by Zara Cox
He doesn’t exactly stroke his chin, but his head jerks to the side, thoughtfully. “That depends.”
Hope smothers me. “On what?”
“On how quickly you can switch jobs.”
FOURTEEN
Slammered
Zach
Five days are all I can stand before I give in and bribe a guard for a phone. I’ve been fully committed to serving my time, knowing I could lose Bethany in the distance between now and my release. We didn’t have any reason to discuss how she’d feel about being married to a criminal. Except her father, all the men in her life before me have let her down.
With my actions, I’ve added myself to that list. I’ll love her until the day I die, but I don’t regret what I did. If I’m ever put in the position to say that to her, it may be the thing that breaks us.
The fear of finding out we’re already broken is what has kept me from calling her. Philip chooses his words carefully when I ask about her. For now, the knowledge that she’s still in our home, still in my bed, is enough.
The phone burns a hole in my pocket until lights out. I wait another hour to be sure my cell mate is asleep before I activate it. A single app shows on the illuminated screen. I enter my password and plug in my earbuds. Then I scroll through, my heart uplifting and shredding at the same time.
The recording I play is of her first day at work after our maiden trip to Bora Bora.
How’s work, Peaches?
Boring. I wish we were back in Bora Bora.
So you can give in to that nudist streak you keep denying and run around naked?
So I can see your smug face when I tell you how happy you make me.
I make you happy, Peaches?
Ecstatically. Completely and utterly. As long as I have you I’ll never need anything else. Except maybe those fresh coconuts. God, those were to die for, weren’t they?
My laughter triggers hers. We laugh at the silliness of our laughter for a full minute. Then her soft, husky voice flows over me.
I love you. See you at home...
The app clicks onto the next recording. I drop the phone on my chest and close my eyes, losing myself in my only link to Bethany.
FIFTEEN
Lust & Jumpsuits
Bethany
I’ve never been anywhere near a prison before. And not in my wildest dreams did I imagine I’d have to lie my way in.
After living on tenterhooks the last forty-eight hours, I’m at the point where I’m certain the smallest wrong move will induce a vomiting spree.
“Right, are we clear on what you need to do?” Paddy asks from his position in the front passenger seat.
My gaze meets Philip’s in the rearview mirror. The gentle giant has been my rock in the past week and a half. He nods reassuring and I clear my throat. “Yes, say as little as possible.”
“I can’t stress enough the many ways this could go wrong.” This from the mid-level attorney in Zach’s legal team, who’s in the back of the SUV with me. I didn’t ask what he did to draw the short straw. I don’t intend to. He’s my ticket inside the locked gates. That’s all that matters to me.
“Relax, sport. Play your part right and the worst that could happen is you being disbarred and spending the rest of your life on a private island thanks to a few grateful individuals. The best thing would be to see this through and guarantee yourself a ton of billable hours,” Paddy says.
“Okay. Agreed.” He hoists his monogrammed Ferragamo messenger bag and reaches for the door. “Let’s go.”
“Wait.” Paddy holds out a hand. “You haven’t the flip side if this goes tits up because you don’t play your part right.”
“But you said—”
“Listen. And I really can’t stress this enough. Anything happens to her because you fuck it up, three of the most powerful men in the country will have your name on their shit list. Remember that.”
The man’s left eyelid twitches for several seconds before he jerks out a nod. “Understood.”
Paddy’s gaze swings to me, and he smiles. “Go have fun, my dear.”
I step out of the SUV with my heart hammering loud enough to block out every other sound. Which is good, I guess, because the amount of doors that slam shut behind me would’ve induced a heart attack by now, if I’d been able to take it all in.
I produce my ‘credentials’ when asked and confirm truthfully that I am part of Zachary Savage’s legal team. They don’t know that I’ve taken a leave of absence from Neon to work as a temporary PA to senior partner Dawson Reed of Reed, Reed & Clintons, while his PA enjoys the round the world cruise her boss surprised her with two days before.
The document Paul Spencer—my twitchy sidekick—produces and sets on the table once we’re shown into a grey windowless room, is genuine. In fact the only things not genuine in this staggering performance, are my brunette wig and boxy glasses.
My insides coil with anxiety as we wait ten excruciating minutes for the doors to open.
Zach steps into the room and vivid life pounds into my body. I breathe for the first time since he was taken away from my hospital room in Scarsdale. The times we spent together waiting for his trial were hell even though we were together. This was equally hellish, but at least I have a large portion of the unknown behind me.
His beautiful eyes skate past Paul’s head and lock on me. I hear his breath catch from across the room. His sexy mouth drops open, but he catches himself quickly, nods to the guard who murmurs what shit he needs to murmur.
Then we’re alone.
A client with his two attorneys.
He sits across from me. Paddy warned me about the camera in the room so I keep my hands tucked in my lap.
“Bethany.” His deep voice strokes me from head to toe with the same arrogance he spoke with the day we met. But that’s where the similarities end.
I’ve seen Zach vulnerable. I’ve seen him afraid of losing me. But there’s naked fear in his eyes now. Something live and lethal that has the power to break him.
