe too, Pres.  I need you both to be okay when this is all done.”  After a few hearty claps on the back I pulled away, trying not to let my surprise at his worry show on my face.  I was trying to be stoic, to show him I had everything under control.

    “We’ll be fine.”

   In response, Parker reached out his hand, and I shook it. 

   “Call me if you need anything.”  He paused, my hand still clasped in his.  “I mean it.”

   “I know, Parker.  I will.”

   With that, he turned and walked toward the exit of the hotel, head bowed. 

   I let out a harsh sigh.  It was official.  We were on our own.  We were on our own and about to attempt something insanely dangerous and very illegal.  But as I’d told Parker when I asked for his help, I didn’t see any other way out.

   The only thing I could see, the only thing my mind would let me focus on, was Lena.  I needed to keep her safe.  Needed to ensure that, come what may, she was through the storm and safely on the other side of the destruction.  Out of harm’s way.  In my arms.  So, the very next day we would depart on, without a doubt, the most important trip of our lives.

   The next morning, after a short flight to Toronto, we found ourselves on a much longer flight taking us to Athens, Greece.

   “You know what sucks?” Lena asked, her head leaning against my shoulder as her hand lay in my lap, fingers laced through mine.

   “What’s that?”

   “The entire time we were married I begged Derrek to take me to Europe.  Greece was one of the top places I wanted to see.  But we never went.  And now that I get to go, now that I get to see the beautiful country I’ve always wanted to visit, I won’t even be able to enjoy it.”  She pressed her cheek closer to me and I gripped her hand a little more tightly.  “And more than likely, after we leave, I won’t ever want to go back.”

   My heart pounded, jaw clenched, thinking about Derrek still taking things from her.  Still managing to impact her and her happiness.  Even after setting her up, leaving her with nothing, demanding everything from her, he was still able to reach her, still able to affect her.  I tried to regulate my breaths, tried to calm down, but she must have felt me tense because her free hand came up to gently cup my cheek.

   “It’s okay, Preston.  I don’t need Greece.”  She pulled back, her hand still on my face and her eyes looking into mine.  “I don’t want anything from him anymore.  You give more to me than he ever did.”  She leaned in and pressed her mouth against mine, then pulled away and rested her head against my shoulder again.

   She hadn’t asked many questions about Derrek and Jessica; never inquired as to what they’d been up to in the last three months.  I wouldn’t tell her the truth.  Wouldn’t tell her that it looked like they’d been on a dream vacation, traveling the world.  I couldn’t figure out whether he was stupid and actually taking his little family on a trip around the world, or if he was running, trying to stay one step ahead of anyone who might have been looking for him.  Once I’d found his trail it hadn’t been hard to track him.

   I knew he wasn’t a criminal mastermind, but he wasn’t completely dense.  He had to know people were out to get him, had to know if he stayed in one place long enough he’d have company. 

   Three days ago, when I’d found him in Athens, I knew, based on his record, he’d be there for at least a week, perhaps two at the most, so we had a good chance of finding him.  So that’s where we’d headed.

   The flight was long, but it was also nice to have seventeen hours of uninterrupted time with Lena.  Time where, even if she was asleep against my arm, there wasn’t any outside influence.  We watched a movie, did a crossword puzzle together, read books.  It was almost as if we weren’t on our way to find her ex-husband who’d ruined her life.  Almost.

   When we touched down in Athens it was just dusk, although my body had no idea what time it was or which way was up.  Everything about my system was disrupted.  Lena, on the other hand, was exhausted.  She resembled a zombie going through customs, and could hardly keep her eyes open to take in whatever sights of Athens we could see in the darkness.

   When we arrived at our hotel, I checked us in and helped Lena to our room, steering her directly to the bed where she promptly climbed in and fell asleep almost immediately.  I hadn’t mentioned to her our hotel was the same hotel in which I thought Derrek was staying.  I didn’t think she needed that information.  I thought, instead, she needed a night of uninterrupted sleep during which she wasn’t worried about the other people staying there.

   When I was sure she was fast asleep, I quietly made my way out of the room and headed downstairs to the bar.  When I spotted him sitting on a stool, tumbler in hand, alone, I couldn’t decide if I was surprised I’d been right, or worried for the exact same reason.  He was here, in front of me, and now I had a real decision to make.  Did I approach, and possibly alter the course of all of our lives, or try to find some alternate solution I hadn’t come up with yet?  I’d spent every waking moment since Edgar called me trying to find another way for Lena and me to get past this problem, but I could see no other way. 

   I took in a deep breath and pushed forward, never having taken steps which felt heavier or more weighted than those few steps to the bar.  My hands rested on the cold wood and I caught the eye of the bartender just a few feet away.

   “Scotch.  Neat.” 

