“But they were checked in until tomorrow morning. Where the hell did they go?” Vince knew the stress he felt was written all over his face.
“I’m sorry, sir, but the party did not leave word of their destination.”
Vince cursed under his breath. “You said the party? There should’ve been just two women.”
“According to the night shift, there was a large group, and they were in quite jovial spirits.”
Vince looked at him askew. He’d picked up on what the concierge was insinuating. “Were they drunk?”
“I do believe so.”
“Even the blonde?”
“Especially the blondes.”
Vince was rendered speechless. He wondered what the hell was going on. Maggie had always been way too serious to participate in drunken nonsense. She had changed, and not in a good way.
“Thank you,” Vince grumbled and trotted back to the cab.
Once he was tucked in the back seat, he placed calls to Maggie’s friends and former colleagues who lived in London. None of them had seen or heard from her. He tried Monroe, but she didn’t answer her phone either. Maggie was lost in London. Vince considered driving around until he found her, but that would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. He remembered that she planned to be in New Orleans on Saturday night. The impulsive lie he’d told Charlie was now the truth.
Vince asked the driver to take him back to the airport. As soon as Vince rested his aching head on the seat, his cell phone rang. His heart raced because he hoped it was Maggie. “Hello?”
“Did you find her?” Robert asked.
Vince grunted and clenched his lips. “No.”
“Are you sticking around?”
“No. What the hell do you want, Rob?”
“Can I catch a ride back to the States with you?”
Vince massaged the corners of his eyes. He really wanted to say no, but he didn’t know how to punish Robert for crossing him. “Sure. The plane takes off in an hour. If you’re late, I’m leaving without you.”
“Aye, aye, captain.”
Vince grimaced and ended the call.
Vince was already seated when Robert arrived with five minutes to spare.
Robert plopped into the seat beside Vince, wearing that silly grin. “Were you really going to take off without me?”
Vince’s expression remained stone cold. “Yes.”
Robert clipped on his seatbelt. Vince avoided eye contact, but he felt Robert’s gaze upon him.
“What?” Vince snapped.
“So where the hell is Maggie?”
Vince didn’t look up from the first-quarter reports he was reading. He couldn’t believe Robert asked about her.
“You’re still angry,” Robert said.
Vince snorted. That was an understatement.
“She and I had a long conversation last night.”
That got Vince’s eyes off his papers.
“I tried to fuck her again,” Robert said. “She’s not having anything to do with me. It’s all you, brother.”
“Why in the hell would you try to fuck her again?”
Robert furrowed his eyebrows. “She said I’m a kid who wants to play with your favorite rattle even though I’ve got my own toys. That’s been fucking with my head.”
Vince took a moment to absorb what Robert had just said. He’d never thought of it that way, but hell if Maggie hadn’t hit the nail on the head.
“I gave her my best work,” Robert said, referring to the sex. “I did something that drove her crazy, and I’ll tell you how I did it. It’ll be my apology, my gift from me to you to her.”
Vince frowned. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“The way I…” Robert shifted his tongue from left to right.
Robert was lucky that the flight attendant had told them to remain in their seats for takeoff because Vince knew exactly what Robert was referring to. Maggie had nearly climbed the walls while Robert was going down on her.
“I don’t need you to teach me how to eat pussy,” Vince said, although he was curious as hell.
The plane raced down the runway, and Vince tried to concentrate on his work. All he could see was Maggie sucking the air and pulling on the sheets. She looked so sexy with her legs spread and nipples erect. He wanted to pull Robert off her and take over.
“A microscopic speck,” Robert said, interrupting Vince’s flashback.
Vince looked at him with his eyes narrowed.
Robert took a sheet of paper and brushed the edge. “About that much packs a powerful punch. They can hardly contain themselves. Just that much is all you need. She bursts, and you go around the globe, speck by speck.”
Vince squinted at the speck of corner Robert was referring to. “You know you’re a bastard, right?”
