AllFreeNovel
Share Us
31
PARADISE
The ocean wasthe deepest azure I’d ever seen, a close second to the color of Theo’s eyes.
Clad in his button-down shirt, I turned away from our tiki hut’s small patio and into the bamboo styled room, where Theo was just finishing up our breakfast. His scar was tamed today with a light application of my foundation, the closest we came to disguising his distinguishing mark from curious—or shrewd—stares.
“We should see the ruins today,” I said to him as I resumed my position, curling my legs under me on the couch beside him.
“Have you not gotten your fill of the Mayan temples yet?” Theo asked, gliding his finger down the opening of my shirt. “Because I can think of a few other things we could do.”
“We already did that,” I said, laughing as I pulled in the collar, dislodging Theo’s hand. The sound felt brilliant in my throat, a musical instrument that had been occurring more and more lately.
“And?” He pushed aside his empty plate, his grin sexy and mischievous. “Let’s do it again. And again.”
“Wecan’t.” I laughed again and pushed him away. “I have an appointment, remember.”
“Cancel it.”
“I already have. Twice.”
He nuzzled my neck. “Third time’s a charm.”
“MisterChanning,” I managed to say within my moan. “If I don’t go to this one, they’ll never allow me to book there again. And I need to.”
He growled but lifted his head. “Fine, Mrs. Channing.”
Theo’s cell rang, and he grumbled as he rose to get it. “Seems you’re not the only one,” he said.
I smiled at his back, those delectable muscles between his shoulder blades rippling as he walked to the other side of our small suite to retrieve his cell.
I picked at a cluster of grapes as he answered.
“Yeah?” he said.
Silence.
I looked up, primed for what had been eight months of waiting. After leaving New York City, we boarded a flight with new passports, provided by Kai, to the Philippines and have been bouncing around ever since. When news of the workings of the Saxon trial reached us—plea deals were still being negotiated, if taken at all—we’d unobtrusively moved closer and were now in Tulum, Mexico, the nearest we’d ever been.
Initially charged with murder, Gordon Saxon faced eleven felony charges, the worst being the killing of me, Scarlet Rhodes. But once the dental records came back as not a match to my supposed body, that charge would likely be dropped and news of the possibility I was still alive would reach his ears. But he still had those other bodies to contend with, and kidnapping, false imprisonment, conspiracy to commit murder.
Trace faced multiple counts of assault with a deadly weapon along with conspiracy to commit murder. Drea, his latest victim, refused to testify, but that didn’t prevent the evidence from mounting against them both.
Would Trace and Gordon get off with the minimum felony charges? That was a large possibility, hence my new moniker of Madison Channing, with my husband, Darren Channing, currently enjoying our “honeymoon.” But with the small chance of their being jailed, I could come back to city and see my parents face-to-face, rather than secret notes and coded postcards passed to them hinting that I was okay.
I’d come to accept that I’d likely never return as Scarlet Rhodes, at least not officially. I’d made an enemy of the Saxons—that domino falling years ago—and they held grudges. But with Theo by my side, it didn’t feel as brutal an axe. As these months went by and he stayed, I spent less time jerking away at night, searching for his form beside me, and more curling up in the bends and folds of him as he slept, tucking his arm around my waist.
Trust wasn’t something given freely, and it was taking time to know each other’s habits, to get used to the fact that we were together and weren’t parting any time soon … an upgrade to our relationship I’d never expected. Were we perfect? Of course not. We fought about ludicrous things like who used the last of the toothpaste and what the chances were of a Saxon assassin finding me and exacting Gordon’s revenge. Usually things not reserved for normal, average, happy couples.
The Theo I’d known and crafted in my head during those missing years was constantly planning, organizing, betting and on the move. This guy, however, spent all his time with me, relaxed and easy save for calls like these that flipped him back to the man he was.
But, we were healing together. Or trying to.
“Okay. Thanks,” Theo said, then clicked off.
“Well?” I asked as he approached, the phone hanging loose in his hand.
“There’s likely a plea deal with my father. Ten years.”
