Visions

by Larkin Rose

  “I went back to the park. The day I pushed you in the fountain.”

  Paige slowed her steps. She no longer wanted to talk about the park. Or the fountain. Or her embarrassment. Sam was right. Mayson had only been a punk kid doing what punk kids do. Why was it so important for her to hold that damn grudge?

  Would Mayson’s apology make her feel better? Would it erase the years of hatred she’d sheltered?

  She didn’t believe so. But she had an idea what would make her feel better. It was time to get it completely off her chest. What better time than now? After tonight, she had no intentions of ever seeing Mayson Montgomery again.

  With her chin lifted in confidence, Paige turned to face her. “I have never been so humiliated in my entire life.” She barely paused for breath Mayson took a step back. “That was a mean and rotten thing to do.”

  “Yes, it was.” Mayson took another step back, indecision clear in her gaze.

  Paige prompted forward, willing Mayson to argue her point, to defend her actions. She didn’t want this woman to bow to her outburst. She wanted her to fight back, to tell her she was wrong. “I have hated you every day since.”

  Mayson took a step back. The water gathered around their calves. “I see.”

  “I have waited a long time for this very second.”

  The realization flashed in Mayson’s eyes, but it was too late. Paige pushed her hands against Mayson’s chest and shoved with every ounce of strength she had in her. Mayson’s arms flailed and her feet kicked in the air as she cut through the wave like the Nestea Plunge.

  The sight of her submerging was the biggest adrenaline rush Paige had ever felt. God, it felt great.

  Mayson shot out of the water, shaking droplets from her face and hair.

  Paige busted out laughing. She couldn’t help it. It was the best feeling in the world. Far better than any apologetic words Mayson might have offered her. “That’s for shoving me in the damn fountain!”

  Mayson stared at her for several seconds, chuckles slowly bubbling into laughter. “Do you feel better now?”

  “I do. God, I feel fucking amazing.” And she did. A little too good. Had she known that little act of revenge would feel that great, she would have gone back to that park every day and waited for Mayson. But would it have felt as good as it did now? Paige couldn’t imagine that it would have.

  Mayson stuck her hand out to Paige. “Can you help me out of here?”

  She’d never seen Paige more beautiful than she looked right now with the moonlight displaying her satisfied expression.

  Paige took a step back, still choking with giggles. “Do I look like an idiot?”

  Mayson wanted to kiss her. So bad it hurt. But first, she wanted her wet.

  “Yes! You do!” Mayson lunged.

  Paige shrieked as Mayson grabbed her ankles and jerked her off her feet and into an oncoming wave. The water spilled over her body and head, soaking her completely.

  Mayson expected her to come up swinging and cursing like a sailor.

  Instead, Paige burst through the water laughing and slinging water over Mayson. “You witch! This was supposed to be my moment of revenge.”

  Mayson had to swallow back a moan. Paige’s dress was slicked to her body like a second skin. Her nipples hardened against the fabric, begging Mayson to come closer, to touch and tease.

  Those pert nipples had been against her tongue. She’d tasted their flavor. Paige’s cries had thrashed against her mouth. Her fingers had been deep inside Paige. She’d drunk the sounds of her release.

  She took several timid steps toward Paige, afraid of what she might do when she reached her, terrified of the images seeking shelter in her mind once again of all the things she’d already done.

  God, how was this possible? How had fate guided her to the park so many years ago to make her do something insanely stupid? How had fate led them together at a masked party where both had experienced blinding sex that neither could shake from their consciousness? How had the stars drawn them together yet again through a blog and finally to Visions?

  Mayson stepped closer. She couldn’t ignore the signs any longer. She couldn’t ignore what the stars or whatever the hell was up there were trying to tell her.

  The smile on Paige’s face faltered as Mayson stopped in front of her. All seriousness vanished from her expression. She, too, felt what Mayson felt.

  Mayson reached out and pushed a wet strand from her face. “You’re beautiful.”

  Paige looked down.

  Mayson tucked her finger under Paige’s chin and tilted her head back. “I went back to the park, Paige. I went back to tell you how sorry I was. I went back to tell you why.”

