Unbind (59 page)

WE STEPPED FROM a plane to the tarmac, the Vegas heat proving to be like nothing I’d ever experienced before—especially having just left a New York February behind. Yet the Latin-blooded man beside me loved it, of course. We picked up the rental at the airport and drove down the Strip. With traffic at a slow flow, I gawped with wonder and hated that we couldn’t put down the soft top in such sweltering conditions. It wasn’t like something out of a dream, it was a dream. Men had died to build that oasis in the desert and I knew we were entering one of the most extraordinary places on Earth. London and New York had their own special qualities, but Vegas… where could I begin?

It took us a while to find a parking space in the hotel but when we checked in at the MGM Grand, it suddenly all became real. It was truly immense. Every hotel a city in itself, we didn’t have to leave that building if we didn’t want to. The MGM was a favourite of Cai’s, anyway, because we were also there to watch a fight.

On the plane ride over, we talked about the launch of his work and how he felt it had gone. He said he was grateful to have been able to get rid of those photographs and I asked why. He remarked they frightened him and I proposed a toast to getting rid!

I think we started as we meant to go on. I sensed Cai just wanted to move on quickly from that whole thing. He’d got the hard part out of the way, you know, getting himself noticed as a proper photographer and not just the nephew of a well-known magazine editor. It was done with. Cai did mention a few people had approached him for family portraiture following that show. You know, Manhattan elitists. He was thinking about it anyway but I knew he was more interested in doing something completely different when we got back home—perhaps even a return to London. I sensed that was becoming an option once more because he kept asking me how I might feel to go back to my old job. I admitted they’d have me back in a heartbeat and Cai told me he was missing the more journalistic shoots he got offered while working there. So anyway, I got the feeling that our break away to Vegas was a bit of thinking time for him, too.

Being that we arrived in the afternoon, we dumped our cases in the room and changed into our swimwear to head straight down to the pool. I’d already packed mine in the front pocket because I knew even if Cai didn’t want to, I’d be going to the pool before I did anything else.

On our loungers, we sat with a couple of cocktails and I breathed out slowly. “Oh, yeah, I could get used to this.”

He chuckled alongside me, lifting his Ray Bans a moment to show me his smiling eyes. A white shirt hung loosely off his shoulders—the heat had become testing even for him. It wasn’t the kind of heat you couldn’t breathe in, because it wasn’t humid, it was just the kind of heat where you were suddenly aware that humans died if they didn’t get enough water. So between us stood a two-litre bottle we were also pilfering from.

My wide-brimmed sunhat protected me but I had a thin sarong covering my legs. We watched other bathers and it was strange because in my line of work, everyone was always tripping over themselves to be stick thin. Even Carl had tried every diet going. Me: I had Cai to keep me thin. Yet the people around that pool with us that day, let me say, none of them betrayed any hang-ups and there were all shapes and sizes. I felt incredibly chilled out already, the people and the atmosphere surely rubbing off on us.

“What do you normally do when you come to Vegas?” I turned on my side to ask him as I continued to sip my pina coloda.

He pursed his lips, “Shop, drink, eat… oh, I eat!” We laughed. “I guess I try and time it when there’s a fight on. I don’t gamble much but it’s something I don’t hate either. I like to catch a show if I can… I just come to chill, mostly.”

“Huh, I’m already getting that vibe,” I assured him, and then he reached over to stroke my hair and kiss me.

“Obviously, never done
that
before in Vegas.” His eyebrows jumped and he grinned, suggesting we ditch the pool and do something much more exerting.

After a torturous elevator ride, we made it into the room, pulling off each other’s clothes quick-sharp. When we saw a full-length mirror in front of one of the two big beds in the room, we both caught each other’s eyes at the same moment. Cai being a guy, we didn’t yet have a full-length mirror in his bedroom except for the tiny one on the inside of his wardrobe door.

We’d gone without sex for a few days… I guess because of the stress of the show. So we were gagging for it.

I climbed on the bed on all fours and Cai moved up behind me. He licked his fingers suggestively, my eyes glued to his in the reflection. I watched while he reached for my wet flesh and from the look on his face, he needn’t have moistened his fingers. He jacked off for a moment before slaking his cock through my slit, readying himself.

“I need you hard and fast,” he panted.

“Funny…” I screamed as he plunged inside, “…I was gonna say the same thing.”

He took my hips in a firm grip and pulled me onto him, grinding his balls in so I could feel him cushioning my clit. I groaned from my gut, savouring the still of his full length inside me.

In the mirror I noticed my breasts looked droopy and my hair resembled a wild Elvis cut, courtesy of the temperatures. Yet I caught the look in Cai’s eyes and he appeared so hungry, more so than ever. I flung my body back so I was against his chest and he immediately put his mouth to the side of my throat, sucking the main vein. His hands kneaded my breasts and I covered his fingers with mine.

“Put your arms behind my neck and hold tight, beautiful.”

I did as he commanded and then he pounded me fiercely, his grip never leaving the front of my thighs, holding me in place. We both watched as my body gave itself to him, my flanks and breasts vibrating with his swift strikes.