“Hey, Zach.”
“How...what...baby, it’s so good to see you. But what the fuck’s going on?”
It suddenly hits me that he’s hung a worst case scenario on this meeting. I immediately try and reassure him with my eyes, but Paul clears his throat and moves to huddle. Unfortunately, it brings him close to me and Zach’s eyes narrow. “Mr. Savage, umm, I need to go through a few things with you.”
“Sure, but you think you can do it without plastering yourself on my fiancée?” Zach enquires, his voice a deadly blade.
Paul jumps back. “Uh, sorry, I didn’t mean any disrespect.”
Zach nods without taking his eyes off me. “Go ahead.”
Paul recites the plan Paddy drilled into him. “The room is yours for an hour, but the cameras can only be turned off for half that time or an alarm goes off. Mr....Paddy suggests you be appropriately...situated by then?”
“Why wasn’t I told about this?” Zach asks me.
I lick my dry lips. “We couldn’t risk anyone overhearing on the prison’s phone.”
“And you think this isn’t risking you, Peaches?” He’s getting over his shock. And his brilliant mind is still weighing the cost/benefit ratio.
I glance at Paul. “Isn’t it time for you to leave?”
He nods and slides the documents in front of Zach. “These are the shares Mr. Reed recommends you liquidate now if you want to maximize your profit. I’ll leave you to look it over.” He hurries to the door and knocks. The guards lets him out and shut it behind him.
I gaze into intense slate grey eyes, and I want to cry and laugh at the same time.
“Have you come to end things with me, Bethany?”
“What? No!”
“Then can I touch you?” he jerks out in raw demand. “I need to touch you.”
I sneak a peek at my watch. “Not for another minute. The camera will go off at eleven fifteen.”
He swallows hard. “You trust this Paddy guy?”
“I trust your friends. Mason and Noah set this in motion.”
He nods. I ease my fake glasses off and place them on the table. We waste the minute staring at each other, absorbing and cataloguing the subtle changes.
The moment the red light blinks off I launch myself at him. He catches and drags me to his side of the steel bench. Our lips meet and devour, our tongues shamelessly fucking each other’s mouth. Zach’s hands trail feverishly over me, over my breasts, my stomach, down to yank up my pencil skirt. I waxed especially for this occasion, and when his hand finds my bare, unclothed pussy, he freezes.
“Christ, Bethany, tell me you didn’t drive all the way here with no panties on?” he growls in a raw, ravenous voice, his gaze locked on my pussy.
“I...didn’t want to waste time.” My fingers shake as I tackle the opening of his orange jumpsuit.
His head rears up and his eyes appear glazed. “Fuck. You wanted me that much?”
“Yes. Don’t make me wait, Zach. Please...”
He yanks my skirt up higher. Then he raises his hips with me still straddling him, to attack the rest of his press-on buttons. He jerks his hands free and his upper half is exposed to me. I explore the leaner, sleeker version of Zach as he pushes his suit down. His six-pack ripples in reaction to my touch, and I groan with pleasure as his beautiful cock pops free. He sits back down and arranges me over him.
“Hold on to the bench, baby,” he instructs, his voice barely recognizable, gripped in a fever of need.
I clutch the edge and hold my breath. He brushes the head of his thick cock against my opening. His eyes collide with mine. “Do you know how much I’ve missed you, Peaches? How I’ve craved you?”
“I...I think so,” I whimper. “If you’ve been half as miserable as I’ve been...please, Zach. I need you so much!” My voice breaks and tears form.
“God! I can’t believe you’re here...with me, ready for me. I’m going to cram this cunt full, baby. Imprint myself in you.”
I try to wriggle downward. “Hurry!”
With a deep grunt, he pushes me down, impales me on his cock. His mouth devours my scream. Then we both stay still, desperately adjusting to the wild and tumultuous sensation.
“Fuck. My God, I love you.” His voice trembles with the confession.
I realize how much I’ve needed to hear that. My pain eases and I smile against his mouth. “I love you, too.”
I ease up and slam back down. My neglected pussy squeezes him and he grunts in pleasure. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
With my heels planted on the floor, I grind him shamelessly, wringing every lick of pleasure from him. He gives me free rein, and I ride him until my bliss crests in a blinding orgasm. I’m still riding the wave when time and desperation propels him to his feet. He slams me onto the table and my eager legs wrap around his waist. He rears over me and plunges back inside.
My back arches. I cry out as the wave surges higher.
“Is this what you want, my filthy Peaches?” He frees my shirt buttons and sucks my nipples in greedy pulls. “For your man to do you like this?”
“Yes.”
His thrusts slow. “Am I still your man, Bethany?” There’s a distinct note of vulnerability in his voice.
My eyes widen in shock. “Of course you are. Why would you think differently?”
Pain fills his eyes. “I’ve been too scared to hope—”
“I will always love you, Zach. No matter what. You told me in the hospital to never forget that you love me. I’m telling you the same. I’m yours, forever. Now, please, please keep fucking me. We only have fifteen minutes left.”
