by Laura Carter
I nod. “I think you should get Sydney on the case of putting out some good PR for you. Corporate social responsibility projects, that kind of thing.”
“She’s already looking at what CSR projects we have coming up. There’s a charity gala on Thursday in the week we get home. We’ll go and make our presence known.”
“Actually, that leads me nicely onto my other idea.” He furrows his brows. I really don’t want to cheapen what we have but as I turn the diamonds around my finger, brilliant sparkling gems entwined with a streak of darkness, I know it’s the right thing to do. “I think you should publicise the engagement.”
His eyes betray his anger.
“It makes you look human, Gregory. Someone can love you. This whole thing could still leak. You’re one of the wealthiest men in the world, I just think showing people that someone can love you looks—”
“Don’t you dare!” His words are a bark that howls across the emptiness of the harbour. “Don’t you dare turn the way I feel for you into a PR stunt, Scarlett. Don’t you ever do that!”
“I just think—”
“No!” He pulls his knee onto the lounger so we’re facing each other. “You’re the only good thing in my life. I want the world to know you’re mine and it will, but I’m not bringing what we have into this shit. It’s worth more than this. So much more.”
“Alright. I’m sorry.” I hold his cheek in my palm. He turns to kiss my skin. “CSR it is.”
“There’s nothing we can do for a while. Let’s get some sleep.”
“Can we stay out here?” I look up to the sky, the stars clearing as the blackness turns to grey. “I like it.”
“I’m happy wherever you are, baby.”
“Where is that, incidentally?”
“St. Bart’s, baby.”
We take two lounger cushions and lie on the front of the deck. He pulls my body into him—my back to his chest, his knees behind mine—and lays a thick blanket over us.
“You smell of you,” he says, nuzzling into my neck and drawing my hair back across my shoulder.
I reach a hand behind me and dig my fingers into his thigh, feeling him tense beneath his lounge bottoms. I push my hips back into his hardening length and pull his hands across the silk against my stomach. Bringing them to rest on my hip, he holds me still and rotates his pelvis against me.
I slide my left leg back over his thigh, opening myself to his masterful fingers, slick from my excitement and circling my bud. He slides his right arm under my shoulder and interlaces his fingers with mine. My left hand moves to his nape, pulling his mouth against mine, fisting his hair as my need increases.
He moans as my hips gyrate harder against his penis, rock-solid against my arse. “I get this for the rest of my life. Mine.”
His words make me wetter. I move my hand over his at my sex, encouraging him to move into me. “This is how I feel about that,” I whisper against his cheek, rewarded with a lusty groan.
“Always ready for me, baby.”
“Always.”
I push the waist of his bottoms and he lifts his hips, helping me uncover want I want so much. He kicks off his bottoms and pulls my leg further back across him, spreading me wide. He takes my hand between my legs and I feel just how ready for him I am.
“Work yourself. I want to see what I do to you.”
Lifting my hips, I slide onto his thick length then move my fingers to my clit, rolling across the tingling nerves.
“That’s it, baby.”
His hand moves between my legs, pressing my entrance, feeling himself slip in and draw out of me on deep grinds. The angle pushes his cock against my front wall, finding my spot. With his arms wrapped around me, knowing he can feel himself inside me, I feel closer to him than ever, my entire body giving over to him. Heart. Soul. Raging desire.
I turn my head to him and lose myself, the noise of my climax filling his mouth. As the sensation overbears me, I stop working myself with my hand but Gregory pounds harder into me, searching for his peak. He rolls me onto my stomach and bends one knee, the leverage pushing him deeper. With two harder thrusts, he fills me, falling onto my back as he brings us down with small, slow turns of his hips.
Sated and tired, he rolls us onto our sides and holds my back to his chest. He pulls the blanket back over us and with him inside me, I drift into a peaceful sleep, pushing away lingering thoughts of darkness and the stress we’ll have to deal with when we wake again.
