Luckily for her, the line of relatives slowed down to a trickle and she didn’t need to pretend she was happy all the time. Her grandmother noticed and tried to get her mind off things by taking her sightseeing.
“Someone might recognize me.”
Her grandmother harrumphed. “You work in the movie industry, dear. Surely, you can come up with a disguise.”
So Jillian used a scarf to cover her hair and large sunglasses to cover her face, and the two of them played tourists. Yerevan was old with a rich history. They visited the cathedrals—old and new. Museum after museum. She cried as she read the panels on the genocide the Turks carried against Armenians, making her grandmother cry, too.
“Look at us,” her grandmother whispered, taking Jillian’s arm. “Carrying on like babies. There’s evil in some people that cannot be contained. What you should never do is let them stop you from living. Life is supposed to be celebrated. And love, my dear,” she added, wiping the tears from Jillian’s cheeks, “will always defeat hate. Come on. I’ll show you something fun.”
They ended up at the Cascade, an unfinished monument with endless steps and a gorgeous view of the city. The base had unique works of art and a garden, but Jillian kept thinking about what her grandmother had said. Lex had sounded frustrated during their last call, and she was miserable. All because of Warwick. He hadn’t just tainted their wedding. He was intruding on their marriage. His goal was to separate them and make them miserable, and he’d succeeded. They’d allowed him to succeed.
They were at the top of the Cascade when Jillian turned from watching the view of the city and faced her grandmother. “I’m going home, Grandma. I’m going home to Lex.”
“Thank God.” Her grandmother laughed and hugged her. “I was beginning to think I destroyed your spirit with that lecture on the plane about being a dutiful wife. Yes, go home. And when you can, come visit me.”
“And you can visit us, too, any time and stay as long as you want,” Jillian said and hugged her. “You could finish molding me into a presentable young lady.”
Her grandmother chuckled. “No, I think your father was right. You are perfect the way you are.”
“Even when I swear like a sailor?”
“Yes.” Then she sighed. “No. That we can work on.”
CHAPTER 21
Lex rocked on his heels and exchanged a glance with Eddie. “What do you think they’re discussing now?”
“Trying to lure them to a resort they own,” Eddie said. “You might want to tell them they’ve already signed a contract to work at your resort in St. Martin.”
Lex wasn’t worried about his father-in-law reneging on their deal. He’d sweetened it by offering them permanent accommodations, a sprawling six-bedroom beachfront home that easily could accommodate all of them and Jillian when she visited them. It came with a private beach and a boathouse since his father-in-law had mentioned owning a boat. The look on Finnegan’s face when they’d read the contract had been worth it. Made the old man shut up for once. The shows would not start for another six months, but they needed to be at the resort at least a month to settle in and make sure everything was ready. If their shows were as spectacular as this morning’s, Lex had nothing to worry about.
Going by the animated expressions, the Hujimuras were impressed. Hujimura Senior was listening to Finnegan explain the Globe of Steel, while Junior was testing one of the Leeds bike the Finnegans had just used. Amy, Eddie’s wife, was hanging out with the women, probably planning where to go shopping. Their lawyers and assistants hovered nearby.
The deal was signed and locked away. After the tour of Leeds Production, the pitch Eddie had given, and the numbers Lex had crunched, the Hujimuras would have been fools not to sign it. The old man hadn’t asked about Jillian or mentioned Lex’s marriage. But since their wedding was all over the Internet—the good, the bad, and the ugly—Lex was sure the old man was very much aware of what was going on.
“Amy said Mrs. Hujimura was asking about Jillian. Is she joining us later?” Eddie asked.
“No. She’s… busy.” How he missed her.
Lex rubbed his chest, trying to ease the ache. Hearing her name only heightened it. He wanted to be with her, to get lost in her arms, until nothing else mattered but them.
