by Anna del Mar
“Please, Miss Boswell.” Ernest flashed a charming smile. “Don’t make me beg.”
“I don’t think Josh is going to like it,” Thomas warned.
The hell with Thomas Stratton.
“I suppose one dance is okay.” I took Ernest’s hand, steeling myself for the feat.
The dance floor was crowded. The band played an old Frank Sinatra song. Ernest put his hand around my waist and pulled me into his arms. Tall, fair and flaxen-haired, he took charge. He was an excellent dancer and a commanding lead. I fell into a disciplined pattern, step, smile and clench, step, smile and clench. The sequence didn’t help. On the contrary, it seemed to rev up my body.
“Poor Thomas,” Ernest said. “He’s like a dog with a bone, so very protective of Josh.”
I wondered if Ernest had overheard our conversation or if he just knew Thomas. I felt a little sorry for Thomas, who stood by the dance floor wringing his hands. He looked nervous. Well, maybe now that we’d had a heart to heart, he’d change his behavior.
“Lily—may I call you Lily?” Ernest said. “You must be having the time of your life. Flying around in private jets, enjoying exotic locales, fine dining, expensive clothes...”
How did he know all of that?
“I do hope you know that it’s all meant to come to a sudden end,” he said.
“Excuse me?”
“You’re quite appealing,” he said. “Not in the usual glamorous way, not in a femme fatale way either—Josh’s usual fare—but rather in a more subtle, girl-next-door style. But you and I both know better. If Josh is keeping you around for longer than a weekend, it’s only because you must be a remarkably good fuck.”
My face burned and the knot between my shoulders tightened. The little balls clanked in me as if announcing the beginning of a new game.
I let go of his hand. “I don’t think that dancing with you was such a good idea.”
“Don’t be hasty.” He recaptured my hand and tightened his grip around my waist. “You’ll finish this dance, listening very carefully to everything I have to say.”
I tried to shake off his hold. “You’re going to look like a total creep if I make a scene.”
“Be still.” He clutched me even tighter. “I’ll give you two good reasons not to make a scene. First, this dance will buy Josh Lane valuable time with Mr. DaSilva, time Josh wouldn’t have if you leave the dance floor and I go out on the balcony right now and interrupt what I’m sure is a masterfully orchestrated pitch.”
I didn’t want to dance with Ernest Chamberlain, but I knew how important this meeting was for Josh. He’d come here tonight just to meet Mr. DaSilva.
“Dance, Lily.” Ernest aimed his dazzling smile at the couple next to us.
Reluctantly, I swayed on my feet.
“Good.” He kept smiling. “It seems to me, if Josh is brazen enough to steal Mr. DaSilva right from under my nose, then it’s only fair that I should be able to reciprocate with an equally brazen deed.”
“What if I don’t care?” I said. “What if I don’t give a rat’s ass about Mr. DaSilva?”
“Oh, but you do,” Ernest said. “I can see it in your face. You’re a little inept at hiding your emotions and, as you noted before, I’m very observant. Pay attention, Lily. Here comes the good part. You’re going to dance with me some more because I’m going to offer you a valuable incentive, compensation you need badly, now and in the near future.”
Compensation?
“I’m here to make you an offer that you can’t refuse,” Ernest said. “I want to buy something from you, information, about Josh Lane. It’s easy money, really. I want you to tell me about Josh’s whereabouts, moods, thoughts. I want to know everything you learn from him.”
I gawked. “You want me to spy on him?”
“‘Spy’ is a strong word,” Ernest said. “I need to pinpoint Josh Lane’s weaknesses. He’s a very private man, hard to know, difficult to track and even harder to define.”
“I don’t think you’ll like what he’s going to say when I tell him about this conversation.”
“Now, Lily, you’re smarter than that,” he said. “If you tell Josh what we talked about, I’ll tell him that you came to me offering information about him in exchange for money.”
“He won’t believe you.”
“He might,” Ernest said. “I can be very convincing. But either way, you’ll be compromised. You’ll never see him again, because he treasures his privacy and his security team won’t allow you to stick around. He’ll substitute you with one of the many sluts who lust after him. You won’t have him and you won’t have me either. What good would that do you?”
My stomach ached. If Josh believed Ernest Chamberlain’s accusations, he’d be livid. He’d boot me out of his life for sure. Martin would blame me for his project’s demise, my mom would end up who knew where, and I’d be stuck in the same situation as before. Worse, I’d never see Josh again. I’d never suffer his obsessive attentions, or endure the mind-blowing sex that I was beginning to prize, or indulge in the odd pleasure of his company.
“Surely you’re smart enough to have made the necessary inquiries when you landed a big ticket item like Josh Lane,” Ernest said. “If you did, you know Josh’s pattern. He never keeps a woman around for long. He doesn’t commit or get involved. It’s all about sex for him, intense, short-term and swift. Josh might be paying you well to be his whore at the moment, but you’ve got a time stamp on your forehead.”
My belly plummeted to the ground.
“Let me show you.” He spun me around the dance floor. “See that busty blonde over there? She’s one of his many one-night stands. The bonbon behind her, the one with the fat ass? She lasted all of twelve hours on his radar.”
