“She always said she wanted to make things better for people. Though she didn’t mean in a sexual way,” Aly tacked on ruefully. “She didn’t have a hard-nosed sister to push her the way I did. Right out of high school she went to work for a telemarketing firm.”
Aly laughed suddenly. “Jeena really loved it. I’ve never met anyone who really loved telemarketing but she did. She really was great at it because she honestly believed in what she was doing.” Easing down on the gargantuan sleigh bed, Aly relaxed on the pillows.
“She started researching and trying to learn all she could about starting her own firm, but things... They just veered off track.”
“How?” Gage took her hand and began to toy with her fingers.
“One of the supervisors asked Jeena to set him up with one of the floor operators. Jeena said he felt comfortable enough to ask her because she’d been talking his ear off about all that telemarketing research she’d been doing.” She smiled when Gage tickled her palm.
“Turned out...telemarketing wasn’t the operator’s only job and she point-blank told Jeen that it was gonna cost the man.”
“Let me guess—he paid?”
“Passed the funds right through Jeena and the rumored madam was born.”
Gage could only shake his head in wonder.
“We have our faults, but I love those wenches.” Her mouth began to tremble. “I only wonder if we’re good for each other anymore. All we do lately is fight.”
“I can relate to that.” Gage set his head deep in the pillows and stared up at the ceiling. “A wise man once said the best way to stay friends is to stay away from each other.”
“So sad.” Still, Alythia burst into laughter.
“But true,” Gage added when his laughter had subsided.
“And sometimes necessary.”
“Yeah...”
Gage continued to stare up at the ceiling without really seeing it.
“Do you think you’ll have to have that kind of conversation with any of your friends?”
“Maybe one.” He mopped his hands over his face and groaned. “Maybe all...”
“Maybe we all should’ve thought twice about that trip.”
A grim smile curved Gage’s mouth. “Would’ve been helpful if Jay and Orchid thought twice before letting their families push them into a phony marriage. I don’t think they were ready for a relationship, let alone a marriage.”
“And what about us?” Alythia hesitated. “Do you think we’re ready?”
“Well, we definitely didn’t have the time to find out in Anegada.”
There was no laughter and Gage squeezed Aly’s hand, giving a tug to encourage her closer. “In Anegada I was very much infatuated with you,” he said when she was tucked into him.
“And here?”
“Coming to Aspen was about satisfying my possessive streak.” He felt her sharp inhale, knowing the confession had stirred her. He cupped her chin, squeezing until she met his warm stare.
“Wanting to stay in Aspen is my patient streak kicking in and telling me you’re a woman to wait on for however long it takes.”
“That could take a long time. Lots could happen in all that time.” She squeezed the hand still holding hers. “Given our brief history, chances are high that a lot will happen.”
“I believe we can survive it.” He kissed the back of her hand.
“You’re putting a lot of trust in the fates.”
“I’m putting a lot of trust in us.”
He kissed her then, sweetly at first. Aly changed all that with the sigh she gave while arching into him.
* * *
“Nervous?”
“Probably not as much as I should be.” Aly sighed as she studied a spectacular view from her seat on Gage’s jet a few days later.
“We’re going home.” He pulled her up from the seat. “What could possibly go wrong?”
Alythia dissolved into laughter. “You’re a funny guy.”
“Funny but sexy. Makes all the difference.”
She melted. “Yes, it does....” His words had turned her boneless. Any lingering pangs of nervousness evaporated when he jerked her into a throaty kiss. Gage brought her onto the long seat on the other side of the bar and positioned her in a straddle on his lap.
Aly wanted to feel his skin beneath her fingertips and was all too anxious to relieve him of the shirt he wore loose at the collar and hanging outside his olive-green trousers. She had time only to unbutton his shirt and splay her hands wide across the sleek plane of his chest before he turned the tables and put her beneath him on the luxurious surface of the seat.
