Chapter 23
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Jasmine
I woke, momentarily unsure of my surroundings. Even before opening my eyes, Rei’s sandalwood-and-leather scent permeated my senses. Blinking, I found I’d fallen asleep with my head on his hard shoulder. A quick glance at my watch told me we were approximately three hours into our three-and-a-half-hour flight.
With the time change, it would only be two thirty in the morning when we landed. As I lifted my head, Rei stirred. He must have fallen asleep with his arm protectively around me. Bravely, I brought my finger to his handsome face and ran it over his cheekbones. He was my husband. In near slumber, he wasn’t as intense.
Rei blinked.
“You’re real.” I lifted my hand with the wedding rings and splayed my fingers. “When I first woke, I was afraid yesterday was a dream, and maybe I’d be back in my bedroom alone.”
His voice rumbled with sleepiness. “No, preciosa . Your nights of sleeping alone are over.”
Sleeping was acceptable. It was what came before it that had me worried.
The arm that had been around me pulled me closer, flattening my breasts against his muscular chest. “Mine,” he growled seconds before his lips came to mine.
A bolt of electricity sizzled through my nervous system, synapse after synapse sparking to life. I wasn’t sure how he could do it, but with simply a kiss and being pressed against his hardness, untouched parts of my body began to warm and tingle. Unapologetically, his tongue sought entrance, dancing and tangoing with mine. When I pulled back, my lips felt bruised and swollen in the best of ways. My tongue darted out to ease the tenderness.
Rei’s eyes hooded as he cupped my chin and ran his thumb over my lips. “I need to be easier on you. Your lips aren’t used to being kissed.”
“I’m not breakable. And I like the way you kiss me.”
“Good, because I plan to do a lot more of it.”
As I attempted to push away and stand, Rei reached for my hand. “Are you trying to leave me already? You might want to wait until we land.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want to leave you. I need to use the bathroom.”
His lips twitched. “We could become members of the mile-high club. I could bend you over the sink and?— ”
The sound of throat clearing stopped his sentence.
One of the women who greeted us earlier entered the cabin. “Senor and Senora Roríguez, please secure your seat belts, we’re preparing to land.”
I almost giggled at Rei’s exaggerated expression of disappointment. “Do I have time…?” I gestured toward the bathroom.
“Yes, ma’am. Please hurry.”
As I turned, I saw Diego and Felipe, Rei’s soldiers he’d brought to Kansas City, sitting near the front of the plane, separated from us by a curtain. Warmth filled my cheeks, wondering what they heard.
I quickly did my business and returned to the cabin. The seat beside my husband’s was where I belonged. After I secured my seat belt, Rei again reached for my hand. “I can’t wait for you to meet mí madre .” He sounded the happiest I’d heard him. “She will love you from the moment she sees you.”
“We met briefly at Christmas.”
“ Sí , but then you were not my wife.”
“You haven’t told me about Bella.” There were so many things we didn’t know about one another. “What and where is it?”
“She’s right now off the coast of California near San Diego. Mama wants to be near when Jano’s baby is born.”
“So, Bella is a boat?”
Rei grinned. “ Sí , a big boat. I told you to bring a bathing suit.” His smile faded as he leaned his head back on the leather seat. “I’d not thought about it until now, but it seems that Bella is now my parents’ home. ”
“I thought they lived in Mexico.”
His jaw clenched, the muscles in his cheeks pulling tight. “A few days ago, their home, where Jano and I were raised, was attacked. Many of the house staff were killed. I don’t know how much damage was done to the structure. Jano said there were explosions.”
This was real life—now mine.
No wonder Rei was so intense.
With each word, my eyes grew bigger, and my lips opened. “Who would do that?”
“Elizondro Herrera. He wants to take over the Roríguez cartel. Hasn’t the capo told you anything about the war?”
I shook my head. “He’s used the word war , but I thought it was all about the bratva in Kansas City.” The name tasted sour on my lips. “Myshkin. But your parents, thankfully, weren’t hurt.”
“I guess we could say that Jano’s baby saved them.”
“You keep saying that. I think Mia has had something to do with the baby too.”
His smile returned. “You’re right.”
The hum of landing gear lowering filled the plane. I gripped the arms of the chair, my knuckles blanching.
Rei prized my fingers away from the seat and held my hand. “We’re safe.”
I nodded. “It’s the takeoffs and landings that I don’t like.”
“How do you feel about helicopters?”
My eyes nearly bugged out. “Why?”
“Because we’ll be flying in a helicopter to Bella. It’s better than a boat at night.”
I leaned back against the seat, contemplating the abrupt change of course my life had taken. Less than twenty-four hours ago, I was having lunch with Camila. Since that time, I was roofied, proposed to, married—to a man I hardly knew—flown to California, and was about to take a helicopter into the Pacific Ocean to stay on a drug lord’s boat.
