The Tycoon's Temporary Bride: Book Four (34 page)

A long brittle silence ensued as the men
tried to absorb the information and deal with the fact that one of
their best friends might be dead. Adam didn’t know which
possibility he would welcome more: the fact that Tashi was Paul’s
daughter or his niece.

“Anyone up for an espresso?” Massimo broke
the silence and walked over to the bar.

“I’d love a couple shots of tequila, after
what I just heard,” Bryce said, “but I have meetings all day.”

“I have surgery in two hours,” Erik said as
they all joined Mass at the bar.

“Then espresso for everyone.” Mass busied
himself at the machine.

“I knew it,” Adam said, dropping his weight
on a bar stool as he watched his cousin make the first cup. “I just
didn’t want to believe it.”

“You did what Paul asked.” Erik tossed Adam a
smile. “You brought Tashi under the protection of the Andreas name
by marrying her. You were attracted to each other long before you
knew who she was. I saw the way you looked at her the night you
took her to the mansion. Your temporary marriage just happens to
come with benefits.”

Bryce chuckled. “I don’t think there’s
anything temporary about Adam’s bride or his marriage. You heard
him hoping for a baby in nine months. They haven’t been using
protection. Are those the actions of a man who intends to end his
marriage?”

“From the moment I met Tashi, I knew I
couldn’t live without her. I just knew. It was as if we were old
souls who’d parted in a past life and had spent centuries searching
for each other again. I’ve never felt that way about any one. Ever!
I have no intention of ever letting her go, not even for Paul,”
Adam declared with an emphatic shake of his head.

“Finally, cousin, you do understand the power
of serendipitous love. The gut-wrenching, heart-stopping knowing
when it’s right. We’ve all experienced it.” Massimo plunked down
four cups of espresso on the counter. “We’re all so very blessed to
have such amazing, hot, sexy, brilliant women in our lives. I’d
like to propose a toast to Adam and Tashi.”

Adam’s heart flooded with warmth and
indescribable love for his wife, as they all stood to their feet,
picked up their cups, and held them high in the air, huge grins on
each of their faces.

Bryce took the initiative. “To Adam and
Tashi. May they be as happy and fulfilled in their marriage as we
are in ours.”

They sipped espresso, very carefully, then
Erik said, “We haven’t made our club’s toast for a while, not since
Aria was born.”

The others agreed and raised their cups
again. “To God, to Life, to Love, to Family, to Friends, to
Prosperity,” Adam recited the Billionaire Club’s fifteen-year-old
mantra, along with his dearest, most trusted friends. It was a
toast they’d written and pledged to recite when anything monumental
happened in any of their lives—personal or professional. These
occasions included marriages, births, and professional
accomplishments. They also included deaths to celebrate the life of
the deceased. They’d toasted four deaths since the inception:
Cassie, Pilar, and Michael and Lauren. He hoped to God it would be
decades before they had to lay a friend or family member to rest
again.

Adam waited until they were all seated again
before voicing his thoughts. “I don’t know about the rest of you,
but I don’t think Paul is dead. He’s too damned good at what he
does. I think he might have infiltrated that organization and is
just waiting for his chance to blow them apart from the inside out.
He’s one of the best field ops in the FBI.”

“I agree.” Erik held his espresso halfway to
his lips. “There has to be a good reason he hasn’t contacted
us.”

“He’s probably waiting for us to contact
him,” Bryce said. “We have to do it discretely so we don’t tip off
the wrong people and lead them back to Granite Falls.”

“Until we want them tipped off.” Adam was
ready for this fiasco to be over, so he and Tashi could begin
living in peace and harmony. He longed for balance.

“I know just the man for the job.” Massimo
pulled his cell from his pocket.

“Your own personal New York City bitch,” Adam
said with a wide grin.

All four men burst into laughter as Mass
dialed the number and handed Adam his phone.

***

Tashi felt a thousand pounds lighter when she
walked out of Dr. Samantha Kelly’s office and headed in the
direction of the elevator in the mill building that lined the Aiken
Riverfront.

