by Marlie May
“No fish here, correct?” Peter asked the server, scrutinizing the tray of appetizers.
“These are vegetable quiches,” the server said with a smile. “Try one. They’re delicious.”
The offering looked like half-bites of scrambled eggs with minuscule multicolored pepper chunks to me. I took one and popped into my mouth, chewing thoroughly, examining every feature before swallowing. “Tastes okay to me. No fish.”
“You’re…Okay.” She chuckled. “Since I’m a queen, it appears I’ve now got a taster.”
I’d take a bullet in the chest if it saved her. Stealing the tray from the server, I tilted it her way, waiting while she took one.
“I appreciate you looking out for me,” she said with what looked like her heart in her eyes.
Did I dare hope she felt about me the way I felt about her? I wouldn’t rush her. We’d been thrown together. Tension was mounting as the situation escalated. I knew my own heart and mind, but I’d give her the chance to either fall for me or…
Abandon me like everyone else had in my life.
The burning in my gut told me I needed to get over my father taking off when I was eight before it influenced my actions any further as an adult.
If Mia wasn’t interested in me, it wouldn’t be abandonment. It would be her exercising her right to her own future.
I’d show her how good we could be together and let her decide. Although, I never went into a battle I wasn’t prepared to win. I was more than open to using all the persuasion I could muster.
She seemed to enjoy my kisses, my touch. I’d start there.
While Mia gave her PowerPoint presentation—spoken from a podium at the end of the ballroom and overseen by my bribed hotel security guard, I located Jax—and the server. But I wasn’t able to get any more information out of him than my friend had. The guy honestly thought Peter meant Janice, he didn’t even know Mia, let alone Russell, and he just wanted to get back to his job. Newly married, he needed the income.
I returned to the ballroom feeling more aggravated than relieved. Not with the guy who’d made an honest mistake as far as I could tell, but because Mia had again been thrust into a situation that could’ve caused her harm and I’d been unable to prevent it.
Something was going on here but I couldn’t figure it out.
Mia finished to roaring applause, the crowd eating her talk up faster than the appetizers. While she smiled and took the last questions, a number of people rushed over to Peter, clamoring to make donations.
As much as I wanted to wrap her up in cotton to ensure no one could ever hurt her, it was clear her work was vital. This was about more than me or her or us.
Lives were at stake.
I was glad I’d curbed my jerk-like tendency to hide her away. She deserved this chance to make a difference.
Joe, the doctor who’d offered Mia help after she accidentally tasted the fish walked up to the podium and gave a presentation about his advances in alleviating pediatric malnutrition in Central America. Mia and I mingled with no further suspicious activity directed her way.
After the applause died down, Peter took his turn at the mike. “I’ve been told dinner is ready. If you’re feeling as famished as me…” He chuckled and rubbed his belly.
Jax snorted in disgust. “Those little egg things were no more satisfying than eating a handful of popcorn.”
Peter waited for the polite laughter to die down before finishing, “The caterers are excited to serve our meal.”
Red-coated servers swept open sets of doors on the wall opposite the towering fireplace. The succulent scents drifting from the dining room made my belly perk up and rumble.
“I’ve been told our entire meal was crafted from organic, locally grown products,” Peter said.
“Woods,” Jax grumbled. “We’re surrounded by nothing but freakin’ woods. What? We eating toothpicks for dinner? I’m going to lose twenty pounds before morning.”
Mia tapped his arm, doing nothing to hide her smile. “Behave and I’ll send you home with cookies when we get back to Crescent Cove tomorrow.”
Hopefully not my cookies.
“You can have all the cookies in my house except the white chocolate macadamia ones I made for Eli,” Mia added as if she’d read my mind.
I smirked at my friend.
“I’ll try to be good,” Jax said dryly, hanging his head. But his lips curved up.
We followed everyone else through the doors into the dining room, taking a table with three people Mia had spoken to earlier—from whom she’d obtained a generous donation.
While Mia expounded further about her recent mission in Mexico and the patients she’d worked with there, the first course was placed in front of us, a tiny plate with an even tinier serving of lacy, multi-colored greens flanked by three minuscule tomatoes.
Jax, sitting on Mia’s other side from me, groaned.
I tucked into my salad, sharing his sentiment but knowing I was wiser not to speak up. I really didn’t want to sleep on that sofa.
Some sort of lamb dish with more vegetables and a few slender potatoes was brought out next, fortunately, accompanied by baskets of piping-hot rolls Jax and I slathered with butter and consumed until nothing but crumbs remained.
Somewhat sated, I’d settled back while they cleared the plates, my arm lying across Mia’s shoulders, when Jax’s voice came through in my ear. “Ten-o-clock. By the door.”
The server who’d offered Mia fish stood alone, intently studying the guests.
Not suspicious all on its own. After all, he worked for the caterer and the crew appeared busy. On duty tonight, he could be awaiting direction.
A bearded man joined him and they partly turned away from us to speak, their positions making it impossible to read their lips. Was the other guy also one of the catering crew? The jeans and tee he wore said otherwise. He couldn’t be part of the conference crowd or he’d be dressed to the hilt, like us.
