Closer (21 page)

Chapter Nineteen

Sven held up his foot and let the water from the bathtub’s faucet drip onto it. 
One, two, three, four
…he attempted to count his toes, struggling to discern the difference between each one.  His vision was substantially worse.  Last night, he had experienced both the terror of being rendered completely blind, and the exhilaration of reclaiming his sight, spurred by the radiant spotlights and the invincible inebriation that had consumed him.  But this morning, weighed down by his hangover and exhaustion, everything was blurry and indecipherable again. 

Like his memories of being with her
.

He remembered everything about last night, but only in bits and pieces—hazy images of the ballroom interspersed with visceral sensations of being with Inez.  The touch of her hand.  The scent of her hair.  The taste of her tongue.  The warmth of her lips.  The texture of her teasing ruffled panties.  The sway of her lush body against his own.  Through his trust in her and her trust in him, they had succeeded in buying him time—another night to pretend that he was still an invincible genius.  But now, it was the morning; she was gone and he no longer felt like an invincible genius.

Plink, plink, plink…

He raised his foot again and caught the droplets with his toes.
One, two, three, four
…

He squinted, still unable to make out the division between them.  He submerged himself deeper into the whirlpool tub.  Shanghai weighed heavy on his mind.  She had promised to come this morning to check on him, but he needed a way to convince her to stay.
Stay in his life
.  In less than two days, he had gone from a bitter blind wretch to a faint shadow of his former self.  There was a chance he might be able to keep his career from imploding by prolonging their charade.  With her help, he might have a chance to travel to Shanghai and claim his position as lead architect on the Li Long Towers.  And in her care, perhaps his vision could be maintained, and perhaps, even slowly restored. 

He shut his eyes and indulged in the steamy heat of the bath water against his skin.  He had already ordered her a full wardrobe and luggage and he had put no limit on the budget.  Their night at the opera together would be his opportunity to propose his plan—she would travel to Shanghai with him as his fiancée.  He would pay her whatever she wanted, and she would stay with him in his hotel suite.  And he would promise to take care of her there, the way she had taken care of him.

It was a daring proposal.  He knew it.  She was not a woman who could easily be bought or seduced, and she had made that crystal clear.  Even after their first meeting, he had felt an unexpected intimacy between them—something that was not clear or certain, but rather something unspoken and undefinable.  Yes, there was sexual tension, but it was more than physical attraction.  It was an emotional connection.  Despite being complete strangers, they understood each other, and it unified them in a way that underscored how painfully alone he was without her. 

His phone vibrated against the hard, black tiles of the bathtub’s ledge.  He dried his fingers against the adjacent towel and answered the call. 

“Yes?”

It was the doorman.  “Sir, your girlfriend is here to see you.”

Early
, Sven thought,
a good sign
.  “Perfect.  Send her up.”

He ended the call, tossed his phone onto the towel, and relaxed deeper into the steamy bath water.  She would know how to enter the penthouse on her own.  He had remembered singing aloud the combination for the front door keypad to her last night.  It wasn’t the only embarrassing thing he had done in front of her.  He remembered pissing in the urinal and being unabashedly proud of it.  He remembered stumbling into the bedroom, kicking off his pants and underwear, but needing help to unbutton his shirt. 
Those damn pearl buttons
.  He remembered allowing her to disrobe him, yearning for her every touch until the overwhelming haze of inebriation extinguished his arousal.  He remembered how tenderly she coaxed him into bed, naked and impotent, before attempting to leave him. 
He had refused to let her go
.  He remembered catching her hand and indulging in a kiss—one spontaneous expression of his ultimate desire.  Amongst all the foggy, vulnerable moments floating through his mind, it was the one memory he did not regret.  In fact, it was the one memory that encouraged him to hope for more.

When he heard the creak of the bathroom door, he shut his eyes, dropped his head against the bathtub’s rim and grinned.  “You’re early, which can only mean you do care about me.”

“You know, I was afraid that I might be disturbing you, or that you wouldn’t be alone.  But I’m glad to hear you’re happy to see me.”

Disturbed by her unpleasant voice, he slowly opened his eyes, barely able to control his sagging smile.  Celeste’s blurry reflection ebbed across the water’s surface.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you look this relaxed since the night I first met you.” She seated herself at the far edge of the bathtub, like a cat enjoying the sparkling glints in the water from the overhead lights bouncing off the tub’s stainless steel basin.

He looked at her and suppressed his urge to shiver.  “That was a long time ago.”  He paused, hoping his icy reply would convey that he was not pleased with her surprise visit. 

“Well, apparently not long enough.  Your doorman still thinks I’m your girlfriend.”

“He has known me a long time.  He knows I rarely only have one girlfriend.”

He glared up at her.  It was a comment intended to silence her.

“Ahhh, yes.  You did go through an entertaining binge of ridiculously younger blondes after we broke up.”

“You mean after you left me,” Sven corrected her.  “And those attractive, younger blondes were more than willing to entertain.”  He intentionally let the sexual innuendo hang between them.  The fact was…Sven hadn’t slept with any of them.  They had all been paid escorts, one-night trials that eventually had served as precursors to his arrangement with Inez.

“Well, you certainly have had a dramatic change in your taste in women.”

It was a comment intended to provoke him.  It worked.  He rose up fully from the bathtub and let the water cascade off his naked body with a crash.  He assumed she was staring at him, but he didn’t care.  He felt nothing.  Not long ago, he had seduced her here—in his penthouse, within his bed, and even upon occasion, in that bathtub—but he barely remembered any of it. 

“You mean Inez,” he said flatly, realizing Celeste had come to draw blood.  But not from him.

“She’s definitely an interesting choice in a fiancée.”

