“Like I said, I have no right to ask you this, but I have to. Call it a shortcoming of mine. Kate…was there anyone else?”
A rock landed in my stomach. How could I have had no idea that was coming? There hadn’t been—not really. How honest could I be? Would my little flirtation in Spain matter to him? For that was all it had been—a few laughs and a few kisses—and Price had never left my mind. I’d learned the hard way that I wasn’t ready yet to move on, that I was still very much in love with my dead husband.
Who wasn’t dead after all.
He looked into my eyes. “Oh my God.”
“What?”
“I can still read you. Tell me. Please.” He closed his eyes. “Rip the bandage off.”
“Has there been anyone else for you?” I asked.
“Of course not!” He stood, his cheeks reddening even in the dusk. “I’ve been running and hiding, trying to keep from getting killed, trying to set up what could be a life for us. When the hell would I have had time to fuck someone else?”
I straightened my spine but didn’t stand. Jealousy. That’s what I’d seen in his eyes that had never been there in the past. We’d never been jealous of each other. We’d always been secure in our commitment. In our love.
I heaved a sigh. If I expected him to be honest with me, I would have to offer him the same courtesy. I secured my bikini, walked toward him, and caressed his shoulder.
“Come back and sit with me,” I said.
He gazed out to sea. “Do I want to hear this?”
“I don’t know. You tell me.” I squeezed his upper arm, which was tense and rigid. “I promised you today would be just for us. I agreed not to pester you with questions, and I haven’t. Do you still want me to answer your question?”
“Damn. Yes. I need to know.”
He followed me back to the bench where we both sat down again. I took his hand.
“First, I promise, I haven’t been with anyone else. Not intimately.”
He barely concealed a sigh of relief. “Thank God.”
“But there was someone who pursued me. It happened during the trip to Spain.”
He nodded tersely, his countenance still rigid.
I swallowed, gathering my courage. “His name was Alejandro Dominguez.”
Price winced.
I covered our joined hands with my remaining hand. “He was…” I closed my eyes. The truth was, he’d reminded me much of Price—the same size, same coloring, same dark and smoky eyes. “A lot like you, actually. In looks and in personality. He was a reporter covering the protests, so that’s how we met.” I paused, giving him a moment to adjust.
“Go on,” he said through gritted teeth.
“He asked me to go for a drink, and I said yes, just because I thought I could get him to share some sources with me. His English was excellent, which was good, because as you know, my Spanish is a little rusty.”
He nodded, still tense.
“Still, I hesitated, but when he called me Catalina—Spanish for Katherine—I decided to go. The name made me feel like someone else, and someone else might go, right?” I gave a nervous laugh. “That probably sounds like nonsense, but being Kate had brought me nothing but sorrow for so long. It seemed like a good idea to be someone else. Anyway, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to get to know him. We talked a lot about the story, but we also talked about other things. He was recently divorced, and I told him I was widowed. We shared a bottle of Rioja and ate seafood paella at this little dive he called a ‘hidden gem.’”
I left out that I’d tasted food for the first time in months that evening. The crispy edges of the paella, the succulent scallops and clams, the sticky rice flavored with saffron—all had been heaven for my taste buds. The wine had been full-bodied yet fruity, perfect with the spicy dish.
I sighed. “He made me laugh, Price. And I hadn’t laughed in so long. So when he…”
“When he what?”
“When he”—I winced—“invited me to his place—”
Price squeezed my hand hard.
I drew in a deep breath. “Remember, I thought you were dead.”
He loosened his grip a bit. But only a bit.
“I considered it. He seemed like a nice guy, and I liked him. But I decided it wasn’t good judgment to go to a stranger’s home in a foreign country. So he walked me to my hotel, and he”—just say it, Kate—“kissed me.”
Price’s vise grip clamped my hand once more.
