Chapter 29
Elias
For the entire rest of the day and through the night, Harmony was like my own personal religion, and I worshipped her body over and over until we were both spent.
In the shower. In the small living room.
On the tiny kitchen counter. Anywhere that has a surface, we fucked on it until I had her screaming my name like a chant.
It feels like an eternity ago that she tried attacking me with a knife outside her sister’s house, thinking I was an intruder.
I look down at her, and for once, everything in the world feels right.
Her light brown hair is in her face as she breathes softly.
I tighten my arms around her, and my dick hardens.
Down boy. Let her rest.
She peeks an eye open and laughs softly. “How can you still be hard?”
“Sorry.” I press my lips to hers, and she sighs into me. “Go back to sleep. I have to go somewhere today, so rest up.”
She grinds her hips into me, making me groan. She’ll be the death of me.
I attempt to pull away, but she wraps her legs around me. “I promise to make it up to you later.”
Harmony pretends to think for a moment. “So, I should rest up for round twenty?”
“What can I say? We have to make up for all the time we lost.”
“In that case …” Her hands move down my naked chest, straight down to my boxers, and she slips her hand inside, gripping my dick. I grab her wrist, stopping her. She juts out her bottom lip in a pout.
“Baby, as much as I want to fuck you again, I have a meeting.” I check my watch. “I only have thirty minutes, and I still have to shower and get ready.”
Harmony cocks her head to the side, her hair falling into her face again. “Where do you have to go? I thought we were hiding out?”
I sigh and untangle myself from her pretzel limbs.
If we are going to have a healthy relationship, I can’t keep secrets, but if she knows I’m meeting with Victor, she’ll want to come.
And if someone finds out that she’s seeing him, even not romantically …
I can’t even think about it. But this meeting is necessary, so I have to go.
He has answers I need.
“Just rest up.” I kiss her forehead. “Order some room service, and watch a movie. You won’t even notice I’m gone.”
She quirks an eyebrow, but before she can argue, I take the blankets off and scoot to the edge of the bed.
Her arms wrap around my torso, and she snuggles into my back.
My chest tightens, but I can’t give in. If Victor has resources that he’s willing to use to help us, I can’t turn them down just because of pride.
“Give me a few hours, and then you can ride me until sunrise.”
She frowns and says, “Fine. But I’m not waiting for you to return to order room service.”
I give her one last kiss. She immediately deepens it, her tongue lashing out at mine. I groan.
Fuck, I can’t let her stop me now. I pull away, and she whines.
“You’re so needy.”
She giggles. “Don’t pretend you hate it.”
“I don’t, but I do need to shower so I can get going.”
She finally releases me so I can get ready. Once out the door, I wait until I hear all the locks click into place. Two guards stand outside the room, neither of them making eye contact with me.
I guess they heard how Harmony and I passed the time in there.
I make my way through the hotel and head down toward the conference room.
Exiting the elevator, I turn left, skirting reception.
The place is teeming with people as if someone is having a party.
An elderly couple is checking in while people who look in their twenties sit in the lounge.
Too many unknowns here but it’s still safer than Granite Falls.
Crystal chandeliers hang from the high vaulted ceilings, glaring off the porcelain tile floors. Silk covers the windows. I quicken my pace as I leave the reception area and head down a hallway, passing the gym. Allowing Harmony to distract me even for a few minutes is going to make me late.
It’s so easy to get lost in Harmony that I forgot to ask what our future holds. I run my fingers through my short hair. After her anonymous threat is gone, will she still leave like she told me before?
Man, do I actually want to keep things the way they are even though she’s in danger?
No, I can’t. That would make me a selfish asshole.
But she never said she changed her mind or gave me any promises.
My heart sinks. I did tell her the one thing I can’t do, and that’s leave Tía Vicki.
But if anyone would understand it’s Harmony.
I stop outside the room labeled Conference Room One.
I’m right on time. As I’m about to enter, I stop in my tracks.
A familiar man with graying hair walks toward me, but I can’t place him.
I narrow my eyes at him as I realize he has a hand inside his suit jacket.
Pulse thrumming, I reach for my Glock, but as he pulls his hand out, I relax and heave out a sigh of relief.
A cigarette. Turning on his heel, he heads toward the side exit with nothing but a nod.
All of this is starting to get to my head.
I push inside, and Victor is already sitting at the large oval table. At least a dozen swivel chairs line it. The room is empty save for him. I half expected him to have bodyguards of his own.
He pushes to his feet. “I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?”
“Straight to business.” I nod. “I like it. Lay the bad on me.”
“I can’t figure out who is threatening Harmony. I’ve been having my family tailed since finding out, but none is giving me anything.”
I raise a brow. “I’m not sure I’m following.”
Victor gives me a self-depreciating smile. “My mother made it known how she feels about Harmony. She reminds me at least once a week that I’m Victor Barlowe, IT billionaire who can’t hold onto a respectable woman and had to resort to a reality TV show to find a wife who is ‘beneath me.’”
I rear back. “What the fuck did you just say?”
He waves a hand at me like he didn’t just insult the woman I love. Fuck. The woman I love. That’s a thought for a whole other time.
“I’m not saying that. The media is.”
“What’s the good news then?”
Victor opens his briefcase and pulls out a stack of papers. He slides them across the table. “My men successfully found all images of Harmony post wedding, and they have been removed.”
Picking them up, I scan through the photos.
Most of them are innocent—except for the fact that anyone looking at them can tell they were taken at a truck stop.
I pause when I find the one of us on that first day, fleeing from the ceremony together, and looking a lot more like a couple than the two people who were too hurt to see the truth.
“Whoever is threatening her already knows where she is. So, how is that good?”
“Well, it means the media should take longer to find her, and the paps can really mess with a person’s head.” A dark look crosses Victor’s face before he recovers and pastes his usual smile back on. “Hopefully, by the time they can track her down, the story will be old news, and no one will care.”
I guess we take the small wins when we can. After everything, we don’t need the media coming for her, too. “Thanks for the heads-up.”
“You’re welcome.” He picks up his suitcase and turns to leave, but his light blue eyes harden as he narrows in on me. “One last thing. Were you with Harmony during Everlasting Love?”
I furrow my eyebrows. “No. Before I was assigned to be her bodyguard, I hadn’t seen her in almost five years. And she’s not that kind of woman.”
He nods slowly. “Okay, good. Now, if you want her, you claim her. If you don’t, let her find a man who will.”
A burning sensation sears my chest. Just the thought of someone else having her makes my stomach harden. “I already claim her. She’s had my heart since we were kids.”
Victor comes forward and shakes my hand, a small smile on his face. “Good. A nice girl like her deserves a happy future.”
I turn my head away so he can’t see my flushed cheeks. Getting Harmony’s ex fiancé’s blessing is a strange way to end our meeting. We go our separate ways, and I head directly to my car. I need to check in on Cutesy’s so I can take the rest of the week off to help Victor’s men guard my woman.
My woman. I can get used to that.