My gorgeous man plants his hands on either side of my head and pistons inside me. My eyes roll and before I know it, I’m riding the wave again. He collapses on top of me seconds later, and I feel him gush hot and hard inside me.
“Baby?” he croons when we catch out breaths.
“Hmm?”
“I love that you brought your beautiful pussy to me ready to devour, but please tell me you have panties in that prissy briefcase of yours.”
Laughter and happiness bubbles through me. “As a matter of fact, I brought two. The indigo one is for you to keep.”
His deep laugh fills the hollowed out pockets of my heart. “Never stop being amazing, sweetheart.”
“I won’t.” We share a kiss and my heart dips when I sneak a glance at my watch.
Three minutes.
My happiness dims. Zach pulls out of me and reaches for my case. He opens it and pulls out the tissues and underwear I brought with me. After he cleans me up, I slip into my panties and readjust my clothes.
By the time the red light blinks on, he’s sitting next to me with a respectable but cavernous distance between us. With our backs turned to the camera, his broad shoulders hide our hand-holding.
My heart mourns each passing minute.
“I wish I was doing time with you,” I blurt.
He looks up from our linked fingers with a sizzling glare. “What? Don’t fucking say that.”
“Why not? It’s true. At least this way we could be together—”
“Stop it! Right now. I can barely function as it is. Do you have any idea what it’d do to me to think of you behind bars, too?”
I can’t stem the tears that prickle my eyes. “This is so hard.”
He jerks to his feet and walks directly beneath the camera, the documents clutched in his hand. He motions to me and I join him in the blind spot. He drops the papers and catches me in his arms. He tucks my head into his chest and rests his head on mine.
“I know it’s hard. But I need you to hang in there, baby. Whatever you need to help you, just say the word. Philip has access to everything.”
“I...not everything.”
He remains silent for a full minute and I die. When his forefinger lifts my chin, I raise my gaze.
“What do you need?” he demands.
I’m reluctant to voice my petty needs in this harsh, soulless place.
“Bethany, stop biting your lip and tell me what you need.”
“Your clothes don’t smell like you anymore. I miss smelling you when I walk into our bedroom. It’s killing me.”
“Okay. I’ll take care of it.”
“What? How?”
“Don’t worry about the logistics. Just take care of yourself. Promise me.”
“I promise.”
He rests his forehead against mine for a moment.
“I should have married you the day I gave you the ring. Hell, I should’ve married you the day we met.”
“Don’t do this, Zach.”
He shakes his head continuously, his fingers linked around my waist. “I love what you did for us today. But I don’t want you to do it again.”
My heart shreds. “What? Why?”
“Because it’s dangerous. I can’t risk you being caught.”
“Zach—”
“No. I want you at home, safe. I’ll instruct my lawyers to put video visitation in place. We can keep in touch that way.”
My tears flow freely. “It won’t be the same.”
“Please, baby. It has to be this way.”
Implacable Zach is in full-on mode. He brushes my tears away but doesn’t back down. We stay like that until the risk of being out camera shot sends us back to the bench.
Zach signs the forms. Then meshes his hand with mine one last time. “I love you.”
My throat is too full to answer, so I nod.
Paul Spencer returns with the guard. Business-like goodbyes are said. I look into Zach’s eyes one last time. He’s led out the door.
And I return to hell.
SIXTEEN
We Limbo
Bethany
We settle into a routine. Of sorts.
I agree to eat and sleep on a regular basis. Zach sends me a video visitation once a week. And twice a week I get a T-shirt that bears his distinct scent delivered to me by Philip. I don’t know how Zach is swinging that
, but I’m too fucking grateful to care.
For our screen time, I make sure I look better than a zombie. I smile. I laugh. Sometimes I even flirt.
But we both know we’re bidding time. The attorneys are working feverishly to knock some more time off his sentence. The DA isn’t playing ball.
Slowly we sweep past the halfway mark. My bosses have given me leave for as long as I need it. The fact that my currency would triple the moment I become Mrs. Zach Savage means they’ll pretzel themselves into any shape I want in order to hang onto me.
To keep my mind off the abyss that yawns when I’m not talking to Zach, I take on a few easy jobs that won’t require too much client interaction—a councilwoman’s son’s Bar Mitzvah that goes without a hitch, and a sky-diving wedding proposal that goes wrong from the very start. From the dropped ring to the vomiting session by the prospective bride, I’m kept on my toes as I wait for the couple’s return to Teterboro Airport.
Despite the many hiccups, they couple are ecstatic as they sign off their paperwork. I can’t help but be a lot sad and little envious when they launch into excited plans about their wedding.
My mood hasn’t lifted by the time I connect with Zach on the video visit. He frowns immediately.
“What’s wrong?”
I bite my lip against the pat it’s nothing that he’ll see right through. “A sub-par mood I’m trying to get a handle on.”
He nods. “Something specific cause it?”
In what universe did I imagine he’d let it go? “Yes.”
“Tell me.”
I breeze through the event and attempt to change the subject.
“Do you want to get our wedding plans back on track?” he asks.
My heart does a loop that leaves me a little dizzy. “I didn’t tell you this to provoke a response, Zach.”