Three and a Half Weeks (44 page)

“What about paying?”

“I run a monthly tab and they bill me.”

“Where are we going?”

He says nothing, just pulls me along with some urgency. When we get to the back, I see a bathroom marked for families rather than gender. He leads me inside, where there’s a water closet in a small separate room and a larger lounge, complete with diaper station and a small sofa. He locks the door.

“Come here, Ella, I’ve missed you too fucking much.” He yanks me to the couch but we never make it onto it; he draws me in to kiss me the way I wanted to be kissed by him the second I saw him through the elevator doors. My hands slide into his silky hair as his tongue invades my mouth.

“You taste good, baby,” he whispers as he drops to his knees, pushing my dress up and latching on with his mouth. The orgasm I’d succeeded in pushing away before comes rushing back and I can’t hold it off, not for a second. Before I squeeze my eyes shut, the room seems to shiver with heat waves. I writhe frantically on his mouth but he never misses a beat and by the time I start to coast down from the pinnacle, I’m panting as if I’ve run a fifty-mile marathon. When he lifts his head up, his hands slide up and down my legs. “Mmm, you taste good all over.”

I pull him up by his collar and kiss him again but I only taste myself; instead, I sink to my knees, sucking him into my mouth so I can taste him. Letting him swing his hips toward me in urgent rhythm, I swallow back my gag reflex to give him the best ride possible. I’ve barely hit my stride before he lifts me up in one swift motion and propels me into the nearest wall. Lifting me higher, he impales me on his huge erection: I’ve waited three whole days to feel him here and I want to savor every second of it.

“I’ve missed you so much, Ian,” I nearly weep, my hands clutching huge hanks of his hair.

“Baby, I’ve missed you, too. I’ve been literally dreaming about you.” A moan escapes, deep from his chest. “Fuck, you’re so tight, Ella, you’re threatening my control.” He pauses for a moment, grimacing, then bends his knees to use the full force of his legs and hammers into me for what seems an eternity. In a couple of minutes, we’re both slathered in sweat, my dress is down; my dress is up: it’s bunched up in the middle so he could have access to both ends. His mouth closes over my breast and teeth sink into skin, mostly gently. It feels indescribably good.

I decide to bring him down, then and there, in punishment for his earlier torture. I tighten my legs around his waist, push up using my arms on his shoulders as leverage and tighten everything on the way down, milking him with my muscles and allowing him little control over my actions. I do that a total of four times and he finally reaches critical mass and detonates inside me. In a wrinkled heap, we collapse down to the floor to recuperate and regroup.

The rhythm of the tiny waves lulls every worry away, leaving a puddle of Ella on the polished deck. Ian smiles as he drops down to give her a kiss.

“Relaxed much?”

One blue eye opens, casting him a suspicious look and then she returns his smile. “Mmm. I could get us
ed to this.” Her arm rises up to touch his face, stubbled now; he obviously neglected to shave for a day or two.

He lies down beside her. “Yeah, I loved that about sleeping on the houseboat. No matter how tense you are when you go to bed, in less than an hour the boat is rocking you to sleep. Maybe when all of this is over and done with, we can move there again.”

“Yes,” she sighs. “ I suppose it’s time to discuss
all of this
, isn’t it?”

“Let’s get it out of the way. I worried myself sick for hours before I finally accepted the fact that you need to hear the truth. Ella, please don’t reject me when you do.”

Her whole body tensed when he said the word
truth
. That clued her in right away to what was coming. Now he has to follow through; his choice is gone.

“So you did do what she accused you of doing, Ian?”

Closing his eyes, he says softly, “Let me just take you through it, moment by moment, decision by decision, so you can follow my rationale. Okay?”

She nods. He inhales deeply and begins. She’s lying on her back on the bow of the sailboat; he is sitting beside her, cross-legged, staring at the distant horizon. Gazing into the blue depths of her eyes is too difficult when speaking of such dark things. He does not attempt to justify or ameliorate through
explanation: he simply recounts history as it occurred. If she were of a mind to judge him, he’d be on the losing end regardless. His best hope remained her comprehension of what it felt like to stand in his shoes.

