Sweetest Venom (Virtue #2)(22)

We pull apart, and I’m trying to get my wits together when I feel a lump of sand land on my face. Opening my eyes, I find him above me staring at me with a lopsided smirk.

“Oh, you ass. That was so not fair.”

“Quid pro quo, quid pro quo, my friend.”

I wipe my cheeks broodingly. “That’s easy for you to say. You’re not the one left with a lady boner and sand on her face.”

And then the most beautiful thing happens in front of me. Lawrence throws his head back and barks with laughter. Freely. Easily. Spontaneously. Could he be the same man I met at the Met in what seems a lifetime ago? Gone are the rock hard eyes and the mocking smile. He’s been replaced by this carefree stranger with bright evergreen eyes.

Yes, the unknown with Lawrence is definitely inviting.

We’re walking back to the car when Lawrence changes trajectories and walks back to the park. “Forgot something.”

I nod drowsily. With my arm wrapped around his waist and his around my shoulders, I lean my head on his side. Glancing up, I see that the Ferris wheel is lit up and functioning. “Look, Lawrence! The Ferris wheel is open.” I take a moment to admire its lights against the purple, pink and orange twilight. “I wonder if they only open it at night?”

A moment or two later, Lawrence says, “No idea.”

I’m so tired that I don’t even notice where he’s taking me until we’re standing in front of the large, colorful wheel and there’s a man dressed in uniform, waiting for us. Puzzled, I let go of Lawrence and turn to look at him.

“What’s this?” Frowning, my gaze ping pongs between the ride, Lawrence, and the man. “You didn’t?” But even as the words leave my mouth, I remember seeing Lawrence putting his cell away out on the beach. Breathless, my heart beats as though it were a stampede crushing my chest.

He caresses my cheek before tenderly tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. “I did.”

“Why?” I ask with a trembling voice.

He grabs my chin, making me look at him. “I think it’s about time to make new memories, and what better time than right now?”

He begins to look very blurry. Fucking tears. I close the space between us and hug him, really, it’s more like I’m trying to crush him. I shake my head, unable to speak as I bury my face in his chest. When I’m able to stare at him without making a fool of myself, I tilt my head back and meet his gaze. “How can I ever thank you?”

“You could start with a kiss,” he counters smoothly.

“Is that all?”

He raises an amused eyebrow.

I giggle before kissing him hard on the mouth. “How’s that?”

“You could try harder,” he drawls, looking lethally attractive.

“You wicked man,” I say as my lips land gladly on his once again.





Lawrence

ON OUR WAY BACK TO THE CITY, Blaire kept falling asleep on my shoulder, so I suggested that she spend the night at her own place and get some rest. I look out the window as we leave Blaire’s apartment behind.

“I like her,” Tony says after driving silently for a couple of minutes.

I chuckle wryly. “I see that she’s bewitched you, too.”

“Why not? She’s a breath of fresh air.” Tony pauses for a moment, weighing his next words. “You’re changing, Laurie.”

“Am I?” I drawl, pretending to be bored.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you take a day off since you started running the company. I’m glad.” His eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror. “She makes you happy.”

Leaning my head back on the leather seat, I close my eyes momentarily and imagine Blaire’s pale face when I first saw her. A raven haired sorceress with hollow eyes and an empty smile. So different from the girl with the wild hair and wild heart who spun and laughed on the beach a couple of hours ago. And as I stood there, watching her, transfixed and in awe of her tempestuous beauty, I realized that I wanted to be the one to protect her from everything and everyone who had ever hurt her just so she could look at me like that again—without a shadow of another man in her eyes.

Today as I watched her on the beach, the oddest sensation came over me. I felt as though I was staring at the beginning and end of my life. My salvation and downfall. Call me stupid, but I thought that every action and every path taken and not taken had conspired to bring me to that place. To that moment. To her. “She does.”

“It’s a beautiful feeling, isn’t it?” Tony says, and I can almost hear the smile on his face.

“No, it’s f*cking terrifying.”

I open my eyes and stare at the dark ceiling of the car, shadows morphing into living creatures. It’s so damn easy to fall in love, to lose one’s head in a woman’s body and her aphrodisiac taste. That is until the idyll comes to an end and it takes you a lifetime to forget her and the man you used to be. And I would know ...

“I’m in trouble, Tony.” The debilitating admission is torn from my chest.

“I know you are, my boy.”

“I thought I was safe.”

“From a woman?” He laughs. “No man is ever safe.”

But it didn’t start like that, did it?

No. She started as an obsession—one that I couldn’t seem to shake. I thought if I got close to her, I would find just another pretty face sleeping her way up to the top with nothing inside. I thought that once I f*cked her, I’d be able to flush her out of my system and obliterate her from my body and mind.