When Fate Isn't Enough

by Isabelle Richards

  Liam is falling asleep on the bar.

  I don’t know where Liam lives or how to get him inside his place, so I make a decision.

  “Okay, new plan. Everyone is going to Gavin’s. Let’s go. I’ve got a car waiting.”

  Two of the bartenders are kind enough to help me get the boys outside and into the limo. I ask the driver to wait while I run in and find Em.

  She’s by the front bar, talking to my favorite British actor. Too tired and emotionally overwhelmed to be intimidated by him, I interrupt them and pull Em aside.

  “I’ve got Thing 1 and Thing 2 in my car. I found them drinking together.”

  “See, I bring people together,” she cheers.

  “Yeah, you’re a real peach that way. You want to tell me what happened tonight?”

  “I cleared up my dance cart.” She smirks before tipping back her glass of champagne. “Now I have plenty of free time to explore that yummy piece of British ass over there.” She motions to the blond actor.

  I can’t believe she’s not remotely bothered by what happened between her and the boys. I fold my arms across my chest. “Is that how you’re going to play it?”

  She rolls her eyes and sets her empty glass on the table next to us. “I’m not like you. I don’t want to play house. The thought of being tied down to one man gives me hives. They knew my rules, but both of them thought I’d change. Their heartache is on them, not me.”

  I look at her with disbelief. “I know you desperately want to believe that, but deep down you know it’s a crock of shit. You push men away so they don’t get the chance to hurt you.”

  “Don’t make me out to be the bad girl.” She kisses me on the cheek. “I’m going to get back to Jax over there.”

  “You know that isn’t his real name, right?” I say.

  She looks over her shoulder as she walks away. “Shh, don’t ruin the fantasy.”

  Before leaving, I quickly look for Gavin. Poppy says he’s buried trying to close out the party. I send him a text letting him know I’m headed home with house guests, then hop in the car with the bosom buddies. I get them home, tuxes off and in bed without anyone puking. Quite the accomplishment after the night I’ve had.

  Excited that the dark cloud over us might finally pass, I decide to wait up for Gavin. After a long shower, I throw on sweats, make a fire, and curl up with my Kindle on the sofa. Two sentences in, I fall asleep.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Sometime in the middle of the night Gavin collects me from the sofa. I rest my head against his chest. My hair sticks to his skin, still damp from the shower. I take a deep breath and inhale his scent. So clean and masculine. It makes me want to wrap my arms around him and never let go.

  He lays me on the bed, then scoots in behind me, wrapping his arms around my stomach. I thread my fingers through his, pulling him even closer. He’s restless, shifting and adjusting, trying to find a comfortable position. “This isn’t going to work.”

  That’s not how this is supposed to go. The gala ends, Mr. Moody Broody goes away, and my sexy, loving boyfriend returns. That was the deal. Wearing only boxer briefs that highlight his abdominal glory, he definitely has the sexy part down, but the frown and furrowed eyebrows have got to go. My eyes narrow. “What’s not going to work?”

  He tugs at my sweatshirt. “I need this off. I need all of it off. After the week we’ve had, I just need to be close to you. I need to feel you.”

  I pull my sweats off and toss them on the floor. I lie down with my back facing him. He lies on his side behind me. I expect him to pull his body next to mine, but he doesn’t. He’s a good foot away. I look over my shoulder and see his eyes raking over my body. There’s a hunger in his eyes that sends chills up my body. I reach to pull the sheet over me. He gently grabs my wrist. “Just let me look at you.”

  With a feather light touch, he runs his forefinger along my side from my ribs to my waist. His breath hitches. “I don’t think I told you how ravishing you look tonight.”

  I smirk. “It was all the dress.”

  He leans forward and kisses my neck. “Yes, you looked positively stunning at the gala. That dress was pure sin. But I was referring to now. In this moment, you look ravishing.”

  He plants soft, sensual kisses from my stomach to my hip bone. “This is one of my favorite parts of you. This line that goes from the curvature of your hips to the swell of your breasts.” He runs his tongue along the contours of my body, making me squirm with anticipation.

