Getting Him: A New Adult International Romance Serial (Angelique's Greek Book 2) (3 page)

“Aloha,” Kalani said when he returned her to the hotel.
 

She climbed out of the over the door that wouldn’t open, then went around to the other side and took Kalani’s padded hands in hers.
 

“You are so awesome,” she said. “That piece of land is the best and as soon as I tell my bosses they’ll send the funds over.”

“Sure,” said Kalani. “Though you shouldn’t rush land purchases. I’ll get all the paperwork from the owner and get things sorted on my side and give you a call. How’s that?”

“Great,” said Angelique. “Bye, then.”

She turned to go into the hotel lobby but then remembered something and rushed back to the Jeep.
 

“Is it okay if I go down there again on my own time, just to check it out?” she asked.

“Sure, I don’t see why not,” Kalani said. “I’ll call the owner just in case and if he says no I’ll get you on your cell. That work for you?”

Angelique grinned. “Yep. See ya, Kalani.”

“See ya, Angelique.”

The Jeep spluttered to life and Kalani sped away.
 

As Angelique stepped into the polished lobby she glanced over at the clock to find it was lunchtime. She headed over to the Iokepa Restaurant, across the lobby and up the stairs onto the mezzanine floor. She loved the look of the place, with its glass walls, and dark wood and bamboo finishes. Water cascaded over river rocks arranged in a fountain sequence covering an entire wall, and yellow hibiscus arrangement glowed from bronze vases.

The restaurant was bustling but the waiter fit her into a small table on the verandah. She picked out a Lava Lava, a cocktail concoction of vodka, Kahlua coffee liqueur, banana, and vanilla ice cream, then chose a mahi mahi and shrimp with rice to eat.
 

She let out a long sigh of relief as she looked out over the ocean and relaxed back into her padded wicker seat. Traipsing around the jungle had been exhausting. She only wished Theo was with her, but knew she had to be patient for him to catch Lorenza in her lie. Before long, she and Theo would be together.
 

As she sipped her cocktail, she imagined Theo sitting beside her, his hazel eyes dancing in his face as he talked about his book, about her potential, about what they could create together.

“Angelique,” a woman’s voice said behind her, just audible above the noise of the restaurant.

Angelique turned to see Lorenza, her hair scraped back from her face in a tight ponytail, every perfect dark curve of her body showcased in a white cut-out swimsuit. Her face was pursed in a murderous expression.

“What are you doing here?” she said. “I’m surprised you’re not too ashamed to show your face around here.”

Angelique did not even get up. She was secure in the knowledge that Lorenza would soon be gone. “I have nothing to be ashamed about. My conscience is clear.”

Lorenza leaned down into Angelique’s face. “I’ve got Theo all to myself now.”

“Get out of my face,” Angelique said, making sure to keep her voice low. “Just leave me alone. I don’t want to talk to you.”

Lorenza pulled back and put her hands on her hips.
 

“Fine,” she said, so loud that people started to turn around. “I won’t get in your face. So now everyone can hear. You can stop spreading lies about me, Angelique Felix, and stop trying to steal my man. You understand me?”

“Please leave,” Angelique said. “You’re making a scene and nothing you’re saying is making any sense.”

“Theo wants
me
,” Lorenza blurted out, her voice cracking with tears. “Not you.”

“Okay,” Angelique said. She tried to sip her cocktail to calm herself down, but found there was none left when she sucked air up through the straw. “Please leave.”

“Why don’t you just give up,” Lorenza said, beginning to cry in earnest. “Just leave Theo and me alone to be together.”

An older lady approached from another table and put her arm around Lorenza. “Are you all right, dear?”

“No,” Lorenza wailed, then pointed at Angelique. “This horrible woman is trying to steal my future husband.”

The older lady gasped and others looked around from their tables and frowned at Angelique.

Lorenza sobbed. Angelique glanced back at her and saw there were no tears falling from her eyes, though she kept wiping her eyes as if there were.
 

Everyone’s eyes were on her.

“She’s making my life hell,” Lorenza said through sobs.

Angelique felt like she was about to burst. She got up from the table and stalked over to the bar, her head held high to avoid all the evil looks she expected.

“Please can you make this woman leave?” she asked one of the staff. “She’s harassing me.”

“Yes,” the waitress replied icily. It was clear by the way she looked her up and down that she thought she was scum of the earth.

*****

The frantic knocking on the hotel door wrenched Theo from the slums of Perama his imagination had transported him to and back into the present. He rushed to the hotel door, fearing something had happened to Angelique, but found Lorenza in her white swimsuit, her hair scraped back, her eyes red. She burst into renewed tears when she saw him.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

She launched herself into his arms. “I just went upstairs to the restaurant to get a cocktail. That evil bitch followed me all the way up there and started a scene. Then everyone blamed me and I got thrown out of the restaurant. I
hate
her.”

Theo wanted to rush to Angelique’s defense but knew he had to play along for a while. He helped her straighten up and led her to the bed. “How horrible for you,” he said. “Just sit down there and relax.”

Lorenza was clearly trying to keep her outrage going for as long as possible. She gasped for air and shuddered and made little strangled noises in her throat.
 

“Who does she think she is, coming to you and lying like that about me, and then this?”

“Terrible,” Theo pretended to agree.

She threw herself back on the bed, right on top of his papers. “Ow!” she said, jolting back up. “What the hell was that?”
 

She found the pencil that had stuck in her back and dropped it on the floor. Then she pushed all his papers to the edge of the bed, ruining their arrangement.

“Hey, careful,” he said. “That’s my book.”

She lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. “I can’t believe that stupid girl.”

