“Rile was going to take you, so I guess we can,” said the woman who had been my best friend for years.
“That isn’t what he told me,” said Casper.
I could feel the muscles in my shoulders tightening. “I would love to hear what he told you, since he didn’t tell me a bloody thing.”
10
Rile
I felt the muscles in my shoulders tightening and brushed my lower lip with my finger. Kensington was angry.
“What is it, Cortez?” my mother asked, joining me in the sitting room.
“Trouble on Mallorca, I fear.”
“Hmm.”
“Say it, Duchess.”
She stood and walked out to the Christmas tree that was tall enough to reach the second landing of the vestibule.
I followed. “Mother?”
“Why are you here, Cortez, instead of there?”
“I answered that question two days ago when I arrived.”
“Remember this?” she asked, taking an ornament from the tree. “You made this when you were in year one.”
I remembered it well. There were many things I recalled from that year, including my first premonition.
“You came racing into the room, insisting that there was something amiss in the garage,” said my mother, reading my thoughts. “Your father couldn’t get past the notion that you’d been out there in your pajamas, but I knew straight away.”
“You told him to check, and when he heard it from you, he raced outside.”
“One of the chauffeurs was pinned beneath a car. He’d been changing a flat and the jack slipped. You saved his life that night. That’s when I knew.”
To this day, my sixth sense, ESP, clairvoyance, whatever one preferred calling it, was often as much of a curse as a blessing. When I was younger, the second sight, as my mother referred to it, often resulted in debilitating migraines that could last for days.
“Why are you fighting so hard against this, Cortez?”
I left my mother by the tree and walked over to where I knew my father kept the brandy. I poured myself three fingers and downed it.
When she came and stood in front of me, my eyes bored into hers. “You know why.”
“Glare at me all you want. You don’t intimidate me.”
I never had, because my mother had the ability to look straight into my soul and know exactly what I was thinking and feeling. What angered me was that, even knowing, she’d asked why.
“She wouldn’t—”
“Don’t,” I spat. “You may know me, but you don’t know what she would or wouldn’t want.” I poured another glass and drank it down.
She rested her hand on my arm. “She wouldn’t want you to stop living, Cortez, and that’s what you’ve done.”
I closed my eyes against the pain that settled in my head and in my heart. I could feel Celestina, but she didn’t speak. She didn’t need to.
“Go home, Cortez.”
“I’ll leave after Christmas. That’s two days.”
“Go home today. Now.”
When I shook my head, my mother leaned forward and kissed my cheek.
Later, at dinner, I gave my parents the gifts I’d planned for them to open on Christmas Eve and told them I’d left those for my brother and his family beneath the tree. When I stood, my father did too and embraced me before my mother walked me to the door where my bag already sat.
“Happy Christmas, Cortez.”
“Happy Christmas, Duchess.”
It was midnight when I approached the gates of my home. I stopped the car and pulled out my mobile.
“I’m here,” I said when Angel answered.
“I know,” she responded, yawning. “I’ve just watched you pull up to the gate.”
“You’re awake.”
“You’d see to it Z would have my job if I weren’t.”
I laughed.
“I’m glad you’re back, Rile.”
“How is she?”
“You’ll see.”
I pulled into the garage and took the lift straight up to the fifth floor. I could see a glow coming from my suite and thought perhaps Angel had raced up and lit the fire, although that made no sense nor would she have had the time.
I stepped into my bedroom, dropped my bag on the floor, and discovered why there was a roaring fire. Kensington was fast asleep in my bed.
After toeing off my shoes, I padded over, mesmerized by her beauty—awake or asleep. I put my hand on the wall when a sad feeling permeated my chest. It was her pain, and I’d been the cause of it.
I crawled into bed, behind her, powerless not to give her comfort. When I wrapped my arm around her waist, she released a soft sigh and settled her back into my front. Her troubled sleep eased, and slowly, her pain dissipated. She turned her body to mine and nestled her naked form against my clothed one. I raised her chin with my fingertips and softly brushed her lips with mine, startling her awake.
She blinked. “Cortez?”
“Shh. Go back to sleep.”
“I’m not dreaming? You’re really here?”
“I am.”
“You’re not angry I’m in your bed?”
“I wondered if perhaps I was the one dreaming.” There was only so much resisting I could do. Once again feeling powerless, I put my hand on her neck and brought my mouth to hers.
As our kiss deepened, I trailed my fingertips down her body to her breast and then pulled back to look at her. “You are magnificent,” I said before taking her hard nipple between my teeth. With that small bite of pain, Kensington’s body writhed. I put my hand on the soft flesh of her bottom and pulled her closer, pressing my hardness against her until she moaned.
I rolled her to her back and pushed her thighs apart. The scent of her arousal engulfed my senses. I leaned forward, unable to resist a taste. She grabbed the back of my shirt when I licked between her folds and thrust a finger into her heat.
“I know I’m dreaming,” she whimpered. “Please, God, don’t let me wake up.”