  Each touch of his tongue to my skin stokes the fire burning within me. We have so much to talk about, so much to work out between us. But at this moment, I can only think of his hand that’s creeping up my thigh.

  “Your legs are torture to look at. So toned and smooth. They go on forever. Every time I look at them, all I can think of is the paradise waiting for me when I reach the top.” He shifts his body behind me, so that he can kiss my thighs. “I love how soft your skin is,” he says before kissing a spot halfway up my thigh. “Do you know what I love even more?”

  My breath hitches as he kisses the top of my thigh. I can feel his breath on my core. “What?” I say, challenging him.

  “The way you taste.” I tip my head back and moan as he runs his tongue along my pussy. One deliciously slow lick after another. As good as it feels, I know it can feel so much better. Desperate for more, I grind against his tongue. He moans. The vibrations make me quiver. I squeeze my thighs, keeping his head in just the right place. Spurred on by my greed, he swirls his tongue around my clit, bringing me right to the edge.

  He lightly blows, sending shockwaves throughout my body. “I know I have a lot to apologize for,” he says. “Do you mind if we skip ahead to the make-up sex?”

  Breathless, I look at him and see his chin glistening from my juices. “Seems like cheating,” I say.

  He blows again, and I scream. “Sure is,” he says. “I promise I’ll make it worth your while.” He dives back down, and pulls my clit between his teeth. The tingles start in my toes, then blast through my body. All the tension releases in one euphoric wave.

  Before I can catch my breath, he flips me onto my stomach. “I hope you’re not in the mood for soft and sweet because I haven’t been inside you in weeks. I don’t have it in me to be gentle.” He slams his cock into me.

  I gasp as he fills me. He’s right. It has been too long. “Soft and sweet is overrated.”

  He plunges deep into me again, and I scream. “Glad you see it my way,” he says.

  He reaches his hand between my thighs and rubs my clit while he thrusts into me.

  “Oh Gavin,” I moan. “Don’t stop. Don’t fucking stop.”

  The sensations overpower me. He’s so deep inside me, hitting all the right places. The buildup is so intense, I don’t think I can take it. I brush his hand away from my clit. “I can’t. I can’t come again.”

  He pins my hand behind my back. “You can and you will.” He resumes rubbing and fucking. Every muscle in my body tenses. I’m wound so tight it hurts. Unrelenting, Gavin pushes deeper inside me and I come undone. He comes immediately after me and we collapse in a heap on the bed. Panting and satisfied, we lie tangled together until we fall asleep.

  We both stir a few hours later.

  “You awake?” he asks.

  I sit up and reach for my water glass on the nightstand. “Sort of.”

  He takes the glass from me and takes a sip. “We should talk.”

  I return the glass to the table, then wipe the sleep from my eyes.. “This week sucked. In fact, the past few weeks have sucked. You shut me out, and I hated it. Don’t ever do that to me again.”

  He cups my cheek and kisses me. “I was an ass. An ill-tempered, self-absorbed ass. I promise it’ll never happen again.” He looks away and sighs. “This whole week was a cock up.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “If my memory serves, this was the first time your cock was up all week.”

  He shakes his head and laughs. “I promise you
it was up plenty of times, I just never had time to do anything about it.”

  I pull the sheet up around me. “Maybe if you had made the time, you wouldn’t have been such an ass.”

  He laughs. “If only you’d said that to me before, the week wouldn’t have turned into such a blunder. It was completely my fault. I fucked up. The gala’s always hard for me, but this year was so much worse. The event gets bigger and bigger each year, which is always added stress. Plus it opens up old wounds for me. Factor all that in along with everything else going on in our lives. I overloaded and emotionally shut down. It was the only way I could get through it all without falling to pieces. I’m surprised you didn’t tell me to go to hell and run for the hills.”

  His hair is sticking up in every direction. I run my fingers through it, trying to tame it. “Oh, I thought about it,” I say with a laugh. “Several times. But my dress for last night was so kick ass, I couldn’t let it go to waste.”

