Ten Thousand Words (50 page)

“Is the woman you’re buying for shaped more like me or…”

I took a step back and had a good look. “She’s quite a bit taller than you.”

The blonde—her name tag said Susan—smiled, and she was drop-dead gorgeous when she did. “She’s lucky then. Do you know her height?”

“Um…five ten-ish.”

“Nice,” she said. “Wide hips or narrow?”

“She wears her pants low on her hips, so I’m guessing her hips are the sizes she refers to.”

“Her waist is considerably smaller then?”

I stared off into space, imagining my love right in front of me. With my hands, I spanned her pretend waist. “About here?”

Susan laughed. “How sweet. Here.” She picked some things off the racks. “I suggest you go for a ten in these. Do you know her bust size?”

“Thirty-six C.”

“Are they full?”

“Very,” I replied with a grin.

I ended up buying several pieces from Susan. On my way to find a cab, grinning like a dipshit, I realized I had just bought myself the best fucking Christmas present ever.

When I got home, my mother informed me that Xanthe was taking a nap.

“Let her rest. Cynthia and Pedro will be here in a few hours, and William and Elisa—”

Rolling my eyes, I headed for the stairs.

“Oliver!” she admonished. “I want her to be happy when she meets your brother and sister!”

“Why wouldn’t she be happy?” I asked, halfway up the first flight.

She hazarded a guess. “Because she’s tired?”

“Pfft,” I replied.

In the bedroom, I found Xanthe passed out, facedown, on the bed, fully clothed on top of the bedspread. Softly shutting the door behind me, I locked it for good measure and dropped my bag to the side. I wanted to peel those jeans off her arse and sink my teeth into it.

Instead, I stretched out next to her, pushing a wild curl off her cheek. Her eyes fluttered open, and she smiled.

“Hey, love,” I said softly.

“Hey,” she replied. “I smelled your beard.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Mmhmm. Is my dad back yet?”

“Nope.”

Our fathers had disappeared after breakfast. David had wanted to see something at the museum, and my father couldn’t resist the lure of checking out some ancient artifacts.

“My sister and brother will be here soon.”

“Okay.”

“I got you something. A few somethings.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Mmhmm. I’m afraid if I show them to you now though, we won’t be leaving this room for many, many hours. Possibly days.”

“Show me now anyway.”

I bounded off the bed and grabbed the bag. Like a couple of kids, we sat cross-legged on the bed as I dumped the lacy, silky pile between us.

“Jeez, you weren’t joking.” Xanthe laughed. Her cheeks flamed when she held up a pair of the crotch-free panties.

I hadn’t only bought that kind. There were several normal pairs.

“I thought those would be amazing with these,” I said, holding up a pair of black fishnet thigh-highs. “Please tell me you have those black pumps with you—the ones you wore at the convention?”

Her smile turned sly, and I groaned before pouncing on her. Knocking her flat, I trapped her beneath me, hungrily kissing her. No finesse, no suave seductiveness. Just a raw, hot need to touch and taste her all over.

Fuck, I missed her.

“Lock the door,” she whispered.

“Already done, love,” I replied.

Xanthe

Quietly slipping out of bed, I went to the bathroom and then got dressed and headed downstairs, leaving Oliver sleeping deeply. It was early, but I found the housekeeper preparing a buffet, and there was coffee already made.

“Good morning,” the housekeeper said as I entered the kitchen. “Anything I can get for you?”

“Thanks, Chad. I got it.”

Rex sauntered in a few minutes later. “Hey,” he greeted me, heading for the coffee cups and pouring himself some. “Sleep well?”

“Mmhmm. You?”

“Yeah.” He took a seat next to me at the kitchen island. “Come for a walk with me after we finish our coffee?”

“Sure. Is everything all right?”

Rex shrugged. “Don’t want to talk about it here,” he said quietly.

Chad, the housekeeper, buzzed on by, not paying us any attention.

After draining our mugs, Rex and I shrugged on our jackets and trainers, and we slipped out the front door, circled around the side, and headed to the back path that weaved through patches of wooded areas around a large pond. Brilliant pale gold sunlight lit the landscape like a dream.

“Do you feel out of place here?” Rex asked me once we were some distance from the house.

“I don’t know. It’s certainly not what we’re used to. But their parents are really nice. I think they like us.”

Rex nodded. “Cynthia though…I don’t think she likes us at all.”

He had a point there. Oliver’s sister seemed to be reserving judgment. She and her husband, Pedro, had arrived yesterday with their one-year-old son, Matteo. Cynthia had given Rex and me a chilly reception, watching us with narrowed eyes, like a hawk, over supper. Dad had thought maybe she took us for thieving pirates, waiting to see if we’d sneak the silver up our sleeves.

Aunt Ellen didn’t like Cynthia at all.

“She’s a bitter little shit,” she’d hissed at me. “From what Mariela was telling me, she got knocked up and married that Pedro fellow. They weren’t even dating. Just fooling around. Now, she’s saddled with him and their brat. She doesn’t like seeing her brothers happy and in love when she’s not.”