   The bartender nodded just as I saw Derrek’s head turn toward me.  Then I watched with anticipation as his eyes widened in shock, mouth gaping open, then closing, quite like a fish.  I watched as the bartender placed a tumbler in front of me and poured the amber liquid two fingers deep.  He slid it toward me and walked away as I brought the glass to my lips, my eyes never leaving Derrek’s.

   “How did you find me?”

   “Derrek, I’m a private investigator.  It’s my job to find information people are purposefully trying to bury.”  He blinked but didn’t respond, although I could practically see the wheels spinning in his head.  “You did a decent job covering your tracks, but not good enough.”  I put the glass down and sat on the stool next to him.

   “I’m not going to lie—I’m pretty impressed you found me.”

   “I’ve known where you were for weeks now.  I wasn’t going to do much with the information unless Lena wanted me to, but other people forced my hand in this case.”

   “You’re here with Lena?”  His eyes darted around the room, looking for her.

   “Don’t be a fucking idiot.  You won’t be seeing her until I say so and only if she wants to see you.”  I turned toward him, my eyes narrowing, my pulse pounding in my neck.  “Let’s get one thing straight.  The moment you hired me to seduce her was the moment you lost her.  Forever.  She’s mine now and you don’t get to look at her.  You don’t get to speak to her.  You don’t even get to breathe the same air as her.”

   “Why are you here, then?” he rasped at me.

   “Edgar sent me.”

   I watched as the blood drained from his face and little beads of sweat appeared on his forehead and right above his lips.  He looked ill and a not-so-small part of me enjoyed watching the fear physically affect him.

   “Edgar not only wants his money, he also wants you dead.”

   Derrek’s eyes widened and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard.  He turned back to the bar and drained his drink, then lifted his glass at the bartender, signaling he wanted another.

   “Looks like hiring you to seduce my wife might have been the biggest mistake of my life.  Or, rather, tangling myself with Edgar was.”  He sighed and took a gulp of his refreshed drink, then ran his hand through his hair, obviously nervous and frustrated.

   “Let me ask you a question.  Why didn’t you just pay Edgar off?  You got more than enough money when you ran, why didn’t you just give him his money?”

   He sighed heavily.  “I don’t expect you to understand my decisions, uh, Preston, was it?”

   I caught the small smirk pull up the corner of his mouth as he took another sip and refrained from putting my fist directly into that same spot with so much force he’d fly from his stool. 

   “You know my name, asshole.  You also know that I could make one phone call and you’d be dead by morning.  Probably dead right next to your woman and your children.  So, from here on out, choose your words wisely.”  I moved close, closer than I wanted to be to him, but I needed to make my point.  “I’m not a murderer; even if Edgar ordered me to kill you, I don’t have it in me.  Lena doesn’t want you dead either, which both confuses me and makes me damn proud of her.  You gave up the best woman you’d ever have, but lucky for me, I was there and made her mine.” I looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping, but moved even closer still, my mouth just a hair’s breadth from his ear.  “I might not want you dead, but I’ve got no problem telling Edgar where to find you.  But, if you’d shut your goddamned mouth for just one minute, I’d tell you how we can all get out of this situation with our lives and the people we love.”

Chapter Seven

   When I woke, it was to the feeling of Lena’s hands running softly along my chest.  Starting right above my navel and moving up, trailing all the way to my shoulder, then down to start the journey over again.  Her cheek rested on my other shoulder and my arm was wrapped around her waist.  I pulled her closer and buried my nose in her hair.  I loved the smell of Lena’s hair in the morning.  That scent could wake me up for the rest of my life and I’d be a happy man.

   Then her hand moved lower still and I was happy for another reason entirely.

   “Good morning, sweetheart,” I whispered, pressing the words into her hair as her hand moved lazily over me.

   “I’ve decided,” she said teasingly, smiling up at me, “just because we’re in Greece for unpleasant reasons doesn’t mean we can’t have a pleasant morning.”

   “I like the way you think,” I said, smiling, lifting my hips and pressing my now solid cock right into the warmth of her hand.

   “I like the way you feel,” she answered, just before she sat up and hiked a leg over my waist, straddling me, and effortlessly sliding me into her.  I watched, unable to look away, as Lena rode me, slowly rocking back and forth.  Her raven hair tumbled down her back, her head tilted to face the ceiling, eyes closed in obvious ecstasy.  She unhurriedly used my body to bring herself to orgasm, and just listening to her cry out my name nearly had me following.  I managed to grab hold of her hips and pump up into her, over and over, forcefully and at a punishing pace, quickly finding my release just before she crumpled on top of me.

   I turned my face back into her hair, my hands running up and down her spine, feeling her breathing slow.  Eventually, I rolled her onto her back and slipped out of her, watching her mouth open slightly at the feeling of losing me.  I trailed the backs of my fingers down her cheek, trying to soothe her before I had to tell her what had transpired the night before.

   “I met with Derrek last night.”  The words slipped past my lips and I watched as her expression moved from relaxed and happy to confused and angry.