“Maybe your system was wrong. For this one stock, I mean.”
“Believe me, I thought of that. But my system has a ninety percent success rate. You know that. Plus, this company’s prospectus and annual reports seemed to validate my conclusions.” I shook my head. “I just couldn’t let it go. I had to dig deeper and figure out why it didn’t work with my math. When I reached out to them, I hinted about the trends and that I was interested in learning more about them. They offered me a job.”
She lifted her brows. “You went there to interview?”
“Not really. I went there under the guise that I would interview. They met me under the guise that they were going to consider me for a job. We both had other plans.”
My lips tightened as chaos filled my thoughts. Memories of the worst panic I’d ever felt welled up inside me. The roller coaster from hell designed to take me plummeting to my death was permanently etched inside my brain.
“They offered to fly me down to their headquarters in Geneva on a private plane to meet some of their executives. One pilot, one passenger. Single-engine plane.” I shook my head with a grim smile. “It all felt wrong. The pilot could barely make eye contact with me let alone speak English. But I’d come all this way. I had to get to the bottom of it and figure out what was going on with these people.”
“What happened? How did the plane go down?”
“We reached altitude and the pilot mumbled some shit in Italian. He put my hands on the controls and gave me the thumbs up like I was supposed to fly the goddamn plane.”
Her eyes were wide now. “Are you kidding me?”
I shook my head. “Next thing I know, he’s taking his jacket off and opening the door. He was packing a parachute and looking to jump. Guess who wasn’t? Me.”
She let go of my hand and brought both to her mouth. “How did you survive? The plane… The report said it was completely mangled. Burned through.”
“That’s because they filled the thing with so much fuel there wouldn’t be a chance of finding a human body in it afterward or knowing one was missing. Doesn’t matter because I didn’t go down with the plane. I went down with him. I wasn’t letting him leave that fucking plane without me, so I grabbed him. We tussled. The plane started to nosedive, and before I knew it, we were out of it, free-falling. Thank God he pulled the chute because I wouldn’t have known the first thing to do.”
“So you both survived. That’s a miracle.”
I shook my head. “Parachutes aren’t designed to bring two grown men to the ground safely, at least not without serious injuries. We wrestled the whole way down, but I wouldn’t let him go.” I exhaled a shaky breath and brought the heels of my hands across my forehead like I could scrub out the horribly vivid memories. “Fuck. It was awful.”
I walked to the edge of the water, letting the waves wash over my feet and sink into the doughy sand beneath. I’d never told anyone, not even Otis, what happened that day. Not another living soul knew my story. It occurred to me then that perhaps that’s why the prospect of telling Kate had been so difficult. The ugly truth had lived inside me for a year, toxic and festering like a disease. Would telling her ease the pain? Soften the gruesome past?
I felt her arms wrap around my torso, her cheek press against my back. Some of the tension released with her touch. I covered her hands with mine, holding her tightly to me.
“We landed hard on the edge of a clearing. I broke my arm because I’d lassoed it through the shoot straps when he was trying to fight me off. But the way we landed… I was above him and my weight came down in such a way…” I swallowed over the nausea that hit me whenever the pilot’s face beamed into my thoughts. The way the life left his eyes. The way his body tangled awkwardly in the chute. “His neck was broken. He died instantly.”
We were silent for a long time, Kate holding me tightly, me breathing through the anxiety that hit every time I thought about that day.
“He tried to kill you, Price.”
I stared listlessly out into the horizon. “I know. I tell myself that all the time. No matter how many times I have this conversation with myself, though, I never feel better about what happened.”
She circled to stand in front of me, placing her hands on my cheeks. The same fierceness I recognized in her eyes earlier was there, but the context had changed.
“You saved yourself. And maybe it’s cruel to say, but that man got what he deserved. You deserved to live, to come home to me, to have a life and a family. Never doubt that.”
“I knew nothing about him. What if he didn’t even have a choice?”
“Everyone has a choice,” she said softly.
The sentiment resonated deeply. This past year had been a series of choices. One had ripped us apart, and others had brought us together again. I hoped that telling her the truth—well, most of it—tonight had been a good one.
“Now you know. And now maybe you can try to understand why I lie low instead of going to the authorities, which very likely would have gotten me killed, anyway. If they could pay a man enough to jump out of a goddamn plane, risking his own life to end mine, to what lengths would they go to take me out once and for all? When would it stop?” I took her hands from my cheeks and held them between us. “Then I thought about you and Chelle and my family. Kate, I swear to you, I just wanted to keep you safe. I’ve never experienced anything more terrifying than falling out of the sky that day, but if I’d put you in danger and risked your life, I couldn’t have lived with myself.”
Her bottom lip quivered as she spoke. “Thank you. For telling me, and for wanting to keep me safe.”
“Baby,” I whispered, reaching down to kiss her before her tears overtook her once more.
But before our lips could touch, a high-pitched scream came from the direction of the villa. A woman’s scream.
Chapter Nine
Kate
My heart was already stampeding from Price’s story, and the cry coming from inside the villa forced it into a full-on gallop. Chelle was inside.