Chapter Fifteen
The sun is beating down on my face. In our brief sleep, I’ve wormed my way onto Gregory’s chest, one hand on his bare pec, one leg wrapped across his. He holds me to him with an arm draped over my shoulder, his hand resting in my hair.
Light clattering comes from the dining area, followed by the sound of hushed voices. Gregory strokes my hair and presses his lips to my head. Without opening my eyes, I snuggle harder into his chest.
“I prefer waking up with you,” I mumble.
“Me, too, gorgeous. Come on, Bertie is setting up breakfast.”
I groan at first and cling to him. Then the curtain of blissful contentedness lifts. “Shit, what time is it?”
I sit bolt upright, the blanket around us falling to my waist. “I need to speak to Richard about the injunction.”
“You need to get dressed before you do anything else.”
I look down over my skimpy nightdress. Hmm, just a tad inappropriate. “Yes. I do.” Rising abruptly, I pull the blanket around me and make a run for the stairs leaving Gregory in only his lounge bottoms. I can’t resist a quick peek at him lying in the sun, arms stretched up behind his head. The epitome of man. In the process, I almost crash into Bertie.
“Morning, Miss Heath,” he says, attempting to disguise a smirk.
“Morning, Bertie.”
“Good morning, Miss Heath. Welcome to St. Bart’s,” Carl chimes through a bite of banana from the captain’s seat.
“Good morning, Carl.”
“Hey, Scarlett, did you sleep well?” Bryony is laughing and I look back to see my man laughing, too.
Someone might as well write S.E.X. across my brow in lipstick. “Good morning everyone,” I say, only mildly amused as I wave a hand lazily in the air and head to our room.
When I make it back on deck in a cobalt-and-white-striped shirt dress, pinched in at the waist with a cream belt—Julia and Lucas love an accessory—Williams and Amanda are at the breakfast table. She’s leaning back into his side and there’s a sparkle in her eyes across the table full of fruit, breads, meats, cheeses and pastries.
I guess I’m not the only one who had a good night.
Gregory is on his Blackberry, pacing the front of the deck in smart navy shorts and a plain white T-shirt, shades in place, his hair wet from the shower. I open my laptop onto the edge of the breakfast table and boot it to life.
“You’re working?” Amanda asks.
“Something came up this morning. Sorry to have this on the table over breakfast.”
Williams holds up a hand as if to say don’t worry. “Everything okay?”
I glance back at Gregory as I take a seat and refrain from saying obviously not. “A London tabloid got wind of the case.”
“The murder?” Amanda asks, sitting forward and grabbing a slice of whole meal toast.
I scowl behind Bryony as she pours me a cup of coffee.
“So he’s settling with them?” Williams asks.
I shake my head and sip the soothing, rich coffee. “They’re going to print.”
“A local tabloid and they won’t settle? What do they have?”
I set my cup on the table and type my password into my laptop. “They think Gregory bribed the police, or the CPS.”
The sound of Williams saying, “And they th
ink they have sound intel,” is drowned out by Amanda’s shouting.
“Bloody hell, Scarlett!” She’s out of her seat. “Bribes now? Christ, you could lose your job over an association with bribes. Your whole career. Your life.”
There are things I miss about the old me. How uncomplicated and honest my life was. There are other things I’m glad have changed. Like the strength I’ve found in my own convictions. The way I won’t be a pushover to keep people happy. And something I’ve learned from Gregory, the ability to take control of a situation, to move at my pace.
Leaning back in my chair, I retrieve my coffee cup from the table and sip as Amanda stands in front of me. Then I bring the cup into both hands, my elbows resting on the arms of my wooden chair.
“At some point, Amanda, you’re going to realise that he is my life.” Her mouth opens and closes without sound, her hands move to her hips. “I appreciate what you’re saying, I do, but you don’t know everything about the situation and...” I hate lying to my best friend but I have to, “...he didn’t bribe anyone. Money breeds enemies and Gregory has amassed a few. That’s all you need to know.”