“That was a real apology I gave you. If I could go back and do it differently, then I would. That’s how much you and I—”
“It’s over,” Vince said. “We’ll take it one day at a time.”
“I can handle one day at a time,” Robert said.
Vince nodded and put his focus back on his work. Two hours later, Robert was talking about the silver Maserati a guy they knew wanted to sell him. Robert explained how smoothly the test drive went, but said the thing was just ugly. He thought it looked like a spoon. Vince laughed, and that broke the ice. They talked about Emily and whether or not they should keep her after all that had happened.
“I’m fine with it,” Vince said.
“She’s not going to stop trying to get you,” Robert said.
Vince watched Robert intensely. “I’m marrying Maggie. That’ll bring her back to reality.”
Robert narrowed his eyes. “What the hell are you looking for? You think I want to stop you?”
“Just like that, you’re over her?”
“Sometimes it takes hearing the right words. I’m just glad you’re still in love with her. I could’ve fucked it up for the both of you.”
“Yeah, you could’ve, but you didn’t.”
“Then are you ready to buy her a Maserati, a silver one that looks like a spoon?” Robert asked.
Vince laughed. “You let him talk you into buying the car?”
“Yeah…” Robert said with sigh of regret.
Vince laughed louder.
“It’s parked in my garage in Laurel Canyon.”
Vince laughed even louder.
Robert deplaned at Teterboro in New York, and Vince flew on to New Orleans. He got a suite at the Westport Continental Hotel. Vince wanted to call Maggie, but he also wanted to surprise her. So he got some sleep and woke up on Saturday morning ready to work.
His first meeting was a three-hour videoconference with their accountant and lawyer. Then he met with the vice president of development for three more hours to talk about shows that needed to be cancelled on Prime D TV because they were losing so much money. If Vince had allowed it, the stress of keeping A&Rt afloat would’ve taken him out a long time ago. After ordering breakfast, lunch, and a steady flow of coffee, it dawned on Vince that Maggie wasn’t the only workaholic in their relationship. He fought the urge to call her. What if she hadn’t made it to New Orleans? What if she’d run off with some other guy and said sayonara to him? He would burst into a million pieces if that had happened.
Finally, eight thirty p.m. arrived. He took a shower and put on a dark pair of jeans, his burgundy suede tennis shoes with the white stripe on the sides, and a white shirt. Maggie liked when he dressed casual. She’d said it made him look delicious, like a bag of chocolate chip cookies that she wanted to devour. He would be the one doing the devouring tonight. A microscopic speck, Vince thought as he headed one floor up to the penthouse lounge.
CHAPTER NINE
Contingency Plans
Maggie
I already know I look like shit. I don’t need Charlie harping on it. I feel like shit too. I try to straighten myself up, but my temples throb as Angelina sells me on the brilliance of D
r. Luc Calvet. My eyes burn like crazy. I just want Angelina to get to the point already. I shift uncomfortably as I’m served crawfish étouffée. Charlie’s given his shrimp po-boy, and Angelina gets gumbo.
I hold up a hand to stop her talking. “I think we all know we’re here to strengthen the contingency plan, so let’s just get to it.” I yawn.
“But where the hell is Vince, Mags?” Charlie says, glaring at me.
“You’ve asked that already.”
“You haven’t answered.”
“Hell, I don’t know! I was in London.”
“What were you doing in London?”
“Are you the Spanish Inquisition?”
He grunts.
“Leave me alone, Chuck. Let’s get down to fucking business.”
He looks at Angelina as if I’ve just slapped him in the face.
“Problem number one,” I say forcefully. “Getting them alone and isolated in a place they can’t escape.”
Charlie sighs as if he’s going to let it drop. I think Angelina just kicked him under the table again.
“I’ve been thinking about the island,” Charlie says.
“Martha’s Vineyard?” I shake my head. “That won’t work. He knows just about everyone who lives there.”