“Michelle!” Price turned and ran toward the villa.
I followed, fear coursing through me as I trudged through the sand as fast as I could. When Price reached the front door he threw it open.
“Michelle! Fuck, where are you?” He rushed through the living area, the kitchen. “Michelle! Chelle!” He grabbed two fistfuls of his hair.
My own nerves jumped hurdles under my skin. Chelle was my best friend. If something happened to her—
The back door to the villa opened.
“What on earth are the two of you bellowing about?” Michelle stood, barefoot, in a light-green sundress, her dark hair pulled into a high ponytail.
A young man with black hair, tan skin, and almond-shaped brown eyes—definitely from the South Pacific—entered and stood beside her. He wore flamboyant orange board shorts and a black muscle shirt.
“Otis,” Price said. “What are you doing here?”
“You told me to check on your sister,” the man said.
Price let out a heavy sigh. “So I did. God.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “You two just took another year off my life.” He rubbed his forehead. “Shit. What a stupid thing to say. I’m sorry.”
I stepped forward, deciding not to comment on Price’s lack of thought. He’d apologized, anyway. “We heard a scream. We thought…”
Michelle laughed. “Oh. That was just me. Your friend here walked right in on me. I had my headphones on, zoning out to some new age Zen stuff in that chaise over there”—she gestured to a leather chaise longue in the sunroom—“when I open my eyes and there’s a strange man standing over me.”
“I knocked,” the man called Otis said. “I swear. But no one answered. I figured you’d want me to check things out. Why else would you have given me a key?”
“I’m regretting that,” Price said.
I nudged my husband then. “Who is this?”
“Oh. Sorry. This is Otis, a friend of mine here on the isl
and. Otis, my wife.”
We shook hands briefly. “Nice to meet you,” I said.
“And I guess you’ve met my sister.”
“Yes,” Michelle said. “After he scared the piss out of me.”
My heart was still pounding from the ruckus. I was eternally thankful that Michelle was all right, but Price’s story still rang in my head. I had so many questions, the first of which was why he hadn’t introduced Michelle and me by name.
“After I assured her I was no threat, she pushed me out the door and gave me a stern lecture.” Otis smiled.
A stern lecture? That wasn’t Michelle. She had ripped him a new one. I couldn’t help a subtle grin.
“Anyway, after he convinced me he wasn’t a serial killer, we decided to have a glass of wine,” Michelle said. “Want to join us?”
After the story Price had just told me, I wasn’t sure wine would cut it. “How about a few shots of tequila?”
Price looked at me, his lips set in a straight line. “Since when do you drink the hard stuff?”
I didn’t, usually, though Michelle and I had shared some shots one night a few weeks after Price’s “death.” We’d both been feeling extra low. The tequila, of course, hadn’t helped. Only put off the inevitable.
“That sounds great, actually,” Michelle said. “How about I whip us up some margaritas?”
“Do we have tequila?” I asked.
“The bar was supposed to be stocked.” She walked to the bar on the far side of the living area and rooted around, coming up with a bottle of Patron Añejo. “Voilà!”
Michelle was in quite a good mood for having just been frightened out of her skin. But that was Chelle. Nothing bothered her for too long. Nothing that wasn’t serious, anyway. Had she heard Price’s story yet? Last night, I’d had the feeling he’d told her something, but she hadn’t elaborated.
She began to cut up limes and shooed us out. “Go on out to the lanai. I’ll bring the drinks in a few.”
Numbness permeated my body. I wanted desperately to talk to Price alone, to ask him more about that fateful day that stole him from me. He hadn’t told me everything. I could tell. How did he get care for his broken arm if he couldn’t let anyone know who he was? How did he get here, across the globe, to this island? What did he do for money? He hadn’t accessed any of our accounts since his “death.” Did he tell anyone about the pilot’s dead body? What about that company that was behind all of this? Why had he said the first night here that his parents, Chelle, and I would all be dead if that plane hadn’t gone down? And who exactly was this Otis, and how much did he know?
I blindly followed Price and Otis to the lanai and sat down on a loveseat next to my husband. Otis sat across from us. He was young, early twenties at most. He should have been living in a frat house somewhere, ogling centerfolds and sorority girls. Why was he hanging around my husband?
I opened my mouth to ask, but Price spoke.
“I think you should go,” he said to Otis.
Otis arched his dark eyebrows. “And miss the margaritas? Besides, your sister’s hot, Bryson.”
Bryson? I kept my mouth shut while Price went rigid beside me.
“My sister’s too old for you.”
“Hey, maybe she’d like a little cougar action with this willing cub.”
Price stood, and I grabbed his hand, telling him without words to calm down. Thankfully, he did. He sat back down next to me, our hands still touching.
“Don’t ever talk about my sister that way again.”
Otis lifted his hands. “Sorry, dude. Hands off. I promise.”
“I do need you to leave now. I need to talk to my wife and sister.”
“After a drink? She invited me for wine, remember?”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass if she invited you to a gourmet feast. I need you to leave.” Price’s grip on my hand intensified.