When he’d brought her up to this morning’s events, he went silent and waited. The ball was in her court
, and his heartbeat thudded, heavy with how much lay at stake.

“The order in in effect again now?”

He nods. “I have my people watching her every move, listening to her every phone call. Do you remember what I told you about Daniel?”

“About his extra sensory perception, you mean?”

“Yes. He was trying to warn me about Natasha continuing with this vendetta thing without telling me outright that he has this ability. If he doesn’t feel comfortable with my knowing about it, I don’t want to force the issue. I knew he was telling me she wouldn’t stop. This morning I offered her a way out and she declined it. Refused it angrily would be a more accurate characterization. At first, it seemed as if she would take it but then her fury took over and she threatened me and stormed out.”

“Threatened you how?”

“She said she’d put money on my head, too. She’s pushing my back against the wall. You have to also understand that my grandfather’s life is in jeopardy, as is your life, Ella. I’m trying to protect my loved ones.”

“I see that, Ian… and I don’t fault you your decision and I couldn’t care less what befalls that horrible woman. But I care about you and so I’d ask you to think on this: how will you feel afterward, knowing you were responsible for her life being taken? Despite what she’s done to you in the years hence, she was once very important to you. That, I think, would make it even worse. Will you be able to live with yourself?”

“Ella, what choice do I really have?”

“She said she would never have physically harmed you.”

“Even if that were true, those reservations wouldn’t extend to you or to my grandfather. And I’m quite certain her uncles would have no such qualms: they’re ruthless killers, Ella, and I kicked their son’s ass.”

“Their son?”

“Oh, right. Daniel claims that Lucien is the son of one of the two Lithuanian brothers but they don’t know which one nor do they care to find out. They consider him as belonging to both of them and are very protective of—”

“Does Lucien know about this connection?”

“Daniel thinks he may have just recently found out. While I was in New York, the brothers purposely got close, very close to me—Daniel said it was done to be able to identify me for retaliation. He used the word kill.”

Shuddering, Ella wraps her arms around herself.

“Are you cold?”

“My father used to say someone walked over his grave when a shudder went through him. But, no, I’m not cold, not on the outside.”

“Well? What do you have to say, Ella?”

“What do you expect me to say, Ian?” Her china-blue eyes narrow as she sits up to move closer to him. She’s wearing a short white sleeveless shift and it brings out the color in her eyes and highlights her tanned arms and legs—azure and gold, her palette is like water and sand. Ian wants to jump on her, she looks so edible, but now certainly wasn’t the time or place. Not yet, anyway.

“You said you were afraid I’d reject you,” she continues. “Do you honestly have such little faith in my love for you that you believed I would abandon you for doing what you thought was necessary to protect us and your grandfather?”

“I… I wasn’t quite sure. Ella, doing what I did is not only illegal, obviously, but it’s highly immoral. I wasn’t certain—I’m still not—that you could overlook such a thing. Honestly, if I were in your shoes, I don’t know that I could either.” He grabs her hand. “Ella, what would you do in my place? I’d really like to know.”

Sighing, she shakes her head. “I’d call the police and give them the whole history. I’d take out restraining orders… and try my best to have them all deported—they must have criminal records. I’d hire a lawyer to sue for monetary damages to keep her busy. I’d have a bodyguard, 24/7 and a high-tech alarm system.”

“Might I remind you that these are people who don’t play by the rules? The police might allow you to take out restraining orders but unless or until an actual crime is committed, they won’t do anything else until after the fact. Restraining orders are just pieces of paper, Ella. As for deportation, even if there was legal justification, do you know how lengthy the process can be? By the time ICE straps them into their seats on the plane… well, I’d rather not finish that thought.”

“I see your point. If the, uh,
order
is again in effect, why bother having her watched? Is it to prevent her from retaliating?”

“Pretty much. I’m yet hopeful she’ll see reason and decide to leave the country. The person who accepted the assignment is on the East Coast. He’ll be traveling to Oregon tomorrow. She still has time to change her mind—though she doesn’t know it.”

“What about the men?”

