Twice Tempted (Holland Springs)

by Marquita Valentine

  “You’re going to be late, sweetheart.” He tightened his arms around her for a moment, then skimmed the sides of her body.

  She sighed lustily. “Kiss me.”

  He found her lips, her kisses drugging, addicting. Just like the first time. Just like every time. He wedged his thigh deeper, spreading her legs. They fell open. Moisture from her damp curls seeped into the skin of his thigh. “You’re wet for me.”

  Her hand glided down to his groin, wrapping her fingers around the base of his cock and stroking. “Always.”

  His cell rang, playing a specific ringtone, and he groaned. He had to answer this call. Reluctantly, he reached for it and said by way of apology, “It’s Martha. She’s threatened to cut me off if I don’t answer.”

  “Please, she’s all bark and no bite.”

  “That’s because she likes you,” he said with a laugh. “You don’t cause her problems. Just make her money.”

  “I’m getting in the shower.” She slid from the bed and walked to the bathroom, casting a heavy-lidded look in his direction. “You can join me when you’re done.”

  His cock twitched in response. Oh, he’d be there all right. He managed to press the talk button before the call went to voice mail. “Good morning, most brilliant of agents.”

  “Do you plan to use your timely reunion with my niece to your advantage?” Martha’s gravelly voice came in loud and clear over the phone.

  “Jesus, first Sasha and now you. Let me make this clear for all parties involved: I am not and will not use Zoe to advance my career or save my ass.” Silence met his statement.

  Then he heard Brennen shouting in the background, “Oh, come on, Violet. Stop doing that.”

  “Brennen, if I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times: leave Violet alone. If she wants your help, she’ll ask for it,” Martha shouted back.

  Holy hell, had the woman finally entered the twenty-first century and gotten a phone with speaker capabilities?

  “But she keeps banging on the computer screen,” Brennen complained.

  “I was pretending it was you,” came Violet’s saccharine reply.

  “Ready and willing, lass,”

  “Good God, I’m not running a daytime soap—or a daycare,” Martha groused. He heard a door slam. “Now back to you.”

  “Thanks for remembering I’m here.” He flicked his eyes to the bathroom door. The shower was running and he could only imagine what his wife looked like with water glistening all over her curvy little body.

  “You’re not going to like what I have to say. It won’t be pretty,” she replied.

  He exhaled as a knot formed in his gut. “It never is.”

  ***

  Zoe found Christian in bed with his hands behind his head as he stared at the ceiling, seemingly deep in thought. His golden chest gleamed in the morning sun, the rose tattoo a delicate contrast to the lean musculature of his body. He was almost too pretty. Too beautiful for a man and at times it made her completely self-conscious.

  She rummaged through her dresser, searching for panties and a bra.

  “Come here,” came Christian’s voice, low and sinful in the otherwise silent room.

  After slipping on a pair of panties, she turned to face him. “I-I,” she stuttered, watching as he drew the covers down his body and peered through his gold tipped lashes at her. Pale blue eyes darkened and her heart did a summersault in her chest. He was hard and ready for her.

  “Come here now.”

  “But I’ll be late,” she protested weakly.

  He threw his legs over the side of the bed. She backed against the wall, sliding along it as he advanced.

  “I have other plans for you.” His gait was smooth. Lean hips rolling and thighs flexing in tandem.

  Her eyes widen. “You already had your chance.”

  She turned to run from him, but he caught her by the elbow. “Do you want me to chase you?” His grip tightened, then let her go. “Run, but be prepared for when I catch you”

  She gave a little laugh, but when she looked up at him, his face was dark, dangerous. Almost the same as when he found out about her lying to him. “Is there something wrong?”

  He gave her a small nod. “Only you can fix it. Me.”

  She laid her hand on his chest. His heart beat wildly beneath her fingertips. “You’re not broken,” she said firmly. What he needed was for someone to love him without conditions. Without throwing his past in his face. Or his bad decisions. The ring he placed in her jewelry box seemed to call to her. But it wasn’t time. Not yet. Not before she gave him one of his own.

