All Of Her (Fantasy Heights) (6 page)

He began to pump his arm, driving his fingers in and out, grinding his tongue and lips against her. She spread her knees as far as she could, offering herself up and, hanging to her senses by a thread, fumbled around until her hand alighted on the ever-present treasure chest.

She fished inside for something she’d seen last time, and caught the soft, small bullet vibrator with her fingertips.

Thomas’s free hand clamped down over hers. He lifted his head. “No. Don’t you dare. If you even look at me the wrong way right now, I’ll pop.”

“And that would be bad because...?”

He lowered his head, snarling and humming against her, pumping and twisting his fingers so hard that she could do nothing but throw her head back and try to fight off the inevitable.

He won, of course. The moment she started to come he substituted his tongue for his fingers, tasting and thrusting, warm and wet.

She was half mad at him when she wound down enough to think straight. But then she saw him lying beside her, propped up on one elbow, wearing a singularly smug, self-satisfied look that made her laugh instead.

Proud of himself. The man took great pride in making her come so hard she lost her senses. And when she reached down to begin massaging the tip of his cock, he simply rolled onto his back and let her return the favor.

She was still thinking of it the following Saturday, as they parked the car and walked into the public gardens where Darren and Shelley were about to be married. Josh hardly looked like himself in a lightweight, navy suit. Extremely handsome and distinguished, rather than the more All-American, hard-working Joe she was used to. Thomas, on the other hand, looked very at home in his grey, stylishly cut suit with black tie and white shirt.

Leading this embarrassment of riches into a family wedding was just a hair on the unnerving side. Her father, mother, and stepmother looked as if they scarcely knew what to say. She knew her father, at least, would want to know who Josh and Thomas were, and whether he needed to knock any heads.

Her mother, Veronica, appeared slightly bewildered by the whole thing, but then Mom pretty much looked that way all the time. Sobriety wasn’t her strong suit. Neither was mothering, and Amanda wasn’t sure she liked the distinctly jealous quality to her demeanor.

Trisha, her stepmother, made her feel the most comfortable. Trisha shook Josh’s hand and then Thomas’s, finally taking Amanda’s and leaning in to whisper. “You’re very brave. Thank you for coming.”

Amanda managed a small smile. She’d surrounded herself in a cushion of numb acceptance, ready to deflect any barbs or curious looks with firm resolve. This wedding they were about to attend had cost her damned near everything: her peaceful, secure future. Her job. Her self-confidence. Her self-image. Everywhere she looked, she caught someone staring, as if they couldn’t believe she’d had the nerve to show her face.

She couldn’t quite believe it herself. If she hadn’t used the wedding as a bargaining chip, she might not have followed through, or had Josh and Thomas as gorgeous meat shields to protect her through it. But she felt all right as they took seats on the bride’s side. The guys flanked her, looking around at everyone else, and not without a distinct note of intimidation. They were flat-out daring anyone to make her feel bad.

She found it slightly amusing that they gave no one a single clue as to who they might be or what type of relationship they might share. Neither of them draped an arm over the back of her chair. Neither of them took her hand, though they did offer the occasional whisper, asking questions about how long her parents had been divorced, and whether or not she and Trisha got along.

They stopped short of asking about Shelley, or ran out of time. One of the two. Before she knew it, Darren had come out with his groomsmen. Seeing him now for the first time since she’d taken off, she didn’t feel as unaffected as she’d hoped. It still hurt to know that he’d decided she wasn’t good enough for him. A weary, jaded void inside couldn’t even conjure up the juice to wish him and her stepsister ill. They would break each other’s hearts eventually. That was practically a given, and it gave her no pleasure whatsoever to think of it.

Finally the music changed over to the wedding march. Shelley came down the aisle in all her doe-eyed, bleach-blond glory. Amanda did have to admit she looked lovely in her ivory beaded gown. Darren’s reaction to the sight of his bride wasn’t very revealing. But then, if Amanda had ever been able to read him accurately, she might have realized what was happening behind her back.