The other man stood and brushed off his orange shorts. Some sort of understanding seemed to pass between them. Another question for my husband.
“Got it,” Otis said. “Talk tomorrow?”
Price nodded, and Otis ambled down to a jeep parked nearby on the rocky road.
I bit on my lip. One thing was clear. Otis, whoever he was, knew a hell of a lot more than I did about what my husband was up to.
That was about to change.
“Price,” I began, “there’s a lot you—”
“Margs!” Michelle pushed the door open with her ass and walked out carrying a pitcher of light-green goodness and four martini glasses rimmed with salt. “All I could find. No margarita glasses.”
I stood and took the glasses from her. “We’ll only need three.”
She looked around. “What happened to Otis?”
“He had somewhere to be,” Price said.
“Oh, bummer. He was kind of cute.”
“For Christ’s sake, Chelle.” Price shook his head. “He’s a kid.”
“What? I can’t have a little fun? I’m supposed to spend three weeks alone while the two of you fuck like bunnies?” She poured our drinks.
“Not with him. Not that kind of fun, anyway.”
Michelle rolled her eyes. “Fine. I was kidding, anyway. I agree. He’s too young. Pretty nice to look at, though.”
Otis was good-looking, but nothing compared to the man beside me…who still owed me a lot of answers.
I squeezed his forearm. “Price, how much does Chelle know?”
“Pretty much all that you do now.”
“Yes, and I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you, Kate,” she said. “I wanted to, but he made me swear not to. It’s a tough thing, having to choose between your brother and your best friend.” She eyed Price. “Don’t ever make me do that again.”
“Believe me. I understand everything I’ve put both of you through, and I know a simple ‘I’m sorry’ is far from enough. And now…” He looked into the distance, his eyes glassy.
I stroked the top of his hand. “And now…what?”
He sighed. “Nothing.”
“Price,” I said, “don’t lie to us.”
“There’s a reason Otis was here tonight. He’s been watching the place for me for a while. I wanted to make sure it was out of the way enough so the two of you would be safe here. But…”
“What?” I said again.
“Otis saw a black car parked nearby earlier today. Did you notice anything, Chelle?”
“No,” she said. “But I wasn’t looking for anything either.”
“What did you do today?”
“Walked along the beach for a while, lay in the sun and did some reading. I’d just finished dinner and was vegging out with my music when Otis came in.”
Price let out a sigh. “Thank God. Maybe it’s nothing.”
But my heart lodged in my throat.
I had a feeling.
It wasn’t nothing.
* * *
I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror. I’d donned a see-through pale-blue teddy I’d found in the bureau. Price was in bed, waiting for me. I’d only had one margarita, and more questions flooded my mind.
He’s been watching the place for me for a while. I wanted to make sure it was out of the way enough so the two of you would be safe here.
Out of the way enough? Exactly what did that mean? Was Price in hiding? Or was he not? Did someone know, besides Chelle and me, that he was alive? What was he keeping from me?
Ice forced itself through my veins, and I rubbed my arms.
“Baby?” he called from the bedroom.
His voice soothed me. This was my husband. Price. The man who would never harm me and would never let harm come to me. He’d said so himself.
Kate, I swear to you, I just wanted to keep you safe. I’ve never experienced anything more terrifying than falling out of the sky that day, but if I’d put you in danger and risked your life, I couldn’t have lived with myself.
This was the man who loved me more than anything, as I loved him.
&n
bsp; I inhaled deeply. “I’m coming.”
I left the bathroom and walked toward Price.
“Wow.” His eyes were heavy-lidded. “You look beautiful. That color suits you.”
“You should know. You must have picked it out and stocked the dresser.”
He smiled, his eyes shining with love, and my heart nearly melted. How could I question this man? This man who knew me so well? This man who loved me like no other? Who had risked everything to get back to me?
Still, the questions pounded on the door of my mind, demanding entrance…and answers.
Not tonight.
I wouldn’t open that door tonight. He’d already shared a lot with me today, even after I’d promised to make the day just for us, with no questions.
I crawled into bed and snuggled up against him. He brought his lips to mine and kissed me slowly, sensually, until we were both writhing with need.
Then the kiss became more demanding. His tongue and lips stole my breath as he took from me, marking me again—if only in his head—as he had on the boat earlier. When we both needed a breath, he broke the kiss and inhaled sharply.
“Take off the teddy,” he said, his voice leaving no room for disobedience.
I startled and met his gaze, his eyes burning. Normally he liked to undress me, peeling away each layer, whether slowly or quickly, as if unwrapping a gift.
Though I itched to question him, I kept silent, vowing once more to let him have what was left of this day together. I sat up and peeled the fine fabric from my body, pushing it over my hips and legs until it was no more than a puddle of sheer aquamarine against the bed.
“Now lie against me, spoon style,” he ordered.
He didn’t have to ask again. I loved spooning. I snuggled against his warm body, his cock meeting my lower back.
He kissed my shoulders, first gently and then harder, adding his teeth. I shuddered at the pleasure that surged through my whole body.
Misadventures Of A Good Wife Page 7