‘What do you think?’ She whispers. ‘Now, show me that hot tub.’
‘Show me what my cum looks like dripping from your gorgeous little cunt, and then I will.’
She hisses. ‘Careful, California—with lines like that, you might have to fuck me again.’
‘That’s the plan, sweetheart. If I have to let you go home, you’re going home shattered, but completely sated.’ I pull out of her and rock back onto my knees, my eyes homing in on my cum dripping from her centre. Satisfaction curls in my core. ‘Fucking stunning.’
She rocks up onto her elbows, her gaze following mine. Her teeth dig into her lower lip. ‘I suppose I don’t need to see the hot tub. Once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all, right?’
‘Is it any wonder I’m half obsessed with you?’ I push her back until she’s flat on her back again and nudge back between her legs.
‘Only half?’ Mirth lights her eyes. ‘I’ll have to do better with the next man I pick up,’ she teases.
‘Dublin, wasn’t it?’ I pinch her ass hard enough to make her squeal. ‘Don’t make me come and claim you.’ I run my nose over her neck, inhaling her sultry citrus perfume.
‘You wouldn’t dare.’ Her pupils flare. ‘Not if you knew my family.’
‘It’s a good job you refused to tell me about them then, isn’t it?’
We have sex twice before she finally falls asleep, nestled in the crook of my arm with her cheek nuzzled against my chest. I battle to keep my eyelids open. I refuse to miss a single minute of my last night with this mysterious woman—but fate has other plans.
Finally, sleep inevitably claims me.
The second I rouse, before I even prise my eyelids open, the world feels wrong. A sick sensation hits me like a sucker punch to my stomach.
My bed is empty.
Empty and cold.
I roll over, patting the mattress.
I contemplate heading to her suite, but it’s pointless.
Every bone in my body assures me she’s already gone.
And I feel utterly fucking bereft.
Chapter Seventeen
ZARA
I land back to reality with a bang—straight into Beckett DEFCON One.
My brothers are wound tighter than a live wire in a storm. Jack O’Connor still hasn’t been found. It’s like he vanished into thin air. James is terrified Scarlett will be Jack’s first target—she’s the one who put him behind bars in the first place. Not that my big brother would ever admit it, but fear is etched into every fine line on his face. He’s aged ten years while I was gone.
As if that weren’t enough, the new Hartmann Hotel is shooting up directly across the square from Caelon’s flagship, Beckett Bliss Dublin. And while Beckett Bliss is supposed to bethejewel of the city, the Hartmann building is already blowing it out of the water. To say my brothers are unhappy is an understatement.
I’m not sure if their attempts to block the rebuild are about business—or just a glorified dick-measuring contest. Either way, I pity their wives and girlfriends having to listen to them.
Security has been doubled. We’re not in full lockdown—yet—but James is insisting that if we have to go out, we stick to Beckett premises where the security systems are basically NATO-level.
Which is why I arranged to meet Livvie at Envy tonight, the same bar we met in before I left for Punta Cana. My eyes skim over the lavish décor, gleaming surfaces and row upon row of expensive whiskeys and wines. It looks exactly the same as it did a couple of weeks ago, yet it feels different. Or maybe it’s me who’s different?
An image of California flashes to the forefront of my mind for the millionth time since I snuck out of his arms, and out of his bed, the other morning.
It was easier than facing a goodbye.
If he were to have asked me again for my phone number, I’m not sure I could have denied him. With every minute of that night, I felt my resolve wavering. But facts are facts—I don’t have time for a man in my life. Especially one who lives a world away from me.