  “I’ve been dropped from your film, from every ad campaign and endorsement, and I’ve been asked to sever all ties with B.T.S. To say that it was a rumor that I would be in the fall PSA’s. I was also outed as their anonymous donor. They don’t want my money anymore either. For all intents and purposes, I am persona non grata. Not that I can blame them.” His eyes dropped to the floor.

  Zoe brushed back a lock of golden hair that had fallen over his brow. “But you’re their biggest donor.”

  “I’m their biggest liability.”

  “Well, it’s not right.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

  His features smoothed out and it felt as if a great energy had left the room. His body. “Go to your dance class, love. I’ll be fine.”

  “No, class can wait.” She grabbed his hand and led him back to their bed. She gestured for him to get in and climbed in after him. Wrapping her arms around him, she pulled him to her and stroked his hair. “Everything will be okay.” How her heart ached for him. She knew his career didn’t matter to him as much as working with B.T.S.

  He let out a harsh laugh. “It’s not, love. Almost everything I care about has been taken from me and I can’t do a damn thing about it.”

  “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, tightening her arms around him. She could only imagine how he must be feeling. Everything he’d worked so incredibly hard for gone in a matter of the twenty minutes it’d taken her to shower. “We’ll get through this—together. Come what may.”

  “I don’t deserve you,” he said, his voice raw.

  She shook her head, her eyes filling with tears for him. For his lack of confidence the world never saw or even imagined. For every mean thing his father had said or done to him. For his estranged relationship with his brother. For the mother that had deserted him.

  “I’m getting out of my contract with Peak. If they don’t want you, then I don’t want them.”

  “There’s no reason to do that,” he said. “Hold me instead.”

  “I’ll never let you go,” she promised.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Leaving the antique store on Broad Street, Christian turned the package over and read the description on the back before righting it again. “I can’t believe you found them,” he said, awestruck.

  “I’m so happy you like them.” Zoe gave him a big grin. “One of Mr. Nesbit’s contacts had it in his store in Manteo.”

  “How long did it take to find them?” The PEZ Elvises tilted to one side. When she didn’t immediately answer, he stopped walking and grabbed her shoulder. “I have to know, love. I’ve looked for these for years.”

  “Almost three weeks,” she said, quickly looking down.

  “But that would mean you’d asked him right after I got here.”

  A telltale blush stained her cheeks. “I called him after agreeing to your challenge.”

  “You are incredibly sweet,” he said, dropping his hands. No one had ever given him a present like this. Not since his mother had started his collection and obsession with his first one. Christian rubbed the back of his head and winced.

  “Still hurts?” she asked, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. “I’d hoped the Elvis surprise would help with the pain. Not that I’d planned for you to be in pain after coming to my dance lessons.”

  “I’ve a bloody knot. Who would’ve thought an eighty year old woman could have such
a wicked curveball?” he mused. “And with a fuzzy slipper?”

  “Miss Florence didn’t mean to hit you. She wanted to dance with a stud-muffin,” she teased.

  “She was all hands. I felt like a piece of meat.” He shuddered, making her laugh until they came face to face with her ex. “Gabriel.” Always awkward running into an ex, but this guy was harmless when it came to Zoe. Christian didn’t get the I-want-my-woman-back vibe from him.

  “Christian.” He gave them both a tight smile. “Zoe.”

  “Hi Gabe,” Zoe said.

  Gabriel rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not going to spy on you or do a tell-all.”

  “Why would you?” she asked, her brow furrowing.

  “But you’ve been asked,” Christian said, his suspicions confirmed. Call him a cynic but there were very few people in this world that would turn down millions of dollars for a few minutes of “work”.

  Gabriel nodded once. “I can’t be bought.”

  Score one for the good guys left in the world.

  She gave Christian a wide-eyed look. “I didn’t think they’d bother anyone else.”