Adam had suggested that she speak with the
therapist to help with her healing process. Not only had the doctor
addressed Tashi’s guilt over possibly causing Agent Dawson’s death,
but she’d also identified schemas of exclusion, vulnerability,
paranoia, and perfectionism she said Tashi possessed.

Dr. Kelly had described these schemas as
mental concepts based on the situations and experiences of her
childhood, and that her feelings of abandonment, anxiety, and
mistrust were direct by-products of these schemas. She’d added that
her schemas had been richly magnified by the way her uncle had
raised her. No wonder she’d never been able to form lasting
friendships.
And abandonment
? Tashi hadn’t even realized
that she’d felt abandoned as a result of her mother dying when she
was so young, and the hard fact that she didn’t know the identity
of her father.
Unknown.

Tashi shook the word from her head as she
pushed the down arrow for the elevator. Dr. Kelly had stated that
the best way to rid herself of these negative schemas was to do
something extremely different from what she was accustomed to.
Break her habits. If she weren’t the wife of the minister who’d
married them, Tashi would have told her that she’d already broken
one habit. She’d made love outside the bonds of marriage, didn’t
feel guilty, had enjoyed it immensely, and had even hoped to
procure a child from that sweet illicit union.

Yes, talking with Dr. Kelly was very
therapeutic. Between her, yoga, and meditation, Tashi knew that she
was well on her way to a total emotional overhaul.

When the elevator stopped, Tashi boarded it
and turned her back on the two other occupants riding down with
her. Three weeks ago, she would have been too paranoid to be
cornered in an elevator with two strange muscular men, and would
have waited for the next elevator. But the fact that Daisy, one of
her two bodyguards for the day, stepped on behind her, gave her a
measure of security. Her schema of paranoia wouldn’t go away so
easily. Her involvement with the shooting in New York and the
whereabouts of Agent Paul Dawson had to be resolved before she
would feel totally safe and be able to move forward with her life,
wherever or with whomever it might be.

Adam had introduced her to the security team
of five men and three women this morning. She was to be under
constant covert surveillance every second she was off the Andreas
estate. They were not to make eye contact with her, or approach her
unless there was a direct attempt on her life. She was to act as if
they didn’t even exist. When Tashi had suggested that she would be
safer if she were chauffeured around instead of driving herself,
Adam’s response was that she would draw less attention to herself
and to whom she was married if her bodyguards were incognito.

Even though the plan had recharged the
anxieties that had begun to dissipate while she was secluded on the
estate, Tashi had given her consent for its implementation. What
else could she do? She was safer with Adam in plain sight of danger
than out on her own cloaked in obscurity. If Agent Dawson trusted
Adam, then she should too. And so with that thought in mind, she
had put her faith and her life in her husband’s hands.

Her husband
. Tashi’s breath caught in
her throat. She was a married woman, and one who was
head-over-heels in love with her husband. She quivered as wanton
images of her and Adam tangled up together on the bed, in the
shower, and the Jacuzzi, surged to the forefront of her mind. Her
steps were wobbly when she left the elevator and strolled toward
the automatic doors—the two men and Daisy bringing up the rear.

It was only a few hours ago that Tashi had
been writhing in pleasure under her husband yet her body craved the
touch of his hands and his mouth, the carnal desires he aroused in
her. If it weren’t for the fact that Adam had told her he would be
in meetings all day, Tashi would have canceled her lunch date with
Michelle, Kaya, and Shaina, gotten into her stylish sports car and
driven to the northeast corner of town to Andreas International
headquarters to pay her husband a surprise visit.

She had to be sensible. Adam had cut back on
his duties as CEO of Andreas International for two and a half weeks
to take care of her. She would be a responsible, understanding wife
and give him time and space to devote to the professional part of
his life. She didn’t want to come off as needy and suffocating even
though Dr. Kelly had said that apart from being a new bride, her
constant desire to be in Adam’s presence was a result of the fact
that he was the first person since her horrifying ordeal who’d been
kind and honest with her. He was the only person she trusted, for
now. It was natural that she would want to maintain and strengthen
that bond.