“That was my book,” he said again, a little more pointedly. That book meant everything to him. He poured his heart and soul into it.

“Oh, sorry,” she said carelessly.

Theo stood up and walked over to the verandah, literally biting the tip of his tongue to stop himself from telling her to get out. It was clear that she had no regard for what was important to him. All she was focused on was her hurt feelings—and his money, he didn’t doubt.

“We need to give her a clear signal that we’re together,” she said. “That she doesn’t have a chance.”

He felt anger rise in his chest. How could she be so presumptuous to think they were together? He had never agreed to such a thing.
 

As he gazed out over the ocean he hated feeling like he did, and in such a place of beauty. It all felt wrong.

“Let’s get married,” she announced.

“Leave,” he whispered.

He heard her sit up, her voice with a razor-sharp edge. “What?”

“You heard me,” he said calmly. “I don’t want you working for me anymore, Lorenza.”

She rushed to him and put her hands on either side of his face.
 

“Oh right, baby, I get you now,” she said. “So we’ll just be together now instead of working together?”

He stepped back and stared at her. “Why would you want to marry me?” he said. “You don’t care about me, about my soul, about who I am.”

“Yes, yes, I do, baby,” she said. “I love you.”

“What?!” Theo threw his hands up in the air. “As far as I can see you don’t even know the meaning of love. Not real love anyways.”

“Oh, please, baby, give me a chance to show you. I’ll prove it to you.”

She followed him around the room as he strode away. She tried to slide her hand into his but he pushed it away.

“I thought you were a good assistant,” he said. “But I guess that’s why you’ve been here all along, just trying to squeeze some dirty money out of the situation?”

“No, no!” she said. “Baby, let’s try to make this work, you and me, in love forever.”

“Are you going to make me spell this out for you?” Theo said. “I love Angelique.”

“What?”

“Read my lips,” Theo said. “I. Love. Angelique.”

*****

Chapter 4

Angelique tried not to let Lorenza’s episode affect her. She sat, almost defiantly, in the Iokepa restaurant, swallowing down her mahi mahi, shrimp and rice, even though she had lost her appetite. She put the meal on her tab and strode out of the restaurant as if she hadn’t a care in the world.

As she walked back to her room, her mind buzzed with worry. She hoped with all her heart and soul that Lorenza was lying, but she couldn’t help a nagging doubt in the back of her mind: Was Theo playing them against each other? Though she thought she saw truth and sincerity in his eyes, she second guessed herself until her mind was tied up in knots.

She made up her mind to soak the day away in the tub. Molton Brown bathsoaps and bombs were piled up in a tiny hamper inside the luxurious corner Jacuzzi. She picked out a peach and Tahitian vanilla bubble bath and poured it in while the tub filled with hot water.

She had just slipped off all her clothes and put on the hotel slippers to pad to the bathroom when there was a knock at the door. She sighed.
 

“Who is it?”

“It’s me,” Theo replied. “I want to talk to you.”

“One second,” Angelique replied. She dashed to the wardrobe to pick out a robe and wrapped it around herself. She was at the door within moments.
 

“Hi,” she said when she opened it, glad and scared and embarrassed all at once.

“Hi,” he said, and his voice was just as full of meaning. “Was I interrupting?”

“No, not at all, I’ve just got the bath running,” she said, opening the door for him. “Come in.”

“Are you sure?”

“Please,” she said.

He walked past her and glanced back. His expression weakened her knees and sent a tingling heat through her midsection.
 

“May I?” he asked, gesturing at the bed.

“Yes,” she whispered.
 

As he sat down, she couldn’t help imagining sitting on top of him, pushing him back on the bed and pulling his shirt open. She’d caress his toned chest, running her dark hands across his pale skin, all the way down to…
Angelique, concentrate
.

She tried to distract herself. “Do you know what Lorenza did?”

“Lorenza’s gone,” he said. “I sent her away.”

Angelique felt her heart pounding. “You did?”

He looked right into her eyes, as if into her very soul.
 

“Yes,” he whispered.
 

Suddenly, she felt her pussy blaze hot with the tension. Her lips and clit and nipples all tingled. She wanted to launch into action, tear his clothes off and feel the sweet ecstasy of his love.

“I… I…” he began, looking lost.

“The bath!” she suddenly remembered, and dashed into the bathroom. The water pressure had increased and water spilled over the edges and onto the floor tiles. “Oh no! It’s overrun.”

She stepped out of the slippers and went across the room to turn it off, but slipped on a tile and ended up on her knees, the warm water pouring all over her and wetting her braids.

“Oh, hell,” Theo said as he dashed in. “Are you okay?” He helped her turn over. “Are you badly hurt?”

“No, I think I’m all right,” Angelique said. Her knees still stung but the pain was fading in every moment.

He reached over to turn off the taps.

“I can’t believe I did that,” she said.

“Never mind,” he said. He stroked her braids back away from her face, sending tingles down her spine. “As long as you’re all right.”

“I am,” she said, looking into his eyes. It had never been more true.

The honesty in his eyes overwhelmed her. When she looked down at the curve of his pink lower lip, she just
had
to have it in her mouth. She sat up against the bath and pressed her lips against his.
 

He gasped, their lips still locked, as if he couldn’t believe she had done it, but then he melted into the kiss.

She peeked to find his eyes were closed. He flickered his tongue onto hers and she felt her panties get wet as her clit pulsed. At that moment the kiss deepened and heightened and broadened, becoming unlike anything she had ever experienced. Her whole body trembled with the intensity of it, and he moaned as he moved forward to kiss her again, then lingered back, pulling away just slightly, in the rhythm of their heartbeats.