Beneath This Mask (Beneath, #1)(54)

“I’ve heard so much about you, Charlie. I’m so glad to finally meet you too.” Vanessa’s words slurred as she shook Charlie’s hand. “You’ve found yourself a good man … don’t let him get away.”

She stumbled, and the clear liquid in her glass sloshed onto the deck, just missing Charlie’s shoes. Another thing I’d never seen Vanessa do was drink hard liquor. Something was seriously f*cked up.

“What’s going on? You seem a little…”

“Drunk?” she finished for me. “Then mission accomplished.”

Charlie and I worked as a unit to maneuver her into a corner.

“What the hell is going on, Vanessa?”

She downed the remainder of what smelled like a gin and tonic. She threw the glass over the railing into the river and wiped the back of her hand across her mouth. Her actions were all wrong. “Nothing you need to worry about, Simon.”

I opened my mouth to continue questioning her, but Vanessa was looking over my shoulder at Royce Frost as he crossed the deck, presumably heading toward us. She leveled a relatively sober stare on me and said, “I think I’ve had enough festivities for the evening. It’s time for me to go. Especially if you don’t want my father to think you’re still potential husband material.”

Charlie and I exchanged a confused look.

“Let’s get you cab then. Unless you want us to see you home,” I offered.

“No, a cab is fine.” She turned to Charlie and spoke softly. “Treat him right; he’s one of the good ones.”

Charlie glanced up at me and nodded. “I know.”

We helped Vanessa down the gangway, across the private section of dock, and then through the masses of people filling the streets. After Vanessa climbed into the back seat, I paid the driver and gave him directions to take her home.

“I’ve never seen her like that. Something’s definitely off,” I said to Charlie, as we turned away from the street.

“Maybe you should check on her tomorrow? See if you can get a better sense of what’s going on after she’s had a chance to sober up?” Charlie suggested.

I squeezed her hand, happy that she’d not only sheathed her claws, but was concerned about Vanessa, a woman she’d previously considered a threat.

“That sounds like a plan.”

We pushed through the crowd, but a fat bastard of a man shoved between us, breaking my hold.

“Charlie!” I spun, looking for her red dress as the mob of people carried her away from me like a riptide. When I finally caught sight of her, she was elbowing her way through the crowd, and her mask was gone.

I made my way toward her, and when I finally reached her, I swung her up in my arms.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Jesus, it’s a freaking riot out there. You’d think it was Mardi Gras,” she said, sucking in a breath. She gestured to her face. “Lost my mask. The elastic snapped, and I didn’t want to risk looking for it. It’s not worth getting trampled.”

“Good call.”

I hoisted her up higher so she had a better vantage point to see over the craziness, and we made our way back to the private dock. When we reached the less crowded space, I set Charlie down, and we both paused to right ourselves. A ginger-haired guy tried to follow us, but was stopped by an Orleans employee at the gate. He gestured wildly, but the security guard wouldn’t let him pass. I hoped he wasn’t a guest who’d misplaced his ticket. When he backed away and faded into the crowd, I assumed he was just another partier, wanting to get out of the craziness for a minute.


I watched Charlie as she shook her head—black, red, and purple waves falling into her face. She brushed them away as the first barrage of fireworks ripped through the night sky.

My mind veered to the last time we’d watched fireworks. I grabbed her hand and pulled her up the gangway and across the ship. Everyone’s attention was on the sky, so no one noticed as I led Charlie down two sets of stairs and into a dark, empty room on the lower deck. Given the relatively small size of the event tonight, only the upper decks were in use.

The glow from the dockside windows streaked through the shadows, creating pockets of light.

“Simon, what the hell? I thought we’d watch—”

“Oh, we are. But I want a repeat of last time.”

She spun to face me, her face half in shadow, half in light. “We can’t! Not here.”

“After all your bitching about no sex, are you really going to shoot me down?” Venturing farther into the room, I picked a dark section between two tables with a view of the river and the fireworks exploding overhead.

“When you put it like that—” Charlie started.

I cupped her face and kissed her bold red lips, stealing her words. She tasted like champagne and sin. Her hands clutched the shoulders of my linen suit, and I wanted her to wrinkle the hell out of it. I skimmed my hands down her back and under the skirt of her dress. Sliding my palms up the backs of her thighs, I gripped her ass and pulled her hard against me.

“You feel that? You ever think I don’t want you? You’re crazy, babe.” She flexed her hips into me. I took that as her assent and tugged at the sides of her lacy panties until they dropped to the floor and she stepped out of them. She bent to grab them and shoved them in my pocket. Her next words told me she was fully on board with my plan.