  “You were the most stunning woman there. I’ve never seen you look so sexy and sophisticated. If I had come near you, I don’t think I could have stopped myself from throwing you over my shoulder and hauling you to the nearest flat surface so I could have my wicked way with you. Table, wall, dance floor. I would have lost all restraint.”

  “Would that have been such a bad thing?” I ask, playing coy. I lean forward to kiss him, when the doorbell rings. I look at the clock on the bedside table. “It’s so early. Who the hell is at our door?”

  The bell rings again. I groan as I pick my sweats up off the floor. “I’ll go.”

  “No, luv, you can stay in bed,” Gavin protests.

  I look at the now dried mess on his crotch. “You’re in need of another shower. I’ll be back in a second.” I throw my sweats on. “It’s probably a neighbor out of tea or something.”

  As I make my way to the door, I see Liam in the kitchen looking like death warmed over.

  “Just stay right there, Liam. Don’t answer the door or anything,” I tease. In the shape he’s in, I’m shocked he made it to the kitchen.

  I open the door to find the new door guy.

  “Sorry to bother you so early, Ms. Clark. I have a package for you. It’s marked urgent.”

  “For me?” Who’s sending me something?

  He hands me the envelope with handwriting I’d recognize anywhere. Lorenzo.

  Lily,

  There’s been an uprising in the cartel. The new leadership is cleaning house. Carlos believes you’re on their target list. Stay under lock and key until you hear from me.

  For once, stay out of trouble. The cartel is out for blood, and they will stop at nothing to get it.

  I’ve included supplies for your go-bag. I suggest you pack one.

  Be safe. I will be in touch.

  LG

  Fuck me.

  I look inside the envelope and there are fake IDs, passports, credit cards. “Gavin!”

  Liam covers his ears. “Honey Bunny, enough with the yelling.”

  I ignore him as I run back to the bedroom. On the way, I stop in Max’s room and shake him.

  “Max, you need to get up. Please.” I’m panicked, and I need all the help I can get.

  He pulls the covers over his head. “Fuck you, Slugger. I’m hung-over, and I hate you. Leave me the fuck alone.”

  “I don’t care if you hate me. Get your ass up. I just got a letter that the cartel is after me.”

  “Why the hell do you think I’m here? It’s certainly not to see you. Or the sights. Or you. Wait.” He pokes his head out from under the comforter. “Letter? What letter?”

  “Get up, and I’ll show it to you.” I jump off the bed and make my way to the door.

  He calls out to me. “Lily, wait. I have to tell you what’s going on. Just give me a second to put pants on.”

  “Fine, meet me on the terrace. Something tells me I’ll want some fresh air for this conversation.” I first stop by the bedroom. Gavin’s in the shower.

  “Who was it?” he asks.

  “Lorenzo.”

  He drops the soap. “What?”

  “Not him him. A letter from him.” I grab my toothbrush and quickly brush my teeth.

  “You, Max and I need to talk,” he says. “There’ve been some developments that I haven’t had a chance to tell you about.”

  I rinse off my toothbrush and put it back in the holder. “I woke Max up.”

  He turns the shower off. I hand him a fresh towel from the cabinet. “Go talk to Max. You two need to sort things out.”

  I openly gawk at him while he dries off. “I’m surprised you two are so chummy now. In Vegas, you couldn’t wait for him to go back to DC and out of my life.”

  He kisses me. “I’m not worried about you leaving me for Max. He has his hands full with Emily, so I don’t foresee any further kisses coming from him. Plus, how can I ask you to be tolerant of O, if I can’t be tolerant of Max.”

  I wipe a dab of shaving cream off his chin. “You’re so mature it’s disgusting.”

  He slaps my ass. “Go talk to him. I’ll be out in a bit.”

  Max is waiting on the terrace. I wrap myself in a blanket and head out.

  He hands me a steaming white mug. “Irish hot chocolate. Try it; you’ll like it. Even if you don’t, in twenty minutes, you’ll appreciate it. Lord knows I need a little hair of the dog right now.”

  I take a sip, and it’s shockingly good. Not what I expected, but good. “What’s in this?”

  “Hot chocolate, Guinness, Bailey’s, and Jameson.”