When I added a second finger and sucked on her sensitive nub, Kensington’s back arched as she cried out. I curled the tips of my fingers, sucking harder as she rode out her powerful climax.
“Taste yourself on me,” I murmured, bringing my mouth to hers. When I ran my tongue over her lips, they opened.
She pulled back and stared into my eyes as she unfastened the buttons on my shirt. When she reached the bottom button and went for my trousers, I grasped her wrist with my hand.
“Please,” she begged.
“Not tonight, Kensington,” I murmured. When I tried to kiss her again, she pulled back.
“Why not?”
Could I explain that it was too important to me? That I had to be certain I was ready before joining our bodies together? Would she understand it would mean more to me than casual sex? That it could never be casual between us?
The lines in her forehead softened as did the look in her eyes. “I understand.” She rested her hand on my heart. “Can I stay?”
“I won’t let you go.”
Kensington smiled and rested her head where her hand had been. I could feel her understanding, even though I couldn’t read her thoughts—and that terrified me more than anything else.
When I woke after sunrise, Kensington was gone. I got out of bed and walked to the window. My heart stopped when I saw her. She was sitting on the grass above Celestina’s grave.
11
Kensington
When the sun on the horizon interrupted my dreams, I got out of bed and dressed. I had no intention of walking to the cemetery. No intention of leaving the house. In fact, I’d planned to sit in the solarium and watch the sun come up over the water. Instead, it was as though I was beckoned to come to where I now sat.
I ran my fingers over the letters carved into the stone. “Celestina Martínez DeLéon.” My heart clenched when I realized she was my age when she died six years ago. Marta had said that her and Cortez’s unborn baby was buried besi
de her, but the headstone made no mention of an infant.
“Tell me how to ease his pain,” I whispered, wishing I could talk to the woman who had been his wife, the mother of his child, whom I knew he’d loved with all his heart. Still loved, immeasurably.
A warm breeze, in contrast to the chill of the early morning, washed over me, and I closed my eyes.
“Love him.” A voice inside my head spoke to me.
Being beside him, having his hands on me last night, had felt so right. He never answered me when I asked him why we couldn’t make love, but it was as though he had. Understanding, like the warm breeze this morning, washed over me. He wasn’t ready, but he was also unwilling to let me go.
Today was Christmas Eve. I never would’ve predicted that Cortez would return until after the holidays. In fact, I remembered him saying that Epiphany was celebrated more in Spain. That’s why I slept in his bed. I missed him more than was logical, and by lying between the bedclothes that smelled of him, I felt like he was wrapped around me. I expected there would be more than a week before he’d return, and by then, Marta would’ve changed his sheets.
When I felt his arms around me, I was so certain it was a dream. I willfully chose not to open my eyes, praying it would go on and on. It was the feeling of his lips on mine that roused me. It felt so real because it was.
I turned my head when I sensed him watching me and then looked back at the stone. I brought my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. I wasn’t ready to leave. In fact, I couldn’t.
I wondered if this was how Cortez felt when he spent hours sitting beside the place where his wife’s body rested, unable to make himself leave.
When I looked again, he was gone.
Since it was too chilly for a swim this morning, I took the trail down to the beach and ran as far as I could before the sand turned into rock.
I was about to run back the way I’d come when I looked up and saw Casper standing on the rocks above me. I shielded my eyes from the sun.
“Do you need something?”
When she shook her head, I felt like flipping her off. “Are you just going to stand there and watch me?”
She walked down the rocks closer to me. “What part of ‘it’s my job to watch you’ don’t you understand?”
“It was a bloody walk on the beach.”
“Which you’re not supposed to do unaccompanied. Let’s go,” she said, reaching for my arm.
“That isn’t necessary,” I said, jerking it away from her. “All you have to do is inform me of my boundaries, and I’ll respect them. You don’t have to get nasty.”
When we reached the stairs, Teagon was coming down. “What’s wrong?”
“I found her down on the beach—alone.”
“Kenz, you can’t—”
“I got it,” I said, racing past her and up to the fourth floor.
Given I’d been sleeping in Cortez’s bed since the night after he left for Madrid, I’d insisted Casper take the master that sat empty. I went into one of the smaller bedrooms, closed the door behind me, and flopped on the bed.
“What part of ‘it’s my job to watch you’ don’t you understand?” I mimicked with a scowl. I hated being patronized.
There was a knock I wished I could ignore on the door. I wanted to be alone, but the knock persisted.
“Come in.”
The handle jiggled. “It’s locked.”
Since it was Teagon’s voice on the other side, I stood and let her in.
“Are you okay?” she asked, stepping in and closing it again behind her.
“As I said to her, it was a bloody walk on the beach.”
She nodded. “If you want to know the truth, I think she was angry that you slipped past her. Rile would be furious with her if he knew.”
“She doesn’t need to be such a bitch.”
“I know this is difficult, Kenzie, really I do.”
“Why is she still here? We didn’t need her here before. Is Cortez planning to leave again?”
