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‘Javi, seriously. How much money do you have?’
He studied her, noticing the seriousness in her tone. ‘More than I could ever spend in several lifetimes.’
‘More than a billion?’
‘Many more.’
‘And while we’re away, you’re just content to let your billions...do their thing?’
He laughed. ‘I have good staff. I trust them.’
‘Mmm...’ she replied, thinking of how her call to her own staff had gone that morning.
Javier left shortly after for his final doctor’s appointment, while she remained on the patio, her hand soothing Diabla’s discomfort at the sudden hive of activity. She smiled as the small feline butted her head against her palm until Emily picked her up and placed her happily in her lap, because in truth Emily needed the comfort as much as Diabla appeared to.
No, she thought to herself. The phone call with her office manager hadn’t gone well. They were happy for her, of course, but she hadn’t been prepared for the disappointment. The San Antonio client needed to move up their timescale, which would mean another site visit and condensed deadlines. They were willing to pay, but they wantedher. And they wanted her next week. And she couldn’t do that. She was making a go of things with Javier, and she wanted their honeymoon. Wanted to explore all the richness that Istanbul had to offer. Her creativity, half-starved until she’d returned to Frigiliana, was ravenous now. At least that was what Emily kept telling herself. It was her creativity she wanted to feed, and to give her marriage to Javier the time and work it deserved.
So she was willing to sacrifice the San Antonio client, telling herself that she and her staff had already been stretched thin and that it was best to give their existing clients their focus rather than splitting it further. And while her office manager had tried to talk her round, Emily stayed firm. She was doing what she needed to do for herself and for her marriage. Even if it left her feeling a level of discomfort that was strangely familiar.
Diabla flicked her tail against Emily’s legs in a syncopated beat that made her smile. The adoring look from the cat as Emily stroked and soothed her was soft comfort that she readily welcomed until Javier came bursting through the front door, declaring to the whole of Frigiliana that he wasfree!
‘I have champagne.’
‘More?’ she asked, laughing.
‘I would bathe you in it, if you hadn’t taken out the bath six years ago.’
‘It was the right move.’
‘And yet I still miss it.’
‘You have a pool!’
‘I do notwashin my pool,’ he said, mock outrage in his tone as he reached for her, dislodging Diabla, and pulled her into his arms for a kiss that went from welcome to wanton in seconds.
‘As much as I would love to take this to its very logical and incredibly tempting conclusion, we must get ready.’
‘Get ready for what?’
‘Istanbul, of course. We leave tonight!’
Javier was moving fast. Too fast. But he couldn’t escape the feeling that there was something coming. Somethingbad. Not usually a superstitious man, he couldn’t shake the belief that if they didn’t leave for Istanbul immediately, then whatever dark promise was on the horizon would catch up with them and change their lives irrevocably.
So he couldn’t understand why—given that his wife had only come here with a suitcase with two weeks’ worth of clothes—it was taking Emily so long to pack. He entered the bedroom to find her holding up a pair of trousers and frowning.
‘What is it,mi reina?’
She shook her head and looked up at him. ‘I don’t have the kind of clothes that should be worn where we are going. I can’t weartheseto what was once a palace, Javi,’ she said, pulling at her simple linen trousers.
‘Darling, you can bring whatever you like. But I don’t plan on you wearing much through the entire trip,’ he said, ending on a growl that formed at the mere thought of her naked, on silk sheets, skin glazed bronze by the Turkish afternoon sun.
She batted him away. ‘Seriously. I could really do with going shopping.’
‘I will buy you whatever your heart desires...inIstanbul,’ he stressed, throwing the pile of clothes from the side of her case into it.
‘I can buy my own clothes, Javi,’ she said with a little more bite than he’d expected. He could feel her scratch as if Diabla had taken a swipe.
‘What is it,mi amor?’ he asked, gently turning her towards him.
