His Four Poster Bed (Bedroom Secrets Series Book 2) (14 page)

“Once I knew the truth about the business, Veronica told me about my mother’s failed plan to escape.”

“You think your father killed her,” I said, slowly unsure whether it was right to verbalize something so painful, so wrong.

Marco nodded. “Things are moving quickly now. Luis’s visit last night was unscheduled, which means either he really wanted to speak to me or he was hoping to catch me off guard.”

“Do you think he knows you are working with the DEA?”

“He may be an evil son of a bitch, but he isn’t stupid,” Marco said. “I need to disappear.”

“Disappear.” My heart raced, hot tears filled my throat.

“Not for forever, just until the case gets wrapped up. I need to disappear and I want you to come with me.”

“You want me to give up my life . . .” I said, feeling sick to my stomach. I couldn’t lose Marco, I couldn’t bear it, but what choice did I have?

“I have money hidden away from my father. Legitimate holdings that I’ve managed to separate and hide in off-shore accounts. If I leave, when I leave, there will be more than enough money to live a very comfortable life and my hope is it won’t be forever.”

“How long?” My vision blurred with tears.

“I don’t know, a year maybe longer.”

“The study at the hospital, I’d have to leave it,” I whispered. My chest felt hot, breathing constricted.

“I am a selfish bastard for even asking you,” he said. “But I can’t bear the idea of a life without you in it. Will you disappear with me?”

“When? How much time do I have to decide?” I wanted to sob, I wanted to scream and yell at Marco and at his father. I’d promised myself I would never give up my identity for any man, and now Marco wanted me to walk away from my life completely, no questions asked.

“We don’t have much time,” he said, rolling over towards me. “We have two days.”

“Forty-eight hours?” I felt nauseous.

“Veronica will have the details, but the idea is I disappear and the next time I see Luis is in a courtroom.”

“But then it’s over. You give your father up to the Feds and then you can let everything go, right?”

“Perhaps,” he said, running his finger along the ridge of my collar bone. He slipped his hand under the fabric of my tank top finding my breasts. “There is a risk that even if I succeed in stopping my father the number of people he’s connected to would make being me difficult but not impossible. Nothing would be the same for us ever again.”

I swallowed. “Is it worth it?”

“It’s worth it,” he said, kissing my neck. “It’s worth it to do the right thing. To be true to who I am. To avenge my mother and save people from the evil my father spreads in this world.” He moved down my body raising my tank top up he slipped it over my head. I lay on the bed, naked from the waist down, in my black bra. He reached behind my back and unclipped the bra.

“It’s worth it to make love to a woman like you, to tell you my truth and know that even if I lose you, you’ll know that I loved you. I love you with everything I am.” He lay on top of me, supporting his weight on his elbows, I felt him grow hard.

“I love you Odessa Starr,” he said, his voice husky. “I will love you and only you for the rest of my life.”

“You don’t know that,” I whispered. “If you leave without me, you don’t know what will happen.”

“Yes, I do.” He smiled, his mouth on my neck and moving down my body. He kissed the top of my breast, his breath changing with need. “From the moment I touched you, it’s you, it’s only been you.”

He took my nipple in his mouth and sucked biting down as he slid his hand between my legs and circled the hardening nub of my clitoris.

I moaned and spread my legs pulling him towards me. I had condoms in my night stand and reached for one, unwrapping it and sliding it on him.

“I love you,” he said, pushing inside me.

I arched my back and moaned.

“I love you,” he said again, pushing deeper and pushing my legs back. I arched my back pushing up against him.

“Tell me again,” I said. “Again and again.”

His cock inside me he rocked in and out each time making me moan louder and louder. His thrusting grew deeper and harder but always stimulating my clit. I felt myself building towards a climax, a connection binding us together until I came, pleasure rippling through my body.

Marco whispered in my ear, “I love you Odessa Starr, I will love you forever.”

I turned and whispered back. “I love you too, I love you Marco. I love you . . .” And he kissed until we fell asleep intertwined in each other’s bodies.

We made love two more times that night. Each time was frantic and hungry. I felt as though we were making love in case the world ended.

We made love as if we would never see each other again.

When I woke in the morning Marco was dressing. He kissed my forehead.

“I’ll see you tonight,” he said. “You think about what you want. I love you no matter what you choose.”

I watched him leave my apartment, light filtering into the room, it looked so familiar but felt all new to me. Making love to Marco inside these four walls had changed things for me. This bedroom belonged to us now. I just wasn’t sure if there would be an us in forty-eight hours. I loved Marco, this much was true, but did I love him enough to walk away from my life forever?

I had forty-eight hours to walk away from my life or lose the man I loved.

After Marco left, I lay in bed and stared at the cream colored ceiling of my apartment. For the first time, I noticed tiny cracks in the plaster that looked vaguely like the Eiffel Tower if I squinted at them long enough. I thought of Paris, the city of lovers. There were so many places I wanted to go with Marco. Depending on how I looked at it, traveling the world with Marco was one decision away.

