AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Shut up, Xavi,” Ethan chuckles.
I sit back down and hold out my arms, my palms flexing in a wordless ‘gimme’ gesture, waiting for Ethan to finish unbuckling the baby carrier.
“Even gods make mistakes sometimes,” Bonnie, who has now sat down on the other side of me, murmurs breathlessly. Ethan pauses what he’s doing and then shoots her look which should not be seen outside of their bedroom. She reddens, biting her lip.
“Okay, I think I might vomit,” I grimace. “Can you guys dial the mutual worship down a bit? You just got here.”
I probably am worse than Bonnie with Ryan at this point, but that’s not something I’m willing to dwell on right now.
Ethan laughs, clearly enjoying his wife’s reaction to him, and then he hands me his still-sleeping son.
I rock Lucas, murmuring softly to him, smoothing the wispy dark hair on his head as I take subtle whiffs of his sweet-baby smell. Suddenly feeling his eyes on me, I look up. What I see in Ryan’s gaze sends a jolt through me.
Desire. Longing. Raw need.
The room disappears as my heart starts to pound. I’m pinned to the spot, unable to move or look away from that scorching blue gaze.
The elevator bell rings again, effectively breaking the moment. “That must be Carmen.” Ryan moves to toward the doors while I take a breath and collect my scrambled brain.
“Sweet baby Jesus, Girl,” Bonnie nudges me, “I think you just got impregnated right there.”
“Totally,” I release a nervous chuckle. I can’t even argue with that logic. The sight of me holding Lucas did something to the man.
Brooke who didn’t notice anything looks up. “What was that?”
Bonnie waves her off. “Never mind, you missed it.”
“Anyway, you’re hogging the baby Stella,” Brooke she reaches for Lucas. Even though I’ve only had him for a couple of minutes, I gladly hand him over. I’m not sure how much more of Ryan’s hot stares I can take. Lucas fusses for a few seconds than settles contentedly in Brooke’s arms.
Ryan returns to the living room with Carmen in tow carrying a backpack. Once he introduces her to everyone, Ryan drops the black bag in the middle of the floor.
Everyone has been brought up to speed about the night of the Greenhouse party and the reason for getting Carmen all the way from Argentina. The dull thud of the backpack draws our attention as mouths tighten and postures stiffen.
Ryan says into the suddenly silent room, confirming what everyone knows, “Don Fairchild is not going to get away with what he did, and thanks to Carmen, we now have proof. This bag contains all the CDs Carmen found in Don’s library safe.”
“So what do we do next?” I ask, already dreading the next steps.
Ryan levels me with a look. “I’m afraid we need to know what’s in it before we hand them over to the police “
My gut immediately twists into knots because I know what he’s means, and because Viv’s might be in there. “But Carmen already said they’re Don’s sex tapes.”
“Yes, and I think that’s exactly what they are. But that was from what Carmen saw four years ago. They may be self-help videos, good old porn, or he might have erased them altogether.
“Ryan’s right Stella,” Carmen says. “I only checked a couple of CDs, not the whole catalog.”
The room goes silent again. No one wants to do this.
“Anyway while we think about that, Xavi, is your man still expert at digging up dirt?”
“Mitch Kravinski? Yep, still sharp. How dirty are we talking?” Xavier calls back from where he’s pouring himself a drink.
“Filthy. International narcotics shipping, etcetera.” Ryan replies. “And, Don most likely has some chap in the NY police department on his payroll because none of the security cameras place him at the venue.”
“Noted Ry. Will get Mitch on it ASAP.” Xavier says.
“Thanks man.” Ryan addresses everyone, “So who’s going to do it? You won’t need to sit through the videos, just enough to know we’re holing a smoking gun and not a bouquet of flowers.”
I obviously could never do it, neither could Ryan. Xavier already looks like he would be sick.
