The waves crashed against the cliff far below, reminding her of how secluded the property was. Set out on a clifftop, they were surrounded by the ocean on three sides and were so far from the road on the other side that it would be a trek just to get there. During her first stay, the isolation had terrorised her, it kept her prisoner, away from the world, against her will. Now it was a blessing, and she needed the seclusion to keep her safe against those who wished her harm.
They’d been chauffeur driven to the beach house this time. The motion of the car, coupled with the drama of the day, sent Ivy rocking to sleep in Dax’s arms during the journey. But when the car stopped, and she was jolted awake, the crashing reality made her extremities tingle.
They exited the vehicle, and she stood beside her husband on the driveway while the chauffeur gave Dax their suitcase, and then they turned toward the house.
‘You want me to knock this guy out and steal the car?’ Dax mumbled into her hair as the driver went around to his side and got back into the vehicle.
‘Why? So we can run off together and get married? We’ve already done that, remember?’
The lights that were on downstairs in the house displayed an empty room, and the light upstairs came from behind a curtain, so as yet, they didn’t know who was here or where the occupants were located within. But she would assume that her sister and Dax’s mother were already present because they would have been brought here straight from the Stark mansion after the party.
‘He shouldn’t have picked this place,’ Dax said. ‘He has a place in Washington too.’
‘Are you kidding?’ she said. The car that had driven them here reversed and turned, leaving them alone in the moist sea air. ‘He picked this place on purpose.’
‘Yeah, does it bring back memories?’
Recalling her first arrival here hadn’t been a pleasant memory, but Ivy didn’t want to bring Dax any further distress by telling him that. ‘It makes sense for us to be here,’ she said. ‘It’s close enough to LA for you to do your digging and still come home to me every night. I wouldn’t want to be isolated from you that wouldn’t make me feel good… Do you think Rosie and your mom know what’s going on?’
‘Let’s get inside and find out.’
The nearer they got to the property, the tighter his arm around her shoulders became. Dax couldn’t protect her from her own mind, but his tight hold reminded Ivy of what they were now in spite of what they were then.
‘At least you don’t have to give me instructions this time,’ she said, trying to help him relax.
Putting down the suitcase, he opened the front door. ‘I don’t?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘I’m used to being naked in bed with you now.’
Dax lifted their luggage, then ushered them inside without responding to her quip. The abode looked the same, smelled the same, felt just the same, and her subconscious made her body tense. The sound of the door closing made her gasp. Spinning around, Ivy opened it to reassure herself that it hadn’t automatically locked as it had done when she was first here.
‘You’re ok,’ Dax said, kissing her head and linking his fingers into hers while he closed the door.
Once that door was locked, there was no way out. Ivy was all too aware of that fact because she’d tried to get out of here before without a key, and it had proved impossible. The positioning of the house on the cliff meant there was no way around from the back deck and pool area, which was reached by the kitchen on the other side of the house. Ivy felt better knowing that because the front door was unlocked, she could get out; she wasn’t a prisoner this time.
‘Hi.’
Whirling around, she saw the slight woman just inside the room, having come from the kitchen. It was the woman that Mauri had identified as Dax’s mom. Her dyed blonde hair matched her complexion and wasn’t garish as Rosie’s hair was.
She still had youth about her, though lines around her eyes and mouth betrayed her real age, which had to be at least in her fifties, though Ivy didn’t know how old she would’ve been when she had Dax. Ivy doubted that Dax knew either.
‘I’m Carina,’ she said, examining the couple. ‘I don’t know if either of you knew my name, we’ve never been introduced… Rosie and I are outside on the deck by the pool having a drink if you’d like to join us?’
‘We’re going to go upstairs first, get settled in, you know?’ Ivy said, looping her arm around behind Dax, using their physical connection to reassure him. ‘We might join you later.’
Dax didn’t speak. He kept his arm around her and guided them both down the hallway and up the stairs into the bedroom they’d shared when they were last here. It stood to reason that Mauri would want them in this room, or maybe this was just the room that Dax always chose when he stayed here, not that it mattered.
He took her into the bedroom, and she closed the door while he disappeared into the closet to stow their suitcase.
‘We have to talk about this,’ she said to Dax when he came back into the room.
‘About what?’
‘What do you want from her? If she wants to make the effort, you could get the chance to get to know her.’
‘Mauri admitted that he gave them a financial incentive. She is here to collect a check, then fuck off again and that’s fine by me,’ Dax said. ‘We’ll just avoid each other. You and I managed to keep each other pretty occupied the last time we were here.’ He stripped down to his jeans and crossed to sit on the side of the bed. ‘Come and stand here.’
This was a serious conversation that they had to have, but that serious expression on his face loosened to a brief smile before he adopted it again. He had said that to her, sat in that place and said those exact words to her, all those months ago.
‘What are you going to do?’
‘Pick up right where we left off,’ he said. She sashayed toward him, slipping off her shoes and untying the halter of her dress on her journey. ‘Good.’
The purr of arousal in his voice stalled her, and she held the ties of her dress straps over her shoulders so as not to reveal any of her flesh. ‘What do you think is going to happen here?’
‘Whatever the hell I want,’ he said, leaning over to grab the fabric of her dress, he dragged her nearer to him. So as to keep her breasts concealed, Ivy had to snatch the dress over her chest.
‘I’m not going to have sex with you,’ she said unable to keep the smile away from her face.
‘Oh, I think you will.’
‘I will not,’ she said, curling her fingers around his shoulders, which gave him the opportunity to pull down her dress. She wasn’t wearing a bra tonight, so when he pushed the apparel down over her hips, all that covered her was the pale silk of her panties.
Flattening his inverted hands on her waist, he drove his fingers south to scoop her thong down her thighs, leaving it around her ankles. He kissed one nipple, then still with a hold of her hips, he leaned back, forcing her to kneel on the bed astride him.
‘Dax,’ she said while he enjoyed her breasts. ‘Is the ottoman still in the closet?’
‘Yes, it is,’ he said, his mouth curled in a smile.
‘Just in case, you know.’
‘I didn’t forget.’
That ottoman held the money he’d given her when they were here before. ‘You still haven’t taken me to a fight.’
‘I think you’ve seen all the fighting that you need to,’ he said.
The sound of his jeans being unbuckled carried to her ears. They wouldn’t make it for drinks on the deck tonight, Carina and Rosie would have to entertain themselves. After the day they’d had, this wasn’t a night to play catch-up with long-lost relatives. This was a night for man and wife to enjoy each other, to reassure each other, tomorrow would be their chance to start over if that was what Dax wanted to do.
When Ivy woke up, she was alone, just like the old days. She sat up in bed and the light streaming through the high windows to her right made her eyes hurt. Dax liked to sleep in, usually she had to roll him out of bed in the morning with promises of giving him the world each day. So the fact that he was awake now meant either he hadn’t slept at all, or he’d had a message earlier that told him he was needed somewhere else for something else.