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“Can’t remember much else.”
It was the sort of half-truth he could live with; after all, he couldn’t remember many details beyond how he felt when he was expecting his bride.
The strange bride herself was a blur—although his brain was starting to fill in a face.
* * *
The door had hardly closed behind them before Mari flung her arms around his shoulders and brought her face to his for a kiss.
He took her lips hungrily, exploring her mouth with his tongue before gently pulling away and indicating the bouquet.
“Let’s put these away, shall we?” he said, wanting to make sure to preserve the flowers properly for her.
She ran to find a container, filling it with water in record time.
He started to arrange them, but he was apparently too detail-oriented for her, for she pulled him away, stripping off her top, then pulling him toward the bedroom.
“Remind me to put the flower food in…”
Her mouth grabbed his again.
He helped her out of her bra and she wiggled out of her jeans and underwear.
He picked her up and laid her on the bed gently before stripping his own clothes off and eventually covering her body with his.
He kissed her, remaining poised above her, her legs parted on each side of him, while she pulled on him, silently begging him to take her.
He wanted to taste her, nibble on her neck and breasts, slide his hands all over her before they joined again, but she was quite impatient this time around.
Still, he decided to torture her, pretending not to understand her hunger.
Finally, she broke her lips away to say, “Please take me!” but before she got all the words out, he plunged into her warmth, smiling wickedly as she arched her back in pleasure.
* * *
“Do you have to go?” he asked drowsily as Mari turned to shut her alarm off.
He couldn’t believe it was morning already.
They had gotten back from their outing around six, then had a quick lovemaking session before grabbing snacks and chatting a bit about decor ideas while he properly sorted out her new flowers.
Then she had attacked him again, and they had spent the next few hours joined.
At some point, they had both fallen asleep—although she had nodded off first, giving him the chance to admire her, to let all of his feelings flow freely as he caressed her silky brown skin, to place soft kisses on her forehead, her cheek, her shoulder.
She made him forget all of his problems—so much so, that he hadn’t even done his due diligence in following up on the wedding scandal.
But no doubt his dad had taken care of it, and he didn’t give a whit what his father had come up with; all that mattered was being here with Mari.
Things were finally clear; he knew what he wanted to do.
“How long will you be gone you think?” he asked as she was about to disappear into the bathroom.
“I’m just following up on this one lead, so it shouldn’t be more than two hours. Then we can do whatever you want.”
The door closed and he heard the shower turn on.
He considered following her in there again, but he didn’t want to fluster her or make her late for her meeting.
He smiled to himself.
They’d have plenty of time for what he had in mind later.
Maribel got ready in record time, and he was suddenly faced with goodbye.
“I’ll miss you,” he said before pressing his lips to her forehead, feeling the weight of truth in the statement.
How had he gotten so used to her so fast?
She grabbed him by the cheeks and planted one on his lips.
“I can’t wait to get back to you,” she said with a twinkle in her eye and an endearingly shy but joyous smile.
Chapter 12
Jim
Jim stared at the mail pile—notices from news stations, magazines.
So Mari had been applying to media and entertainment companies—made sense. Everyone could use a good copy editor.
It seemed a little strange that all the communication came from television stations, magazines, and newspapers, however.
Jim’s stomach dropped as his phone rang, and dread began to spread through him.
He knew it couldn’t have been Mari calling—his gut let him know it could only be one of two people he would dread hearing from, and considering the way things ended with Lucy, that left one person.
“Dad?”
“Well, look who’s still alive! Well, thank heavens. Glad you’re okay, son, because the sixty hours or so I haven’t heard from you makes a father worry.”
“I’m sure Judy told you I was okay.”
“Surely, you didn’t think that was enough? I would hate to think that my only son—my flesh and blood—would have the courtesy to let his only living parent know that he’s okay himself. I had to have done a better job of raising him than that.”
“Dad, I’m sorry—I just needed some time away to think. I had to clear my head.”
“That’s perfectly understandable—except you should let certain people know what’s going on. Among them, your father, your future wife…”
“Who you managed to fuck in my brief absence—yes, I know.”
His father paused.
“So I comforted the girl. She felt humiliated. Rejected.”
“Dad, I’m not even going to argue about that; I couldn’t care less who Lucy spreads her legs for, which was part of the problem. I’m not going to marry her—whether you’d slept with her or not, I can’t stand the idea of being hitched to her. Not saying I’m not open to the idea of marriage ever, but I can’t waste time on Lucy.”
“You’d rather spend it with Maribel, correct?”
Jim suddenly heard his heartbeats in his ears.
“How do you know about her?”
&nbs
p; “Lucy gave me a rundown of your meeting, of course. What, you think I wouldn’t take matters into my own hands? Like I said, you disappeared after running out on your wedding day without a word, your phone is turned off, you never show up to your penthouse—what do you expect a father to do? Anyway, once Lucy made contact with you, it was easier to make sure everything was fine and do a little digging.”
Jim’s heart was still pounding; part of him was expecting the other shoe to drop.
“Listen, I don’t blame you for squeezing in more flings; we’ll return to this matter some other day, and I won’t force you to marry Lucy. Anyway, I hope you haven’t been too chatty with this Maribel.”
“What do you mean?”
“I may have failed you when it comes to common courtesy—I mean, it’s not like I’m the strongest example of it myself as you’ve pointed out—but I have at least raised you to be smart. To do your due diligence to some degree. Surely, you haven’t fallen into the trap of spilling secrets in the afterglow to a reporter?”
The beats in Jim’s ear seemed to stop.
“Excuse me?” he said while his eyes darted to the stack of mail again.
“I can’t imagine she kept it from you all this time. Madison will have her work cut out for her if you’ve been so careless as to give this reporter any details; the whole PR department will be busy. You know those media vultures are always chomping at the bit for a story. Everyone loves a scandalous takedown.”
“Don’t be so dramatic, dad—what sort of takedown can happen from a silly story about an unfinished wedding?”
“Surely, I don’t have to spell this out for you, but alas—it looks like I must. This reporter knows the ins and outs of the past few days, doesn’t she? The real reason you were to marry Lucy? That Lucy and I have had relations? About the conglomerate? We are a strong family brand, are we not? I mean, sure—you’re right, ultimately, who cares about the sordid sex lives of members of one’s financial consulting firm or investment companies? Except some people do. I’d prefer to keep our image clean, but obviously, you have other plans.”