The shit with Warwick was taking forever. Lex had given them Troy and Warwick, handed them evidence, and pointed them in the right direction, and what did they say? Investigations take time. Idiots. At least Warwick was in isolation. If they found him guilty of killing the prisoner he’d claimed Luke killed, he would be moved to the Adjustment Center indefinitely, the block that housed the worst inmates. Violent inmates. Prisoners there had nothing. No privileges. No visitors. They got shackles, and human interaction was limited to the openings on their doors. To date, Warwick had lived in North Seg—the death row block known as the Penthouse. Penthouse death row inmates got to go outside, exercise, and had phone privileges. Lex would have wanted the bastard executed, but there wasn’t much the governor could do to speed up the process.
“Trouble in paradise?” Eddie teased.
Lex shot his cousin a glance. “What makes you say that?”
“You look like shit,” Eddie said.
“And you are an ass for pointing it out.” No one in his family knew about what had happened to Jillian, and Lex hoped they never would. They just assumed they were honeymooning at the penthouse. Luckily, no one in his family had seen the pictures of him and Jocelyn that had surfaced, or the assumptions about his marriage. Rod had given him a heads-up. Hopefully, Jillian hadn’t seen them. She said the Internet was slow at her grandmother’s house. He really hoped she wouldn’t see them until after he explained what had happened at the Montage.
“I appreciate having you here, bro,” Eddie continued, “but like I told you, we can handle things from here. Amy is taking the ladies shopping, starting with Faith’s showroom. Her business has exploded since the world learned she did Jillian’s wedding dress. While the women shop, I’ll keep their men busy. Dinner will be at Eros, and Deanne has already assured me she has a private room reserved for us. Go home to your bride, Lex. You should be on your honeymoon, not holding my hand.” Eddie slapped his back. “It’s time to let go, big guy. Time to focus on you and yours.” He went to join their guests.
Lex stared after his cousin, everything falling into place.
The bureaucrats and their investigators weren’t the idiots. He was. He’d been so busy making sure Warwick would never go after him or his friends, Eddie’s contract was signed, and none of his remaining employees were traitors that he’d lost sight of what was important—Jillian. His bride. He should have been focusing on her, not Warwick. Let the CDCR worry about the bastard. Eddie was okay. And his friends were grown men and heads of billion-dollar companies. They should be able to take care of themselves without him taking charge. They already shut down the source of Warwick’s funds—his sister’s bank account. She might have disappeared, but her accounts were frozen.
Warwick had said Lex didn’t deserve to be happy while he was behind bars, and Lex had played right into his hand, making himself sick with worry instead of celebrating his new life. Jillian once accused him of micromanaging her, and she was right. He was so used to being in charge he didn’t know how and when to let go. She had taught him to do that in the bedroom. It was time he applied it to everything else in his life. Warwick was going to lose this battle. He was leaving to claim his wife. His happiness.
Lex turned to Douglas, who was standing behind him. “Call Mathews. We’re leaving for Yerevan as soon as he has the plane ready.” He pulled out his own phone and called Dom. “I’m off the grid for the next two weeks. If anything crops up on Warwick’s case, you guys have my back.”
“Always,” Dom said. “Have you talked to Sloan?”
“Briefly. He was headed out of town.”
Dom cursed.
“Whatever it is, I don’t want to know,” Lex said. “I’m officially o
n my honeymoon.”
“Rod needs a place to lie low, man,” Dom said. “Same ol’ shit.”
Women problems. The man was never going to learn.
“Unfortunately, they know my place, and I don’t need to deal with his mess on top of everything else. Can he use your penthouse while you are gone?”
“Hell no. Jillian is not coming home to Rod’s harem. Let him try Sloan’s. I’m sure he won’t mind. I gotta go.” He hung up and went to join Eddie and the others.
“Ah, my son-in-law,” Finnegan said, waving Lex over. “I was telling Mr. Hujimura we are performing for the Veterans this afternoon. It is going to be spectacular. You all should come as our guests.”
Hujimura Senior and Junior nodded. Their wives didn’t look too happy. Lex didn’t care. He was getting out of here.
