I groan. “You told her, didn’t you?” Morganna is an attorney who is married to a SEAL. This is either going to go one of two ways.
I look at the ceiling and pray. Morganna saunters in, a knowing smile on her face. “Well, what do you have to say for yourself?”
Cocking my head, I meet her gaze. “You’re not my mother, Morg.”
She clucks her tongue. “You’re right. I wouldn’t accept this behavior from my child. What you’re doing to Dax is hideous. The poor man kept my husband out until three a.m. He was crying into his bourbon with a crooked nose.” Okay, so it’s going that way.
Goosebumps prickle my skin. “He wouldn’t let me call off the wedding yet. What should I do? Wait, better yet…what would you have done in my predicament?” Morganna lost her first husband, also a SEAL, to a tragic accident during a deployment. She remarried Steve, another SEAL, and now lives happily ever after. “What if Stone came back before you married Steve?” Not many people are brave enough to bring up his name in casual conversation. I’m one of the few who can get away with it.
I watch Morganna swallow. It forces her to raise her chin. Chloe hops off the bed and busies herself in my kitchen, because honestly, who really wants to be in this conversation. I’m sure she didn’t know what she was doing when she invited Morg over. Morganna turns her face toward the window facing the ocean. “I don’t know what I would have done.” Her hundred yard stare grows sad.
“Exactly,” I mutter. Lightly I pull on one of the diamonds on my new bracelet. “I loved Cody first. The reminder of his love haunted me when he was gone. What do you think it does now that he’s here? In front of me, touching me, holding me, kissing me, loving me? I’m coming apart at the seams, Morganna. Dax’s love saved me from being haunted. It’s real now. I don’t need saving. I know how selfish and awful that sounds, but even Dax wouldn’t accept that as a reason to call off the wedding. He’s being odd lately. He knows where my heart and mind are, yet he’s holding out failing hope.” The diamonds on my wrist catch the sun and cause a rainbow to shine against the wall.
She sees the colors and follows them back to my wrist with her gaze. “Of course,” Morganna says, voice clipped. “You’re in a position most can only dream of. Difficult, yes, but lucky still the same.” She traces my wrist with her fingertip. I wince when I think of what Morganna went through when Stone died. It’s hard not to dwell on the awful. She has a beautiful, full life now, but she carries her losses well. Interrupting my thoughts, she asks, “It’s pretty. New?”
“Yes. He’ll be here any moment to pick me up for a few days. Chloe was supposed to help me pack and give me an illustrated sex talk, I’m sure.” Morganna laughs and goes through a stack of blouses I have on the bed, unfolding and refolding a different way.
“You don’t need clothes. I think that’s the obvious answer. Pack a toothbrush and your stamina,” she says, grinning from ear to ear. Her demeanor changes completely now. “He hasn’t gotten laid in a while,” Morganna explains. I laugh, but the joke causes my stomach to flutter. Am I truly the last person he’s made love to? “When you get home from your trip you really need to deal with Dax, though.”
I promise to give it my best effort and we talk a little more about her son and Steve, her horses, and how busy she is with a toddler and her law career. I tell her about several of my design clients and how my mother is going to have a fit over the cancelled wedding. She laments, tells me she’ll help me get deposits back if I really want, and then tells me a funny story about her and our friend Windsor. Morganna walked in on her getting her bikini line waxed on a dining room table the night she planned on doing the deed. I obviously reject Morganna’s offer to do the same for me. I took care of that a few days ago, like you’re supposed to, not the day of. We make our way into the living area to find Chloe waiting patiently for us with a teakettle whistling in the kitchen.
Morganna leans back into the sofa and takes the tea Chloe offers. I make myself a cup and begin pacing. Do I want my friends here when Cody arrives? Will that be awkward because they’ve been used to seeing me with Dax? I know Morganna’s torn about what I’m doing with both of these men.
“Oh, by the way,” Morganna says over her shoulder. “I finally sold the house next door. An investment group bought it. Hopefully tenants from hell don’t move in and throw eggs at your expensive front door.” We all laugh and then Chloe starts chattering away about Morganna’s shoes. Hm. That’s news. Pulling my gauzy curtains aside, I peek out to catch a glimpse of Morganna’s old mansion. She’s taken care of it, so it looks the same as it did before she moved out. It’s a touch larger than my own house, with floor-to-ceiling windows that peer out in all directions. If someone were standing in the upstairs living area, they’d see me right now. I shiver.
