Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
~CAMERON~
“ H oly shit, this is nice,” Maggie says as we step inside the hotel suite. She wanders to the window and looks out at the ocean, then turns back to me with a grin. “The water looks way different here than it does back home.”
“No kidding.” I walk over to her and slip my arms around her waist, burying my face in her hair. “I know you’re nervous, sweetheart. You don’t need to be.”
“I don’t know why I am.” She turns and wraps her arms around my middle, hugging me tightly. “It almost feels like when I go into that bank tomorrow, I’m going to find Joey standing there, and the idea of that makes my stomach hurt.”
“He’s not here,” I reassure her and feel my chest clench. “Honey, I never asked you, and you never said, but did Joey hit you?”
I watch the clear, blue water gently lapping against the white sand below and brace myself for Maggie’s answer. I don’t need or want to know everything that happened inside their marriage, but I’ve often wondered if he laid hands on her.
“He raised his hand to me a couple of times,” she admits softly, and it takes everything in me not to tense up. “But he never actually hit me. Because he knew that if my family ever found out, they would likely kill him. And I know people use that as an expression, but you know my family.” I nod, and she keeps going. “He liked to mock me, make me feel bad about myself. He controlled what I ate because he thought I was fat.”
“What?” I pull back to frown down at her. “Mary Margaret, you are not fat. You have curves, the way a woman is supposed to. What the hell was wrong with him?”
“I know that,” she insists. “I know, Cam. I’m not fat. And even if I was, who cares?”
“Exactly. And who the hell did he think he was that he could speak to anyone that way? What a fucker. I want to beat the shit out of him.”
Maggie laughs, and her hands move up my chest and around my neck. “Easy there. Like you said, he’s gone. And I know that, deep down, but I’m nervous because that money is clearly stolen, Cam. He didn’t make that much of a salary as a financial advisor. What if the money really isn’t mine, after all? And what if I find something awful in that damn box? I’m sick and tired of surprises from him. They’re never good ones, so I guess I just don’t trust this.”
“I’ll be there with you, and we’ll deal with it as it happens. That’s all we can do.”
“I wish we didn’t have to wait until tomorrow morning,” she whispers. “I just want to get it over with.”
“It’s after six in the evening,” I remind her and kiss her nose. I can’t stop kissing this woman. “The bank is closed. But I have dinner coming up through room service, and then I thought we would take a walk on the beach.”
“Well, that sounds nice.”
“I thought so, too. We’re both too travel-weary to go out.”
“I definitely don’t want to go anywhere. What’s for dinner?”
A knock comes from the hall. “You’ll see in just a minute.”
I open the door for the room service attendant who’s dressed in a black tux. He wheels in a cart, gets everything set up on the dining room table near the windows, and even sets a vase of yellow roses in the middle, then takes his leave.
“This is fancy,” Maggie says, eyeing the table. “I feel underdressed.”
“Personally, I think you’re over dressed. I’d rather have you naked.”
She laughs and shakes her head. “I’m not eating naked. I don’t want to spill something hot on my boobs.”
“I tried.” I sigh as if incredibly disappointed and make her laugh.
I uncover the plates and hold the chair out for Maggie.
“Steak?” she asks as she sits and leans over to sniff her plate. “With all of my favorite things.”
“Coincidentally, they’re my favorite things, too, so it works out.”
I sit across from her, ready to dig into the delicious-smelling meal. I’m starving.
“I didn’t even realize I was so hungry,” she admits, echoing my thoughts as she cuts into her steak. “Mm, good.”
She’s right. The steak is tender and practically melts in my mouth. We had a long travel day full of junk food. We need real food and rest so we’re ready to deal with whatever happens tomorrow.
And from what I know about Joey Lemon—and that’s literally everything there is to know about the son of a bitch—anything could happen.
“Oh, God,” Maggie moans as she tries her potatoes. “I don’t know what they put in here, but I need the recipe.”