“Do we need to reserve their seats?” Lex said before he could stop himself and smiled. He was a work in progress, but he was determined to delegate. “Eddie?”
“No, son, I got this,” Finnegan said, slapping Lex on the back. “We’ll reserve the best seats in the house for your colleagues. Are we going to see my daughter this afternoon?”
“I was looking forward to meeting your lovely bride, Mr. Fitzgerald,” Mr. Hujimura Senior said. “Mr. Finnegan said she rides in the Globe with her brothers.”
“She did, but she won’t be here this afternoon. We’re leaving for our honeymoon in”—he looked at his watch—“a few hours. I hope you understand.” Lex shook hands, bowed, and excused himself.
Douglas met him before he reached the exit. “The jet will be ready by four this afternoon.”
Lex frowned. “Why is it taking so long? I want to leave sooner.”
“Mathews is having the engines tuned and the cabin detailed. This way, sir.” He led him down a hallway to the back of the stadium. Trailers with the name Bay Area Circus were everywhere. Cages with animals. Domestic and tamed animals. A few circus people smiled and nodded. They were probably at his wedding.
Lex stopped walking. “What are we doing here?”
“Ms. Jillian wants you to meet someone, sir.”
He checked his phone. He had no missed calls. “When did you talk to her?”
“On Monday, sir. She wanted to make sure I wasn’t blaming myself for what Troy Preston did.”
Sounded like something she’d do. Lex studied Douglas. The man was still beating himself up over what happened. “Are you?”
“I take responsibility for my lapse in judgment, but I didn’t tell Ms. Jillian. She already had a few colorful names for Preston, and I didn’t want to be at the receiving end of her ire.”
She’d stopped asking about Troy. The boy had cut a deal, but Dom’s sources in the LAPD said he’d still do time. “Okay, who am I supposed to meet here?”
“Mr. Ignacio. I spoke with him earlier.” Douglas led the way to the back of the building, down a hallway to a line of rooms. The man inside looked vaguely familiar. He jumped to his feet and pumped Lex’s arm.
“Marco Raul Antonio Ignacio at your service, Señor Fitzgerald. I’ve known Jilly since she was a little girl. Always curious, that one. Always getting in trouble,” he added, grinning. “It was an honor to be invited to your wedding.”
Considering how it had ended, Lex wondered how the man really felt. Did Jillian expect him to compensate the man and his friends for the poisoning? “I hope your family and friends are okay after the incident.”
The man dismissed Lex with a wave of his hand. “Finnegan said the man is in jail. That’s good. Please sit, señor.”
Lex looked around and saw things he’d overlooked when they first entered the room. Clown clothes on a rack, wigs, and other gimmicks.
“What is this?” Lex asked, hating that his stomach dipped.
“Ms. Jilly’s wedding present. She told me she wants a picture of you in full clown regalia.” He waved his arm dramatically to indicate from head to shoe.
Lex shook his head. He knew what his naughty wife was doing. He adored her, but he wasn’t dressing like a clown to fight his phobia. No way. “No.”
“But Ms. Jilly will be very disappointed,” Mr. Ignacio said. “It is her wedding request.”
Then she would just have to deal with the disappointment. “I’ll wait until she’s around to do it.”
The man chuckled and reached down for a long gift box, which he pressed in Lex’s hands. “She said not to pressure you if you say no and to give you this.”
Lex looked at the box. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what was inside the box—clown paraphernalia. His worst nightmare.
“She said it was important to give you something you needed, not wanted.”
Clever girl. He took the box like it was a poisonous snake and passed it to Douglas. “Thank you, Mr. Ignacio.” Lex shook the man’s hand and hightailed it out of there. Douglas followed him without saying a word and went to bring his car around.
“May I ask what is in the box, sir?” Douglas asked as they pulled away.
“No, you may not.” It was kind of funny and brilliant if it weren’t so humiliating. “Women are an enigma, Douglas. They are very insightful and see things in ways that we men can never imagine.”
“I don’t think I understand,” Douglas said, speaking slowly.