The doorbell rings and my pulse skitters, hammering in my temples and stomach. Morganna snickers. Chloe rises ostensibly to get the door, but I beat her to it, pulling it open and stepping back. Cody, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, wearing a half grin and messy hair, puts up one large palm to wave. “You,” he says, as he lets his hand drop. He wants to pull me close. I sense it in the way his hands move. They reach up for me ever so subtly.
I sigh. “You,” I return our unconventional hello. “Come in. Morganna and Chloe were just leaving. Let me grab my bag.” Morganna laughs. She knows how little is actually in my bag. Cody saunters into the living area with more confidence than he has any right to have and grins at the women.
“Ladies. Ladies. How is your week going?” Rolling my eyes, I take the last swig of tea from my cup, slam it on the counter, and head for my bedroom.
Morganna and Chloe make small talk. I hear Chloe cackle in her raspy, flirty accent. Then Cody asks about the new owners. Morganna explains that she hasn’t had much to do with the sale and thinks they’re nice people. Or serial killers. She’s not quite sure. I shake my head at her dry humor, so unlike my own. Cody’s voice grows closer. I know he’s behind me without even looking. I can sense his presence from a mile away. “You haven’t changed the house much,” he says. Yeah, but everything else has changed. “I like what you’ve done in the hallway.”
I turn on my heel to face him. “Thanks, yeah, it needed a pop of color. I have some design catalogs we can go through to help spruce up your house if you want to take a look with me.” His blue eyes narrow and a ghost of a smile appears on his lips. Other ideas, ones that don’t involve going through catalogs, are running through his mind. Playing it cool, I nod. “Okay. I’ll leave them at home.”
He nods, crosses the distance between us, and pulls me into his arms. “I’ve needed you this close since the second you opened the front door,” he whispers, his lips at my ear. Sighing, I lean into his chest further and breathe him in.
“We need to get out of here as soon as possible, Cody.” I have visions of Dax strolling in the front yard with a head wrap and an Uzi, opening fire on anything that moves. Not really, but he’s acting strange and with strange comes volatile. “I’m sure you know Dax is still in the picture,” I say. One would think I’d be upset or heartbroken, but honestly, I’m just pissed and confused.
Cody pushes me away gently and takes a large step back. He looks out the window to the left, avoiding eye contact completely. He’s about to lie. It’s a tell. I sigh. You know that feeling when the bagboy calls you ma’am? A little confused, a little glad their mama taught them manners, but a whole lot of “shit, they won’t be checking out my ass when I leave the store”? That’s the strange feeling I’m comparing this to. “No fault of my own. You must know how twisted up about this he is seeing as you granted him a broken nose.” I’m half joking, but Cody winces. “He can be persistent,” I say, trying again.
He coughs and covers his mouth with his fist. “Lainey, right now I don’t give a flying fuck about him. I’m sorry I broke his nose. He was being an ass and it was early in the morning, and the list could go on, but I won’t make any excuses.” Good, I wouldn’t believe any of
them, anyways. Cody fixes me with his beautiful gaze. “We do need to get out of here as soon as possible, but not for any other reason except I want to get you out of here so I can fuck you. And then fuck you some more. And when you think I’m done, make love to you so goddamned thoroughly, that neither of us remembers we live on planet Earth.” Maybe he will be checking out my ass when I leave, then.
My neck works as I swallow. I can only formulate three words. “Good. Let’s go.”
So we do.