“Take off your shirt,” she murmured against his jaw, taking delight in the smooth, flawless surface though she silently admitted to missing the display of whiskers he’d sported since the Caribbean. She felt him go still against her and then his head fell to her chest.
“Gage?” She waited and then kissed his temple. “What? What’s wrong?”
“I won’t do this here, not here of all places.”
Aly barely needed a second to understand his point and realize that she agreed. “Guess this jet does have a few too many memories.”
Gage lifted his head and propped her chin on his fist. “I can promise you we’ll definitely make memories of our own, but not just yet.”
Her bright eyes sparkled. “You’ve got me curious.” She curled her fingers into his collar and studied their surroundings. “You think our memories can top the ones already in circulation?”
“Lady, you have no idea.” Gage gnawed her neck until she begged him to be merciful.
* * *
The day was sunny and bright if just a tad nippy when Alythia and Gage deplaned in Charlotte late that afternoon. Gage nudged her when he heard the sigh she expelled over the scene that greeted them. No reporters or paparazzi, only airport personnel and two town cars waiting on the tarmac.
“Told you I wasn’t that important.”
“Mmm...probably the calm before the storm.”
They cleared the mobile staircase and Gage escorted her to one of the two town cars.
“Hey, Rich.”
“Mr. V.” A tall, broadly built man greeted Gage with a vigorous handshake. “Everything’s in the trunk. We’re all set.”
“Sounds good. Take Ms. Duffy anywhere she needs to go.”
“Gage, no,” Aly whispered, turning to pat his cheek. “I don’t need all this. I drove my car out here, remember?”
“I had your car sent back. It’s waiting with a full tank in your driveway.”
“This is great service.”
He dipped his head. “We only aim to please.” He took advantage of the closeness to inhale her subtle perfume. “Thanks, Rich,” he said without looking in his driver’s direction. “I’ll call you, all right?” he told Alythia once Rich was settling in behind the driver’s seat.
Aly was frowning, her fingertips gaining more purchase as they clutched Gage’s shirt. “You’re not coming with me?”
“I’m guessing you’ve got a lot to do.” He outlined her mouth with his thumb.
It was true, but just then Aly was thinking only of how very much she’d like to go anywhere they could make love.
Gage kissed her cheek subtly, following the gesture with a pat to her hip. “Go handle your business. I’ll handle mine.”
“When will you call me?” She couldn’t help it. She didn’t want them to part ways.
He smiled, brushed another kiss across her cheek. “Not very long. Promise.”
They shared another spontaneously heated kiss and then Gage was bundling her into the town car and knocking on the hood to send the driver on his way.
* * *
“Miss Orchid will be down soon. May I get you anything else, Miss Aly?”
Alythia smiled and held the teacup closer to her chest. “No, thanks, Sienna, the tea is fine,” she told the Benjamins’ housekeeper. Alythia was a bit relieved to wait a little longer to chat with her friend. Li
ke her work, the discussion was another in a long line of activities that would keep her mind off Gage.
It’d been a week and she hadn’t heard from him. At first Alythia criticized herself for being surprised by that. After all, they had known each other for only a brief span of time. Was she still so naive as to believe he’d truly fallen as deeply as she wanted to think? Was she so naive to believe that he had fallen as deeply as she had?
Then another possibility occurred to her. Maybe he didn’t believe she had fallen as deeply as he had. Perhaps this was his attempt at giving her the time to decide whether she was ready to accept what he was offering.
Truth be told, Alythia admitted she hadn’t really given Gage much reason to believe that she was ready. She guessed he was leaving it to her to decide and she smiled into her teacup. Now she only needed to manage a tea party with Orchid and hope the discussion wouldn’t wage too much war on her nerves.
“Alythia, girl!”
Aly noted she wouldn’t get that wish if Orchid’s high-pitched, gasping tone could be taken as any sort of sign.
Orchid arrived in the sunroom with a flourish. She was all smiles and drew Alythia into a hug with kisses to spare.
“Oh, honey, it’s so good to see you. How are you really?” Orchid gasped anew, her heavy perfume wafting just as powerfully as the flowing sleeves and hem of her white chiffon lounge dress.