The bearded man glanced our way, and I swore his gaze narrowed in on Mia.
I sat forward, poised for whatever might come next.
My belly twisted when Peter joined them.
15
Mia
“Something’s up,” Eli said softly beside me.
Was he speaking to Jax via that earbud thing or to me?
“What?” I asked, waving away the chocolate torte a server offered. Finished with food for the evening, I dropped my cloth napkin on the table.
“Want me to check it out?” Jax’s attention remained focused on the entrance to the ballroom, not on the enticing dessert the server placed in front of him. Totally not in character. My skin prickled with unease, and I squinted in the same direction but saw nothing unusual.
Back to us, a guy in a tee and jeans hurried out into the main hall. Peter stood speaking with a few guests at a table near the exit, his face alight, his hands braced on their shoulders.
The server who’d accidentally given me fish ducked through a doorway that must lead to the kitchens.
“Let’s…” Frowning, Eli trailed off.
Peter strode up to the podium mounted on a small stage at the end of the room.
“On it.” Jax stood. He wove around tables at a near run, aiming for the exit to the hall.
Peter tapped the mike, redrawing my attention. “I hope you all had enough to eat. I’ve been told there’s more food available. No need to go to bed starving.”
A few people chuckled.
“Before we take a short break to get ready for the final event of the evening, the grand ball, I wanted to thank all of you for coming, for giving so generously of your time and”—he faked a cough—“for opening your wallets.” His smile greeted the laughter. “Special thanks to Doctors Mia Crawford and Joseph Splain for their stunning presentations. But while our volunteer medical staff have worked hard to provide quality healthcare to people in third world countries who would otherwise go without, their success is only possible because of your generosity.
I, and everyone else working at the Foundation, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”
Nods from people around me acknowledged his words.
Peter left the podium and moved through the room, stopping to speak to the guests.
Eli stood abruptly, his dessert untouched, his attention directed toward where Jax had rushed from the room.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
“Eli,” I growled. “We’ve been over this before. Don’t keep things from me.”
His weighted look took in the others at our table who watched our exchange raptly. “How about we go to our room?”
My heart flipped even though I knew he only meant we could get ready for the ball, not strip and jump into the jacuzzi, let alone the bed. Still, my pulse flamed already at the possibilities the end of this evening could bring. I ached to see where our relationship could be heading. I needed to know if there could be more to us than a few kisses.
Bold of me to offer myself to him so soon, but I couldn’t help it. I was falling hard and fast for this man.
“Okay, let’s go.” Smiling to the others at our table, I said, “Will we see you later at the ball?”
“Yes, I look forward to it,” one woman said and the others nodded while eating their dessert.
Rising, I took Eli’s hand, and he hustled me toward the hall. When we left the dining room, my smile dropped, and I shook my head. “While I’d like to think your sole interest in rushing me from the dining room is to get me alone, I have a feeling there’s more to this than that jacuzzi.” Like, something involving Jax and his own flight from the dining room.
Backing me against the wall, Eli took both my hands in his and leaned in close. His breath heated my ear. “I am curious about that jacuzzi.”
Everything inside me tingled. But he was avoiding giving me an answer again. “Eli. Tell me what’s going on.”
He kissed my jawline, my neck, and my collarbone. “Jax is just checking out a few things.”
Jax? Who was that? I could barely think, let alone remember what we were talking about.
“Let’s go to our room, okay?” he said. Before I could reply, he took my hand and ushered me down the hall to the elevators.
We stepped inside, facing each other. We’d need to ride down to the ground floor and then take the private, south elevator to reach our room at the top of the tower. “Since we’ll be dancing, maybe I should take my heels off and wear flats to the ball?”
“Don’t let my eagerness to see you wearing nothing but heels keep you from going with what’s comfortable.”
Flames licked through my veins as I pictured myself dropping back on the bed. Eli spreading my legs and stepping between them, lifting my heels up onto his shoulders.
My heavy gasp revealed my need. Damn, I was wet already and he hadn’t even touched me.
All I could picture was his exquisite seduction.
“I…I…” Crap. I’d lost my train of thought again.
Nudging me backward until my butt met the wall, he dropped his mouth onto mine, capturing my breath, my lips, and my heart all over again.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and strained forward, pressing myself against his rigid, muscular frame.
The elevator came to a stop and the doors swept open, revealing the lobby. We burst apart like kids caught making out behind the bleachers in the high school gym, even though it didn’t appear anyone was watching.
Eli’s eyes—darker than sin—met mine, and I read a promise for tonight.
“This ball. How long before it’s over?” Eli asked as we took the south elevator and then walked the short distance to our room.
“Too long.”
He chuckled and squeezed my hand. “While I’m tempted to steal you from the Foundation for the rest of the night, I know how important this is to you. This is your chance to shine. I want you to celebrate your accomplishment. I won’t hold you back.”
“We could leave after a few dances. Sure, I could network until midnight if I wanted to, but I don’t.”
“Take the time you need. I can wait.”
I wasn’t sure I could wait. “I want to be alone with you,” I confessed.