Ernest turned on the dance floor again, this time, pointing me in a different direction.
“The short haired beauty in the back,” he said, “she’s a big time heiress. She lasted no longer than the rest. He fucked the stunner in the corner a few times, but not even her renowned sexual skills managed to tie him down. These are just a few of the women who have taken turns in Josh’s bed. They are beautiful, powerful and rich, much more than you could ever be.”
The room whirled about me increasingly faster. The faces around me blurred. A feral fear clutched my throat. Was it true? All those women?
“You know it’s true.” Ernest smirked. “Everyone knows.”
I’d known as well—at least intellectually. Why then were my lungs poised at the verge of a panic attack?
Never date a womanizer. My mother’s voice replayed in my mind like a scratched CD. You’ll be like a bus stop at rush hour, nothing special.
The old memories slammed me, my parents fighting; my mother accusing my father the accomplished philanderer; my father, shouting back; rage, tears, violence, desperation...
I’d always known that Josh had an eye for women. Sex was his preferred method to burn off steam and I had learned in the flesh that he played that game hard. But it was brutal for me to be in the same room with his ex-lovers. I couldn’t deal with it. I didn’t know how to.
My throat closed up.
“See that tall, strawberry blond in the green dress?” Ernest said. “She’s got some staying power, but just a little. He’s fucked her a half dozen times, but only because she’s a perseverant tramp. Do you see what I mean, Lily? You’re on the way out.”
I was not going to have a panic attack. I was not going to show my fears. I had to wade through my jumbled feelings to find the right emotion to rally my cause. I hit on just the one when my eyes fell on Lisa Artiaga: Insane jealousy. I was jealous of her, of all of those other women too, because they’d been with Josh. They’d had the only person I wanted. They still craved what I had.
One other emotion came to my rescue. A surge of prot
ectiveness focused my thoughts. How did Ernest Chamberlain know about Josh’s lovers? Had Chamberlain paid them for information about Josh? Or did he reserve such bribes for worthless fools like me?
“Come see me.” Ernest tucked his card in my hand. “I wouldn’t mind a taste of you and you’ll need a future when this is over. Don’t take too long. Where will you land when Josh pushes the eject button?”
To his credit, he had a point. To my credit, it didn’t matter. My body tightened around my weighty center. My shoulders straightened. My chin raised in the air. I drew at least a full inch taller. Several things happened at the same time.
Josh looked back from the terrace, and finding me gone from my stool at the bar, abandoned Mr. DaSilva in what looked like midsentence. He marched back into the room and found Thomas pacing the edge of the dance floor. Thomas said something and pointed in my direction. In an instant, Josh’s expression transformed from disbelief into rage.
Uh-oh.
“As of this moment,” I said to Ernest-freaking-Chamberlain, “you are going to let me go and step out of my way. You will never, ever approach me like this again and every time you look in the mirror you’re going to see yourself as the filthy rat you are.”
Staring him in the eye, I let his card drop to the floor and stepped on it as I walked away. This time he let me go, because he spotted Josh launching like a rocket to the moon.
Trying to prevent the very public confrontation about to ensue, I bolted from the ballroom. Perhaps Josh would come after me instead. I also couldn’t wait any longer. The ache between my legs had become unbearable. My new friends had overstayed their welcome and I was ready to take matters into my own hands.
I made a straight line for the restroom, but as I entered the women’s lounge, Lisa Artiaga waited for me, blocking the entrance to the stalls.
“Why, if it isn’t my new friend Lily.” Her smile didn’t extend to her eyes. “Isn’t that a quaint name?”
“Really?” I couldn’t believe the night I was having. “You too?”
Had somebody drawn a target on my forehead and declared open season on me?
“Why so harried, Lily?” Lisa said. “Is nature calling or do you have hot plans? Tell me: What do you do for him that keeps you in play? Do you like to swing from the chandelier? Ride bareback, backward and upside down? Let me guess: Do you swallow whole swords?”
“I’m not having this conversation with you.”
She shoved me against the wall. “Listen to me, skank. You’re messing with the big leagues here. Josh Lane is not even in your division, so go back to wherever the hell you came from, and let me pitch my game without interference.”
This was like a scene from a very bad reality show. How could all these people be so nasty? Without saying a word, I shook off Lisa’s hold, walked out of the restroom and went for the elevators, ignoring the helpful attendant trying to remind me to collect my coat.
“Lily!” Josh rounded the corner before the elevator came up. “Where the hell are you going?”
“Home,” I said, urging the elevator doors to open, squeezing my legs together, barely able to hold back the hysteria overtaking my voice. “I’ve got to get out of here.”
“This way.” Josh took my hand, leading me back toward the kitchens. “What’s wrong with you? Why are you running away from me? Don’t you know that I can’t stand it when you take off like that?”
“Your friends suck.” I held back tears. “Did you know that?”
“What the hell happened?” He checked behind a door and then another one as we made our way down the long corridor.
