Fifteen Weekends (19 page)

  “Vince,” her voice became shaky. “You don’t think any of these organizations will hold my past against me do you?”

  “They better not if they’d like to stay in my favorable and generous graces.”

  Amanda swallowed the fear that had crept in her throat upon hearing Vince’s reassuring words.

  “I…I…don’t want to be a bother for you Vince or wreck any relationships you have built because of my errors in judgment.”

  The water turned off and Amanda saw Vince reach for his towel. She got a glimpse of his naked body through the fogged glass.

  “Amanda,” he said very calmly. “In case it’s unclear, I always get what I want. People need me, I don’t need them. Whatever charity or foundation you decide to put your efforts into, they
will
accept your help without question. I’ll make dammed sure of that.”

  As Amanda finished putting Vince’s clothes in his suitcase, she realized the incredible reach of Vince’s power. He stepped out of the shower, and Amanda couldn’t help but sneak a peek at his chiseled abs and sculpted arms. Vince was incredibly fit. Her hormones kicked into overdrive. He walked into the bedroom and stood directly in front of her. She could feel the heat radiating off his body. Water droplets from his wet hair splashed on Amanda’s skin as he kissed her on the cheek.

  Amanda couldn’t take it anymore. Vince looked totally edible standing there half-naked in front of her. She did something bold—she kissed him and tugged on the towel. Vince pushed her to the bed. She was spread out beneath him, and his firm body molded to hers. Vince yanked the tie out of Amanda’s ponytail releasing her blonde hair from its hold. He dipped his head to kiss her. She let out a soft moan, and her knees went weak as Vince slowly removed her clothes from her trim frame.

  “Vince…I,” she panted breathlessly.

  “Hush baby, I got you. No more talking,” his deep voice commanded.

  Amanda threw her head back, letting out a whimper, as she felt Vince lower his dark head delivering slow licks to the most sensitive part of her body.

 
Oh, God…this was definitely worth the wait.

Chapter Twenty-Four:

Ashleigh

   Ashleigh had only been home for a few days. She had just returned from a hotel opening in Seattle and was getting ready to leave for Montreal in the morning. The Le Petit Hotel & Café in Montreal was Ashleigh’s first stop on her next assignment regarding the best boutique hotels in North America.

  She had convinced her Editor to let her write the piece. Combining all the research Ashleigh had compiled from past trips with the latest online guest comments of the hotels she picked, the article would be a breeze. In addition, Ashleigh had emailed all her contacts at nearly thirty boutique hotels across the continent letting them know about her article, and she immediately had responses back. Hotels wanted to be on that list, badly.

  With all the activity of the past few weeks, Ashleigh had been so engrossed with work she realized she had barely talked to Liam. She looked at her phone and quickly calculated what time it was in London, 7:00 P.M. She stopped packing and pulled up Skype to see if Liam was logged on, not sure if she would be able to catch him online on a Saturday night. She looked, just in case, but Liam was not online. Checking his twitter and Facebook feed for any recent activity made Ashleigh feel a little bit like a stalker. His last tweet was about a recent article he read regarding a new hotel opening in Dubai, and that was on Friday. Liam’s latest Facebook post was a check in at the Newman Arms Pub on Rathbone Street in London that said,
“
HAVING
A
FEW
PINTS
WITH
THE
LADS
.”

  Gazing out the window of her penthouse that overlooked the river, she wondered what everyone was up to at that moment. She knew Emily was currently at the Farmer’s market with Ethan. Ashleigh had been invited to join them for drinks that afternoon, but she still had packing to do before she left for Montreal early the next morning.

  Suddenly feeling very lonely, she contemplated texting Amanda to see if she wanted to hangout.
Why am I feeling so lonely?
She realized that she was really missing Liam, and sent him a quick Facebook message:
HI
LIAM
,
HOPE
YOU
ARE
DOING
WELL
.
I
JUST
WANTED
TO
SAY
HELLO
AND
SEE
HOW
THINGS
WERE
GOING
.

  Closing her suitcase she walked to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of San Pellegrino out of her refrigerator. She came back to her laptop and clicked on the message she had just sent Liam.  She knew he had read it because it now displayed: SEEN
12:13
P
.
M
.
with a checkmark. Usually Liam responds quickly to her messages, but this time he did not. Then again he was out with friends, but that had never stopped him from getting back to her before. Now Ashleigh was starting to wonder if she had offended Liam in some way. Even worse, maybe he had a different opinion of her now, knowing her past.

  Quickly she put those thoughts out of her mind and decided to hit the gym for a quick workout to unwind. Maybe she was just stressed from all the travel and work she had been putting in lately. It does take a toll on the mind and body. Changing into her workout clothes she put her hair up in to a tousled bun and headed off to the gym.