“Moan like that again, and I’ll have you on this table.” I drink my wine and watch her blink in surprise. “I don’t think you realize how much you turn me on.”
“Because the food is delicious?”
“Because you’re sexy as fuck.”
She swallows, licks her lips, and I see those green eyes have gone smoky with desire. I want her. I always want her.
It never stops.
I eat my dinner, and Maggie follows suit, her eyes still on mine, the sexual tension between us so thick we could cut through it with these steak knives.
When we’ve both finished our meals, I take her hand and lead her to the bedroom.
“I thought we were going for a walk on the beach.” But she doesn’t pull away when I tug her to me and kiss the hell out of her.
“We will.” I kiss her cheek. “After.”
The grin that spreads over her sweet face is more intoxicating than the wine we had with our dinner, and when I nip at her lips, she lightly gasps.
“Everything you do, even when you frustrate the hell out of me, turns me on.”
Maggie snort-laughs. “Yes, I’m sure I’m sexy as all get out when I’m throwing one of my tantrums.”
“You have no idea.” I nip at her chin. “You’re so full of fire, so indignant, I want to pin you against the wall and fuck you until you don’t remember your name.”
The laughter leaves her, and she stares up at me with stunned green eyes. “Really?”
“Oh, absolutely.” I tug her shirt over her head and let it fall to the floor, then cup her perfect breasts in my palms. “Every damn time you snapped at me, I wanted to pull your hair back and kiss you.”
Maggie yanks my shirt up and over my head, our movements becoming frenzied in our need for each other.
“I don’t know if I would have complained.”
Her bra hits the floor.
“You would have hit me.”
My jeans are open, and her hands slide down my bare backside, urging the denim down around my ankles.
“Maybe,” she admits and bites my shoulder.
I get her out of her jeans and then simply rip her panties off her.
“Definitely.” I pick her up and toss her onto the bed, then climb on after her. “But I don’t know if I’d mind all that much.”
“If I hit you?”
“Mm.”
She snort-laughs again, then moans when my hand finds her core and sinks into the wetness of her folds.
“Ah, hell,” she groans.
“Always so wet,” I murmur against her lips. “Always ready for me.”
“It’s your own damn fault.” She swallows hard and arches her back. “You have a habit of getting me all worked up.”
“Well, darn.” I grin and watch her gorgeous face as she falls over the first crest. “That’s my girl. Good girl.”
“Jesus, you make me lose myself.” She pushes on my shoulders, and I roll onto my back, where she climbs on top of me and runs that mouth over my torso. “I could just eat you up. Why do you have to be so delicious?”
“I could ask you the same.”
“I don’t have these muscles,” she mutters and licks my abs, almost sending me through the roof. Her hand wraps around my cock, and it’s safe to say that the tables have been fully turned.
I usually like to be the one in control, but with Maggie, I don’t mind at all if she wants to take the helm for a while.
She licks and sucks and makes me see stars, but before I come, she straddles me and lowers herself onto my cock.
I cup her ass.
She braces herself on my chest.
“I want to ride you,” she says. God, when she’s turned on, her eyes shine like emeralds. As if she’s some kind of gorgeous sea witch or a siren. I just can’t say no to her.
I never could.
And I never will.
Her naked body, with curves in all the right places, moves effortlessly, and when she reaches back to cup my balls, I know it’s over for me.
The room spins.
The stars explode.
I come hard and fast, anchoring myself with Maggie, her hips gripped tightly in my grasp as she grinds and pushes against me, succumbing to her own climax.
“Hell, yeah,” she pants and then chuckles breathlessly as she stares down at me. “The sex is just so good with you. You’ve ruined me for all others.”
Good.
“I’m not sorry.”
She grins and pulls off me, then pads into the bathroom, her naked ass moving back and forth with each step.
I’ve always been an ass man.
“I want ice cream,” she calls out from the bathroom. I can hear water running, then it shuts off, and she walks out again, not at all shy in her nakedness. “And that walk on the beach.”
