by Nikki Sloane
They exchanged pleasantries before his focus shifted back to me. “Thank you for the invitation.”
“Of course. Welcome to my home.”
He turned his gaze up and scanned the surrounding area. “And what a home you have. I didn’t need directions. I just followed the line of Bentleys.”
His good ol’ boy routine likely worked on a lot of people, but I wasn’t susceptible. He expected to be underestimated, but his gaze was too sharp and observant. It was exactly like mine.
“Thank you,” I said. “It’s been in my family for six generations.”
“I’d love a tour sometime.” He blinked as if he had stunned himself, and embarrassment crept down his expression. “Forgive me, I’ve forgotten my manners. You have more important things to do than show some stranger around your house.”
I didn’t hesitate. “How long are you staying in Cape Hill?”
This time, his surprise was real. “After the fourth.”
Perfect. “Do you shoot skeet?” Independence Day was Tuesday, so the office would be closed. “I’m hosting a holiday game of it here on the grounds. I’d be happy to give you a tour afterward.”
He was quite pleased with this offer, likely thinking he’d have an entire afternoon to mine me—his unsuspecting target—for information. “I can’t say I’ve been before,” he said, “but I’m a quick learner. Are you sure, though? I’d hate to impose.”
“No, of course. You’d be doing us a favor. We’re currently a man short.” I gave him a grateful look. “I’ll have my assistant find you and work out the details. Her name is Sophia.”
The sun was low, and the gardens were mostly in shadow. The lights strung overhead were already on, casting a warm glow on the lawn and illuminating the rose bushes that lined the edges of the space. While the setup for the party was similar to the events I’d hosted in the past, there was a distinctly different energy tonight.
Excitement hung in the air, and it felt like I was on the cusp of reaching a new level. Smiles and laughter seemed to come quicker to the guests as they mingled around the tables and temporary dance floor.
I made the requisite rounds with Evangeline on my arm, keeping my razor-sharp tongue quiet whenever it craved to lash out and cut someone down to an appropriate size. I smiled so frequently I’d begun to worry I came off looking maniacal.
The red, white, and blue décor served both Damon’s campaign theme and the upcoming holiday, even down to the enormous birthday cake and the sparklers decorating it. After I introduced him, he gave a speech full of promises and patriotism, and when it was over, Kristin led the crowd in song.
The liquor was flowing, so I assumed the money into his campaign was as well.
When dinner and dessert were finished, the sun had set, and people moved to the dance floor. Evangeline was off in deep conversation with some of her friends, and I sat at an empty table, surveying the crowd.
It was an upbeat song, but Marist and Royce were out on the floor, swaying slowly, completely oblivious to the fast-moving dancers around them. For the first time, I saw my son and his green-haired wife as they were meant to be—two people in love, who didn’t care what anyone else thought. It almost made me smile, but my muscles were taxed from overuse.
Sophia was out there too, snapping selfies and pictures with her friends, and it was impossible not to follow her with my gaze, which I’d done most of the night. Some guy—probably from Damon’s staff—had been annoyingly hovering around her all evening like an eager puppy, and his lack of subtly made me groan.
This boy had no skill or finesse. Couldn’t he see she was so far out of his league that he was embarrassing himself? I wanted to pull him aside and inform him to stop leering at her.
She’d worn that gorgeous dress for me.
The fast song ended, and the next one was slow, the female singer crooning about love and longing. My pulse increased as the boy leaned much too close to whisper in her ear, and she reluctantly nodded. My breathing went shallow as they strolled out onto the hardwood tiles and he set his hands on her narrow waist.
No.
The word was wrapped in barbed wire as it tumbled through my brain. I’d lived silently with jealousy for so long, it didn’t make sense why I wasn’t any better at dealing with it. Every slow circle they turned as they danced together, his hands inched downward, and my blood pressure climbed toward the sky.
She gave a tight smile, grabbed his hands, and dragged them back to her waist. He shrugged playfully with a laugh. I couldn’t hear what he’d said to her but didn’t need to. “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”
Oh, did I fucking blame him. There’d been no seduction or effort on his part, and she was a woman who deserved all of that. I tightened my jaw so furiously, it should have cracked my teeth. Guys like him were the reason Sophia’s sex life hadn’t included orgasms. This young generation had no patience or work ethic.
As I’d already demonstrated to her, I had it in spades.
I lasted until the song was finishing, before rising from my seat and stalking across the dance floor. “Excuse me,” I said to the boy, “I need my assistant.”
It was satisfying the way she instantly abandoned him and gave me her full attention. “What’s up?”
I didn’t answer. I turned and strode away, expecting her to follow, which she did. When we were a safe distance away, I finally spoke. It came out more forceful than I’d meant it to. “Take a walk with me.”
She pulled to a stop. “I can’t.”
Displeasure fired through my veins. “What do you mean, you can’t?”
My irritation grew worse as she dropped her gaze to the screen of her phone. “It’s time.”
I stared at her dubiously. Time? There was nothing left on the schedule as far as—
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the announcer’s voice boomed on top of the music coming from the speakers, “your host requests your presence on the dance floor. We need everyone to help take part in a special celebration tonight.”