“How are you?” Alythia probed carefully, studying Orchid with a narrowed and suspicious stare. “How are you doing, Ork?”
“Oh...” Orchid waved a hand. “I may be named after a flower, but I’m sturdy as a weed.”
The comparison had Alythia laughing in seconds. Arm in arm, they took a few steps to take seats on a white sofa in the middle of the airy sunroom. The chair was adorned with lavender throw pillows.
“I am sorry for the way things turned out, Aly.” Orchid had topped off Alythia’s brew before she prepared a cup of the fragrant tea for herself. “I hate myself for wasting everybody’s time with that damned trip.”
“Oh, girl.” Aly reached out to squeeze Orchid’s hand. “Your heart was in the right place. You only wanted to share your happiness.”
Orchid gave an unladylike snort and set the teapot back in its place atop a glazed burgundy ceramic warmer. “Aly, the marriage was a sham,” she at last admitted, leaning over to draw her hair back through her fingers. “A business deal between our families.” She laughed then. “I still can’t believe Jayson and I were dumb enough to agree to something so antiquated. Hmph.” She massaged her temples. “I guess that proves we really are too idiotic to sustain a marriage.”
Aly put her teacup back on the table. “You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. You and Jay were already under a lot of stress trying to pull this off and that didn’t ease up with all the other stuff goin’ on between everybody else.”
Orchid sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes in an obvious display of disregard for their other girlfriends. “I should’ve expected them to pull that bullshit.”
“Ork...they didn’t pull it on their own, you know?”
Orchid offered up another snort. “If they had behaved like ladies, the guys never would’ve pulled any of that stuff with them.”
“Orchid...” Aly shook her head in wonder that the woman could be so obtuse. “Myrna and Jeena were damned in their eyes before they ever met Dane and Zeke. To hell with what anyone says—reputations are the real first impressions, whether they have merit or not.”
Again Orchid rolled her eyes and then just as easily set a regretful look in place. “I only hate that you and Gage got caught up in all this and didn’t have a chance to get to know each other. There were sparks flying there, right?”
“Ork—”
“Did you have time to see if there were any flames kickin’ there?”
“We had some time together,” Aly conceded.
Orchid looked ready to explode beneath her expectancy. “And?”
Alythia shrugged. “We’re taking it slowly.”
Orchid looked satisfied. “The rest of us could’ve learned a lot from you guys.”
“Not really.” Aly folded her arms across her tummy and leaned forward. “Gage and I...we moved fast, too, and I still don’t know how much hell there will be to pay because of it.”
“You guys looked happy, though.”
Alythia couldn’t deny that. “Gage Vincent is a man a woman can fall in love with very easily.”
“I’m happy for you, Aly. For real.” For all her good cheer however, Orchid’s easy expression faded into something tight. “Makes me regret what I’m about to tell you.”
Bracing herself, Alythia wondered if she was about to experience a little of the hell she’d just spoken of.
“Gage may have already told you, but I’ll go on and confirm...I’m suing Jayson.”
“For what?” Alythia blurted.
Orchid made a quick waving motion toward her cheek. “Have you already forgotten what happened, Aly?” She looked offended. “The fool actually had the nerve to hit me.”
“And that was wrong.” Alythia ventured forward carefully. “Wrong, just like the wrong you did in sleeping with one of his best friends when you were supposed to be there celebrating getting married.”
Orchid came down a bit from her self-righteousness. “I regret that.” Her stare faltered then.
“How in the world did it happen, Orchid? Why?” Aly turned to face her friend more fully. “Whether the marriage was a sham or not, things at least had to be going well in the bedroom. You guys were pretty...demonstrative. Or...am I mistaken?”
A sudden and uncharacteristic look of total honesty claimed Orchid Benjamin’s fair-skinned face. “Sex has always been my escape, Aly.” She sighed. “Pouting and wanting to get back at Mommy and Daddy for not having that chocolate waterfall at your seventeenth birthday party? Have some sex and all will be well.” She shared the insight as though she were a television announcer promoting some grand new product.