“ Preciosa , are you okay?”
“It’s been a lot for one day.” I met his gaze. “I’ve never been on a helicopter.”
“I predict you will have many firsts.”
My core twisted as my nerves prickled. It wasn’t like I wasn’t expecting sex. Rei told me he wanted me that way the night he was in my bedroom. That didn’t mean I wasn’t both nervous and excited. Camila made it sound like sex was the greatest thing in the world. There was no doubt my body responded to Rei. It had since that unexpected meeting in Dario’s living room.
That subject was put on hold as Diego drove us to a large mansion. “Whose house is this?” I asked, entering their gates around three in the morning.
“Nicolas Ruiz. We won’t bother them. They have a helipad, and this is where we’ll be picked up.”
Helipad.
“You were serious about the helicopter?”
“Man of my word.”
Ruiz.
“Is this where Catalina and Camila lived?”
“No, Andrés and Valentina’s home is on a cliff near the ocean.”
“That’s right. Catalina’s dad is Andrés Ruiz. ”
Rei squeezed my hand. “It’s weird to think that you haven’t been out here with the recent weddings.”
“Not famiglia.” Remembering Dario’s apology, I sighed.
“You’re my family now, Jasmine. Mí mamá will welcome you with open arms.”
As we approached the front door of the Ruiz home, it opened. A tired older gentleman greeted us in a bathrobe and slippers. Rei apologized for the hour of our visit.
The gentleman led us through a marble entry and back to glass doors that went out to a pool. The dark sky blanketed the back deck and yard. The only illumination came from the flashing blue-and-red lights on the helipad.
Shit—he was serious.
I wrapped my arms around my midsection, shivering in the cool night breeze. Rei’s attention was focused on the blackness above us. It wasn’t long before the vibration of a helicopter could be felt as well as heard. Rei placed his hand in the small of my back, pulling me toward his warmth, as a bright spotlight shone down, aimed at the helipad beyond the pool. While the helicopter landed, my hair that Rei had unleashed, blew around my face in the whirling coil from the propellers.
“ Dile al Senor Ruiz gracias ,” Rei said to the gentleman, making his voice louder.
The gentleman waved.
As the rotors continued to spin, Diego opened a door on the side of the helicopter. I hesitated, wondering where I was going. Rei reached for my hand. His warm grasp encapsulated my fingers, sending the spark of his touch through my circulation.
He’s your husband.
It was a too-late pep talk, meant to reassure myself that I was where I was supposed to be. I’d told Dario I wanted to marry Rei, and yet in the blink of an eye, I was being whisked away from the only home I’d ever known. A look around the dark yard and at the unfamiliar mansion told me that the man holding my hand was my anchor in this new storm.
I had to trust him.
Beneath the whirling rotors, Rei led us forward. There weren’t steps but a high footboard. Soon, the two of us and the pilot were aboard with our luggage. Rei and I were seated in the back seat. I expected some kind of four-point harness, yet our seat belts were like those in a car. Rei handed me a pair of headphones with a microphone, motioning to me to cover my ears.
I placed the headphones over my ears, muffling the thumping of the propellers and held my breath as we were lifted off the ground. The pilot’s voice came through the earphones. Like so many other aspects of my new life, I was at a complete loss as to what was said. I looked to my husband for a translation.
“He said the wind is calm. We should reach Bella in less than twenty minutes.”
Once the lights of the mainland disappeared, we were surrounded by darkness. The helicopter’s dashboard cast an eerie green glow throughout the interior of the cabin. Without the city lights, a million stars sparkled in the sky while below us the Pacific Ocean was a blanket of black.
I gasped as Bella came into view. In a sea of nothingness, blue LED lighting glowed like an aura surrounding the monstrous yacht. The closer we flew, the better I could see what Rei referred to as a big boat. Holy crap. It wasn’t a big boat; it was a superyacht. I counted at least four levels, with a swimming pool and hot tub, both glowing with underwater lights. A Mexican flag flew from the rear deck.
“Why the flag?” I asked.
“When Bella is in international waters, as she is now, she is governed by whatever country’s flag she flies. Bella is a piece of Mexico in these waters.”
I remembered what Camila had said about getting married in Mexico. A peek at my hand told me another wedding wasn’t necessary. Rei and I were already married.
“As soon as we land,” Rei said, “I will show you to our cabin.”
Our .
I turned, taking in his profile. Even in the green hue of the interior lights, Rei was beyond handsome. The ease with which he directed his guards, the man back at the mansion, and the pilot demonstrated his confidence and power.
Would he remember what I said about going slow?
Would it matter?