When his hand covered me I screamed, crying out as he pummelled my clit, my cleft—my throat with his teeth. I unleashed myself, freeing one arm, clinging onto the back of his neck with only one hand. I pulled my nipple until it hurt and yelled his name, almost toppling forward as I pressed back hard against him and suffered the sensation of feeling so full I needed to squat low and let it happen. Again, as always, that hot splash of him made me jump once more.

His arms tightened around me so strongly, I lolled back against him, feeling him panting in my ear. I fell on my arse as did he and his legs curled around me, his body in full possession of mine.

He pulled my chin toward his lips and kissed me slowly, his tongue snaking around mine.

“Marry me,” he breathed, a raspy whisper I thought I might have been imagining. “I love you more than anything in the world. Marry me.”

“Here?” I stared, my heart pounding… from the screwing or his desperate gaze… I did not know.

“No! Not unless you want to. Just… marry me. Say you will.”

How could I say no to him? He was everything and he was staring at me with such anticipation, such need.

“Yes, but not in Vegas!” I added quickly, laughing. “Yes, I’ll marry you!”

“Yeah?” he asked, still out of breath.

“Hell, yeah,” I nodded, turning around so we could fling our arms around one another. “I love you big style.”

“God, you make me so happy. I want to spend my life making you feel just as happy as you make me. I fucking love you, Chlo.”

“Prove it then,” I said, pulling on his arms to get him on top again.

He growled, right from the bottom of his lungs, pinning me down in the pillows. I splayed my legs and it got him hard, again.

I didn’t know how that bed was still upright by the end.

WE could have eaten anywhere that night, but he took me to a posh burger place in The Palazzo. Burgers? With mashed potatoes on top? It had to be done! I was so high on him and his proposal and being in Vegas, I didn’t even really notice what he was eating, only that it seemed enormous whatever it was. Cai said we’d visit Cartier the next day and I gulped my burger when I heard that word.

“I can’t let you buy me a Cartier ring. I’ll die every time I think I’ve lost it!”

“We’ll insure it,” he winked. “Besides, Corinne texted that the gallery was packed out today. I also got an email earlier, actually… the Met are adding the prints to their Fall selection and after that, they’re loaning it to the Chicago Art Institute. They say it could teach young photographers a lot.”

“They were anything but bland with your cut of the cloth added in,” I winked, tipping back a large swig of light beer. It tasted good. I wore Capri pants and a loose-fitting top, he wore a fitted polo shirt and board shorts—and even in the air-con—it was still warm in that restaurant.

“So, you still wanna marry me? Otherwise I take it your reluctance is truly down to the thought of the price?”

“It’s the price, trust me,” I assured him, taking his hand in mine. “Although… I am interested as to why now? Why ask now?”

I kept my gaze measured, eyeing him up. He wiped his mouth and hands clean having devoured whatever food he’d ordered, then he took both my hands in his and stared into my eyes. “Just making love back there, seeing you so open and honest with me… it just caught me up. It’s something I’ve been thinking about but back in that room, I guess… and with the exhibition dealt with and sold, I feel a lot less weighed down than I did before.”

I squeezed his hands and reached down to kiss his knuckles. “It’ll open so many doors for you. I don’t care if she even sacks me, Cai, she can’t keep putting the shutters down on everything you want to do outside the fashion world.”

“In some sick way, she just thinks she’s protecting me.”

“Huh. More like she’s trying to stop you from living.”

“I know,” he agreed, taking a long breath, his cheeks puffed out. “Anyway, Cartier… tomorrow?”

I nodded rapidly, holding my hands over my face. “Yes, please, yes!”

“Check, please,” Cai asked, and soon we were back outside, making the long walk to the Bellagio fountains.

IT didn’t bother me that Cai went off on his own the next morning. In fact I ordered a room-service breakfast and enjoyed it while watching the hilarious banter between a local news crew on TV. I went down to the pool, texting Cai to let him know that’s where I’d be if he got back to the room first. Yet, no. I got back to the room first at around noon, my stomach telling me I needed food. The only thing on the agenda that day was the fight later that night so I wasn’t stressing about gadding about here, there and everywhere. I was happy enough to sit by the pool and be by myself, my Kindle in hand.

I decided to take a quick body shower and as I set the water running, I heard the hotel room door click open and shut.

“Chloe?”

“In here! Won’t be a mo!”

“Okay.”

I hurried a bit more, spreading exfoliator everywhere to keep my skin fresh and cellulite-free. I stepped under the spray to wash it all off and washed my face with some expensive stuff I’d picked up from Jennifer’s spa—it was meant to make you look five years younger within a month! Hey, maybe that’s why Cai had suddenly proposed…

I stepped out and wrapped a towel around me. “Hey, handsome.”

“You’ve forgotten, haven’t you?”

I looked at him, wondering what the hell. “What?” My mouth felt dry.

“Put your best dress on.”

Oh shit. Cartier.
My stomach fluttered tumultuously. I still couldn’t quite believe it. I thought Cartier was just a joke, but he clearly wasn’t kidding.