That had surprised me. Oliver had given me the impression that Cynthia was happy for him.

“What can Cynthia say though?” I mused. “She lives in Brazil.”

“I just wonder if they think we’re with Ollie and Trey for the money.”

“Pfft. We have our own money. We made it this far without theirs.”

Rex grinned. “That we have.”

“Besides, it’s Christmas Eve. Let’s just enjoy the day and have fun. William likes us just fine.”

“Yeah, he’s cool. They all have really British names.”

I laughed. “Yeah, I noticed that, too.”

We made it to the farthest point from the house on the path when Rex stopped.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I have a Christmas present for you.”

“Oh, yeah?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “What?”

Grinning, his eyes dancing with happiness, he said, “Ricki called me late last night. It’s all taken care of. Ronen and Lilla are coming home!”

My jaw dropped. “Shut the fuck up!”

“I know! Ricki was able to wrap all this shit up in no time. He figured it wouldn’t be until after New Year’s, but he and the Locals were able to take care of it. They’re desperate to get Ronen, Ricki, and me back together.”

I launched myself into his arms, and he twirled me around, the both of us laughing like loons. It meant that the threat to Ronen had been eliminated, so he, Lilla, and Maddison were safe.

Ricki wouldn’t be working solo on missions anymore, and Rex would be back in action, too. No matter that what they did as a trio was dangerous, Rex
lived
for that work. When Ronen had had to leave, Ricki had put Rex on hiatus in case anything happened to himself. That way, someone would take care of Jaime and me.

“Oliver mentioned something about you two moving in together,” said Rex as he put me back on terra firma.

“He did?”

“Yeah. I was surprised to hear it from him rather than you.”

My cheeks felt as though they’d caught fire. “We said we wouldn’t talk about it until we got back.”

Rex appraised me for a few seconds, making my face grow even hotter. “Trey wants me to move in with him.”

“Is it what you want?” I asked.

Glancing away from me, into the trees behind me, he replied, “I don’t know. I’m afraid to tell him about what I really do. I haven’t told him what…what we went through—what
I
went through. And I know he hates it that I can’t tell him. A part of me wants him to know, and another part is terrified that, once he does, he’ll run. And if he runs, then…”

“I get it. Oliver wants to know, too. Ronen actually gave him some sort of clue.”

“He did? That’s weird.”

“I know.”

“Ronen and his vibes, man. They haven’t led us astray yet.”

“Yeah,” I replied.

We continued walking the path. Rex took my hand in his, like the old days. Since I had gone off to New York, things hadn’t been the same between us.

“Are we growing apart?” I asked quietly.

“I fucking hope not.”

“We hardly see each other anymore.”

“Yeah, but we found people who need us more than we need each other.”

“What a lovely way to look at it.”

“The love is always there, Xanthe,” he said, squeezing my hand.

“It is,” I replied.

We were approaching the house again. Oliver was standing there on the veranda, drinking coffee and waiting for us.

Guilt wormed its way through me for holding Rex’s hand.
What would Oliver think?

But Oliver was smiling. He set down the cup on a table and headed our way.

Rex released my hand. “No need to poke the bear,” he said dryly. “Trey would pitch a fit if he saw that.”

I laughed and ribbed Rex with my elbow. Oliver jogged over and lifted me into the air before squeezing the breath out of me and giving me a fuzzy kiss. Rex kept on walking.

“I missed you when I woke up,” he told me.

Warmth melted through me. “Oh, yeah?”

“Oh, yeah. Mom, Tessa, and Cynthia are going shopping again before the stores close. Do you want to go?”

“God, no.”

He smiled wickedly. “Good. I’m sick of sharing you.”

Ollie

After we all had breakfast, Mama, my sisters, and Elisa headed out to the shops while my father took William and Pedro horseback riding. The rest of us, even Xanthe’s dad, went to Ellen’s room and got stoned, and then we spent the rest of the day in the game room.

When everyone came back, we all went and got ready. Mama wanted us dressed up since this was the official Christmas dinner. Xanthe, David, Ellen, and I would be heading to Oxford tomorrow afternoon after the morning festivities. Trey and Rex would be staying in London to have some alone time together.

Xanthe and I took a shower together. Afterward, she fixed her hair and put on a little makeup, and then she disappeared into the closet and forbade me to enter. My imagination went into overdrive, and even though I had made love to her up against the wall in the shower, my cock got painfully hard all over again.

Is she wearing a dress?

The one she had worn at the convention had done a serious number on me. If she were wearing that, I might have to rip it off her and do what I should have done that night.

Christ, was that really two months ago?

Pulling my suspenders over my shoulders and attaching them to my slacks, I heard the closet door open, and my love stepped out in a vision of black. Xanthe’s body rocked the forties style beautifully. Her curves had that dress clinging in all the right places. She looked classy and sophisticated. Silky sheer pantyhose and those fucking black pumps had me drooling.

“Good God…” I whispered.
“Love…”

Her smile blew up my world. “You like it? I picked it up yesterday.”