“Your friends at this party are the sorriest, cruelest, most vicious bunch ever assembled in one place,” I said. “And that includes high schools all over America.”
He pulled me into an opening without a door, a crowded storage area, full of folded tables and stacked chairs piled all the way to the ceiling. He negotiated around the stored furnishings, leading me to the back of the space. He halted by the windows, where in addition to a spectacular view, the city lights offered a little illumination.
“Are you crying?” He bracketed my face with his hands. “Please don’t cry. I can’t stand it. Christ, Lily, did that asshole offend you?”
“These are tears of loathing,” I said. “Why don’t you hang out with Mac and Baez or with Antoine and Francoise instead of these jerks? Those people out there, they’re not nice.”
“It’s business, Lily. Why are you so upset?”
I couldn’t very well tell him about Lisa Artiaga or Thomas Stratton, and I feared that any mention of Ernest Chamberlain’s appalling proposal would cause a major commotion and end up destroying whatever little trust I’d managed to build with Josh. All I could muster was a warning, and only because I was afraid for him.
“Josh, you have to be careful,” I said. “Those people will screw you and I don’t mean that figuratively.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“They have no scruples. They’ll do anything to get what they want.”
“It’s how it works, Lily. It’s part of the cost of doing business.”
“They know a lot about you,” I said. “Private things.”
“Like what?”
“Like where you go and who you take to your bed.” I couldn’t repress the shudder coursing through me. “All those women, Josh, you and them.”
“Who told you about that?”
“Everybody knows,” I said. “And you just confirmed it.”
“Ah.” His mouth set into a grim line.
“I know what I am to you.” Chamberlain had called it what it was. I choked back a sob. “I’m just another one of your whores.”
“Jesus, Lily, don’t say that.” He hugged me against his chest and kissed the top of my head. “It’s not true. Please, sweet, don’t cry. I don’t want you hurting.”
“What does it matter how I feel?” My voice sounded frail. “I’m just part of a business deal to you, another contract for your files. You and me? Not real. Cut me loose. Send me away sooner rather than later. Those women...don’t put me through this hell. I want out.”
He tilted my chin and met my eyes. “You don’t really mean that, Lily.”
“I do,” I sobbed. “I can’t handle this. Don’t make me stand by while you fuck every woman in the room. Don’t play with my emotions, making me feel as though you care. When are you going to let me go?”
“I don’t want those women.” He landed a fiery kiss on my lips, the contact full of a fear and desperation I’d never sensed from Josh before. “I want you. I’m sorry things got out of hand tonight. I know you’re upset. Let me help you.”
He fitted his hand between my legs, grabbed the little golden ring and tugged gently. My body gave way twice and the balls were out. I clutched at the void, relieved but also hollow, bereft and vacant like an empty house.
“I know what you need,” he said, sitting at the top of a three-chair stack. “Believe me, I need it too.”
His cock was already out of his pants as he drew me onto his lap. Maybe I should’ve said no, but I was still crying and I had no will of my own, no strength to reject what I wanted most. He entered me slowly as I straddled him, refilling the empty space in me. I bent my knees and glided down his shaft as if my body had been waiting for him all night. The feel of him was overpowering. I swiveled my hips. We both groaned at the same time.
“Jesus fucking Christ. Move, Lily, move however you want to.”
I moved, rocking back and forth and swaying from side to side like a puppet mounted on a spring. It was strange. After everything that had happened, I should’ve been embarrassed or at least reluctant to have sex with Josh, especially in this crowded corner that didn’t even have a door for privacy. But none of it mattered. Josh’s arms separated me f
rom the rest of the world. His lips were magnets to my mouth. His hands unzipped the back of my dress and pulled it down to free my breasts. His cock centered me in the moment.
“You need to come, Lily.” He bounced me on his lap. “You need to come right away. Can you do that?”
I closed my eyes and arched my back. He caught my nipple in his mouth, raking it with his teeth. He cupped my ass, pulled my cheeks apart and plunged in me with a deep, delicious thrust.
“Never,” he rasped.
“What?”
“The answer to your question.” He kissed me. “I’m never going to send you away and I’m never going to let you go.”
“Never?” I bobbed on his lap, too far gone to ascertain fact from fiction.
“Never,” he said again. “You’re it.”
“It?” I mumbled, teetering at the brink of a spectacular orgasm.
“I want you to come, Lily,” he said. “You’re my it, and you’re going to come for me real hard right now.”
I came undone. I quaked in his arms. I wouldn’t stop, couldn’t stop coming. I felt him shudder, sensed my sex flood with his come, felt him relax and yet my body generated wave after wave of delicious pleasure. My mind went blank. And even though afterwards I couldn’t remember my name or what I was doing in the dingy storage room, I knew that something between us had changed for good.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Josh
We left the party through the service elevator. I called Amman and asked him to retrieve our coats. He met us in the underground garage. Lily was still wobbly on her legs, but at least she wasn’t crying anymore. Christ, the sight of those tears had shredded my guts. I inspected my knuckles. They weren’t bruised, but Ernest Chamberlain’s face would surely be tomorrow. Motherfucker. He deserved what he got.