  “So much liquor this early in the morning, things must be bad,” I reply, taking another sip.

  “Actually, I just want to get you drunk enough that you won’t do something stupid, like try to take them on all by yourself.” He moves from the chair to the spot next to me on the two seat sofa. “I haven’t forgiven you; I just want in on this blanket action. It’s fucking cold out here.”

  I unwrap the blanket and lay it over our laps. “Talk, Max.”

  “The FBI and DEA were about to take down the cartel. Between my investigation and others, they had enough to take down their American organization. We had an inside source feeding them intel. The set up was perfect. All the big fish were going to go down.”

  My mind goes to Carlos. I wonder which side of this he’s on. I take a sip of my drink and nod for him to continue.

  “There’s a leak,” Max continues. “No idea who or from which agency, but there’s a leak. The bastards were tipped off, and they cleaned house before the raid. There were shootouts in a few locations, and a lot of good agents went down. It was a fucking catastrophe. I should tell you. Todd Masters was killed, along with a few other people tied to the organization that could rat them out.”

  I sigh. “I heard from Em. I tried to call you, but you weren’t really talking to me then.”

  He scoffs. “If I’d told you what was going on, you probably would have hopped on a plane to Mexico and tried to infiltrate the cartel all on your own. I had my hands full with the leak, I didn’t need to manage you too.”

  I want to argue with him. Prove to him that I’m not some loose cannon that needs to be wrangled in, but now isn’t the time. A bunch of dedicated agents lost their lives trying to break this cartel down. Defending my relevance in this fight is petty. “Please tell me something positive happened during the raid. Did you glean any information? Make any arrests?”

  “We captured one of their guys. They had him in interrogation for days. The only thing he said was ‘get ready for the show’.

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “Things are about to get bloody.”

  My hands tremble, so I put my cup on the table and tuck my hands under the blanket.

  “Two days later, we received word that some politicians they paid off didn’t live up to expectations. They threw Molotov cocktails at power stations, knocking out power in eleven towns. In the middle of the night, they kidnapped the children of the politicians.”
<
br />   I gasp. “That’s horrible.”

  “The boys were returned when the politicians paid them off. The girls… the girls’ll probably never be seen again. These bastards are big into human trafficking.”

  Just the thought of what those poor girls are going through makes me gag.

  “As soon as I saw things were heating up, I called Gavin.”

  The picture becomes clear. “Hence all the security last night.”

  He nods then takes a sip. “Gavin wanted to cancel or at least keep you home. I didn’t think we needed to go that far. While I’m not entirely convinced you are in danger, we need to start working together to keep you safe. These guys are on a mission to prove their dominance. You’re a loose end that got away. That’s unacceptable in their book.”

  I shake my head. “I’m no one. Why the hell would they waste time on me?”

  He taps my forehead. “You have to think like they do. Your boyfriend is this hot-shot defense contractor and your roommate is an FBI agent…. Former FBI agent. Killing you would catch lots of press and would give them tons of cred. ”

  I squeeze his leg. “I’m sorry about your job.”

  He waves me off. “It wasn’t entirely your fault. You didn’t fucking help, but it’s not all on you. Whoever’s working with the cartel inside the Bureau pushed to get me out. It fucking sucks, but with the leak and other shady shit going down inside the Bureau, I’ll be more effective working in the private sector.”

  The pain in his eyes is so clear. Max lives and breathes being a FBI agent. To be betrayed by them must break his heart.

  He continues. “Gavin’s got all the resources we need to keep you safe, and I can do some more snooping under the radar. Gavin’s company can get away with way more shit than I ever could as an agent. While we sort this shit out, you need to lay low. Do you hear me? I can’t do what needs to be done if I’m distracted by you sneaking off to play dragon slayer.”

  “You make it sound like I just randomly decided to square off with the devil. I was backed into a corner and had no other choice,” I say.

  “You saw no other choice. It wasn’t that you didn’t have options, you just couldn’t’ see them. There’s a difference,” he states. “Either way, just stay in the fucking house and do what you’re told. For once. Please.”