“Christ, you even sound like him.”
I rise abruptly from my seat to face her, acutely aware that all movement on the yacht has stopped. “I don’t take that as an insult.” My words have much more strength than my eyes, which are pleading for her to trust me, to be my best friend.
“What do you need me to do?” she eventually asks.
Williams exhales and movement starts up again on the yacht. “Richard Armitrage is filing for an interim injunction. He might even have it now.” I check my watch. Nine fifteen here, afternoon in London.
“Alright. After that he’ll need to make a case to force them into settlement.” She snaps into work mode but flashes me a fleeting empathetic smile.
“Exactly. Sydney, Gregory’s PR manager, has been sending through details all morning. I need to call Richard for an update. If you could start pulling together a case summary.”
“Got it.”
“He’ll need to know the details and background. I can help you with that.”
She bites her toast, takes a mouthful of tea then holds out her hands, bending and flexing her fingers as a request for me to hand over the laptop.
* * *
By eleven thirty, Richard has confirmed that the interim injunction has been granted and he’s putting together a strong case for further action, not really with the intention of pursuing a trial but to use as leverage to get the paper to settle. The settlement agreement will be so tight they’ll have to drop any leads remotely connected to the case. The way things are looking, Richard is confident that will happen, particularly with the amount of money Gregory is willing to stump up to keep the press away from Elsa.
Gregory joins us around the dining table and I give him the update. He’s relieved, that much is a true reaction, but I know the way he holds himself, the shades of his irises, the tone of his voice. This is just another hurdle he’s had to climb. He’s tired and I find myself wondering how he’s carried the weight of so much darkness for so many years.
I rub the dull ache beneath my breastbone and lay a hand on his thigh. My want to protect him is overwhelming. I want this to end forever but the feeling of restlessness in the back of my mind is increasing. Something tells me Katrina Martin is not going away. That night isn’t going away and until they both do, Gregory will never be free of his past. We’ll never be free of Kevin Pearson.
“Thank you both,” Gregory says to Amanda and me. Pressure mounts behind my eyes. “Listen, Amanda, would you come for a drink with me? Soft, of course. A short walk around the harbour. I’d like to talk to you.”
If she’s taken aback, she doesn’t show it. Maybe she feels like it’s time to put some feelings to bed, too, but the tears I’m holding back, the tears that are threatening from the back of my throat, are grateful ones. Grateful to Gregory for reaching out and trying to make yet another thing right.
“Sure.”
Williams and Gregory have an unspoken exchange, in that way they do. Williams’s soft eyes tell me he’s also thankful for Gregory taking the high ground.
“We’ll be back soon, baby,” Gregory says, pressing his lips to my temple. “Hydrate, I’ve got a surprise for you this afternoon.”
I’d be excited but right now I can’t speak, so I nod and turn my lips into the best smile I can muster.
As soon as Gregory and Amanda are off the boat, the barrier holding my tears breaks and my shoulders shrug on short, sharp sobs. I take off my glasses and cover my face with my hands, pulling my knees into my chest on the chair.
“Hey, hey, what’s this about?” Williams moves quickly to replace Gregory on the chair next to me and wraps an arm around my shoulder.
“Nothing.” I sniff, trying to stifle my tears but more come. “It’s nothing. I’m just being silly.”
“Talk to me, Scarlett.”
I sniff again and lift my head, rubbing away tears with my fingertips then turning to fake a smile for Williams. “You’re so nice, do you know that? Amanda and Bump are lucky to have you.”
“Hmm, maybe you only see me when I’m being nice.”
“I doubt that.”
“Are you going to tell me what these tears are about?”
Another silent drop escapes and rolls down my cheek just thinking about what to say. “I love him so much, all of him. I love him so much it makes everything ache. And the one thing I want to give him, I can’t. I’d do anything for him, anything in my power, I’d do it.”