Eli sighed out my name.
Jax caught up with us, emerging from the stairwell located at the back corner of the short hall, breathing as if he’d taken the stairs all the way from the ground floor in ten seconds flat. He nodded at Eli. “My room’s beneath yours. Five rooms below that, then the level with the lobby. We’re dealing with a single elevator, two stairwells for egress—one on each end of the hall.”
Eli opened our door and quickly scanned the room as I stepped inside. A huge king-sized bed dominated the center with acres of plush, pale blue carpet surrounding it like an ocean around a gorgeous, tropical island. Floor-to-ceiling glass panes spanned one wall and, in the valley below, lights twinkled like fireflies. The moon hung full above the mountain peaks, barely eclipsed by soft night clouds. On our right were two closed doors. The closet between them stood open and the gown I’d brought hung beside a zippered bag that must contain Eli’s evening clothing. Our overnight bags had been placed at the foot of the bed, on the floor.
The jacuzzi, oval and empty, had been submerged partway into the floor in the center of the glass wall, inviting me to fill the tub with piping hot water then slip inside and enjoy the view.
Jax lounged behind me, against the open doorframe.
After checking out the rooms on my right—two bathrooms—and ensuring they were secure, Eli came over and squeezed my hand. “I’ll only be a minute. Why don’t you start getting ready while I speak with Jax?”
“Now would be a good time to tell me what you think is happening. Does it involve the server? I saw him speaking with another man, though I didn’t see his face.” I glanced back and forth between them but I might as well be trying to make Walter sing the national anthem than get an answer.
Without answering, Eli ducked into the hall, swinging the door shut behind him.
I tiptoed over and cracked it open enough to spy on their conversation.
“Nothing,” Jax said. “The bearded guy works in maintenance. Said he’s friends with the server. The caterer works here all the time and the two men often hang out together at the end of the day.”
“Why did Peter speak with them, then?” Eli asked quietly.
Peter? My eyebrows flew up and I pressed my ear against the door crack, eager to hear more.
Jax grunted. “Said Peter asked him to leave. He didn’t fit in with the guests.”
“You believe them?”
Why wouldn’t he? This sounded like nothing to be concerned about.
“No reason yet not to, but…”
Eli sighed. “Yeah.”
Yeah, what? This conversation was taking me nowhere.
“Ball, huh?” Jax groaned out. “This is gonna be worse than standing on an aircraft carrier in dress whites, manning the rails while we pull into Subic Bay, Philippines. Too damn hot. Too damn muggy. And too many people. I’m sweatin’ already.”
“I appreciate the back-up.”
“Mia okay?”
“Fine.”
“We were fuckin’ lucky.”
“Yep,” Eli growled. “I’m not letting her out of my sight until we’ve caught whoever’s responsible for all this.”
“No damn strike three.”
“Not a chance.”
“I’ll change and be back fast,” Jax said. “Let’s get this over with. We can leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow, get her home where it’s safe. Flint will be back soon and we can strategize about what we need to do next.”
I couldn’t leave early. Peter expected me to put in an appearance at breakfast and talk a few more sponsors into making bank transfers.
Feet shifted in the hall.
Leaping away from the door, I kicked off my heels and dashed over to my overnight bag. I had just enough time to lift it, toss it on the bed, and unzip it.
Eli shut the door as I turned and pushed a tangle of hair off my face. My smile wavered while embarrassment swept through me.
He leaned his back against the wall, arms crossed, a smirk on his handsome face. “Any questions or did you get all your answers a second ago from Jax?”
While I had plenty of questions, there were none he would answer. And I would not apologize for snooping. “Navy men. I rest my case.”
Grinning, he sauntered across the room, not stopping until I was pinned between the mattress and him.
“We leave after one dance, right?” he murmured, kissing my neck. When he sucked my sensitive skin just above my collarbone, I moaned.
My spine tingling, I shivered with pent-up craving.
“Three dances?” I whispered.
His arms scooped around my back and he held me up as if he knew my legs could not support me. Which was completely true. His lips feathered along to that spot where my neck met my shoulder. “How about one dance?”
“What?” I blinked. “Oh, dances? I could probably sneak out after two.”
His tongue trailed to the tops of my breasts straining against the scooped bodice of my dress, and he kissed one of the mounds. “One dance?”
“Half a dance,” I squeaked out. “That’s my final offer.” If he released me, I could fall back on the bed and yank him down on top of me.
Chuckling, he tugged me away from the mattress and then stepped backward.
“Wait,” I said frantically, my hands twitching. “We, um…have time for a quickie.” One stoke of his fingers between my legs, and I’d scream.
Reaching around me, he lifted and chucked his case onto the bed before I could stretch out and claim the surface. Claim him. “No quickie. Once I start, honey, I’m not stopping for a very long time.”
“But, but…” I really couldn’t complain about that, now could I?
He crossed the room to the closet and unhooked my dress from the rod and dropped it over my arm. From my bag, he pulled my bathroom tote. “Anything else you need to get ready? There are two bathrooms which means we can dress at the same time.”