“I tried to respond…”
I paused, remembering. Alejandro’s kiss had been nothing like Price’s. And suddenly I realized why the paella and Rioja had tasted so good. I’d been fantasizing that Alejandro was Price. I’d focused on his dark beauty, and I had gotten past his Spanish accent, his designer clothes that Price would never be caught dead in. But the kiss. I couldn’t get past the kiss. While there’d been nothing inherently wrong with Alejandro’s kiss, and I might have found it pleasant under different circumstances, it was completely different from Price’s kisses. Most importantly, despite my physical attraction to him, I hadn’t felt anything—no passion, no desire, not even a spark of lust.
I wasn’t Catalina. I was Kate, and Kate was in love with Price.
“But I couldn’t, Price. It felt all kinds of wrong. So I apologized, thanked him for the dinner, and went to my room alone.”
Alejandro had tried to change my mind, indeed had gotten quite persistent. My husband didn’t need to know that. It wasn’t important, anyway. The other man had eventually taken no for an answer and gone on his way. I returned to my room and placed my wedding ring back on my left hand where it belonged.
Though we’d exchanged email addresses, I hadn’t heard from Alejandro since.
Gradually, Price loosened his grip on my hand. “Is that it?” he asked gruffly.
I nodded. “That’s it.”
“Good. Never again, okay?” His eyes were still dark with jealousy, still glassy with unshed tears.
I touched his cheek, reveling in his warm, scratchy stubble. This was a promise I could easily make. “Never again.”
He stood, scooped me into his arms, and traipsed down the stairs to the master bedroom, where he laid me gently on the queen-size bed. “No one else,” he said, more gently than I expected. “No one but me touches this beautiful body of yours.” He traced my lips with his index finger. “No one but me kisses these lips.”
“No one but you.” I closed my eyes as his mouth came down upon mine.
The kiss was passionate and sweet at the same time—the cementing of two bodies and two souls who had been lost without one another. He slid his hands downward and removed my bikini top while I wriggled out of the bottoms. His cock pressed against me through his trunks, and I smoothed my fingers over his hips, pushing the garment down, lingering my touch on his warm skin. When we were both naked, he entered me gently, no foreplay other than our kiss.
Sweet, smooth perfection. I was always ready for him. Would always be ready for him. My body would forever be home for his.
I could have climaxed quickly, but I held off, as did he. We had transcended beyond simple need, lust, desire. This was only love. Pure love. Together we savored it as he slid in and out of me, letting the intensity build gradually. Our gazes never strayed from each other’s, and in Price’s I saw—not just with my eyes but with my very soul—all the love I felt for him mirrored back at me.
When our climaxes emerged in tandem, our lips met as we erupted together.
We stayed joined afterward, turned on our sides, our slick bodies melded together. Price breathed heavily against my neck, and I inhaled his spicy fragrance. All island, sea, and man.
“I love you so much, Kate.”
“I love you so much too. Only you, Price. Forever.”
He pressed his lips to my cheek, and I closed my eyes. This would be our bed. We’d always had a king-size, but there was limited room on the boat. Queen-size would keep me closer to Price, which was fine, because I was n
ever letting him out of my sight again.
If I stayed, that was.
If I stayed…
If…
Who was I kidding? I could never leave—
A vibrating buzz interrupted my thoughts. Price kissed me quickly and then rolled to the nightstand to retrieve his cell phone.
His eyes widened slightly when he saw the screen, but he didn’t take the call. Instead, he stood and pulled his trunks back on. He went to the small closet, took out a cotton shirt, and covered his bronze chest. Then he turned to me.
“We have to go. I have to dock the boat for the night.”
“Who was that on the phone?” I asked.
But he’d already left the room.
Chapter Eight
Price
Otis had better have a damn good reason for interrupting my time with Kate. Deep down, I hoped he didn’t have a good reason, because that would mean something was really wrong.