He peered into the mirror, unable to see her through the wafting steam. 

“I always assumed you would marry someone more…sophisticated,” she added. “Someone whose reputation and career would complement your professional achievements.  Someone—”

“More like you?” he cut in.

“More your equal in every way.”

Sven rotated slowly towards her, fully displaying every inch of his dripping body. 

“I’m a wretched bastard, Celeste.  I don’t need my equal in every way.  I need someone infinitely better.”

Their eyes locked.  Celeste released a nervous laugh.  “So I suppose that means you’ve found your newest inspiration.”

He pushed forward, reaching across her lithe figure to remove the towel from its hook.  He shook off the water from his hair and turned away into the bedroom.

“You’ve come for a reason, Celeste.  What is it?”

She followed him to the bedroom and withdrew a document from her alligator skin purse. For a moment, Sven thought he saw something flutter to the floor.  But he lost sight of it as quickly as he had noticed it. 

“I’ve come to deliver this.” Celeste held out the document to him.  “It’s the partnership contract for the venture capital company that will be funding the Li Long Towers.”

“Hans and Eliot are sending you as their emissary?”

“I volunteered to come.  After all, we were friends once, Sven.  More than friends.  And I want to see you make the right choice.”

She waved the document at him like a peace offering.  He accepted it and pretended to flip through its pages, as if he was able to read it.  But she confirmed what he already knew.

“It assigns you a majority stakeholder share in the new venture if you sign on to become the lead architect of the Li Long Towers.”

“And if I don’t?”

“I really don’t see how you have a choice. Especially now that you have found your… inspiration.” Celeste stroked her rabbit fur scarf and settled her gaze onto Enzo’s seductive portrait of Inez, still propped up on Sven’s dresser.  “Eliot Watercross is planning to sell The Spire to Harvey Zale in exchange for the Li Long construction contracts.  Once he does that, you’ll become a diluted stakeholder in the new holding company—unless you agree to be the lead architect of the Li Long Towers.”

“Inez is uncertain about coming with me to Shanghai and I cannot go without her.”

Celeste gazed at him like she didn’t understand him. “But you’ll lose everything.”

“True, I’ll lose most of my money due to Watercross’ Machiavellian equity dilution scheme.  And I’ll lose control over Van der Meer & Associates because Hans has no remorse about using the Van der Meer name without my participation in the deal.  But I won’t lose everything, Celeste.  That’s where you’re wrong because I’ll win the chance to gain back my happiness and a part of my soul.”

“My, my,” Celeste clucked, turning away from the portrait.  “She truly has charmed you.  Like a dangerous siren luring you into the rocks.  Be careful, Sven.  Don’t mix business with pleasure.  Your career, your reputation, your life’s work…even your net worth.  Do you really think it’s wise to give that all up?  And for what?  For her?” Her voice quivered as if she feared the answer.

“I don’t expect you to understand, Celeste.”

“You’re right.  I don’t.  And I don’t believe she would want to be the one holding you back from the peak of your career.”

“The last thing Inez has done is hold me back.”

“Then there’s no reason why she shouldn’t go with you to Shanghai.  You’re engaged now, after all.  I was willing to do whatever I could to support your career, and I was just your lover.”

She sat down on the edge of the bed and crossed her legs in a way that made her tight skirt ride higher up her thighs. 

“Tell Hans and Eliot they can make whatever plans they like—with or without me.  If I choose to go to Shanghai, it will be on my own accord.  Not as a pawn on their chessboard.”

He edged closer and tossed the contract beside her like a discarded surrender flag. 

“What they’re offering you is a continuation of your current partnership, Sven.  The same partnership that helped ensure the construction of The Spire.  Tomorrow is the opening night.  Until then, consider all your options.”

She rose from the bed and prowled towards him.  Her blurred facial features came into sharper focus as she skated her sharp nails along his pecs.  He could make out her thin, pink lips hovering near his face. 

“Let me help you.  Let me be the first person to make the announcement that you’ve signed on as lead architect of the Li Long Towers.”

“The first person to make the announcement?” He eyed her, attempting to decipher her meaning. “So you’re not here as a friend, but as a journalist looking for her next scoop?”

Celeste shrugged and touched his cheek.  “It’s the right decision for your career and you know it.  I’m here to remind you of that fact—yes, as a friend, and as a fan, and perhaps even foolishly as someone who used to share your bed.”

“Well, in that case…please don’t let me interrupt your little moment.”

Inez’s sharp words stabbed like a knife into his chest. She was standing in the doorway of the bedroom, and although he had trouble seeing her face, her vicious sarcasm was enough to conjure her expression in his mind.

Celeste placed her hand on Sven’s bare shoulder, letting it linger there until he moved away from her and towards Inez.

“Sven and I were just discussing business.” Celeste gathered up her purse and the contract.

“Good, because a threesome isn’t really my style,” Inez sniped. 

Celeste laughed and tossed her bangs with a flick of her head. 

Sven peered at Inez.  She glared back at him. 

“I only want what’s best for Sven and his career,” Celeste replied.  “I hope you’ll be able to say the same thing when it comes time to let him go to Shanghai.”  She circled the room and placed the contract on his dresser.  “Goodbye, Sven.  If you change your mind about tomorrow, let me know.” 

But Sven didn’t respond.  He simply gazed at Inez, waiting to speak until the diminishing click of Celeste’s heels and the slamming of the front door signaled she was gone.

“Well, I’m not sure why I’m even here.  It seems you’re feeling better already.”

Her gaze dropped on to his nakedness.  His jaw flinched, but he stood resolute.  She had seen him naked last night, not hard with arousal like he was now—a consequence of her presence, not of Celeste’s visit.  But he knew she assumed the worst of him.