“In that order?”
“In any order.” She sits next to me and pushes her hand through my hair. “I feel better.”
“Good.” I grasp that hand in mine and kiss it. “Let’s go get that ice cream and then walk on the beach with it.”
“Okay.” But before she leaves me to get dressed, she leans in and presses her lips to mine in a soft kiss. “But I want two scoops.”
“Greedy girl.”
The room is cast in that soft, blue-gray hue of early morning. The sun isn’t up yet, but it won’t be long before it makes an appearance.
I glance to my right and frown when I find the bed empty. A quick brush with my hand tells me that Maggie’s been out of it for a while.
The sheets are cool.
I sit up and brush my hands over my face, then visit the restroom before taking off through the suite, looking for her.
To my dismay, she isn’t here.
I prop my hands on my hips and glance out the window, seeing a single person walking on the sand.
Maggie.
I’d recognize her red hair anywhere.
I hurry to dress and make my way downstairs and through the breezeway of the resort that leads to the beach.
Maggie’s about a quarter of a mile away wearing a flowy, white dress that floats in the wind. Her loose hair gets caught by the breeze, and she doesn’t reach up to tame it.
She’s clearly lost in thought.
By the time I reach her, she’s turned to the surf and sits her cute butt in the white sand.
I sit next to her, and she reaches out for my hand, linking our fingers. We sit that way for a long time. No words, just the sound of waves and tropical birds.
After what seems like ten minutes, Maggie begins to speak.
“We’ve always been drawn to the sea, my family and me. It’s why Da took the family from Ireland to Seattle all those years ago. Because it was in the States but reminded him of home with the rugged coastline and the moody ocean. Whenever I need to think, I find the beach. The noise drowns out all of the voices in my head, and I’m able to just be. ”
She turns to me. “Thank you for being the one to come here with me. I don’t think I could have come alone.”
“You’re braver than you give yourself credit for, Mary Margaret.” I kiss her cheek. “You can do this.”
“I know.” She takes a deep breath and then shrugs. “Actually, I don’t know. I’ve been doubting myself all morning.”
“If you don’t want to do this, we can get back on a plane this morning and go home until you are ready. Or, we can wait a couple of days if you want. Take a little vacation.”
“I could make excuses for the next ten years to get myself off the hook.” She pushes her hair off her face. “And I’m over being scared by that jerk. I’m taking control of this, and we’re going to go to that bank today. I’m claiming what’s mine.”
“What are you most afraid of?”
She turns back to the water and takes a long, deep breath.
“Good question. I’m not worried about the money. That’s just policy stuff and red tape. It’ll get figured out. But the box?” She shakes her head. “I’m afraid of what’s in it. Why would he have something in a box in the Caymans? Because he was hiding something, that’s why. And he hid a lot of things, Cam. I think I found most of them. None of them were good.”
I squeeze her hand, unable to tell her that she’s finally found the last thing.
“And I’ve decided that this is it. Once I close the account and take whatever’s in the box, I’m closing the book on my life with Joey Lemon, for the sake of my mental health. I need to move on, Cam. I need to say goodbye to him for good and get on with my life. We deserve that.”
“I agree.” I press my lips to her temple and wrap my arm around her. “You deserve to make the life you want, Maggie, without the weight of what Joey was and did hanging over your head. He’s dead and gone. I think it’s the right move to finish this today and then put it to rest.”
We’re quiet again as we stare out at the water. As the sun rises, Maggie stands and holds her hand out for mine.
“I need coffee,” she says and plants her feet so she can help me up. She’s damn fucking adorable. “But food will wait for after. I don’t want to throw up.”
“Coffee, no breakfast. Check.”
“I didn’t realize I had walked so far down the beach. How did you find me?”
“Your hair.” I lock my fingers with hers. “You don’t blend, Mary Margaret.”
“I never have.” She shrugs and then laughs. “Blending isn’t my specialty.”
“Good. I like it that way.”