Otis was about a decade my junior—an island kid with a little too much drive for laid-back island life. He must have sensed the overworked New Yorker in me when he first found me in Maui. Not long after I’d purchased the boat, he nominated himself as my first mate for as long as I’d have him. He taught me about boats, and I taught him about stocks. He stayed out of my way for the most part. I didn’t need the company, but having an extra set of hands around didn’t hurt, and he’d more than shown me his value. I hadn’t felt the need to tell Kate about him, because if she decided to stay, Otis would be finding a new gig and he knew it.
I went back to the helm and turned the key in the ignition. My phone buzzed, and I fished it out from my pocket. He was calling again. This time I answered.
“Otis, what the fuck do you want?”
“Bryson, buddy.”
The sound of my alter-ego’s name scraped against my nerves in the most unsettling way. For the past twenty-four hours, I’d been Price Lewis again. I wasn’t in a rush to be anyone else. Price was the name on Kate’s lips in the throes of passion. Not Bryson Carr. And certainly not that fucking Alejandro guy.
“Hey, I’m sorry—”
“I told you not to call unless it was important,” I snapped.
I didn’t want to be pulled away from Kate. Not now. Not ever.
“I know. I know. I thought this might be important, though.”
Otis’s slightly squeaky voice dragged me out of the rabbit hole of jealousy I’d fallen into earlier.
“What is it?”
“There’s been some activity around the villa,” Otis said, his words coming quickly. “I’ve been driving by the property a few times a day like you asked. Yesterday was clear, but there’s been a black car with tinted windows parked down the road from the main gate all day. It’s still there.”
“Shit.” I dragged my hand along my unshaven jaw as my thoughts whirled. The boat hummed steadily, breaking through the waves as we neared the place where I’d anchored last night.
“What should I do? Should I see who it is or—”
“No,” I said firmly. “Stay away. Whoever is in the car could be dangerous.”
“I can just play dumb groundskeeper or something. It’s no big deal. How dangerous can they be?”
“Shoot-you-in-the-head dangerous, Otis. You know that as well as I do. Stay the hell away. I’m on my way back to the villa now.” I exhaled a curse when I remembered Chelle. “My sister’s there. Do me a favor and go check on her. I’ll see you there in twenty.”
“Sure thing, boss.”
I ended the call and tried to quiet the wild racing of my heart. An unidentified car was parked on the boundaries of the remote beachside estate I’d chosen for my reunion with Kate. It could be a coincidence and absolutely nothing.
Or it could be my worst nightmare.
I jumped when I felt Kate’s touch. Her hands curled over my shoulders and massaged into the tight muscles there. Nothing was going to get me to calm down right now, though.
“Everything okay?”
I shook my head.
“Who called you?”
“A friend,” I said, my tone intentionally curt to keep this conversation short.
She took the seat on the couch beside me again. Furrowing her brow and crossing her arms, she studied me. “I’m not going to keep begging you to open up to me, Price.”
I avoided her penetrating stare. “Good, because I’m not ready to talk right now. Sit back and let me get us home.” I had to get us back to the villa so I could get to the bottom of the situation and rule out any threats.
She stood, her hands fisted by her sides, the line of her jaw tight before she spoke. “Today was amazing, Price. I felt like I was falling in love with you all over again. Remembering everything that made us great together. Until now, I’d almost forgotten what an asshole you can be when you want to be.”
I sighed and reached for her hand. “Kate.”
“Forget it.” She evaded my touch and walked away, disappearing to another part of the boat.
I couldn’t exactly run after her and get to our destination at the same time. I settled for cussing under my breath, dropping anchor the minute I spotted the villa, and hoping to hell I could turn this day around.
* * *
Kate marched ahead of me toward the villa. I could tell by her pace and posture that she was gearing up to impose one of her royal silent treatments on me. She could work herself into a pissed off frenzy all she wanted. I wasn’t spending a second of this trip in a stand-off with her. We didn’t have that kind of time.
“Kate. Kate!” I jogged until I caught up with her.