She stifled a sigh and tuned out, drawing within herself through the rest of the ceremony. She went through the motions like an automaton, standing when bidden, sitting back down again. Every now and then Josh would take a long, sidelong peek at her, telling her things with his eyes.
You’ll be all right
.
It will hurt less with time
.
You’ll get over it
.

She supposed he would know, having lost his wife several years ago. Feeling a fresh draught of sympathy for his loss, she nudged him gently with her shoulder, sending a return message with her own eyes.

His eyes crinkled up in the corner in a vague rendition of a smile. They sat through the rest of the ceremony, skipping straight out as soon as it ended, and avoiding the receiving line entirely.

Once they were at the fringes, Thomas draped an arm around her waist and gave her a gentle squeeze. “You all right?”

“Yeah. I’m just glad it’s over.”

It took them a moment to realize they’d left Josh behind. He’d stopped a few steps back to stare at someone out in the parking lot, leaning against a green sedan. A woman. Not very tall, but very thin. Dark green suit with a close-fitting skirt. Pretty, early forties, probably, with darkish auburn hair and fair skin. Even from a distance of about thirty yards, Amanda could see that the woman wore a vague smile. She watched them all together while she waited, arms crossed over her chest.

As soon as Thomas saw the other woman, his reaction was quick and revealing. “Oh, fuck me.”

Josh echoed the sentiment. “What are they doing here?”

They? Amanda had to look a bit closer, until she realized there was someone in the car behind their unwanted new arrival. She could make out nothing but a dark shape inside the car from this distance.

“Who is she?” Amanda asked.

Thomas snorted. “Cue the flying blue monkeys.”

“What? What do you mean, blue monkeys? Who is she?”

Instead of answering her question, he tightened his hold on her. “Come on. We’ll let Josh handle this.”

“Thanks, fucker.”

Thomas held a hand up, maybe in apology, maybe in something else, and led Amanda away. Over her shoulder, she watched as Josh dragged himself to confront the mystery woman.

Hoping she might get a better answer this time, she asked again. “Thomas, who is she?”

“Her name is Fiona Cornell. She’s sort of an advisor to the resort’s other owner.”

“Steph?”

“No. The other one.”

“I still don’t know who the other owner is.”

“And all I can say to that is
good
. You can add them both to your list of people to stay away from. And hope someone drops a house on one or both.”

“Nice. Way to put my mind at rest.” Still, her gaze strayed to the car. Who was the resort’s third owner? Was this mysterious owner the one waiting in the car? Why was it a secret?

Thomas jogged her arm. “Don’t worry about them. They’re hardly ever around, and they’d have no interest in you, even if they were. It’s Josh Fiona came here to see.”

Thomas led her to his truck and they got in to wait. Whatever that Fiona woman wanted, it didn’t take long. She and Josh had words. She reached back and knocked a knuckle against the passenger-side window. It slid down, and the driver handed out a clipboard.

Josh grabbed it with a flourish of irritation, but took out a pen and signed whatever it was. Once he’d handed the clipboard back, he left her there and returned to Amanda and Thomas, looking as calm and cool as usual.

When Josh climbed into the backseat, Thomas asked, “What did she want?”

“A signature.”

“So she drove all the way out here to track you down?”

Thomas had sounded dubious, but must have thought the better of pressing for details with Amanda in the car.

Amanda had no such prudence. “How did she know where we’d be? I mean, not to sound paranoid or anything, but did either of you tell anyone where we were going today?”

“Only Steph,” they said in unison. Then Thomas added, “Well, and Beverly. She had to reschedule some stuff for me.”

Josh reached forward and put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. No one’s going anywhere near your family or friends. If it wasn’t urgent, she wouldn’t have dared use privileged information to find me.”

Reflexively, Amanda looked to Thomas for a confirmation or argument. His response was instant. “It’s true. She’s learned not to mess with Josh.”

From behind her came a cynical snort, but Thomas looked troublingly serious when he offered more explanation. “He might look all blond and hardworking and harmless, but Josh knows how to slam a door, if you know what I mean.”

Josh asked, “Huh?”