“Dammit... Such an idiot.” Again Orchid drew her fingers through her hair. “I guess that’s what that night with Dane was about. Part of it, anyway. Some of it was me just wanting to show Myrna that she’d picked another toad and that she still hadn’t found her happily-ever-after Prince Charming.”
Aly leaned over to top off her tea again. “And the other part?” she asked.
“Jayson.” Losing interest in maintaining perfect posture, Orchid slumped on her side of the sofa. “We had a fight about my ‘friends.’ That little show between Jeena and Zeke on the terrace during our group breakfast and then there was something that happened with Myrna and Dane at one of the clubs—it all pulled quite an audience. Jayson said that Clive called a little get-together with them. He told them some of the other guests had voiced concern that he allowed that sort of...element into his resort.”
Alythia held the teapot but didn’t pour. She was suddenly frozen to her spot. “Gage didn’t say anything.”
“Chances are he wouldn’t.” Orchid smiled sourly. “Most of the unfavorable remarks Clive’s staff had received were about the women who had been causing such a ruckus.”
Aly put the pot back on the warmer. She’d suddenly lost her taste for more tea.
“That’s what we argued about.” Orchid sat a little straighter on the sofa. “Then our chat led him to revealing that his family was having second thoughts about him getting tied up with someone like me. All this was even before the trip. Before we even announced the engagement. They want the Benjamin-family respect and society status but not a— How was it that he put it?” Orchid inclined her head at a thoughtful angle. “Oh, yeah, they wanted the society status but not a whoring fiancée-turned-wifey.”
“Sweetie...” Aly scooted close to squeeze Orchid’s hand. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s no big.” Orchid shrugged. “I slapped him, or rather it was the big-ass bag I was carrying that delivered the blow.” She smirked. “It bruised that ego of his, all right, and I g
uess he wanted to show me that he wasn’t goin’ down like Zeke. Had to hit me to show he wasn’t a punk.”
“Ork, do you really think suing him is the answer? Can’t you just let it rest? Jay’s gonna have enough on his plate dealing with the blow Dane gave him by sleeping with you.”
“Hmph, Dane.” Orchid’s eyes narrowed a fraction. “Do you know he didn’t even try to stop it? It was like he had no idea that I was about to marry his best friend. I was just another woman to bed. He was just as much the slut in all this as I was.”
“Maybe that’s the takeaway here.” Aly leaned over and smoothed a lock of hair behind Orchid’s multi-diamond-studded ear. “You’re better than all this, hon. You always have been. No one all bad would befriend a poor nobody from the wrong side of town like me.”
Orchid’s eyes suddenly flashed with defiance. “You’re the best person I know, Alythia Duffy.” She sniffed a little as though a sob was on the horizon. “You’ve helped me through some times no money can fix,” she said.
Alythia cupped her cheek and smiled. “This time you’re the only one who can fix it. Sex has been the easy way out for you. Maybe it’s time for a more complex plan.”
Finally, Orchid nodded. The move was slow but determined. “I’ll do the heavy lifting but will you still be there for me to lean on from time to time?”
“Hmph.” Aly shook her head. “Where else do you think I’d be?” She tugged her friend into a hug.
Chapter 15
In spite of the vastness of Vincent Industries and Development, Gage had created his successful enterprise using funds from a small loan he’d secured from his parents. He had refused any additional help from them and had used the money to acquire a modest five-story brick building far away from the sleek downtown high-rises and other businesses. Yet Gage had remained humble and true to his roots. He’d continued to conduct business from the simple office space that his impressive array of business associates and aspiring business associates knew to be his headquarters.
Gage hadn’t remained completely averse to vanity, however. The building’s top floor had been reserved as his private office, complete with a small living, dining and gaming area. The primary office space was state-of-the-art and expansive, providing the man in charge with whatever he needed to tend to his every interest.
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