  At that moment he felt ancient. “Love, they’d bother your grandmother on her deathbed.”

  Gabriel shifted from side to side, his gaze to the street closet to them, Ivy Lane. “Thought you should know.”

  “Thanks.” Christian meant it and maybe if he hadn’t been so in love with the woman at his side, or less selfish, he would tell her that she deserved a man like Gabriel.

  Gabriel ambled away.

  “Something’s wrong with him,” Zoe said. “Before you came back, he wanted my advice on something.”

  “You don’t know what?”

  “No.” She took a deep breath. “I’ve only seen him like this once or twice before and each time it seemed to have something to do with—”

  “I don’t care about his problems. All I care about is you” Christian crushed her to him, kissing the top of her head. “I’m sure Gabriel can figure out everything on his own.”

  “I guess you’re right,” she said, then slid in the passenger seat.

  He closed the door behind her and jogged around to the driver’s side. Once inside, he closed his door and buckled his seatbelt. “I have to go to Paris tomorrow. It’s been months in the making. A stag party for a certain ginger-haired prince.” The Camaro’s engine revved and he made a U-Turn in the street.

  Her mouth fell open. “Prince Ha-”

  He laughed. “No, not that one, but there’s every possibility you’ll eventually have to attend something with him there. My mother’s a Lady and my father claims the whole Romanov Prince bit. He even bought an English title and all its entailments.”

  “What does that make you?”

  “Nothing. Second son, remember?”

  “Stop saying that.”

  He shifted into fifth gear and covered her hand with his. “Almost forgot your penchant for the runts of the litter.”

  He heard her snort. “There’s nothing little about you. Then again I don’t have anything to compare it to, so I might be a wee bit biased.”

  “Your compliments leave much to be desired.” He gave her a sidelong glance. She was biting her lower lip and trying not to laugh. “Anyway, I’ll have to be at the airport no later than two am.”

  “How long will you be gone?” she asked, her voice a bit thin to his ears.

  All things considered, his wife was taking the news rather well. “Five days, but if I can leave earlier, I will.”

  She snatched her hand away. “The bachelor party is for almost a week?”

  Okay, so she wasn’t taking it well at all. “It’s rather touchy when one deals with Royalty. They’re quite moody and love ceremony. Bloody, boring ceremony.” He turned off the car and turned to face her, mentally willing her to understand. To have faith in him.

  “And a ‘round the world menu of women on hand helps pass the time. I’m sure they’ll cater to your every need so you won’t be bloody bored.” She got out of the car and ran inside of their house.

  He found her in her hiding place or as she liked to call it—her office. She was standing in front of the new shelves that had been recently installed and staring at them.

  She’d already filled the new space up with more books, more crystal fairies—he’d tucked in a pirate PEZ dispenser in the middle to balance things out—and framed pictures. That was his favorite addition. All the photos of Zoe and him. It made him feel like he belonged. This house felt more like home to him than any place he’d ever lived before. But he suspected it had more to do with its owner than the actual structure.

  “It’s not like that,” he began, then stopped. It sure as hell was like that and his wife wasn’t an idiot, nor did she deserve to be treated like one. “I know how to say no.” He knew that he could say no a thousand times to any woman, but Zoe.

  “I know you do,” she said softly, turning to face him. “I’m sorry for snapping at you.”

  “I shouldn’t have sprung it on you like this, but in all honesty, I didn’t want anything interrupting our time together. Actually, I thought that by ignoring it, I could get out of it.” He leaned against her desk and crossed his arms. “I got a text from Sasha during your dance class and it quickly dispelled any notions of that.”

  “Is he going, too?”

  “It’s going to be a great big family affair. Even my father’s invited.”

  She pulled a face. “Sounds great.”

  He laughed. “You’d never make it as an actress.”

  “Couldn’t you just say you’re sick?”

