His Four Poster Bed (Bedroom Secrets Series Book 2) (20 page)

“You should have told me.”

“I needed you to believe,” he said, staring out into the ocean, his eyes fixed on the horizon. “Veronica convinced me it was the only way.”

“That’s what you were arguing about,” I said. “How did you do it? How did you disappear?”

“The pilot and I were not in the helicopter,” Marco said, his voice weary. “When Veronica walked you away, I knew you’d be too upset with me to see what was going on. The pilot and I both jumped from the helicopter when it was just off shore.”

“You jumped into the water.”

“We needed the world to see the helicopter take off, to know I was on board.”

“You wanted all those witnesses.”

Marco nodded.

“The helicopter was on auto pilot,” he continued. “We buzzed the restaurant, took it out to sea where it could do no harm, and then detonated an onboard device that was rigged to make the explosion look like a standard fuel leak. It was all supposed to look like a horrible accident.”

“And they never found your body,” I whispered. “You knew they would just stop looking.”

“In a crash like that there are often no bodies,” he said. “It’s the ocean, people just disappear.”

“I see,” I said, looking down at our clasped hands.

“If you had known I was still alive you would not have grieved the way you did.”

“I grieved Marco,” I said, tears filling my eyes faster than I expected. “I grieved, I sobbed, I wanted to die.”

“You helped me convince the world, convince Luis that I was dead. I know I put you though a lot. I knew you wouldn’t give up,” he whispered. “You had your job, the children to ground you, and now you still do.”

“And I don’t have you.”

“The case against my father is moving forward,” he said. “This will end.”

“So you hide out until that happens? How long are you gone?”

“I am gone until this is done. Marco Amador is dead to the world and until my father is locked up. It is safer for you, safer for me, safer for our future family.”

“Our family,” I said, his words making my stomach flutter. “Marco, how can we be together . . .”

Marco pushed his chaise lounge back and knelt before me. “I need to ask you something,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “Veronica wanted me to wait even longer to contact you, but I was afraid I was losing you. I was afraid you would move on.”

“You know about Theo,” I said, smiling. “Marco, nothing happened.”

“I don’t blame you for anything,” he said. “You thought I was dead.”

“You know sometimes I wonder why I don’t feel something for Theo. I wonder why I don’t escape in his arms, but I know why. My mind and my body belong to you,” I whispered reaching out to stroke his face.

“I want us to be together, forever Odessa Starr,” he said. He pulled a small box out of his pocket and knelt before me.

“What are you doing?”

He opened the box revealing a gorgeous emerald cut diamond ring. “I’m proposing to the woman I love. Will you marry me someday Odessa Starr? When we are no longer hiding from the world? When we can be together without fear, without hiding?”

I looked at this man that I loved and knew there was only one way to answer. “Make love to me and ask me again,” I said wrapping my arms around him. He lay back on the lounge chair and I unhitched his pants hiking up my skirt and pushed my panties aside.

He slid inside me.

“We need a condom,” he gasped.

“Get one,” I said, moving up and down on his shaft.

I heard him fumbling with his pocket and then he pulled out of me for a moment before lifting my hips again. My body pressed against his I rocked up and down on him riding him with just the right pressure. He buried his face against my breasts and then his fingers interlacing with mine until I felt him slide the ring on my finger.

“Marry me,” he said, driving his cock up into my wetness.

“Yes,” I gasped shocked at how quickly the orgasm rocked through my body.

“Say it again,” he said, “Again.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” I came shaking and shivering against the man of my dreams as I promised to be his wife.

Sometimes happily ever after doesn’t look like you expect it. Marco gave me the diamond ring.

“I can’t wear this,” I said, before my flight back to Seattle.

“I know,” he said, taking a long gold chain and looping it around my neck. He hooked the ring on the chain.

I smiled at the deception.

“I will see you again in a month,” he said. “We think this will be over in a year,”

“One year,” I whispered breathing in his scent as I pressed my mouth against his throat.

“Can you wait a year for me?”

“I’ve waited my life for you,” I said.

“Veronica will make contact next,” he said. “Be nice to her. She means to help,” he said.

“I will wait to hear from her and I will tell no one that you are alive,” I said. “I know the rules.”

“We can do this Odessa,” he said, grasping my hands. He dropped his forehead against mine an inhaled slowly. “I will love you every month as if it is our last, but know I am doing everything I can to secure our future.”

“And no one can know you are alive,” I said.

“No one.”

“Agreed.”

And so I made that bargain. I wore his ring around my neck and gave him my heart and my soul. Veronica comes every month and delivers a ticket. So far we’ve met in Sayulita, Mexico; Lagos, Portugal; and Vancouver, British Columbia. We have yet to be together in the United States, and Marco has Veronica monitoring the apartment. She installed a heavy lock and key system and she often scans the place for bugs.

Theo is still my roommate; now my roommate and friend. I have told him nothing about Marco but he knows that the man I loved is dead. He knows I have fears and need the doors locked at night. I feel bad not telling him the truth but some truths need to be kept silent if they are ever going to be contained.

I want Theo to be happy so I’ve told him that I’ll search for someone for him to love. He loves women, days at a time, he is afraid to get attached but always breaks things off after five nights. It’s become almost a joke between us, I call his routine his five night stand. Somewhere out there is Theo’s one and only. I found mine in a world where I didn’t believe in love, I found the man of my dreams.