If we ran away together, we would have freedom and he claimed that money would never be an issue. We could spend weeks on remote beaches tangled together. We could stay up too late and sleep in even later. But what if we got bored of each other? What if this fiery love burned too hot and too fast and we were left staring at each other with nothing to say?

My heart pounded against the walls of my chest. I closed my eyes as I inhaled acutely aware of every muscle in my body, nerves thrumming with energy.

All of my worries about where we would go and how long we would last were just white noise distracting me from my real decision.

I needed to decide if I was willing to walk away from the life I had built for myself to be with the man I loved.

“Get out of bed, Odessa,” I whispered to myself throwing my feet onto the cold hardwood floor and willing myself across the room for a shower.

It was time to go to work.

If I decided to stay, I needed to keep doing my job.

And if I decided to go? With the shower running, I stood in front of the bathroom mirror as steam filled the tiny room erasing my reflection.

If I decided to go, I needed to wrap up my life in forty-eight hours. No matter what I chose, it was time to get to work.

I needed to talk to someone. Shea had already left for the day, so I made plans to meet her for lunch near the hospital.

“Tell me what is going on,” Shea said, sliding into the booth across from me at Valermo’s Pizza. “Your message totally freaked me out and you don’t eat at places like this. Something is wrong.”

The waitress, a skinny college aged girl, approached our table with a pitcher of ice water. Shea’s green eyes locked on me, eyebrows raised as she waited for the girl to fill our glasses.

“I have a problem,” I said, keeping my voice low. “A problem that I can’t really share with anyone, but I need to talk to someone.”

“Talk to me,” Shea said, immediately reaching across the table and grasping my hand.

“I am so sorry about all of this . . .” I said, my eyes growing wet with tears. This was going to be harder than I thought.

“Honey, what is wrong?” Shea asked dropping her voice to a whisper. “Are you dying?”

“No, God no,” I sniffed, a few tears spilling over and running down my cheeks.

The waitress returned to our table, her wide smile dropping at the sight of my expression. “So . . . are you ready to order? I can tell you about the special it’s . . .”

Shea interrupted. “We’ll take a medium deep dish combo pizza with extra cheese, extra pepperoni, and two Pyramid Ales.”

“All righty,” the girl said, taking notes.

“Shea, I can’t drink and go back to work.” I wiped my nose with a napkin.

“You can have a beer,” she said. “God knows I could use one and I am not drinking alone.”

The waitress looked at me, hand poised above her little notebook. “You in for a beer?”

“I’m in, sure, I’ll drink one, thanks.”

“Pizza and beer it is,” the girl’s smile returned and she bounced away back to the kitchen. She seemed so carefree, so young with nothing but possibility in front of her. I felt there was possibility for me, I just wasn’t sure how to live with either of my choices.

“You are killing me here,” Shea said leaning forward. “So, you aren’t dying which is awesome by the way. What else . . . Are you pregnant?”

“No,” I said.

“Are you getting sued?”

“No.”

“Did you kill someone? Get caught shoplifting? Decide to go gluten free?”

“No, no, and no,” I said, actually laughing a little.

Shea sighed. “So, you can either tell me or I’ll keep firing questions at you, we can do this the hard way or the easy way little lady. My daddy always said it is best to just get the hard stuff off your chest . . .”

I leaned forward. “Marco’s family is a part of the Mexican drug cartel,” I whispered, leaning forward.

Shea’s jaw dropped.

“It’s not Marco, it’s his father, Luis. Apparently he is the brains behind the organization.”

“So, that’s where all their money comes from?” Shea said, rocking back in her seat. She looked shell shocked.

The waitress delivered two beers. Shea picked one up and took a few large gulps.

“There is a lot I don’t know, but apparently Amador Shipping was a legitimate business once upon a time, but that changed.”

“No shit.”

“No, shit,” I said, taking a sip of my beer. The glass was wet and cold. “You know I don’t even like beer.”

“I know,” Shea said. “But since they don’t serve the hard stuff here . . . so, drugs. That’s bad, like really bad. So, is Marco a dealer?”

“No, he isn’t, he wants out.” I rubbed my temples. “Marco has been working with the feds against his father.”

Shea stared at me and chugged the rest of her beer. “So, what are you going to do? Are you going to break up with him?”

“Marco’s asked me to go away with him.”

“Go away, like on vacation, or move?”

“As in disappear,” I whispered. Our waitress returned with our medium sized pizza pie, grease pooled on top of the meat.

Without taking her eyes off of me, Shea blotted two slices with a napkin and made plates for us both. “This is sounding very scary. Very scary and very dangerous. I don’t like it.”

“It is, scary,” I said. “There is some chance that if Marco testifies against his father that some of his father’s business partners would retaliate.”

“You can’t be a part of this,” Shea whispered. “This is too dangerous.”