“I can’t answer that. Casper works for Rile—err, Cortez.”
“I was in his bed when he arrived last night.”
“What happened?”
“He didn’t ask me to leave.”
She sat down on the small bed, and I sat beside her. “It’s just so confusing.”
“Believe me,” she sighed. “I understand.”
“It’s almost as though I can feel him. Does that make any sense?”
Teagon looked away.
“What?”
“There are rumors.”
“Here we go with the rumors again. What now?”
“Some say that Rile is psychic.”
“You’re joking, and it isn’t funny.”
My friend put her hand on my arm. “I’m not joking. I’ve heard stories about his mum too.”
“What of his mum?”
“You’ve heard of the Cambridge Five, yes?”
“Who hasn’t if they’ve gone to school in the UK?”
“Rile’s mother worked for SIS. It’s said she was the one who exposed the final two. Up until she did, it was the Cambridge Three.”
I cocked my head. At the very least, this ridiculous tale had gotten my mind off my sexual frustration, even if only for a few minutes. “Are you saying she read their minds and found they were Russian spies?”
“I don’t know how she did it but, essentially, yes.”
I stared at her long enough that if she’d been joking, she wouldn’t have been able to maintain a straight face.
“Something happened last night,” I said.
“What? Did he read your mind?”
“The other way around.”
“You read his?”
“I can’t explain it. We were…fooling around—”
“You were?”
“Do you want to hear this?”
“Sorry. Go on.”
“I wanted to have sex, but he stopped things.”
“And?”
“Like I said, it was as though I could read what he felt. That he was conflicted. He wanted it too, but he stopped himself. I didn’t think he was rejecting me. It was more that it was too important to him for us to just have ‘sex.’”
“I remember when we were fifteen, and we were at your grandparents’ flat in London, and I was on the phone with my boyfriend.”
“Tony?”
“Yes! Do you remember what happened?”
“Vaguely. Go on.”
“I’d invited him and his best mate over because your grands were out of town.”
I gasped. I did remember. “I told you to call Tony back and tell him not to come, because I thought they might come home early.”
“I thought you were just being a spoiler, but then no more than twenty minutes later, in they came. I was certain they’d already alerted you that they were on their way, but you were stunned enough that I realized they hadn’t.”
I knew exactly what she was talking about. It had really thrown me.
“Wasn’t the only time either. There were other instances of when you knew things that I didn’t remember telling you.”
“You’re exaggerating.”
“That’s the thing, Kenz. I’m not.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m psychic, or that Rile is. Maybe it just means we’re intuitive. You’ve never been hard to read.”
“No? You’re the only person who knows me who says that.”
“Because I know you better than anyone.”
She pulled out her phone when it vibrated. “Gotta go. No going outside alone until I get back. Err, I mean, no going outside alone at all.”
I rolled my eyes at the lunacy of their overreaction, but I stayed put anyway.
After an hour, I was bored out of my wits. Teagon said not to go outside, she didn’t say not to roam the house. However, rather than face another lecture, I told her that I was headed down to the gym. “Do I need to alert Casper as well?”
“She’s on ou
tdoor-duty presently.”
“Do you need to come with me?”
“Go ahead. There are security cameras—”
I grabbed the door jamb, and my eyes opened wide.
“Don’t worry, they aren’t in the loo or anything like that.”
“Bedrooms?”
“Not in them, but any entries or exits are monitored.”
I changed my clothes and went to the lift, wishing it had a list of what was on each floor, like a hotel did, since I couldn’t remember where the gym was. I knew it wasn’t on the lowest level and doubted it was on the one below this one since that seemed to be all common spaces like the sitting and dining rooms.
I pressed the button for floor two, and when the lift door opened, I knew I was in the right place. I came around the corner and saw Cortez on the treadmill, with his back to me. Our eyes met in the mirror, and I turned around to leave.
“Wait.”
I stopped but didn’t look back at him. He must find me such an intrusion.
“Don’t go.”
“I’ll come back later and let you finish your run in peace.”
He came around and stood in front of me. “Please stay.”
“I was just going to run.”
“I’m finished. Go ahead.”
I tilted my head. “No, you’re not. You’ve just started.” His eyes opened wide, but he appeared unperturbed.
“I cannot lie to you, can I?”
I looked away, unable to process the way I was feeling. My conversation with Teagon, and now this. I took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and looked over at the pool. “I’ll go for a swim instead.”
“In your bikini?”
“Would you prefer in the nude? Sorry to disappoint either way, but I’ve got a workout suit.”
“Very well.” He winked.
He went back to the treadmill, and I slipped into the loo to change. When I came back out to the pool, he was gone. I shook my head, donned my goggles, and dove in. I swam the length and back under water, and then did a few freestyle laps. There truly was no better exercise than swimming.
I caught my breath and went for a second round. Midway down the pool, I heard a splash. I glanced behind me and saw Cortez.
Riled (The Invincibles Book 4) Page 7