“They’re being watched as well. Word on the criminal grapevine travels faster than the AP. As soon as they got wind of it, they were on the next available flight out of the country—both are smart enough to act first and ask questions later. The problem for them is getting back in: it won’t be all that easy. I’m sure they’ll accomplish it eventually. The other thing, of course, is that they too can pay someone to get at me; accordingly, my staff hired personnel to bug their living quarters and keep an eye on them. They’re too clever to use anything but prepaid cell phones.”

He searches her eyes. “I cannot overstate how sorry I am that you got caught up in this stupidity and had a gun to your chest, Ella. You haven’t mentioned that at all. Do you want to talk about it?”

As she begins to contemplate how to frame her answer, unexpectedly—shockingly even— she starts to sob, almost hysterically. The tears are raining down and she’s weeping uncontrollably, which inevitably brings on the sup-ups. At first Ian just stares at her in shocked surprise, but upon realizing she’s experiencing a delayed reaction, he gathers her in his arms and lets her cry it out. When her tears are spent, she becomes very quiet and stays in his arms, her face on his comforting broad chest. The gently rocking sailboat, the definition of poetry in motion, becomes a peaceful oasis for both of them, washing away the stress of the past few days.

They remain serene for the better part of an hour. Ella is the first to move. Reaching her arms around his neck, she hugs him tightly and trails feathery kisses along the side of his head and face. “It’s not fair that you have to suffer such vicious hatred when you’re an incredibly good and generous man. I’ll fully support whatever you choose to do, Ian, and I’ll do my best to make things easier for you, anything you need or want.” She pulls back to look him in the eye.

Arching his eyebrows, he asks her a question that he’s been meaning to broach for a while. “A bodyguard?”

She smiles and nods. “Yes, that’s fine. Just make sure he’s really hot and he dresses well.”

Now he grins. “No fucking way. He’ll be balding and in polyester.”

Giggling, she nips his neck and he drops down to the deck, pulling her on top of his chest. “I love you, my lovely Ariel. I feel like you took the weight of the world off my shoulders tonight.”

Caressing his face that she adores, every plane and angle so familiar now, she understands her love for him is a gift she’ll never relinquish no matter what comes their way.
“As it happens, I love you, too. Isn’t that swell?”

He cradles her face in his large yet elegant hands. “Inordinately swell,” he murmurs just before he kisses her.

They make love under the twilight sky. While she’s lying on top of him, he unzips the back of her dress, pulling the tab down to the small of her back. Swinging her up, he gets behind her, on his knees, and slips the cotton dress over her shoulders and down her elegant arms. Underneath the shift she wears a skimpy bra and panty set, in white lace. Ian turns her around and lifting her, begins to kiss and suck her breasts through the fabric. She moans and he smiles, knowing that she’s complaining that the fabric is preventing a complete connection. He sucks harder, teasing her until she tries to pull the bra down herself. He captures her wrists and holds them behind her back, taking his time to drive her a little crazy.

Slowly, he pushes her on her back and repeats the process with her panties, kissing and gently biting through the lace. Her hips begin to buck somewhat violently, alerting him to her shrinking patience. Ian doesn’t let it rush him. He wants to drive her to the very brink of orgasm before he gives in.

Now his lips move back up, tracing her hipbones, navel, breasts again, and up to her neck. He pushes her chin up and wraps both hands around her throat, ever so slightly tightening them as he kisses and licks her lips until she gives him what he wants.

He could kiss Ella all night: her mouth is warm and delicious, and he hardens past endurance when her tongue begins to tango with his. Pushing himself up to a kneeling position, he removes his shirt and unfastens his belt and jeans, shoving them down low enough to serve their purpose. Ella was on birth control now and he’d been screened at his last check-up. It was sublimely wonderful to forego the condoms and feel her warmth directly on his skin.

Unable to resist any longer, he slides off her panties and spreads her legs, leaning in toward her. Tonight will be the missionary position because it’s all about love first and sex afterward. Ella would be his wife soon and he wants her to know how much he adores, even reveres her. He can say it with words but tonight he’ll also say it with every part of himself.