My name is Odessa Starr and I believe in true love. I gave up everything and then lost myself to be with the man I love, and someday I will walk down the aisle, give him my hand, and pledge my life to him. I don’t need a piece of paper at this point, he’s already mine and I am his. It may not be ordinary, it may not be practical but it’s worth it. Someday I’ll have the man I love back again and we’ll make love in our four poster bed.

It was 4:30 a.m. and I had early rounds at the hospital. Darkness filled the apartment and the streets outside were quiet. Theo’s door closed, we hadn’t seen each other in days. Though it wasn’t unusual for us to miss seeing each other, we had separate schedules, and separate lives.

It had been over a year since we’d decided to try life as roommates and I didn’t regret it for a minute. Everyone assumed we had started with some hot and heavy relationship and I let them believe it. Sometimes little white lies make things easier. It was impossible to explain to anyone my new found celibacy. Making them believe I’d rebounded in the arms of a hottie like Theo Manhattan made my story much more believable.

I walked slowly down the hardwood hallway, hoping the floor wouldn’t creak. A coffee mug balanced in one hand I unlocked the series of locks that Marco had ordered installed in my apartment.

“Morning,” I turned to see Theo walking across the living room, his taut belly exposed as he stretched his arms overhead.

“Did I wake you?” I cringed, looking at the clock.

“No, couldn’t sleep,” he said, rubbing his eyes. He smiled at me that familiar smile full of pain and longing.

“You know you really need more sleep,” I said. “I know why I’m up early, what is your excuse.”

“Insomnia,” he said. “Bad dreams.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, squeezing his hand. “You need some happiness in your life, you really do.”

“I am happy. I have my work and a great roommate,” he grinned at me and once again, I wished I could tell Theo about Marco, that he shouldn’t give up hope on love. Grace was gone, but somewhere out there was a woman with the depth to draw this man out, a woman who could need him the way he wanted to be desired.

“I ran into Billie yesterday,” Theo said, pouring himself a cup of black coffee and starting some toast. He took a travel mug and poured another cup. I knew without asking he was getting me some breakfast, he said I needed to fuel up in the morning if I expected to think coherently at work. “Looks like we may be getting a new neighbor.”

“Really, someone new in 304? A guy or a girl?” I asked, remembering my days in the apartment next door. There had been one tenant since I’d moved out, a single guy who was never around.

“A woman,” he said, and something about the way Theo paused made me follow up.

“A pretty woman?” I asked, grinning.

He shrugged and sipped his black coffee as the toast finished. “Beautiful, she was . . .” He paused. “Lovely, quite lovely.”

“My, my,” I said, reaching across the table to squeeze my friend’s hand. “Sounds to me like the great Theo Manhattan has a crush.”

“Not a crush, she was just attractive.”

“You have not noted a woman’s attraction level for a long time my friend.”

“I have had lovers. Beautiful lovers.”

“Of course you have, and you will have more. I just like seeing that light around you. I like seeing you notice a woman in particular a woman next door. Did you get a name?”

“Callie,” he said, shrugging. “Her name was Callie.”

I gave him a quick peck on the cheek and grabbed my toast heading for the front door. “I’ll be home late tonight,” I said. “Don’t wait up.”

“I never do,” he called to me. Theo spent most of his free time at the gallery. He had the gallery, I had the hospital. I had my getaways with Marco and he had his nights with women that always ended in good-bye. In some ways, we were perfectly suited for each other, our lives were set to accommodate each other completely.

Balancing my toast and coffee, I opened the series of locks on the main door.

Billie had accommodated the new locks without issue. She thought my new found focus on security was tied to the post-traumatic stress of watching Marco die. Again, I let people believe what they wanted to believe. Let them see what they want to see. No harm in that.

I opened the door with a start.

Veronica stood outside my door, her cell phone in hand poised to make a call or text.

“What are you doing here?” I whispered, glancing up and down the hall. Veronica’s appearances in an out of my life were easy enough to explain. Since she’d been popping up in my work and home life on a regular basis over the past year I usually mumbled vague statements about her artsy background or jet set life and people filled in the blanks.

Again, people see what they want and right now they were seeing something quite odd. It was 5:00 a.m. and I had a visitor.

“I wanted to see you in person,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Sorry, I didn’t realize how early it was until I got here. I just flew in from Moscow and I’m all upside down. Can I come inside?” she said.

“Theo’s here,” I said. “He’s awake. Let’s go to my room.”

Theo sat at the kitchen table reading the news on his phone, a steaming cup of coffee in front of him. “Good morning?” he said eyebrows raising as he noted Veronica.

“My friend, Veronica just got into town. You remember her.”

“Right, you are the backup singer, on tour or on a break?”

“Exactly,” Veronica said, in her lilting South African accent. She linked her arm with mine and leaned her head on my shoulder planting a kiss on my cheek. “I missed my girl too much, I had to come visit.” She stroked my cheek suggestively. “Sorry to bother you.”

“No bother here,” Theo grinned and winked at me. “You two have fun then,” he said. “I’ll just head back to my room.” I felt like a teenage girl being left alone by her bestie so she could make out with her boyfriend without an audience.