  Paige’s gaze dropped to Mayson’s lips and she whispered. “Why?”

  “I couldn’t let them know my secret.”

  Paige’s gaze never left the sight of Mayson’s lips. She wanted them against her own. She wanted to feel Mayson’s tongue snake inside her mouth. God, what the fuck was wrong with her? This feeling wasn’t sexual deprivation. Vinden had taken care of that itch. So what the hell was this fluttering along her nerves like sensors? “What secret?”

  Mayson dropped her hand on Paige’s hip and pulled her forward. “That I wanted to kiss the cute girl with her dingy old diary.”

  Shocked, Paige dragged her sights back to Mayson’s eyes. Had she just heard that correctly? Mayson Montgomery had liked her? Wanted to kiss her?

  The answer was in her eyes. The passion was written there for Paige to read.

  Mayson moved closer.

  Paige gathered her courage while it was hanging by a thread. “Don’t,” she breathed.

  “I have to, Paige.” Mayson ducked, stalled long enough for Paige to reject, and then pushed their lips together. She pressed harder and encouraged Paige to open for her.

  Paige closed her eyes against the electric heat whipping along her chilled skin and expelled a sigh.

  Mayson tugged Paige against her chest and eased her tongue inside Paige’s mouth.

  Lights burst behind Paige’s lids and her stomach knotted.

  Startled by the reaction, one she hadn’t felt in so fucking long, she pushed Mayson back and swiped the back of her hand against her lips. That wasn’t supposed to happen. At all. Ever. She hadn’t been kissed like that since New Orleans. She hadn’t reacted that way since she walked out of that motel room.

  On shaky legs, Paige took a step back, struggling with her emotions.

  Mayson only stared at her. She was a step away. All Paige had to do was reach out, grab her, and pull her right back into that sensational kiss.

  No matter. This was Mayson Montgomery, the woman who could buy anything or anyone she wanted. Paige could not, would not, be bought. Not since she walked away from that strip club with all pride intact. Not since she bought her own future. She and Mayson had nothing in common. Nothing to share. Their paths could never lead in the same direction.

  Mayson only watched, disappointment clear in her expression.

  Once again, Paige found herself reacting to her mood. Why did she care if Mayson was upset, or if she felt rejected?

  Without thinking, Paige pushed herself against Mayson and clamped their lips together.

  Mayson groaned as Paige slipped her tongue inside. Once again, heat overcame Paige and her skin tingled. The emotions crowding through her were incredible. The scorching fever was amazing. Too bad they were reacting to a woman she could never want. Should never want.

  The grip tightened around Paige’s waist and Mayson deepened the kiss.

  Paige fisted her fingers into Mayson’s hair and gave a quick tug. Mayson was whipped back in time, to Paige, behind her mask, tugging her head back in the dim lit room.

  She felt just as good then as she did now soaked in sea water.

  The heat spiked into an inferno. Mayson scooped her hands around Paige’s ass, lifted her up around her hips, and then slowly laid her down in the shallow water. She ground into her as the rippling
waves drifted around them.

  Paige arched upward, meeting every thrust, lifting her lean hips into Mayson. She wanted to tear Mayson apart, wanted her fingernails dragging fuck scars into her back, wanted Mayson driving into her.

  Fuck! No, she didn’t. Yes, she did. Oh God, what was happening to her and why couldn’t she stop?

  Mayson suddenly pulled back and rolled away from Paige. “I’m sorry. That was too fast.” She turned back to look at Paige as if seeking confirmation. “Wasn’t it?”

  Disappointed with Mayson’s departure, and disappointed that she was disappointed with Mayson’s departure, Paige sat up as well. Yes, it was. Then again, it wasn’t fast enough. Two more minutes and she could have jerked into spasms around some vital part of Mayson Montgomery.

  Paige nodded. “We’ll blame it on the beer.” She heard the disappointment in her voice and hated that Mayson could hear it as well.

  She pushed off the sand and attempted to smooth down her dress.