****
The Hamptons are just how I remembered them. Sunny, beachy, a little bit Cape Cod on steroids. I haven’t been here for years and years. Since I went with Cody. It’s another place his death marred that I can now have back. I thought Dax would give me a new lease on life. Now I realize it wouldn’t have been the life I craved. It would have been his version of perfect, not mine. I sense Cody glancing at me as I stare out the window, smiling when we pass something nostalgic as we drive. A car met us at the airport and I’m officially curious about Cody’s financial status. I make very good money with my interior design business, but the bulk of my financial success is due to good ole’ Uncle Rostov and my bottomless trust fund. I’m an only niece to a Russian man with no children. This isn’t information I’d ante up for just anyone. There’s a handful of people who truly know the extent of my wealth and that’s only because they were smart enough to dig around. Cody’s always lived on a Navy SEALs salary, which is more than the average sailor, but still, it’s government work. Now that he’s a contractor, and serious into his coding, doing heaven knows what for money, I wonder what he makes.
His hand, warm and big, engulfs the skin just above my knee. “What’s on your mind?” he asks.
The past. The beach. Your paycheck. Your dick. “Nothing. I haven’t been here in a while. Which house did you rent?” We had a few houses in rotation when we would frequent here back in the day—all of them large and on the beach, with the weathered brown shingles that deem it vacation time. I glance at him and my heart skips a beat. I’ll never get used to seeing him. I bite my lip and his gaze darts down to the movement. He bites his lip in return. I smile.
“It’s one we haven’t been to before. It’s new, actually. It’s called Dances like the Wind.” Playfully I swat the hand on my knee.
I roll my eyes. “Ha-Ha.”
He raises his brows. “Scout’s honor. That’s the name.” He only says that when he’s being dead serious. It’s an oxymoron of the best kind. My skin breaks out into a sheen of sweat and I feel my pulse kick into high drive. “I like New York for more than one reason, Fast Lane.”
“You bought a house here?” My voice squeaks. Taking my chin into his hand, he turns my face toward him. “And you named it a stupid name!” I exclaim. He laughs, the baritone sound filling the car like a shot of testosterone.
He brushes a strand of hair out of my eye. “I acquired it a while ago. I just named it recently,” he explains. I suck in a deep breath. Okay. I can’t deal with this. I should be happy. I have too many loose ends to be happy. Or do I? These days spent with him can be happy. I’ll do my best to forget that I have to go back to a reality world that is complicated as fuck.
“How much do you get paid for popping people?” I ask. It comes out of my mouth like a nosey teenager.
He laughs. “Pop people? I gather intel about bad people. You’d be surprised how much people would pay for good information.” He looks away. “Most people would pay far more than money for what I give them.”
“Oh?” I ask.
Blindly, he grabs my hand on the seat next to him and squeezes it. “Sometimes we catch the assholes and make them pay for what they’ve done. It’s quite lucrative. But you’re wondering about how I can afford my new lifestyle,” he says matter-of-factly.
I squeeze his hand back. “I mean, I’m sure you could have crowd funded a new life. You were dead, after all. Strangers would have made you a very rich man. Donated their life savings. Your face was all over the news for weeks.” I laugh, trying to make light of my ignorant question. I can’t hide the fact that I’m curious, though. He’d read through the lines anyways.
He nods. “You forget where my true talents lie.” It’s not supposed to, but his words send a shockwave of wetness directly to my core. I want his talent so deep inside me it can’t find the way back out. I clench my muscles and draw in a breath, crossing my legs. Cody notices everything. He drags a finger across the top of my thigh and back down toward my knee. The car slows, but I can’t tear my gaze from his finger. “Tech, of course,” Cody growls. “I sold code, Lainey.”
“Oh.” Is all I can manage to squeak out. “Of course. Code. That makes sense.” He pulls his hand away.
“We’re here.” Well, smack me silly are we ever and it is beautiful. That’s saying something because typically houses here are large and charming, or rustic and elegant. Not this one. No. This monstrosity is a gorgeous peaked, gray brick that reminds me of a modern European castle. The town car pulls up the driveway laid with pavers and stops in front of one of the four garages.
“What. The. Fuck. James. Bond.” I’m familiar with nice houses and cars and the finer things that life has to offer, yet this estate is impressive by anyone’s standards. My poor uncle, God rest his soul, would have wanted this as his own.
Cody grins, hops out, and comes around to open the door for me before our driver can. “Come. Meet your namesake.”