I hadn’t been privy to her plans and didn’t care for surprises, but Sophia looked ready to burst. Her brilliant smile covered her face, and her eyes were wild with excitement, and it was so beautiful it was downright incapacitating.
“Come on,” she whispered in a thrilled hurry.
Four hundred of Cape Hill’s elite gathered in the available space, anxious and as intrigued as I was. Staff had assembled in stations around plastic crates at the edges of the garden and began handing out white squares approximately the size of record albums to the guests.
Sophia grabbed one and passed it to me then grabbed another for herself.
“What you are receiving right now,” the announcer said, “is a sky lantern. Once you have one, please unfurl and hold it by the edges of the ring. Someone will be by momentarily to help you light it.”
The paper was delicate like silk, and when I grasped the ring, the balloon unfolded, falling to the grass. Thin wooden dowels crossed an X over the ring, and at the center, there was a tan square the size of a matchbox.
The music faded to the background so the announcer could be heard clearly. “While you wait, please know these lanterns are one hundred percent biodegradable, made from paper, bamboo, and wax. I’m told the wind will carry them out over the Cape, but the fire department is also monitoring the launch in case there are any issues.”
A man in a staff uniform came to Sophia, carrying a small butane torch, and lit the tan block of wax at the center of her lantern. As soon as it began to burn, he leaned down to grab the paper and expertly flipped the ring over before handing it back to her. The white balloon glowed yellowy-orange and expanded as it began to fill with hot air.
The announcer surveyed the crowd from the podium. “We’ve all seen fireworks, but Mr. Hale wanted a display that you, his honored guests, could each be a part of. When everyone is ready, we’ll start the countdown and release the lanterns together.”
The man with the torch repeated the same process for my lantern as he’d done with Sophia’s before moving on to assist another guest. I watched the staff with torches work as quickly as possible to ensure everyone was ready for launch, and the balloon in my grasp was already gently tugging to lift off.
I glanced at Sophia. “How long will these be in the air?”
“The wax burns for ten minutes, and once it goes out, it floats back down. When we tested, it was like twenty minutes tops.”
“All right,” the announcer said. “I’ve been given the signal. Since it’s Damon’s sixtieth birthday, we’ll count down from sixty.”
“What?” Sophia angrily muttered under her breath, voicing the same thought I’d had.
“I’m just kidding, folks!” There were humorous and appreciative groans from the crowd. “And here we go. In three . . . two . . . one. Release!”
I let go, and as if it were attached to a string, my lantern went straight up. Sophia’s rose faster than mine, and mine quicker than some of the people around me, as ours had more hot air inside. The night sky instantly became a rising sea of four hundred flickering, glowing lanterns, floating among the stars, and the crowd gasped in awe.
I nearly did as well.
It wasn’t a word I’d used before, but nothing else would suffice. No other word did it justice.
Magic.
Magic she’d created, and as I looked around at my guests, their heads lifted and their mouths hung open with astonishment, I lost the ability to breathe. I’d done fireworks before. Loud, colorful shows to impress people, but they were quickly forgotten. This silent display was a once-in-a-lifetime memory. People rushed to pull out their phones so they could take pictures and video, and pride swelled inside me.
From this moment on, when Cape Hill thought of me, perhaps this memory Sophia had offered, would be the first thing that came to their minds, and not my troubled past.
I turned my head and set my gaze on her, ignoring that she may have been taking video and I was now interrupting. The urge to explain to her how pleased she’d made me was too strong to suppress, and I was desperate to do it in a place where I could express myself freely.
“Talk a walk with me.” My voice was thick with desire.
“Now?” she whispered.
“Yes. Right now.”
I wouldn’t accept any other answer, but thankfully, she gave me the one I needed.
“All right.”
SIXTEEN
MACALISTER
Guests were still murmuring to each other in wonderment as I led Sophia to the edge of the garden and the mouth of the hedge maze. Everyone was too busy staring at the surreal landscape in the sky to notice us, and even if they did, it was likely they’d think nothing of it. Just a business discussion between an employer and his assistant.
There was a security guard stationed at the entrance of the maze, an unfortunate necessity after Royce’s wedding. That evening, guests had ducked behind the velvet rope drawn across it to signify it was off-limits, and one woman had emerged at the end of the reception drunk and soaking wet, announcing she’d had the brilliant idea to cool off in the water fountain at the maze’s center.
“No one comes in,” I said to the man standing watch, who nodded back his understanding.
I moved at a fast clip, my shoes crunching on the pebbled path, and Sophia did her best to keep up as we disappeared between the eight-foot-tall walls of evergreen, but quickly lagged behind.
“Wait,” she said as I turned the corner. “This dress isn’t made for your long strides.”
No, I thought. It was made to drive me crazy.
I slowed my pace, and we wove through the passageways lit only by the subdued ground lighting. The maze had been planted by my mother and as it had grown, so had the required maintenance, but it was worth it. I shared my mother’s love for games, and as she’d passed away when I was young, this was my greatest connection to her.