Chapter Twenty-Five:

Emily

  Emily and Ethan were on their way back to her house from the Fulton Street Farmer’s Market. They had picked up lots of fresh veggies, fruit and some wine while they were shopping. Emily was planning to make Caprese salads for lunch and relax on the back patio with a glass of Pinot Grigio. Ethan pulled his black Lexus into the driveway, and they began to unload the groceries.

  “Here let me unlock the door, Emily. Hand me your keys.” Ethan could see that Emily had undoubtedly picked up one too many bags and was struggling.

  “Here you go,” she said as she handed him the keys and walked up to the door.

  “Emily, did you leave your house unlocked?” Ethan noticed her front door was not locked when he turned the key. He had locked the door instead of unlocking it. Just then Emily heard a loud noise from inside her house.

  “Ethan…” Emily whispered.

  Ethan replied calmly, “I heard it too. Emily stay here, and I’ll go check it out.”

  Ethan set the wine and the bag of groceries down and slowly opened the door.

  When he reached the kitchen he saw Emily’s patio doors were open. The noise they heard was the sound of her lamp on the credenza near the stairs crashing onto the wood floor. Pieces were scattered everywhere.

  Emily shouted in a low whisper, “Ethan, what’s going on?”

  He didn’t answer. She grabbed the bag of groceries and tapped the door open with her foot. Walking into her house, Emily felt a chill in the air. She felt like crying. Looking around, nothing seemed to be out of order, but the fact that a stranger had been in her home made her feel uneasy. Ethan turned the corner, and Emily let out a shrill scream. He jumped, and Emily dropped the bags.
  “Dammit Em, I told you to stay outside,” he scolded.

  She looked down at the floor and the pile of fresh vegetables that pooled at her feet. The apples bounced and rolled to the kitchen.

  A sigh escaped Emily as she asked, “Ethan, did you happen to check upstairs when you were in here?”

  “No, I didn’t. Stay here and I’ll go look.” Ethan walked up the stairs in a stealthy manner like Jack Ryan as Emily stood in her kitchen waiting for the news or an all clear from Ethan.

 
“Ethan, is everything okay up there?”

  “Em, I think you should come up here,” Ethan replied stopping halfway down the stairs. His face seemed to be drained of all color. Emily became frightened and felt all the muscles in her body tighten upon seeing Ethan’s expression.

  “Ethan, what is it? You’re scaring me,” her voice hitched as she gradually followed Ethan up the staircase. Ethan carefully opened Emily’s bedroom door. She entered with caution. What she saw hanging on her bedroom mirror and walls stopped Emily in her tracks, paralyzing her with a fear she had never felt. She stood motionless then gripped Ethan’s hand.

  “Em, call the police,
now
,” Ethan instructed. “And you’re not staying here tonight. You’ll be coming home with me.”

  “Hello? Someone at this address called the police?” a female voice said.

  Emily’s heart was pounding as she moved her eyes from one location to the next. Her bedroom was covered with photos of her and Ethan together. Shopping for groceries—together, working out—together, eating at a restaurant—together, and there were even a few pictures of the two of them talking in the parking lot outside of Cooper Bentley. The most frightening photo of all was a picture of the two of them clearly having sex in what appeared to be Ethan’s bed. The photo showed Emily from behind with her dark hair cascading down over her shoulders and her back. You couldn’t see her face, as she was on top of Ethan, but you could plainly see him.

  “How in the hell did someone take
that
picture?” she inquired with anger in her voice while pointing to it on the wall.

  Ethan walked over and angrily ripped the photo down. Seeing the same image in another spot, he reached out his hand, but quickly drew back thinking he could be destroying evidence. There was another photo that was at such close range, Emily wondered if the person who took it was in the room with them.

  “Anyone home? You called for the police,” the female voice inquired again.

  “Emily, come on,” Ethan said as he tugged her elbow.
  “Uhhh…yes…I called the police. We’ll be right down.”  Since there was really no time for Emily to freak out, thanks to the speed of the Grand Rapids police, she tucked her hair behind her ear and walked down the staircase. Ethan followed.

  There in her kitchen stood two officers. The female officer was short with dirty blonde hair that was tucked into a low bun under her hat. She had deep brown eyes and looked to be in her early twenties. The male officer was tall and had a mustache.
Of course he did
. He smelled like aftershave and cigarettes.

  Emily reached her hand out to the female officer and said, “Hi, thank you for coming. I’m Emily Greene, and I’m the one who called. This is my friend, Ethan Carlson.”

  “I’m Officer Scott, and this is Officer Randolph. Can you tell me what happened?” Officer Randolph tipped his cap and nodded towards Emily.

  Emily recounted all she could, which was really not all that much. She pointed out the broken lamp and the open patio doors. Officer Scott was diligently taking notes as Officer Randolph scanned the living room and kitchen.

  “Is there anything else Miss Greene? Is anything missing?”

  Emily bit her lip, and her eyes welled with tears. Ethan noticed she was beginning to break. Gently placing his arms around her, he said, “Officers, you should probably come upstairs and have a look for yourselves.”