Beneath These Lies (25 page)

On the other hand, if she hadn’t gotten wrapped up in him, I wouldn’t be sitting at my kitchen table with his “boss” either. Which was another situation that was only half-resolved and didn’t seem to have any easy answers.

Rix’s phone buzzed in his pocket, and he stood to take the call. As soon as he’d left the room, Trinity turned to me.

“You’re gonna marry that man. I already know it. You better learn how to cook, girl, because he’s the kind that comes with quite an appetite.” She winked at me.

I wasn’t going to touch that statement with a ten-foot pole, especially not with Rix only one room away. The deep rumble of his voice carried just enough for me to lose the easy feeling I’d had most of the morning.

“I want patrols 24/7. We’re not fucking around. They’ll be back for blood.”

Chills ran through me at his prediction to whomever was on the other end of the call. Trinity’s face went blank and she gathered up the dishes. I decided to follow her lead, because I didn’t know what else to do. Any questions that I had would be met with silence or a refusal to answer.

If someone was coming back for blood, I didn’t think I wanted to know when or how or who, so long as they stayed far, far away from me. And I wanted them to stay far, far away from Rix. I was not okay with him needing more bandages. The idea of him hurting made me want to draw blood from someone else.

Whoa.
When had I turned into this woman? Being around Rix had some very unexpected side effects.

When he ended the call and walked back into the kitchen, his face was set in an implacable expression. “I gotta go. Be back when I can. I’ll take Trinity home too.”

“Can I talk to you for a minute? Alone.”

He turned, and I followed him back into the living room where he’d taken the call. Only this time I shut the French doors behind me.

“I wasn’t eavesdropping, but I heard some of what you said anyway.”

“And?”

“And I want to know if Trinity is going to be safe at her gran’s. The woman is elderly and not in the greatest health. If anyone is looking to use her as leverage again, won’t they just break in and grab her?”

“I guess you did hear plenty.” He lifted his hand to my face and tucked my hair behind my ear again. It was an intimate gesture, and one that was at odds with his stoic side. “I’m not gonna let anything happen to her. She’ll have someone watching out for her around the clock. I don’t expect they’ll retaliate that way, but I’m prepared for it regardless.”

“Good. Thank you.”

He shook his head. “You don’t need to thank me, duchess. I take care of the people under my protection.”

“So does that mean someone’s watching me too?”

Rix’s stare intensified. “I’ve had my guys on you for a while. Now, you’re never unprotected.”

Surprise rippled through me, but it wasn’t altogether unpleasant . . . until I recalled the dates I’d been on with Rhett. I wondered if he’d heard about those. My thoughts must have been written on my face, because Rix frowned.

“I didn’t always like what I heard, but I heard it anyway.”

Well, that answered that.

“You opening the gallery today?” he asked.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because you have a plywood front window and you need to learn how to take a break.”

I stiffened at the second part of his statement. “I don’t tell you how to run your . . . business, so I don’t think you get the right to tell me how to run mine.”

He stepped closer, leaving no space between us, my breasts pressing against his chest. “Working six or seven days a week is gonna burn you out, duchess. And I want you smiling. Besides, tonight I got plans for you.”

He was right about the burnout. As much as I loved the gallery, threads of resentment were starting to form. My life was dictated by my work, which was completely normal for a small business owner, but I was starting to feel the weight of it more than I ever had in the past. Maybe because in the past I hadn’t had anything else competing for my attention like I did now. I hadn’t had a life outside my business.

“Now that Trinity is back and if you’ve got people staked out for security, I can see if she’s interested in taking on a few more hours a week. Remy already asked for more hours.”

Rix slid his hand into my hair and closed his fingers around it. The gesture was so him, so possessive, it unleashed butterflies in my stomach. “Good. I like that. So, tonight I’m gonna send you a text with instructions, and I want you to follow them to the letter.”

“What kind of instructions?” I asked.

“The kind I want you to follow without question. I may not be able to sit across a table from you at a fancy restaurant, but I can still take you out and show you a good time.”

My curiosity bloomed wildly. “And you’re not going to give me any hint of how you plan to show me a good time?”

A seductive smile slid across Rix’s face. “No. None at all. Follow the directions, and I promise you’ll enjoy yourself.”

With his grip on my hair, he tilted my head and lowered his lips to mine. The first passes were sips at my lips, and then when I opened to him, he took more. The kiss turned from simple to demanding in moments. Rix pulled away first.

Did I ever pull away first?
No, because you’re completely lost in him whenever he touches you.
How long had it been since I’d felt this comfortable with a man? Years. And something told me it was unique to Rix.

He released my hair and stepped back.

“Every time I taste you, I don’t think I’m gonna be able to stop. You test my control, duchess.” He brushed his lips across mine one more time and then he opened the French doors. His eyes met mine. “Tonight.”

R
EMY WAS SCHEDULED TO WORK
with me today, and for that I was happy. I didn’t want to be alone with my thoughts all afternoon if we happened to have a slow day for customers.

Rix’s promise about tonight and the text that was sure to come with the instructions I was required to follow was constantly on my mind. He was right. We couldn’t exactly go out in public and do anything normal couples did together, because we weren’t a normal couple by any stretch of the imagination.

