Fidelity (Infidelity #5)(70)

“I don’t know what it is, but I think he does.”

“I want to leave too,” she said wishfully. “How about if I meet with Ralph one last time tomorrow about the will and then we can go?”

I sat up. “No. Why do you need to go back to that snake’s office?”

“Because I’m not coming back. I don’t want to… until I’m subpoenaed. I might as well get this over with, especially if my mother is really going to talk to Daryl and leave Alton. It’s not going away. Their divorce is a stipulation of the will.”

“You’re not leaving my sight.”

Charli pulled her feet from my lap and climbed up on her knees. Leaning over me, she kissed my cheek. “I like the sound of that.” Her kisses rained lower over my ear and my chin. Each contact created a chill that ignited a flame. “What is it… exactly… that you… want to see?” she asked between kisses.

I shook my head. “Oh, princess, you’re playing with the wrong kind of fire right now.”

Her long, untethered hair flowed over her shoulders, tickling my nose as she continued to pepper my neck with soft kisses. Her petite hands moved over my shirt to the buttons. “I think you’re… the exact fire… I need to forget… this shitty day.”

I lifted the platinum diamond-dusted cage hanging near her collar. “Did you hear that, Deloris… or is it Isaac… Clayton?”

“Fuck!” Her cheeks glowed red. The crimson was bright enough to rival her hair as she reached behind her neck and undid the clasp.

As she laid the necklace beside her laptop, I seized her wrist. In one quick move, she was flattened and pinned between the couch and me. “What did I tell you about taking that off? Are you planning a swim?”

“No,” she giggled. “If you’ll let me up, I’ll go get the other one. It’s in the safe.”

“The same place as your wedding rings?”

It took her a minute—during that time visible questions swirled in her golden gaze. And then, all at once her lips parted and laugh filled the room. “Yes. Right where I left them, dear.” She shrugged. “But that time, I was planning a swim.”

In the living room of a Savannah hotel suite, we were transported back to Del Mar. “You were the most beautiful woman I’d seen. I came out of the water and there you were. So sexy and sophisticated.” I ran my finger over her lips. “And your mouth. Witty and smart. Yet young and innocent.

“My cock is getting hard just thinking about that bathing suit.”

Charli wiggled beneath me, her round curves and hard planes rubbing against all the right places.

“Hmm. You were very sexy and mysterious. All tough and protective.”

“I was? I’m not anymore?”

“I’ve seen under the mask.”

“Only what I’ve let you see.”

“What are you hiding from me, Mr. Demetri?”

“If I told you, I wouldn’t be mysterious.”

“You’ll always be…” Charli’s words faded as her cell phone chimed from the table across the room.

“It can wait,” I said.

She pushed against my shoulders. “Not if it’s my momma.”

Sighing, I sat up. “I remember when you used to avoid her calls.”

She shot me a grin over her shoulder as she hurried toward the phone. “I remember when you wouldn’t talk to your dad. Look how things have changed.”

“Momma,” she said into her phone. “Is everything all right?”

Standing, I bent down and lifted the pearl necklace from the floor. Giving Charli a moment of privacy, I carried it into the bedroom. Inside the large closet was the standard-issue hotel safe. I exchanged the audible necklace for the other one, closed the safe, and carried it back to the living room. Charli was still talking as I draped the chain around her neck and secured the clasp.

Though she shook her head, she didn’t try to stop me. There was no way she was getting out of my sight. Not her or her blue dot.

“I’m so proud of you,” she said into the phone. “Really. It’ll be all right. Nox said the Demetri Enterprise legal staff is looking into Montague Corporation. Nothing will happen overnight. They’re corporate attorneys. They’ll help… Not in person? You’re not coming here, are you?”

The panic in her tone made me stop and stare, as if by standing still I could hear Adelaide’s response.

Charli let out a deep breath. “Good. We’re hoping soon. Probably tomorrow… I love you too.”

She swiped the phone and laid it back on the table. “I can’t believe it. She’s really going to do it.”

“Did she talk to Daryl?”

“Yes. He’s agreed to represent her in the divorce.”

“I hope she’s letting him tell your stepfather.”

“No.”

“No?” I asked.

“She wants to do it. She says she needs to do it.”

“Not in person?”

Charli shook her head. “No, thank goodness.”

“When?” I asked as my phone buzzed with a text.



Deloris: “ADELAIDE JUST CALLED MR. FITZGERALD IF YOU WANT TO LISTEN.”