  “Unfortunately, no. Look, I’m going to have security flown in. Today reminded me of just how persistent the paparazzi can be.” It was true. Being in Holland Springs had lulled him. Another surprise as he’d always been the one looking for the next party. The next adrenaline rush. The next high. He’d never been content to stay in one place. Not until Zoe.

  The sound of a car pulling up in the drive way had him walking over to the window and peering out. “What the hell?” He watched his cousin jog up the front porch steps. Turning to his attention back to his wife, he said, “I think Sasha’s here to apologize.”

  “I doubt that.”

  “He can’t help the position he’s in.”

  Her hands fluttered in the air. “I know, but all I can think of is I had to go almost five years without you.”

  “You loved me all that time?”

  She ducked her head. “I’m not an obsessed fangirl. Just don’t go looking on my hard drive. I might have sneaked a peek at you some time or another.”

  He crooked his finger under chin, lifting it. “I might have stared at the pictures of you from that night a time or two myself.”

  Her eyes rounded. “Really?”

  Sasha knocked on the front door, but he ignored him.. “I’m only going to say this once, but the girl that captivated me turned into the woman that captured my heart. However, if you don’t want it, I’ll wear it proudly on my sleeve for all to see.”

  She gave him a shy smile. “It’s not your heart you’re wearing, it’s—”

  “For the love of God, you two, stop with the talking,” Sasha grumbled, appearing in Zoe’s office without being invited in the house.

  “Have I ever told you, Sasha, that your timing sucks?”

  “Stealing my line, are you?” Christian asked.

  She lifted a shoulder. “I tweaked it a bit.”

  “Sorry, dear, but I need your man,” Sasha chimed in.

  “Get one of your own.”

  Sasha scrubbed his hand across his face, drawing attention to a cut on his swollen bottom lip. Who’d ever popped his cousin in the mouth had a hell of a punch. “I like women. All shapes, sizes and races. Twenty-one and up.”

  “I know, you’re like the UN of dating. Must be nice to have a choice or the chance to be with whomever you want,” she said, her hands clenching into fists.

  Christian stepped in between
them. He was half-tempted to let Zoe throw a punch at Sasha. “Calm down, wildcat. I roughed him up good before I came out here.”

  She blinked up at him. “You did?”

  “He damned near drowned me-to say nothing of what he did to my hair,” Sasha said with a slight grimace.

  Christian eyed him in disbelief. “You’d just woken up.”

  “By almost drowning me!”

  “Quit being a pus—" Christian remembered that his wife was standing there. “Pansy.”

  Sasha laughed at him. “Got you by the short-hairs, eh?”

  “No, he has manners. Ever heard of them?” Zoe fisted her hands on her hips.

  It was times like this that he couldn’t possibly love her more, but he did. Her defense of him was amazingly sweet. And completely undeserved.

  “Why are you here, Alexander?”

  “Well, Vlad,” Sasha said and Christian flipped him off, manners be damned. “I texted you the wrong time and date. We have to leave at three. This afternoon.”

  “How in the hell am I supposed to give my wife a proper good bye with only,” Christian glanced at his watch, “thirty minutes warning?”

  Sasha rubbed his chin. “Well, you could start by not talking so damn much and getting right to it.” Sasha made a motion with his hand and hips.

  Christian pointed a finger at him. “Go wait in the car.”

  “Yes, your highness. Whatever you say, your highness.” Sasha gave them a proper bow and sauntered off, whistling as if he hadn’t a care in the world.

  “I think he’s lost his mind,” she said.

  “I think his idea has merit,” Christian said and lifted her in his arms. He made it to their room in record time and threw her on the bed, joining her as he worked at the buttons of her shirt, but to his surprise she pushed him away.

  “Wait, you’ll make me forget,” she said, scooting out from under him.

  He rolled to his side and propped a hand up under his head.

  She searched through her top drawer. “I was going to wait to give this to you, but now it seems like the right moment.” She whirled around, her orange pleated skirt flaring out as she did. “Close your eyes.”