Suddenly Lena stood and took two quick steps, standing right in front of me. I couldn't help it when my eyes roamed down her body, landing right where my white shirt ended and the smooth skin of her thighs began. Before I could reach out and touch her, like I ached to do every time she was within reach, she knelt between my legs and I was taken by a whole new visual.
"Listen, Preston. I know you're used to getting your way, and you're used to people bending to your every command, but you forgot to take one thing into account."
"And what's that?" I asked, too mesmerized by the image of her mouth and lips so close to my cock.
"I refuse to be away from you. Especially if you're going to find Derrek. We decided, together, we were going to find him. So, I'm coming with you."
I could have argued with her, could have fought with her all day and all night, explaining all the reasons I didn't want her to come. When we'd decided to find him, it had been on our own terms, for our own reasons. This was different. This was dangerous. If Derrek knew we were coming for his money, coming for him, coming to finish whatever Edgar had wanted done before Derrek had so conveniently disappeared, he wasn't going to welcome us with smiles and handshakes. But I couldn't argue with her. Not when she was in front of me, half naked, asking to be near me, her mouth so close to me, so lush. There was also the fact that I did, always, want her with me. So, in that moment, I decided it would be pointless to argue, and better to just give in and let her think she'd won.
"Okay," I said softly, raising one hand to run the backs of my fingers along her cheek and down to her chin. Her eyes closed and she leaned in to my touch. "Come here," I said softly, opening up my body, signaling her to come closer. She stood and curled her body onto my lap, her cheek resting high on my chest, ass right where I wanted it, knees curled up. I held her, feeling how small she was in my arms, and knew I didn't want to be without her. So she would come with me.
"Will we bring Parker?" she asked, sounding hopeful.
I shook my head. "He needs to be in Portland for Piper. She'll need someone to be there for her as she tries to put her life back together."
Lena was quiet for a moment and then lifted her face to look at me. "Are you sad it won't be you who'll be there for her?"
I knew Lena was amazing in many ways. I loved her for a variety of reasons. But in that moment I loved her because she knew. She knew, without me having to tell her, that it would be difficult to be away from Piper. I pressed my lips to her forehead, mumbled, "Yeah," against her skin. She sighed deeply, then inhaled a big breath.
"I'm sorry my estranged husband is causing so many problems for you."
It hurt me to hear her apologize for him. His actions were not her fault.
"Soon, hopefully, we'll find a way to get him out of our lives for good."
"When do we leave?" she asked on a sigh, her eyes wandering out to the ocean, peaceful and blue.
I kissed her brow again. "We should probably leave when Piper and Sam leave."
"That doesn't give me any time to give notice at my job."
Silence hung between us.
"I'm sorry," I whispered. She'd worked hard to build a life before I showed up, and now she was being forced to leave it behind. It was important to her that she'd done something on her own for once, without the help or influence of anyone else, and I knew she would be sad to leave it at all, let alone on bad terms. That's just the kind of woman Lena was.
"In the end, when everything is sorted out, it'll all be worth it, right?" She looked up to me, searching my eyes for an answer.
"Right," I promised, knowing I had no right to make that promise to her.
"Parker, I need your help with something. And fast." I had snuck back up to the apartment, leaving all three girls on the beach, sunning themselves, soaking up as much Hawaiian sun as they could before we all left paradise. With my phone to my ear and my eyes on the girls, I quickly called my brother.
"What is it?"
"I need you to draft up divorce papers between Derrek and Lena. And I need those papers to indicate that Derrek gives up everything in the divorce. The house, the cars, and gives her all but two million dollars."
"What? Why? He isn't going to agree to that."
"He won't have a choice."
Parker was quiet for a moment, then spoke. "What's going on?"
"Nothing you need to be looped in to. I just need those papers drafted, and I need them faxed to me when you've got them." I dragged in a deep breath. "Piper's coming home and I need you to look after her."
"Where are you going?"
"Lena and I are going to find Derrek." I heard Parker sigh, and knew what his next words would be.
"Do you think it's wise for Lena to go with you? Perhaps she should stay here with me as well."
"Lena doesn't want to be in Portland. She might never be in Portland again. She wants to be where I am, and honestly, I want her with me, too."
"It sounds like shit's going down, Preston. It doesn't sound safe and it doesn't sound like you've really got it under control."
"I need something else. And this might be more difficult for you to get a hold of, but you're the only person I can ask." I took in a deep breath, knowing I was about to ask something of him I never imagined I would, knowing it would probably change our relationship and the way he viewed me. I could see no other way to get from point A to point B. There was a piece missing, and Parker was the only person I could think of who could provide us that missing link.
Chapter Six
The four of us had flown into Seattle, working around Lena wanting desperately to not have a layover at the Portland airport.
"The last time I was there I was completely broken. I don't really want to go back there," she'd told me in a whisper one night as she lay sprawled over me in bed.
I didn't need any more convincing than that, so we flew into Seattle and Parker had no problem meeting us there for dinner. Parker and Lena hugged tightly when they reunited and, again, I was filled with gratitude, grateful he was there to support Lena when I couldn't be.
We had dinner at a restaurant inside the hotel Lena and I were staying at that night, waiting for our morning flight. It was a sham of a dinner; the girls were pretending not to be sad, even though the grief of separation was weighing down the very air we breathed. Parker and I were trying to be sensitive to their situation, but all three of the women were shredded, knowing they'd be saying goodbye again for who knew how long.
When we could extend dinner no longer, the girls reluctantly stood and headed toward the lobby of the hotel, Sam already wiping tears from her eyes.
"Be safe," Piper said as she wrapped Lena in a hug. My heart pounded just a little harder seeing the two women who meant the most to me in the world embrace. I'd give up everything for either one of them, and something felt right when I saw them together.
"Don't be a stranger," Sam said, still crying, as Lena hugged her. Lena was surprisingly quiet, and I assumed it was because she was afraid if she spoke, she'd just end up crying. Everyone took in her silence and didn't press her. When she hugged Parker though, the two of them exchanged words in hushed whispers, quietly enough I couldn't hear.
I hugged the girls, kissed Piper on the cheek as she murmured the same "Be safe," to me, then hugged me again a little more tightly. I tried not to look in her eyes as we pulled apart; didn't want to see the pain I knew would be lighting them up.
I shook Parker's hand and clapped him on the back, stilling when he leaned in and whispered to me, "Once you get settled in the hotel room, meet me down here alone." I nodded as I pulled away, knowing exactly why he wanted to see me.
After Lena had given the girls another round of goodbyes, I took her hand and led her back to our room. I could see her holding back more tears and as the doors to the elevator closed I pulled her to my side and kissed the top of her head.
"Everything will be all right, Lena. I promise." She nodded slightly as her arms squeezed my waist tighter. The doors opened on our floor and we walked, still wrapped in each other, to our room. I led her straight to the bathroom and started filling the bathtub with warm water. I turned back to her and could hardly stand her tear-streaked face. "Turn around, sweetheart." I pulled the zipper of her dress and watched as the fabric floated down into a pool around her feet. I reached back up and unclasped her bra, watching it too fall to the ground, leaving her nearly bare. She bent at the waist and slid her panties off, then, with the grace of someone so accustomed to wearing them, took her high heels off without a single totter.
She turned back to me with not one single piece of clothing marring her body, nothing to shield her from me at all, and with sadness in her eyes, asked me, "Will you join me?"