“Food first,” I bite out, annoyed I need to eat at all when I’d rather continue the interrogation. “What do you want?”
She presses her lips together in concentration as though I just asked her to recite the entire California state constitution. “Whatever you’re having is fine,” she says finally. “I need to shower, too.”
The way she scrunches her face is cute, making her look like an annoyed bulldog pup for a moment. I forcibly remind myself that she won’t seem so cute once I’ve had coffee.
“Shower first, then food and conversation?”
I nod, frowning at her choice of words. “Conversation” makes it sound like we’re a normal couple. “Ladies first,” I say before she can offer to wash with me. I need some time to myself to gather my thoughts and come up with a preliminary plan.
“Don’t worry. The suite has two bathrooms,” Lareina says before disappearing.
Why did she get a suite this large if she needs to cling to me?
I check every drawer, closet and storage space. No purse, phone or tablet of hers. No locked safe, either. I don’t think her dress has a hidden pocket or anything.Weird. I can’t think ofanyonewho goes around without a phone. You might as well leave your life behind.
What wouldn’t I give to be able to remember last night! It puts me at a huge disadvantage, not knowing anything. I don’t trust anybody to tell me the full truth.
Lareina comes out of the bathroom, still in the wedding dress. “I need your help with the buttons in the back.” Without waiting for my reaction, she turns around and gathers her hair to the side, revealing the elegant line of her slender neck and spine.
I’m no stranger to feminine wiles. One of the things women do is act like they need help, then go all flirtatious, angling their bodies in the most provocative ways to showcase all their assets. I generally feel nothing but annoyance at those tactics because I’m too smart to fall for them.
But right now, my mouth is dry. Lareina’s brisk, businesslike manner says she has no ulterior motive except to get out of the dress, even though I know better than to accept that at face value. Nonetheless, the room feels warmer all of a sudden.
Satin laces have come undone and hang from the holes on either side, but the dress is also held together by endless, tiny pearl buttons and hooks. Whoever designed it didn’t want the bride to be able to get out of it—or wanted the groom to rip it off like tissue paper on the wedding night.
Since there doesn’t seem to be anything else she can wear, I unbutton them, moving my fingers carefully to avoid touching her. But the warmth from her skin can’t be denied. It sends a tingling sensation through my body—one that gathers in my dick. I can’t tear my gaze from her as more of the taut expanse of creamy skin is revealed. She smells more like a woman than citrus in the morning, and I want to bury my nose in the soft curve of her neck and inhale, then press kisses all over, stamp her as mine.
The urge grows stronger, and before I can draw another breath, she takes a step away. “Thanks,” she says with a quick smile over her shoulder, then disappears into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
Only then do I realize I was very close to kissing her. It leaves me feeling unsettled. My stepmother Akiko might call it “love at first sight,” since she still believes in things like true love and happy endings. But I’m a realist. It isn’t like me to feel this way. The remnants of Harvey’s drugs are probably still affecting my judgment.
Everyone is aware I’m particular about women. Most of my friends can’t believe I’ve only had four girlfriends, none lasting more than a few months. But I just couldn’t deal with them when they said they’d developed feelings for me. Every time they looked me into my eyes and said they loved me, all I saw was the unwavering determination in Mom’s gaze when she told me how muchsheloved me, how she’d do anything to be with me and how much she wanted me to understand she’d kidnapped me for my own good.
That’s when I end the relationship. And I can’t even look at another woman for a while afterward.
Nobody really understands why I dump my girlfriends as soon as they start to say they love me, although The Fogeys seem to believe it’s because of my obsession with finding Queen. Most people just assume I’m an asshole who’s easily bored. Mom and Harvey couldn’t have anticipated my uncharacteristically libido-centric reaction to Lareina…
Could they?
Or is Lareina the first in a long string of women they’re ready to throw at me, hoping one of them will stick? Can’t put anything past those two. Harvey made it sound like only Mom would stoop to using women, but he used Soledad without a second thought.
If only I knew Lareina’s true motivation, my situation would be much easier to handle.
After instructing the hotel concierge to send breakfast in half an hour, I head to the unoccupied bathroom and brush my teeth. I shy away from the mirror, not wanting to see my reflection with its similarities to Mom. Everyone, even my grandmother, who has a heart colder than a block of ice, says Mom is a stunning beauty, and I have my mother’s looks.
I glance down at the scar on my arm. If the wolf’s head had grazed my face instead, would it have been better? That way nobody would ever say I looked like Mom.
Stop it. The therapist helped me see that such self-destructive thoughts aren’t helpful. The goal is to avoid getting entangled in Mom and Harvey’s schemes, not fantasize about being harmed or disfigured.
A hot shower almost makes me feel like myself. The first-aid kit in the cabinet has a few packets of aspirin. I rip up two and swallow them. Hopefully they’ll kick in soon. Gotta be at one hundred percent when I’m about to face Lareina and tease out what happened last night.
Shrugging into a bathrobe, I go to the living room and check my phone. No battery.Great. I look around and eventually spot a charger at the workstation. I plug my phone in and wait for it to get enough juice to load messages and missed calls.
Three texts from Barry, who was curious where I went because he wanted to try his luck at a roulette table with the women he met, with me by his side. I’m apparently his lucky charm.
Ten from an unknown number, which all say something along the lines of,Where are you? I’m the only one who can protect you from your mother.
Harvey. No, thank you. You just want to establish a foothold in America, then launder hundreds of millions of dollars withmy expertise. For some reason he seems to believe that just because we share a blood tie, I will never betray him. What stops me from fucking him over is that I haven’t figured out how to stick the knife in without anybody knowing. The mob would come after me if I did. But I’d sell him out for nothing if I thought I could get away with it.