Williams takes a breath that sends his shoulders back and his chest out. “I think you’ve already proved that, don’t you?”
I snap my head round to look up at him. He knows.
“He didn’t tell me. Nobody told me, until I just saw your reaction.”
All I can do is stare at him, my tears suspended.
“I know enough about the case to know things didn’t add up. I don’t know the detail and I don’t need to. All I’ll say is this, what you did for him is more than anyone has ever done for him. He loved you before that but now he’ll never let anything come between you. Ring or no ring, you two have an unbreakable bond.”
“I thought that was it. I stupidly thought that with his father out of the picture, Gregory could be free. But it just keeps coming back to haunt him and it’s killing me to think that I might have...that I might have made things worse.”
He pulls me into his side. “Scarlett, he’s already changing. He is changed and you’re the reason. I’ve been his friend for twenty years and I’ve never seen him so happy. Give him more time. There are a lot of years of hurt that he’s never shared with anyone and he needs to get past them but he’s doing it, trust me. You gave him that chance.”
“Oh, crap, you’re going to be a super daddy,” I say, nudging into him and drying my cheeks again.
“I hope so.”
“Are you nervous?”
“Nervous doesn’t cover it. Petrified is more apt,” he says, shaking his head.
“You’ll be amazing. I know it.”
“Alright, let’s get you some fruit and water to replace those tears. You heard him, you need to hydrate.” He leans across the table for flavoured water and pours me a glass.
“Williams, Amanda doesn’t know, does she, about...?”
He hands me the full glass. “It’s not my story to tell.”
I nod. “Thank you.”
As I’m finishing my second glass of flavoured water and a plate of watermelon, Gregory gives Amanda a hand back onto the yacht. She pats his shoulder and says something that makes him shake his head on a laugh.
Williams and I watch them, waiting for a clue, but they apparently won’t be giving any insight. Hiding my no doubt red and puffy eyes
behind my sunglasses, I say, “I’ve hydrated.”
Gregory bites into a piece of watermelon. “Good girl.”
“Can I know what we’re doing now?”
“I’m taking you diving.” His wide youthful grin makes my lips turn in response.
“Diving how? Like off the boat?”
He chuckles. “Scuba diving, baby. Wet suits, regs, tanks.”
“I can’t just dive. I’ve never done it before.” As I say it I’m already giddy about the idea.
“That’s the point, baby, I want you to experience it. With me.”
“But won’t I need lessons?”
“Ja. I’ll teach you.” His playful South African twang thickens, making my stomach jump.
“You’ll teach me how to dive?”
“Ja. You only need to know the basics.”
“How many times have you been diving? I’ll be breathing through a tank. I don’t think it’s—”
Williams laughs and Gregory places two fingers over my pout. “I’m a qualified instructor, baby. As is Williams, and he’ll be with us.”
“You’re a dive instructor?” I ask through his fingers. “When on earth did you have time to become a dive instructor?”
“In case you haven’t noticed, angel, I own a yacht that anchors in the Caribbean.”
“Alright smart-arse. When do we start?”
“Right now.” His eyes are beaming as he inclines his head in the direction of the harbour. I see Carl loading six tanks and bags of equipment onto a speedboat with purpose-made holders for the tanks. I stand to get a better look.
“Ha. Holy shit. I’m going diving.”
Two strong arms wrap around my waist and a chin rests on top of my head. “Excited, beautiful?”
“Damn right I am.”
* * *
Carl manoeuvers the dive boat into a small bay where we’re the only people in sight. A small cove of golden sand, flanked by rocks, is decorated with pebbles and shells where waves are rolling gently to make white fluffy clouds on the shoreline.
Gregory stands on the front of the boat in only a pair of board shorts, his tanned skin enhancing the muscles of his already striking body. He drops anchor and gives Carl a thumbs up, then stands, legs spread for balance, with a smug half smile as I stare, unashamedly delighting in his splendor.