Tashi exited the building, donned her
sunglasses, and strolled leisurely across the esplanade that ran
along the banks of the river. It was Monday midday and even this
early in the day and week, the residents and visitors of Granite
Falls were out enjoying the beautiful weather, the discounts, and
the delicious food from the myriad of boutiques, restaurants, and
cafés.

Children and adults danced—most, comically
off rhythm—to the live music of a local band that had set up shop
in the gazebo situated in the center of the esplanade. Tashi didn’t
blame them. This was New England and in a few months, this colorful
pandemonium of people, chairs, tables, umbrellas, and live music
would be gone, and the esplanade would be cold and deserted. It
made sense to dance and play while the sun was shining.

Tashi felt happy, alive for the first time in
her life. Her second winter in Granite Falls would be a far cry
from her first. And as she anticipated her lunch date with
Michelle, Kaya, and Shaina, she realized that she was about to
alter another of her schemas: opening her heart to making new
friends, and hopefully growing to trust them.

She’d taken an instant liking to the ladies
on Saturday, at Little Erik’s birthday party. She was especially
fond of Shaina since they were cousins, by law, and their children
would be cousins by blood one day. They were all successful,
amazing, sophisticated women and Tashi wanted her relationship with
them to be as tight as her husband’s was with theirs. Adam had told
her that she had completed the circle of the Billionaires Brides
club.
Trust
, he’d said, was the glue that kept them
together. She had to learn to trust.

Tashi pulled her phone from her purse and
checked the time. The women would be here soon. She glanced around,
trying to find an empty table closest to the riverfront. She
spotted an elderly couple vacating one under a big white umbrella
with the words “Blue Diamond Bistro” in bold blue letters printed
on it. Blue Diamond was a favorite of all the ladies, and so they’d
planned to eat lunch there. Besides, it was close to Dr. Kelly’s
office, and Andretti Industries, whose private underground garage
was theirs to use on a crowded day like today. Tashi hurried over
to the table and waited quietly while the busboy cleaned it
off.

She was about to sit when her cell phone
began to play the ringtone she’d assigned to Adam. Her heart began
to hammer as she pressed the ‘accept’ button and raised the phone
to her ears.

“
Ciao, bella
.”

“
Ciao
.” Tashi felt as if her throat
would close up on her. God, just the sound of his voice made her
quiver inside. She fell into the nearest chair at the table and
took deep breaths to steady her thumping heart.

“I just wanted to hear your voice,” he said.
“I miss you.”

“I miss you, too. I can come by after my
lunch date with the girls.”

He growled in frustration. “I would love to
see you,
cara
, but—”

“I know… You have to work.”

“I’ll be tied up in business meetings all
day.” He uttered a deep sigh of frustration. “Where are you?”

“At the esplanade. I just left Dr. Kelly’s
office.”

“How did your first session go?”

“Really well. I learned a lot about myself.
I’ll tell you about it later.” She hung her purse over the back of
her chair and laid one arm across the glass surface of the
table.

“Hmm. You alone?”

“Yes, for now. I’m waiting for the girls. I
just sat down at a table.” She squinted at the noonday sun,
shimmering on the river.

“You were delicious this morning,” he said,
his voice deepening with passion. “I can still taste you in my
mouth and smell you on my breath.”

The walls of Tashi’s vagina began to contract
violently at her husband’s erotic words. “Adam,” she whispered, and
glanced around wondering if her neighbors could guess the subject
of their conversation.

“Close your eyes.”

“What?” Tashi’s mouth trembled.

“Close your eyes and think of me.”

Tashi took a deep breath and did as he asked.
It wasn’t like anyone would know her eyes were closed since they
were hidden behind her sunglasses, and she was facing the river.
Turning her back on a crowd was something she would not have done
three weeks ago. Plus, even though she couldn’t see them, she knew
her bodyguards were keeping a watchful eye on her. “Okay,” she
said, relaxing into the cushion of the chair. “I’m thinking of
you.”

“Tell me your sexual fantasy. What do you
see?”