Chapter 9 #2
“And I deal with his type regularly. There’s a reason I married his delectable tush, and it wasn’t to get ignored.
My family didn’t get anything out of the deal.
Thirteen orgasms isn’t much to ask.” I tapped a manicured nail against my chin.
“Maybe I should times that by the number of years we’ve been married.
Seven years I’ve been in limbo. Seven! I’m owed those orgasms. All ninety-one of them.
That should give me enough time to convince him to sign the papers. ”
“Do you hear yourself?” Maeve asked. “What possible reason would you want to get more tangled in that mess?”
“I’m going to make him fall in love with me, then bring him to his knees and walk out of his life forever.”
“You think it’s that easy?” Erel asked.
“You don’t think a woman’s capable?”
“That is not what I—”
“You don’t think Tessa could destroy my brother if she wanted to?”
That shut him right up.
“I definitely could,” my sister-in-law quipped.
“Absolutely.” I patted the hand she had gripping my seat. “I want husband dearest to experience what we could’ve been before I tear his fucking heart out, stomp on it until it turns to mush, and feed it to the wolves.”
Erel faked shivers. “Tu fais peur.” You’re scaring me.
I gave him a feral grin. “I’ll be Cillian O’Leary’s worst nightmare and his number one dream in the same mind-blowing package. He won’t know what hit him.”
“But he’ll figure out who you are,” Tessa said gently. “Facial scans, fingerprints. It won’t take him long.”
“That’s where your brother comes in. That’s why I’ll go with you to visit him. He can get his people to create me a new identity, one that’ll pass the O’Leary’s scrutiny. And Franc can help make it go faster.”
“He won’t do it for free.”
I shrugged. “Then I’ll owe him. But I’m done waiting around for someone else to handle this.”
“Volunteering Franc is not in your purview,” Erel gibed.
“Ne m’emmerde pas, là.” Don’t fuck with me right now, I said, staring him down as he pulled the car up in front of our hotel.
“I guess you’ve got it all figured out,” Maeve said, her voice sounding abnormally subdued. That worried me.
A valet raced around to Erel’s door.
“Maeve, let me call you right back.”
I ended the call as the valet opened the door for Erel.
Each of us exited the vehicle under a slight drizzle.
Fenced, grassy courtyards decorated the hotel front, curving toward the marquee-covered entrance from both sides.
Built in the iconic historic brownstone style, the building blended in well with the surrounding neighborhood despite its short height, giving a cozy feel from the outside, especially with wall lamps already lit between each window.
“Go on ahead and check in for me.” I handed my passport to Tessa.
“Don’t upset her,” Erel warned in French now that it was just the three of us.
“Worried it’ll affect your sex life?” His deadpan expression made me chuckle. “Okay, fine.”
I waved them off—Tessa’s arm hooking through his—then crossed the street toward a small park between lanes of traffic and redialed Maeve.
One of the things I admired most about Boston was its rich palette of colors and smells at the end of summer.
From the new blends of coffee and spiced drinks to the amalgam of rain, exhaust fumes, the fruity or woodsy fragrances, and the musty beginnings of rebirth, it always felt crisp, new, and refreshing.
“You want to tell me what’s wrong?” I asked in greeting when she picked up.
“Nothing, it’s just…”
“What?”
“I’m just worried about you. This isn’t a joke. Men like him…”
“You know I can hold my own.” I picked up and twirled a fallen magnolia seed pod.
“And if they kill you? Do you really know what you’re getting yourself into?”
“I’m not naive. I know how men like him operate.” I cracked open the seed pod and dug my nose in. Slightly sweet and citrusy. “I’m set on doing this, but I would really like your help.”
“Ride or die.”
“Oui, ma belle.” Yes, hon.
She sighed hard as something metallic clanked and tapped across the line, followed by loud whirring. “So how’s this going to work? You know he’s not some simpleton. You don’t get to where he is and keep his position without brains. He’ll probably see you coming a mile away.”
I gasped. “Maeve Hackett, are you underestimating me?”
“Just saying, you can be a little rash. Do you even know where you’ll stay for the next six months?”
“I’ll figure it out.”
“Like you’ll figure out how to seduce a man who’s notorious for being celibate?”
I shrugged, biting my cheek. “I have my ways.”
“There are rumors the guy hasn’t dated anyone since his wife. I mean his late wife. The one…before.”
“I understand what you mean.” I ground a tuft of grass under my boot’s sole.