  Mayson rose as well. “Can we keep talking?”

  “Sure.” Paige pushed her hair back from her face and talked herself down from the rushed high as they walked back to the blanket.

  Mayson lay back and put her hands behind her head.

  Paige considered doing the same, then realized what a crazy move that would be with her pussy soaked and her desire on edge. Where was Vinden when she needed her? Had she sent a message while Paige frolicked in the ocean with her archenemy? Loving every second of it?

  She allowed herself a quick glance down Mayson’s tight tummy and along muscled thighs. Seriously, how many times a day did this woman work out?

  Then to muscle her gaze away from Mayson, she reached into her bag, pulled out the new phone, and sighed when there were no new messages. Where the hell was Vinden? Why hadn’t she sent Paige her next set of instructions? Would she? Or was the game over?

  Why did it turn her stomach to think that?

  Paige shoved the phone back in her bag and turned to stare out into the dark ocean.

  “Tell me more about yourself, Paige. Parts I don’t know. What makes you tick?” Mayson asked.

  “I’m rather boring.”

  “You didn’t look boring on that stage.” Mayson cut a glance on Paige that made her squirm. She suddenly wished she was lying down.

  “Let’s make a game of it. I’ll ask a single-word question, you answer with a single word.”

  Paige didn’t want to tell her anything. Mayson had a grand life, lived in a grand house, and had filthy-rich parents. Anything Paige offered would be so far beneath anything Mayson would have experienced. But she wasn’t ready to leave, either. “Okay. But hand me another beer first.”

  Mayson reached for the beer, twisted the top, and handed it to Paige. “Ready?”

  Paige took a long swallow, welcoming the tingles. “Go.”

  “College?”

  “Graduated.”

  “Major?”

  “Business.”

  “Impressed. Minors?”

  “That was two words. Answer. Three words. Theatrical production. Philosophy.”

  “More impressed.”

  Paige shrugged and took another swallow. Either this beer was opening the personal portal or Mayson was just that easy to talk to. She chose to believe it was the beer. Wasn’t it the truth serum?

  “Mother?”

  “Three words. Drugs. Whore. Gone.”

  Mayson shot her a stare but continued. “Father?”

  “Unknown.”

  Compassion filled Mayson’s gaze. Paige looked away and took another drink. She didn’t want Mayson’s pity. Didn’t want anyone to pity her. She sure didn’t pity herself. Her grandmother had possibly saved her life. No telling what her alternate life could have been living with a drug addict and countless men in and out of her life.

  “Relationships?”

  Paige grunted. “Pathetic.”

  “Sex?”

  “Masturbation.”

  Paige almost gasped with her answer. Had she just said that out loud? The smirk on Mayson’s face proved she had. Maybe she needed to stop drinking. Or drink more often so three beers wouldn’t make her a cheap drunk.

  Mayson chuckled. “Was that so bad?”

  Actually, it wasn’t. It felt like shedding the weights of life and tossing them in the ocean. Had she been ashamed of her life all along? Had she somehow suppressed her true feelings all these years?

  No. She hadn’t. She wasn’t ashamed of stripping. It was an honest living. Nor could she be ashamed of being raised by her grandmother. The life her mother had chosen was her decision to make. Not Paige’s. It was a decision her mother had to live with. And if she could live with herself, then so could Paige. She had nothing to hang her head about.

  “Not as amazing as your life was, I’m sure.” Paige finally succumbed to the moment and lay back in the sand.

  “I’d love to tell you some horrid story about being raised by the nanny because my parents were too consumed with their glamorous life to care about me, but that would be a lie. Fact is, I never had a nanny. I had amazing parents. And cool grandparents.” Mayson rolled onto her side. “Is that really true about your parents?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  And she was. Paige could hear it in her voice. “Don’t be. I can’t miss what I don’t have.”

  “Have you ever wanted to find them?”

  Paige considered the question. She had. A few times. She wondered if the drugs had ever killed her mother. Wondered if her father even knew she existed. Maybe he wasn’t as bad as her mind allowed her to think.