“One day you will, my friend. One day you will.”
Lex waited until he was alone in his office before he called Jillian. The phone went unanswered. She was probably out sightseeing. He’d see her in about sixteen hours. It seemed like a lifetime, but he was a patient man.
~*~
Lex didn’t try Jillian’s number again until he was on his way to the airport. Since Armenia was eleven hours ahead, he texted her instead.
“Miss you. Call me when you are awake.”
His phone buzzed, then a text appeared on his screen. “Right now? I’m awake.”
His phone rang, and he swiped the surface to answer it. “Hey. Why are you awake at two in the morning?”
“I couldn’t sleep,” she said, sounding sleepy and sexy and everything he needed to feel whole again. “I’m tired, yet I want…” She sighed.
“What? Name it and I’ll send it to you.”
“You, Lex. I want you. So much. I’m surrounded by your scent, but it’s not enough.”
The car stopped, but Lex didn’t get out. The sound of her voice was setting him ablaze, and he had sixteen hours before he could see her. Touch her. “My scent?”
“I borrowed a few of your shirts from your suitcase. Several. I figured you wouldn’t miss them.”
Lex imagined her in his shirt and groaned. She’d look sexy. “You can wear my shirts any time. What else are you wearing?”
“The white bridal stockings, my new heels, and… nothing else.”
Fuck. He was getting hard. Six days had passed since he last saw her, and he was deprived as hell. “Talk to me. What are you doing now?”
“You mean talk dirty to you?”
“Yes.” He opened the door and dragged his coat to cover his erection. Douglas was hauling a suitcase from the back of the SUV. But Lex’s things were already on board, where they’d left them last weekend.
“I don’t know if I should,” she whispered. “The walls are thin, and it’s been so long since you kissed me. Touched me. I want your hands on me, Lex. I’m tired of touching myself while thinking of you. I want to see you. All of you. Naked. I want to stroke you. Slowly, then brush my thumb across the sensitive tip of your hard, throbbing cock.”
Lex almost tripped climbing the damn air-stairs. The flight attended smiled at him and said something, but he doubted he responded. His focus was on the sexy voice in his ear.
“I want to lick you from the base and wrap my lips around the tip and just suck you dry.”
Lex grabbed the handle of the bedroom door and yanked it. He stepped into the room and froze. His body trembled and eyes burned as he stared at Jillian reclining on the bed, one arm behind her head and the other holding a
phone to her ear. The lacy edge of her stockings teased him from the edge of his white button-down shirt.
Sure he was imagining her, Lex closed his eyes and quickly opened them in case he was dreaming again. For the last week, he’d had dreams of her. Some sensual. Some hot and naughty. And some disturbing because she’d been hurt and needing him, and he couldn’t help her. Those had haunted his waking moments.
She was here now. Her scent was real, not from his memories. Her eyes spoke to him. Said that she wanted him. Needed him. Loved him. He realized he’d stopped breathing and dragged air into his starved lungs. The breath didn’t relieve the ache. His muscles were taut, his entire body primed for action. He needed to touch her. Taste her. Breathe her.
He closed the door as she sat up, the phone slipping from her hand. He threw his, closed the gap between them, and cupped her face. He pressed his thumb over her lips, and she opened her mouth and sucked it in. Every muscle in his body trembled.
He pulled his thumb from her mouth and claimed her lips in an all-consuming kiss, wanting to make up for the last week, desperate to sate his hunger, but it wasn’t enough.
He broke off the kiss, stared hard into her eyes. “I need you.”
She didn’t say anything, just turned and scooted to the middle of the bed. She went on her knees and elbows, her ass peeking out from behind his shirttail, and her glorious mane spread over the pillow. God, she was glorious.
Lex was shaking like a boy about to get his first sexual experience. He couldn’t remember yanking his shirt from his pants or unbuttoning it. He didn’t even question how she got here or why she hadn’t told him she was flying back. You didn’t fucking question miracles. You counted yourself lucky and treasured them. Jillian was his miracle.
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