“Not the Vineyard. Jack owns a private island in the Bahamas. His closest neighbors are thirty miles away.”
I aim the butt of my pen at Charlie. “Now that’s a good idea. So how does he normally get to, from, and around that island?”
“He flies into Nassau, that’s where he keeps his yacht docked. Then he boats over to the island. He keeps two speedboats and two sets of jet skis there…” The skin between Charlie’s eyes puckers as he ponders. “That’s it.”
I write that on my pad. “What about telecommunications?”
“He has phones and… He has a whole communications room just in case he’s caught in a hurricane.”
I cross Private Island off my list. “Well, there goes that idea.”
“Nah, I have some engineers who can rewire shit.”
“Oh, great,” I say. I’m a tiny bit sobered by Charlie’s newfound capabilities. I’ve never subscribed to the idea that a woman can change a man, so I don’t know what came first: him finally growing up or his love for Angelina making him evolve. Regardless, I sure as hell don’t miss the old lazy, philandering drunkard who could barely tie his own shoes.
“Luc is also going to hold daily sessions with them,” Angelina says.
Charlie pecks her tenderly on the lips. “I’m going to have it all set up, babe.”
Seeing them together makes me miss Vince. “Okay, what about the fucking?”
Charlie and Angelina look confused.
“That’s their major problem. Instead of talking, they fuck their way to a temporary resolution. Put them together on a deserted island, and Daisy will be pregnant again by sundown.”
“That’s true,” Angelina says thoughtfully. “I forgot to mention that to Luc. I’ll let him know that as long as they’re having sex, they’re stable.”
I instinctively study Charlie’s body language. Wow, he no longer cringes at the idea of Jack and Daisy doing it. He used to want her so badly that I thought he would murder Jack or something to get him out of the way. But hell, he really is over Daisy.
“I wouldn’t call it stable,” Charlie says.
“It makes them numb to their shit,” I say.
“That’s more like it.”
“Jack and Daisy and a deserted island…”
“They’re going to fuck,” Charlie says.
“A lot,” I say.
“Maybe we can put ankle bracelets on them or something,” Angelina says.
“Like what prisoners wear?” I ask.
She shrugs. “At least we can have Luc look into it.”
Charlie snorts and smirks. “Daisy… She’s not going to like that shit. It’s going to feel like a shackle.”
“Oh, you mean with her issues of being tied-down,” Angelina says.
Charlie nods.
“So ankle bracelets or not?” I ask.
“Maybe,” Angelina says. “If it can be done, then yes.”
I write ankle bracelets? on my pad. “Okay. So… how do we get them there?”
“We’ll drug them,” Angelina says so nonchalantly that I wonder if I heard her wrong.
“Drug them? I don’t know about that.” I think about what I just went through—over twenty-four hours of my life lost, and now my head is paying for it. “Is it ethical to drug someone without their knowledge? Especially if we don’t know if there are side effects? And then they’ll just lose all that time and wake up in a fucking stupor without knowing what the hell happened… It’s just not fair.”
Charlie looks at me cockeyed.
“What?” I snap.
“Someone drug you, Mags?”
“No!” Fuck, how did he guess?
He looks as if he doesn’t believe me.
“Well, Charlie has a friend who’s an anesthesiologist. He’s already agreed to help however he can,” Angelina says.
I snicker. “Engineers and anesthesiologists? Did you dump all the losers you used to hang around?”
“I never hung around losers,” he says, still studying me suspiciously.
I feel like hiding inside my skin. He knows something’s off about me. If anyone could tell, it would be Charlie. I’m on the verge of spilling the beans about the rift between Vince and me and my last couple days. I feel like a hypocrite.
However—and it’s possible I’m experiencing an aftereffect of whatever the hell Delta gave me—I lock eyes with Vince, who’s walking in our direction. I shut my eyes tightly. When I reopen them, he’s hugging Angelina. Then he shakes Charlie’s hand, which means he’s not an apparition.