I scoff. “This house cannot dance like the wind, Cody. If shaken it can probably destroy a small country. What exactly did you sell again?” Cody ignores me and takes both of our small bags from the trunk and waves off the car. I watch it disappear down the drive and behind the electric gate and then turn to face him. We’re finally alone—so alone and far away from any distractions or real life. He sifts through his pocket for keys and leads me to the front door. I’m left reeling with so many emotions. All of them positive.
He holds out his hand for me. It’s like he’s reading my mind. “Let’s go inside. See if maybe we can make this house dance?” He smiles with his eyes like a tiny child excited for a new toy. The wrinkles around his eyes crinkle. I’m smitten, falling in love with him all over again. This time it’s harder and deeper and the connection that was at first a live wire is now a fucking explosion. I never doubted our relationship; perhaps I thought things may be different. I didn’t anticipate that our emotions would be exactly the same multiplied by infinity.
“Dance?” I ask. “Let’s make the bricks fall to the ground.” I tackle him through the front door, wrapping myself around him, causing our bags to spill on the marble foyer. Not before I see at least fifteen security cameras outside and remember that our driver never spoke a single word. I did recognize his eyes in the rearview mirror…an employee of Ridge Contracting. Cody either wants to keep someone out, or keep someone in. I’ll figure it out. I always do.
For the moment, I get lost in him. “I love you, Cody.”
He pauses my onslaught of wet lips and frisky hands by stilling his movements. “Say that again.”
“I love you,” I breathe into his mouth.
He shakes his head against my mouth. “Never thought I’d hear that again.”
“I’ll say it a thousand more times, but I know something better I could be doing with my mouth.”
Cody grins. “The Pledge of Allegiance? You’re such a patriot, beautiful girl.”
Chapter Twelve
Cody
Relief. I got her to my impenetrable fortress by the sea. The only thing penetrating will be me—deep inside Lainey. I saw her eyes when she looked at the estate, calculating, surmising, fitting the pieces together. Good for her. Luckily for me, her lust won out and now we’ve made it to a fine Italian sofa in a sitting area. You know the kind of room that never gets used because the furniture is too expensive and the decorations too priceless? Yeah, we’re about to defile this room fifteen ways till Sunday. I haven’t even looked around to make sure everything is how it
’s supposed to be. I had Molly and a couple of my men come over here to make sure we had everything that makes a house livable and comfortable, and also to ensure the security of the house was top notch. I would’ve done it myself, but I didn’t want to stray far from Lainey.
Which totally fucked up a job I needed to do. Horse went instead, and I came to the realization that my men are fully capable of running Ridge without me. Sure, I’m the brains behind the operation, but their skills make them just as capable and lethal and intelligent as I am. It relieves me further. Fuck if I know how deep down the rabbit hole V is going to have me go. He’s playing games now. He’s sending Ridge jobs, with his lowly men as the target, knowing I will torture them for information. Each rat gives me a small tidbit of information. I’ve garnered enough to know he has eyes everywhere. After my time here with Lainey I’ll have the final puzzle piece. Dax will tell me and I’ll be able to finish this forever. Speaking of finished forever, Lainey won’t be mine anymore. My stomach sinks. I told myself I wouldn’t let that fact interfere with this weekend or sway my intentions. V has to die. Just like Lainey has to marry Dax. My job is to be okay with that.
Right now, Lainey is all mine. She’s stripping off her clothing one small piece at a time. I’m standing on one side of the living area and she’s standing on the other, a feral look in her sparkling, blue eyes. A piano that cost as much as my house in Virginia Beach stands between us. She uncovered the ivory keys as she walked away from me, wanting a game of cat and mouse. Always the minx, always the fucking sex goddess that leaves me weak in my goddamned knees. I see her naked backside reflected in the huge glass window behind her that overlooks the ocean. The sight is comforting and arousing at the same time.
“This is nice,” Lainey says, stroking the keys low to high, causing a bad melody to echo off the sky-high ceiling. “Play me something?” Lainey asks. I don’t play. That’s not what she wants, though. Reaching behind my neck, I lift the collar of my shirt over my head and toss it aside. I’ve hit the gym extra hard this week. I make quick work of my jeans, sans boxer briefs, and take a step toward her, completely naked. Her hooded gaze studies me from top to bottom and back up again. Her pink lip is caught between her white teeth and my dick hardens further.
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