We bypassed the turns that would lead us toward the statues or decorative urns placed at dead ends. I could solve this maze with my eyes closed and knew all its secrets, but Sophia didn’t, and she stuck close to my side, letting me guide her.
Rocks skittered with her steps, and when she took a corner too sharply, her ankle unexpectedly went under her, and as she stumbled, I was there with a steady hand. Although my grasp on her arm only seemed to make her more unstable, and pleasure snaked its way through my system. I loved how responsive she was to me.
We made the final turn, and the hedges parted, revealing the circular space and the round, tall fountain bubbling in the true center of the maze. Each of its tiers were lit in amber light, making the falling waterdrops shine and sparkle.
Had she made it to the center before? She looked around, taking it all in, before lifting her gaze to the sky, where the lanterns continued to float and slowly drift out toward the sea.
“Did you like it?” Her shoulders were tight, like her whole life hinged on my answer.
I couldn’t overstate it. “Yes. It was spectacular.”
Out came her breath in a rush of relief, and she pressed a hand to her stomach. “You have no idea how anxious I was all day. The wind shifted this afternoon, and they were telling me it was too risky to launch, but then it changed again when the sun went down.”
It hadn’t been an easy feat to pull off, but she’d executed it flawlessly and given me all the credit. Just like the bachelor auction, if she’d told me beforehand, I would have said no.
My voice was uneven as we stood side by side, watching the lanterns go like slow moving fireflies. “The sound people made when the lanterns went up . . . I’ll remember it the rest of my life, Sophia.”
She went still, like she worried if she moved, she might not be able to hold herself back any longer.
The music from the sound system was quieter here, but I could hear Chris Isaak singing that he didn’t want to fall in love. He accused the girl of playing a wicked game, and without thought, I took Sophia’s hand. Her eyes widened as I drew our joined hands up and slipped my other one around her back.
I didn’t ask her with words if she wanted to dance with me. Instead, I used my body to lead her through a simple pattern, moving to match the tempo of the love song wafting in the air. Her hand was small and warm in mine, and I brushed my thumb over her skin just above the back of her dress, causing her lips to part and an inaudible sigh to tumble out.
I’d planned seduction for her, but with our private dance to the sultry music and the lanterns glowing overhead, we crossed into a territory that was fraught with danger.
This was romance.
It was one of the few areas of my life where I had no expertise, and I hadn’t practiced it in more than two decades. Alice was practical and had no need for romance, and I’d been smart enough not to try to woo Marist—my attack on her had been a combination of strategy and brute force.
Everything about Sophia put me off-balance.
While the lust inside me wanted her beneath me, I couldn’t stop the craving to have her beside me after our partnership ended.
Typically, I enjoyed dancing and how it put me in control, but this dance was far more satisfying than anything I’d had before. She moved when I did, and she turned beneath my hand when I guided her through it, the hem of her dress dusting across the stone-filled path. She was trembling when she came back into my arms and stared up at me with big eyes, the reflection of the lanterns faintly noticeable in her pupils.
I was in command of our dance but had no illusions that I was in control. My feet slowed us to a stop, my hand on her back urged her forward, and I dropped my head, capturing her lips with mine.
A jolt of surprise went through her, but she softened into my kiss, molding her body to my frame like she wanted every inch of contact I was willing to provide. The fabric of her dress crushed against the ribbed front of my tuxedo shirt, and the heat of her breasts soaked through into my skin.
It was foolish to be doing this. However unlikely it’d be that someone would wander in and catch the two of us in such a passionate moment, it wasn’t impossible, and the consequences would be catastrophic. Warnings beat like angry drums in my head, but I ignored them. Her soft mouth was too enticing, and no matter how strong I was, I could not resist its pull.
She whimpered with pleasure when I teased her lips apart and slipped my tongue inside. The slow, lush slide caused sparks to cascade down my spine and race toward my groin. She tasted sweet, from either the champagne or the cake, or perhaps that was simply the flavor of her lips.
I let go of her hand, freeing it so I could cup the back of her neck and angle her head to give me further access to her mouth. And once she was released, she plunged that hand inside my tuxedo jacket and slipped it around my back, deepening our embrace.
It wasn’t a kiss I was used to delivering.
There was no reason or goal or benefit that could be quantified on paper as to why I kissed her, but the need to possess her was crushing. I was desperate to show her how powerful her effect was on me, and how it rivaled the power I held over her.
She was breathless, and her pulse roared, pounding in the spot on her neck beneath her ear, and I moved my mouth until I could cover it with my lips, sucking gently. Sophia wilted in my arms, and for a moment, I recklessly considered laying her down on the bench beneath the fountain and taking her right there.
Luckily, common sense won out.
I didn’t want a dangerous, quick fuck with her, and additionally—I had plans. I would extract both orgasms and information from her, and it was unlikely I’d be able to do either right now. When I had her under my control, neither of our focuses should be split with worry over being caught.
I lifted my lips until they brushed over the shell of her ear. “I know the other name.”
She didn’t believe me, and her smile tinted her voice. “Do you?”
“Yes.” I drew back enough so I could gauge her reaction. “Duncan Lynch.”