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Her mouth drooped open. “Where are we going?”
“Oklahoma. I have a brother there.”
Sharing personal info came hard to him but he owed her a few facts.
“Can’t I just go home? I won’t tell anyone what I saw, Javier. I promise. Just cut me loose and we’ll part ways.”
At this point, he wanted to believe her but since his future, his very life hinged on her veracity, he refused to take a chance.
“No.” He made no additional explanation but when she pushed, even begged, he added, “It’s not just myself I want to protect, Azúcar, it’s you, too.”
Cecily bristled and her face flushed crimson. “Yeah, right. I don’t believe you. I’m the innocent fucking victim here. I didn’t do anything. I didn’t shoot anyone.”
He delivered the news in a calm voice. “They have us leaving the hotel on camera. It’s from the back, yes, but if either of us can be recognized, it’s you. It seems they think you’re my accomplice.”
She leapt to her feet, spilling the last of her wine. “I’m not!”
Javier grabbed a towel and mopped the spill before it could stain the carpet. “I know that, but the authorities don’t. Sit down and calm down before you get knots in your belly again.”
Cecily stomped to the couch and flung herself down, then picked up a pillow. She turned it over and over in her lap, then punched it multiple times.
“I should have never gone to the stupid reception that night,” she told him, tears sparkling in her eyes. “I should have known better and when I left, I should have gotten a taxi to my place. I never should have gone up on the roof. If I hadn’t, none of this would be happening.”
He listened to her tirade without comment. “Why were you there anyway? I wondered.”
She threw the pillow across the room, then huffed. “Eloise, Pierre’s youngest daughter, got engaged. It was a party to celebrate, and they invited me. I thought maybe they didn’t hate me anymore. Instead, they set me up to snub me in front of all kinds of important people.”
Javier could envision it. Cecily dolled up in fancy dress, did her hair and makeup, then sallied forth to participate in “lifestyles of the noteworthy rich.”
“And did it work out that way?” He lit another cigarillo as he spoke.
Her face contorted with anger and some other emotion, maybe embarrassment, possibly regret. “No. Eloise and her fiancé, Rock Harding, the actor, barely spoke to me. Neither did anyone else. I ended up in a corner with a glass of champagne in my hand. There’s no love lost between us, and apparently I needed the reminder.”
“But you stayed?” He wouldn’t have.
Her lips twisted as she bit them. “I didn’t want to be gauche. I was raised with manners, after all.”
“So, you bailed and headed to the roof?”
Cecily nodded.
“I would have thought the party would have been over long before four in the morning.”
She crossed her legs, then shifted to tuck them beneath her body. “It ended around one, I think. I’ve been to that hotel many times, even stayed there once or twice. I didn’t want to listen to all the parting wishes, watch the others kiss each other’s cheeks and ass, so I slipped to the elevator. I remembered the terrace on the rooftop and went up there.
The timeline didn’t quite compute for him. “Wait. The event ended at one. What did you do, come back later?”
She shook her head. “No, I sat there for three hours, back out of the way, in a chair in the dark. I didn’t have any good reason to go home, and I tried to work through my anger.
The back of Javier’s neck tingled. “That can’t be right. I would have seen you.”
“I was there when you came. I saw you and I thought … well, never mind what I thought.”
“Tell me.” He’d engaged in fantastic fucking with her and the more he got to know her, the deeper his attraction became. He didn’t just want to have sex or make love. Javier wanted to take care of her, bring a smile to her lips, and spend more time with her.
Cecily wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I thought you were so handsome, and I wondered who you were, why you were up there. I’m foolish, I thought you must be a hotel guest with insomnia. I didn’t think you would stay long so I waited.”
Handsome. This rich bitch, who he’d accused of offing her ancient sugar-daddy husband, found him good-looking. Javier couldn’t decide if that made him proud or mad. “For what?”