  “Not really. Though I could have siblings out there somewhere.” Paige glanced over at Mayson. “You could be my half sister.”

  Mayson laughed. “Fat chance. My father is so in love with my mother I’m not sure he notices the female population. They still have date nights.”

  “That’s cute.”

  “Yes, it is. They taught me a lot about love and respect.”

  Paige thought about reminding Mayson about her lack of respect, but they had finally reached a point of normal conversation. “Did you really build that empire all by yourself?”

  Mayson gave a solid nod. “Indeed I did. On a napkin in this little all-night café my freshman year in college. It was the only place I could escape to study since my roommates turned our dorm into party central.”

  “Why windmills? They’re so…boring.” Paige wanted to retract the statement as soon as she heard it leave her lips. Those boring windmills had obviously made Mayson a billionaire. It was a far cry from the route Paige had taken. At least Mayson wasn’t mauled nightly.

  “There was something about them that infatuated me. I wanted to know how they operated. Why they produced the energy. So I studied, researched, until I learned all there was to know about them. There was only one thing left to do at that point. Design cooler and better models. So I did. Of course I had no idea what to do with my little paper artwork. That’s where my dad fit in. He helped me with all the legalities of copyrights and patents, which was a long, drawn-out, gruesome process.” Mayson glanced up at Paige. “I had just started my senior year when I got my first offer. Six million dollars.”

  Paige attempted to keep the shock out of her face. “How fast did you pack up and leave college?”

  Mayson chuckled. “I didn’t leave. I finished.”

  Paige was astounded. “You’re kidding! What on earth for?”

  “Money can’t buy my education. I needed something to fall back on.”

  A hiss of amazement exited Paige’s lips. “To fall back on? Wasn’t six million dollars cushy enough?”

  “If taking the easy way out was an option.” Mayson turned that carnal stare back on Paige. “I’ve never bought my way out of anything, Paige. Including relationships.” She gave a quick chuckle. “Besides, in what other profession could I be nicknamed the wind goddess? Pretty cool, huh?”

  Paige looked away as heat
flicked against her skin. She was beginning to see how wrong she’d been about Mayson. How she’d judged her without knowing a damn thing about her. She didn’t like being wrong.

  Nor did she want to talk about relationships. “What was your major?”

  “Promise not to laugh?”

  “No. I never make a promise I’m not positive I can keep.”

  Mayson took in a calming breath. “I had a double major. Obviously, engineering, after the offer for my prototype came through. But it originated as…early childhood development.”

  Shocked, Paige giggled. “The big bad Mayson Montgomery was going to be a teacher?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Holy shit. I’ve heard it all.” Paige shook her head.

  Mayson took a swig of beer. “I could be tortured daily by a gaggle of six-year-olds. But bigger, more important things got in the way.”

  “Yeah. Like a billion dollars.”

  Mayson swung around to face Paige. “Does money bother you that much?”

  Paige felt ashamed under that scrutinizing glare. Did money really bother her? No, she rather liked having it. It was people like Mayson, who disrespected those without it, that bothered her.

  Although the more they talked, the more those beliefs faltered. Paige simply shrugged and looked out over the ocean.

  Mayson must have decided she didn’t want the answer. For once, she didn’t push the point. “How long do you plan on dancing before you hang up your stilettos?”

  Paige had never been asked that question. But she’d thought about it. Sooner or later, age would catch up with her. As much as she loved dancing, as free as it made her feel, it couldn’t be a lifetime commitment. Sooner rather than later, as Mayson put it, she’d have to hang up the dancing shoes. Lately, she seemed more involved with the charity than she did dancing. Had her passion shifted without knowing?

  “Never really thought about it,” Paige lied. Now that Mayson had brought it up, it was all she could think about. She loved her charity, adored helping others, especially those damn kids.

  “Have dinner with me tomorrow, Paige. My place. I can show you one of my few talents.”

  Tomorrow? Shit. She had a date. With Vinden. At a lingerie shop. It dawned on Paige how little she’d thought about her tonight, even when there would be incredible sex involved.