“How are you, babe?” he says.
His lips meet mine, and I indulge in their brief collision. Vince and I stare into each other’s eyes.
“Fine,” I mutter.
“I didn’t think you would show up,” Charlie says.
“Sorry I’m late,” Vince says. “I was on a call. I’m staying here in the hotel, so I should’ve been on time.”
“You’re staying in a hotel? You guys can stay in our guest room,” Angelina says.
“Unless you’re not sleeping together,” Charlie says.
Vince and I stare into each other’s eyes. I’m still surprised he’s here. I thought I’d have to find him and beg him to love me.
“We’re going to stay here tonight. Tomorrow we’ll stay at your house,” Vince says. “How’s the remodeling going?”
Water rushes to my eyes. I love the way his hands feel massaging my shoulders and neck. I could fall into him and never come out.
“It’s going fine. But why not just come over tonight? The guest room is on the other side of the house. You’ll have your privacy,” Charlie says.
“I’m already dug in here for the night.”
Charlie looks at Angelina, who shrugs. “Okay, but will you be okay, Maggie?”
It dawns on me that Charlie is spooked by my appearance. I’m not willing to tell him that I’ve spent the last day and a half as high as Mars and can’t remember a thing about it. “I’m okay, Chuck. I’m just tired. The sooner we’re done here, the sooner I can remedy that.”
Charlie nods and gets Vince up-to-date about what we’ve discussed so far.
“Daisy will be easy,” Angelina says. “We’ll do a spa day with her, and Stanley, the anesthesiologist, will be her ‘masseuse.’” Angelina draws air quotes.
I have a question, but I can’t form it because my focus has left the room. Vince is surprisingly frisky. We lock eyes. I can’t believe he’s here and touching me. His body heat and the energy emanating from him make me feel so secure.
Vince looks away to ask, “Charlie, you want me to help you subdue Jack?”
“Unless we hire someone to kick his ass.”
“Are you out of your mind?” I say.
“It’s bad enough that we’re sitting here casually planning kidnappings and druggings.”
“But for a good cause,” Angelina interjects.
“It is a good cause, but I don’t want Jack hurt,” I say. “Take him down yourselves or not at all. Maybe I can convince Jack to take a spa day with me. He’s gone with me before.”
“You’ll be with me, Maggie.” Angelina lifts a finger. “Wait, I think we have a problem…”
“What is it?” Charlie asks.
“It all has to happen simultaneously. We’re going to need two anesthesiologists.”
Charlie winks at her. “I’ve got it covered.”
Angelina bats her eyelashes at him as if he’d just agreed to save her life.
“Are we done?” Vince asks impatiently. He squeezes my left hand and slides his thumb over my ring.
“You just got here, bro,” Charlie says.
A guy with ginger hair and an instrument case strapped on his back puts his hand on Charlie’s shoulder. “Y’all going down to Frenchman tonight?”
A fresh group of musicians start playing.
Charlie bounces enthusiastically in his chair. “Where you going to be?”
I’ve never heard him sound so Southern.
“We playing on the Pit,” the redhead says.
“Hot shit! Who’s on bass?”
“You are if you come on now.”
Charlie and Angelina spring out of their chairs.
“You don’t want to come, do you?” Charlie asks Vince and me.
We shake our heads. Vince’s thumb is massaging my palm.
Charlie is overexcited. “See you tomorrow then?”
Angelina and I kiss each other good-bye on the cheek. Charlie waves as he walks away backward. Vince and I face each other as if time has stopped—we have a billion options, and we don’t know what to choose first.
His lips are on my ear. “Hey.”
I turn to face him, and our cheeks brush. “Hey.”
My head climbs up to cloud nine. A magnetic force fuses our lips. Our tongues get reacquainted. The taste of his mouth makes me moan. This still feels like a dream, except it’s come true.
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