My phone buzzed. An email from Giuliana, checking to confirm I’d be back for the black-tie gala at the Coventry Art Gallery. I know you’re in Vegas, and I’m in the Canary Islands with Rodrigo. I’m breaking things off with him at the end of the week, and you and I can do a formal announcement at Coventry. Don’t worry, I’m being very discreet ;)
I wanted to run faster but was at the edge of my limit.
As a trophy wife, Giuliana would be easier to manage. She knew the drill, knew how to handle herself. These were her people, and she wouldn’t give me any trouble. Mackenzie was prettier, though. It would serve her right to have to stick with me. She’d gotten herself into this goddamn mess. I’d make this whole mess worth her while, of course, but I needed a wife.
I slowed the treadmill to seven-and-a-half miles per hour.
I’d tell her I knew about her and her job, and offer her the cash. She’d have to eat her deception for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. And maybe she’d let me hate fuck her sometimes.
I texted Ryan and told him to meet me in the sauna.
I was pleased to see when he arrived he wasn’t holding the folder. We sat a respectable distance apart, and he ladled water over the glowing lava stones to create a thick steam.
“Tell me what you know about Mackenzie.”
“I just did a quick background check and saw she worked at Brunvand. I’d heard the name in connection with Moore and Golden. I talked to an intern who was more than happy to spill the beans. She and her fiancé just broke up. She caught him banging the trainer.”
“She told me that.”
“She’s been with them for about four years – reliable, kinda boring. She’s in debt up to her eyeballs. Student loan crap, hell of a lot of credit card debt.”
I let my breath out in the steamy, hot little room. “What did she go to school for?”
“Got a bachelor’s in art history, then went back for her accounting degree and most of an MBA.”
Art degree. I thought about the Coventry opening. I only had to stay married until the Hall team was convinced I’d changed my ways and signed the paperwork.
“I’m going to bribe her to stay married to me through the merger. It’ll be a perfect ‘up yours’ to Moore and Golden.”
“Blackmail her.”
“With what?”
“I did some searching with facial recognition software. I found a video on an amateur site.”
I thought of Mackenzie and her ravenous libido. “Go on.”
“I think she was in college, but it’s her and some guy. Amateur stuff, but he had some camera skills. Tripod, good angles.”
It wasn’t right. I didn’t like it. I was sure I could get her with just the money. The merger would go through in a few weeks. Then she could pay off all her loans, my fortune would double, and we’d go our separate ways.
“You’ve seen it?”
Ryan nodded. “Your wife is hot.”
“You’re right about that.” I’d almost overlooked her in the bar until she’d spilled her drink on my pant leg. The realization that it had been no accident bombarded me. She’d set me up. I’d fallen for her lies and married her. Jesus.
“It’s certainly more interesting than Giuliana,” Ryan said. “But it could blow up in your face.”
“Her word against mine. She’s the one who’s undercover. She’s the one who’s been lying the whole time. She tried to slander me, and I’ll demolish her in court.”
“It won’t make the Hall Board think you’re any less of a playboy if she starts running her mouth.”
I sighed. Most of the crap people thought about me all came through Serena. I mean, I like women as much as the next guy. Maybe more so, but I just haven’t found the right woman. She’ll come someday. Someday after Mackenzie and I are safely divorced.
“You don’t want to marry Giuliana,” Ryan stated.
“I need someone at the Coventry art opening next Tuesday.”
“Sounds like Mrs. Creed is in for some adventures,” Ryan laughed. “I’ll email you the video.”
“I’m not using the video.”
“But don’t you want to see it?”
Yes. Hell yes, I did. Mackenzie at nineteen going to town on some dude in a dorm room? Yes, please. “No, I don’t want to see it.”
“Bullshit. I’m sending it as soon as we get out of here.”
“I’m not going to use it.”
“I’m still sending it.”
Mackenzie
Susie stared at me over our appetizers as we lay out by the pool. “You’re glowing.”
“I slept with him,” I mumbled. “I’d forgotten how much I actually like sex.” Susie and I had commandeered two deck chairs by the waterfall at the 21+ Go Pool at the Flamingo. I’d thought about getting one of the cabanas, but they were upwards of three hundred and fifty dollars for a few hours. So we sat out with the rest of the poor folk. I wondered if Scott and I might get one of the cabanas later. The idea thrilled me. A DJ played crappy techno, and people laughed and drank around us. Despite the bad music, the pool was a fun, party scene. I had my sketchbook out but wasn’t doing much with it.
“Lucas was a buzzkill in every way.”
When he and I first got together, we were on fire. But the romance burned out when he’d decided he liked World of Warcraft more than he liked me. He’d put on a ton of weight and told me he didn’t feel good enough about his body to have sex with me. Then he started seeing a trainer, and we all know how that ended. I didn’t think I’d ever set foot in a gym again.
“I talked to Mr. Fallon this afternoon while you were napping,” Susie informed me.
Ugh. “And?”
“He’s wicked impressed. He wants to know when you think you’re going to start talking to him about the money stuff. He’s going to pay you double, he’s so excited.”
Double? Really? I could see my monthly Visa bill dancing before my eyes. And those payments to Sally Mae.
“I’ll likely wait until we get back to New York. I don’t want him to think something’s up too soon.”
“The long con?”
“Sort of.”
“But you like him.”
Yeah, I did like him. Even when I tried to remind myself of all the awful things I’d read about in the tabloids—wild parties at his villa in Key West, being out with a different starlet every night in Hollywood, most of them far younger than he was.
“Is he weird?”
“Um, maybe a little? Mostly just that he has people who do everything for him. We really haven’t talked about, well, anything really.”
“Just screwing?”
“Kind of. It’s really good.”
“I can tell from the glassy look in your eye and the spring in your step.”
I’d worried I was limping. My pussy hadn’t gotten a workout like that in years and happily ached at the moment. We hadn’t slept much the night before, and the sun on my pale New Yorker skin felt amazing. I stretched like a cat.
“What have you been up to?” I asked Susie.