She did know what Thomas meant. He’d told her there were certain doors she shouldn’t open, that once she went through, she couldn’t back out again. And it was entirely possible that Josh’s attempt to write the whole thing off as high school politics was his way of slamming a door on the direction she’d been headed, for her own good.

Thomas turned his attention back to the road, leaving her to digest that in silence. The uncertainty and doubt left her quiet and thoughtful. Indeed, all three of them travelled in silence. Thomas drove while Josh sat in back, working on a laptop the whole time. She spent a while worrying, turning certain things over and over in her mind, knowing it did no good. All the speculation on what might or might not really be going on at Fantasy Heights was wasted energy, and served no purpose other than to upset her.

If she wanted to be upset about something, the wedding gave her sufficient cause. Aside from the obvious feelings of exclusion and rejection, she’d noticed other things. During the ceremony, her parents and stepmother hadn’t looked proud or happy or excited. That famine of emotion sent a thrill of fear through her chest, followed by a pang of pity. They’d made their beds. All of them.

She had, too. For the most part, she was quite comfortable with where she’d landed. Despite the doubts and worries swirling around the periphery, she liked the challenge of her job. It forced her to be brave and daring. To try things. To feel and think and free herself from all the restraint and inhibitions most people allowed to smother them.

They stopped for dinner at a place just outside town. A baseball game blaring from a television in the lounge took away most opportunity for conversation that none of them probably wanted anyhow.

The guys dropped her off at home, and she emptied the mailbox on her way in. She was about to drop the short stack of bills and junk mail onto a rent table when a sound from her home office made her head snap around to face that direction.

She sidestepped until she could see into the small room. It was darker inside than in the hallway, but she could see well enough to make out the woman perched on the corner of her desk. One pointy tip of a dark green, high-heeled shoe swung back and forth in a perfectly relaxed manner.

Fiona Cornell. The woman they’d just left in the parking lot back at the wedding, had somehow gotten into her house, and had lain in wait.

Amanda, more angered than afraid, dropped the mail onto the table and turned, one hand on her hip. She sent her other hand into a pocket for her cellphone. She knew a troublemaker when she saw one, and would not let this woman get away with anything.

Fiona didn’t seem the least bit worried by the appearance of a cellphone. She remained right where she was, the same small, vague smile pressed into her features. And in a very calm, pleasant voice, she spoke. “I’m sorry for skipping the usual social niceties, but I figured Joshua and Thomas would have explained by now who I was.”

Trying to mirror the woman’s cool demeanor, Amanda carefully considered her response. “Sure they did. But that doesn’t explain why you broke into my house.”

“Because I’m hearing some things. Mostly that you’re very bright, and a great favorite with some very powerful people around here. Are you even aware that you were the first person Thomas has ever agreed to train?”

No, she hadn’t realized. It had never occurred to her that he might not have done it before.

Fiona Cornell slid sideways until she was back on her feet again, poised and serene. “I like you, Amanda. I think that you could turn out to be the most important thing to happen at Fantasy Heights for a very long time. And because I suspect others feel the same, I’m going to do you a favor.”

“Like leaving my house before I have to call the police?”

“No need to be rude. I’ll go. Just come have a seat. Take a look.”

For a moment, there wasn’t enough curiosity in the entire world to make Amanda look at anything Fiona Cornell wanted to show her. But then the older woman reached over to turn her computer monitor round, showing the homepage of an Internet search engine.

In the entry field, Fiona had typed
Josh Taylor
and the name of the town where they lived.

Fiona placed her hand atop the monitor. “All you have to do is press enter, and you’ll find out rather a lot.”

“I won’t, you know. Josh’s private life is none of my business.”

“Oh, did you think this was only about Joshua? You’ll see. One day, you’ll change your mind and hit that button. One day, you will. I guarantee it.”

Amanda crossed her arms over her chest, and tried to think of words strong enough to wipe that serene, self-assured look off Fiona Cornell’s face. She was still struggling as the older woman strode past her and walked out the front door.

More frightened than she really wanted to admit to herself, Amanda stood there a moment. What just happened? What should she do?