I scoured my brain for what else we could possibly do and came up with mostly nothing. It was hard to imagine Rix setting up a private dinner for two somewhere off the beaten path. Me and him and candlelight and roses seemed out of character. But still, my mind jumped from one outlandish possibility to the next. I was not good at surprises. I wanted to know all the things, right now.

Instead, I got to watch my new window be installed and deal with my insurance company.

The text came as I waved Remy off and flipped the O
PEN
sign to C
LOSED
.

R
IX
: Short skirt. Button-up blouse. Heels. Walk out of your house at 10 and get in the black Escalade.

How did I reply to that? With the only answer I wanted to give.

V
ALENTINA
: Okay.

Anticipation lit my system. Things were changing again. Tonight. I had five hours to get ready, and that meant it was time for a little pampering.

Manicured. Pedicured. Freshly trimmed and blown out. Showered. Shaved smooth. When I slid my feet into one of my favorite pairs of heels—black patent leather Louboutins—I felt like the woman I’d been all those years ago who wasn’t afraid to hit the bars by myself and take what I needed for the night. Confidence and intent made all the difference in the world.

From my front window, I watched as a black Escalade drove up the street. I left my front porch lights on as I slipped out the portico door and strolled down my driveway to my path, an extra sway in my hips.

The blacked-out SUV slowed to a stop and the back door opened from the inside. I pushed through the gate and crossed the sidewalk to the curb before placing my foot on the running board. I climbed up inside, pulling the door shut behind me.

The Escalade rolled forward, but my eyes were on Rix. He was dressed as I’d never seen him before, in a charcoal-gray three-piece suit, a crisp white shirt, and a silver tie that matched his eyes.

Wow
.

“Am I underdressed?” I asked, glancing down at my black mini and royal-blue silk blouse.

Rix’s gaze started at my feet and slowly rose to my face.
Devouring.
That was the word for what his eyes were doing to me.

“You look beautiful.”

His simple compliment filled me with warmth and even more excitement for the night ahead. “Thank you. You look . . . wow.”

The smile on my lips came easily, naturally, and even though I had no idea where we were going or what we were doing, I was ready—because I was with him.

“I clean up all right once in a while.”

“I’d say more than all right.”

Rix curled two fingers toward me, motioning me closer. I moved to the middle seat and he slid a hand into my hair, closing his fingers around the back of my neck. It was becoming his habit, and I was getting used to it. More than used to it, I was growing to crave it.

“I need a taste, but your lips look too perfect to touch.”

Instead of kissing my very shiny red lips—a bold choice for me—his mouth skimmed my jaw, the shell of my ear, and then down to my throat. Shivers rolled through my body, goose bumps prickling my skin with anticipation of more. I pressed my thighs together as his teeth scraped where his lips had trailed.

My movement wasn’t lost on Rix, and his hand slid to my thigh. “Fuck, you’re a hot piece, duchess.” His words curled around my ear and added to the shivers.

And then I remembered the driver. I jerked my head up and swung it toward the windshield. The man looked straight ahead, his sunglasses in place, even though it was after dark.

Rix squeezed my thigh. “Johnny Doe doesn’t see anything I don’t want him to see.”

We were already slowing in front of a large warehouse before I could reply.

“That was quick.”

Rix’s smile flashed. “And yet even with it being only minutes away from your house, I bet you’ve never heard of this club. Which isn’t a bad thing.”

“What club? I’ve heard of clubs,” I protested.

“Not clubs like this.”

I lowered my voice. “Is it a sex club?”

Rix’s laughter filled the cabin of the SUV, but Johnny Doe didn’t turn and look. “Do you want it to be?”

Did I? Tonight I was feeling like a new woman, but was this new woman
that
bold?

“Umm.” I flicked my gaze up to Rix’s flashing one. “I’ve never been to one before, so I can’t say I would even know what to expect.”

“We’d ease you in.”

My mouth dropped open and I blinked at him. “So it
is
a sex club?”

“Guess you’ll have to come and find out.”

Rix climbed out of his side of the SUV and came around to my door. My mouth was still hanging open when he offered me a hand, and we crossed the short stretch of sidewalk before reaching a black steel door. When the door opened without Rix having to knock, and a woman in a red dress stood inside, I remembered to shut my mouth.

“Right this way, sir.”

As she led us across a shiny black-lacquered floor to an elevator bay, also painted black, it was anticipation and not trepidation filling me. With Rix by my side, I didn’t feel fear. Maybe that was the upside of knowing that wherever you went, you were with the scariest SOB in the room.

The woman in the red dress didn’t follow us into the elevator, but she did press a button and the doors slid shut.

“So, you’re not going to tell me.”

Rix shook his head. “No. You get to experience.”

He pulled something from his pocket and dangled it from his fingertips. It was a mask. Lace and satin, embroidered in silver thread and studded with crystal gems. Black ribbon ties fluttered down.

Oh my God, we really are going to a sex club.

“Is that necessary?”

Rix nodded. “Even I’ll wear a mask. It’s required tonight.”

“Is this—”

“I promise you’ll enjoy it, so stop worrying.” He held the mask out, carefully laying it in place, and tied it around the back of my head before sliding a much simpler black mask over his face.