“Right. Well, getting his attention ain’t going to be easy. So what’s your plan?”
“Simple. I’m not going to take no for an answer.”
She scoffed. “Really? That’s it?”
“I’m going to do what no other woman has tried. I’m going to force myself into his life. He won’t be able to overlook me or avoid me. I’ll be on his mind twenty-four-seven. As he makes a business deal, as he tucks himself into bed at night, in his dreams, as he greases his salami—”
“Strokes the salami. Or slaps. Oh my god.” She cackled. “Greases? Really?”
“Se graisser le salami. Makes better sense than slaps. Who slaps themselves to masturbate?”
Her snickering turned into a full-on guffaw, punctuated by high-pitched snorts.
Her signature laugh amused me more than what we’d said.
I tugged a leaf off a low-hanging tree branch, abundant with seed pods, as I waited for her to calm down.
Its perfume reminded me of a flowered meadow mixed with touches of honey and warm bread.
It would make the perfect perfume accord for the newest scent I’d been working on before my sabbatical.
I collected more leaves and some seed pods and slipped them into my purse.
“Man, I needed that.” She was still catching her breath.
“Two guys got hurt on the job site today, and my assistant put in an order for the wrong concrete. Plus, the provider overlooked the lack of a signature. A real pain in my ass.” She huffed a drawn-out breath.
“Okay, so let’s review your master plan a sec. You somehow get him in bed.”
“Repeatedly.”
“Sure. And that’ll what? Make him somehow fall in love with you? I call bull.”
“I’ve got charm.”
“Yeah, but the guy’s emotionally constipated.
Sexy as fuck, but I’ve never seen a photo of him online where he doesn’t look like he’s either about to bust an aneurysm, die of boredom, or about to rip someone’s throat out.
And you want to seduce that into love so he’ll willingly sign divorce papers?
Babe, there’s a word for that. Delusional. ”
“How about we bet on it?”
“Oh yeah? What’re you going to give me?”
I twisted the stem of a leaf between my index finger and thumb. “I fail, I’ll get you season tickets to the Bruins.”
She practically squealed across the line. “Oh, I like this game. Yes, yes. Okay, great. Now you have to lose.”
“Very funny.”
“I love you, babe, but it’s hockey. You’re seriously testing my loyalty here.”
As we both chuckled, I twisted up my wet hair into a cushion and laid my head back against a tree trunk, ignoring the constant traffic.
The bark scratched against my skull in the unlikeliest of massages.
Under the mix of greenery against a background of reddish-brown buildings with cement-gray accents, I relaxed.
There was something about Boston’s understated simplicity, combined with fine lines, stonework, and details against the backdrop of nature, that just pulled me in.
Every time I came for business or to visit Maeve, I fell a little more in love with this city.
“Okay, my turn.” Maeve hummed, seemingly mulling it over. Muffled, brassy clanging of metal on metal clamored from her end. “If, and it’s a big if, you win, that trip we’ve been talking about to the Dominican Republic will be my treat.”
“Oh, you are on, my friend.”
“And…here’s the condition. You’re staying with me. You and Erel.”
“Not sure I want to hear you two—” A high-pitched whine squealed in the background, and I pulled the phone away from my ear.
“Oh, shut it. You can’t hear anything from the first floor, and you’ll need a place to stay. So say, ‘Thank you, Maeve. You’re the best friend in the entire world, and I don’t know what I’d do without you.’”
“Merci, ma belle.” Thank you, hon. “You’ll be my person until my hair’s gray and I’ve got more wrinkles than a shar-pei.”
“Damn right I will.”
Another muffled wail keened across the line.
“Where are you?” I asked. “Whatever that is sounds awful.”
“I know.” She groaned. “The beauty of my job. We’ve got a new employee who just can’t handle the workload, and they won’t stop griping. I swear it’s what I hate most about being a business owner. All the complaints. That and the cleanup after all the fuckups.”
“If only you hadn’t taken over a construction company against your mother’s wishes, and your best friend wasn’t constantly pestering you to come work for her instead,” I teased.
“And smell like roses instead of sweat every day? Ugh, why would I want that?” she quipped. “In all seriousness, I’ve got to go deal with this. Call me when you’re on your way back here from Cali. I’ll pick you up from the airport.”
As we hung up, a leaf tinged with red at its center tumbled down and landed over my heart like an omen. I swiped it away.