Lap of Luxury (Love Don't Cost a Thing)

I listen to the hold music, my blood pounding through my body. This is it. I can feel it. The breakthrough I’ve been hoping for. A moment later, a woman’s voice comes on the line, asking how she can help me.

“I need you to tell me why this bill is so damn high. Your company is screwing me right in the ass and I’m not having it.”

“I’ll do my best to explain the charges, Mr. Ravnikar. Let me just pull up…Yes. I can explain these charges. There are costs associated with the location of the job and it’s distance from Dubai headquarters.”

“It’s not fucking Siberia.” Maybe it is Siberia.

“No, sir. But the Seychelles are remote, and our guards require charter flights and transfers. Food, accommodation and other expenses in remote locations can also add up.”

I close my eyes. I remember now. He went to the Seychelle’s once a few years after we set up Ravnikar Enterprises. Why didn’t I think of that?

“Of course. I’ll pay in full. Goodbye.”

I put the phone down and turn to Boris, who’s looking at me, his eyebrows raised in excited anticipation.

I smile widely, baring all my teeth. “Got him.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Bethany

My hand travels sleepily to the other side of the mattress, but I find that it’s empty. My lover will be hard at work on something. Even after his triumph over Navarro, he won’t rest. He’ll be looking for Mikhail and Ciara, and using every means at his disposal to find them.

But what if he never does?

My eyes open to the morning light and fasten on the ceiling. Maybe it’s even likely that he’ll never find them. Damir and I might sail from port to beautiful port, following the sun around the world. The desire for revenge will ebb from him a little more each day, until he turns to me and says, I give up, princesa, and what’s more, I wish them well. We’ll change our identities and start fresh somewhere exotic.

I get up and pad through to the bathroom. Never going to happen. Not Damir Ravnikar. He’s not the type to give up, on a plan, or on his hate. As I lean against the vanity brushing my teeth and stare out at the undulating waves, shame floods by belly. And this is the man I love. If I was a stronger person I’d be long gone. My parents would be so disappointed with my life choices.

I spit in the basin and glare at my reflection. What about their life choices? They dumped me on the street. Damir decks me out in jewels, calls me his princess and treats me like his tender little victim. Is it any wonder I want him, and only him?

I find him on the main deck, working on his laptop and drinking a cup of coffee. When he sees me, his steely eyes brighten. I can’t stay angry at him for long. I press my lips gently against his warm, firm mouth. His strong hands slide around me and he pulls me onto his lap. I settle there comfortably, in the lap of luxury. For how luxurious it is to be loved by him.

“Morning, baby,” I whisper against his lips, and then trail kisses along his sharp cheekbone and lick the curve of his ear.

He chuckles darkly. “Good morning, princesa. You slept lat

e.”

I settle my arms comfortably around his neck and take a deep, happy breath of sea air. There’s not a soul on the sea or a scrap of land visible on the horizon. “Where to, now?”

There’s a decisive, hungry gleam in his eye that makes my stomach swoop in alarm. “Out through the Suez Canal to the Indian Ocean.”

“Oh? Why?”

“I know where they are.”

Panic leaps in my throat. All my stupid daydreams come crashing down around me. I squeeze my eyes shut. Mikhail, you idiot. Why didn’t you hide her better?

“Just let them be,” I beg him. “You and me, that’s what matters. We can go anywhere, do anything.” Within the limits of his Interpol alert. But with new identities, what’s stopping us from making a life together somewhere else?

As I look into his gem-like eyes, I already know the answer. He’s what stopping us. Him and his insane need for revenge.

I scramble off his lap, my fists clenched. “I’m not going to help you kill them. I draw the goddamn line there. And you’re not going to trick me again!”

Damir stands up and closes his laptop. “You’ll do as you’re told.”

The happiness I felt so briefly in his arms has already faded away. “I’ll do what I think is right.”