Catching her arm, I turned her toward me. She yanked it back and crossed her arms, a perfect pairing with her pursed lips.
“I know you’re upset,” I began.
Her nostrils flared slightly. “Really. How could you tell?”
“Because you’re indescribably beautiful when you’re pissed off. Also, I’m your husband, and I know your moods before you do.”
“I’m thrilled that you’re so enlightened, Price. Can you also tell that I’m not in the mood to be left in the dark right now? Can you intuit that maybe I’m not interested in being treated like a naïve little woman who can’t be trusted with the truth in order to make life-altering decisions about her future…with her partner? That’s what we had, remember? An equal partnership.”
I bit the inside of my mouth to keep from shouting back. This wasn’t deciding on a house or signing on a loan together. This was life and death. She’d never faced death the way I had, so she couldn’t understand.
“Kate, listen to me—”
“No, you listen to me.” She unfolded her arms and pointed angrily at me. “I can’t live like this. I won’t live like this. You either tell me what happened to you and who’s after you, or the answer is no. I love you and I’d rather die than leave you, but I won’t spend the rest of my life living in fear because you can’t tell me the truth.”
She touched her hands to her chest, over the place where I’d pressed my ear so many times to hear her heart race after we’d made love. Tears glistened in her eyes, and I silently begged her not to cry. Her tears gutted me. They also guaranteed my defeat in any argument.
“You broke my heart, Price. Ever since I came here, I’ve been open with you.” A tear fell as she opened her trembling hands like the pages of a book. “I opened myself to you in every way. Why can’t you do that for me? Why can’t you trust me?”
I raked my hands through my hair, biting down on the truth. It was too soon. I had to wait for her to say yes and commit to our new life together. But what if she wasn’t bluffing? What if she said no because I was intent on keeping her in the dark?
“Kate, I’m trying to protect you. You have no idea what I’m up against here. These people have no humanity. The less you know, the better.”
“I can handle it, Price. For God’s sake, I’ve faced death. Do you understand that? I faced yours, and then for months I looked in the mirror and face
d it all over again. Every day I had to make a choice. To keep going or to let the grief destroy me. I know you’ve been through hell. Even when you hide the truth from me, I can still see it in your eyes. Mine was a different kind of hell, but don’t doubt for one second that I lived it too.”
I dropped my gaze to the empty space between us, crushed by her admission. Someone physically ripping my heart out of my chest would have felt better than contemplating that I was the cause for Kate considering taking her own life. But that was grief. All-consuming, viciously painful, a dark plague stronger than any sense of reason. I knew it all too well.
“I’m so sorry. You’ll never know how much.”
“Talk to me, Price.” She took my hand. “I’m begging you for the last time.”
I swallowed hard and squeezed her hand. “I just need to know that you’ll stay with me. I wanted to give you time to think it through. I didn’t want to rush you into making such an enormous decision on the first or second day. You deserve a choice.”
She shook her head, and I was certain my heart stopped beating.
“Please.” I could barely hear the plea as it left my lips.
“Price, if you want me to stay with you and leave everything and everyone else behind, I will. I was ready to say yes when you asked me. But we need to walk into that future together, eyes open, with both of us knowing what challenges we might face.”
Several seconds passed between us. I drew a deep breath of salty air into my lungs, both desperate and terrified to break the silence with the truth.
“I didn’t know that last night in our apartment would be the last time I’d see you. I knew that things might be different when I came back, though.”
She winced, but I continued before she could start probing again.
“I’d told you that I was going to Zurich for a conference. That much was true. But I didn’t really go to network. I went there specifically to meet with one company, Cybermark Enterprises. I’d been watching them since I was day trading at Berg and Lynch. They specialized in data mining and were growing quickly, but not quickly enough to warrant the numbers I was seeing. After I broke off on my own, I kept following them. My system was showing that they should be growing exponentially, yet their stock price kept remaining steady.”
Misadventures Of A Good Wife Page 6