Obsession (The Talisman series) (26 page)

Jon glanced down at his watch. 
“Christ, I’m late.” He caught one of Suki’s hands and squeezed it. “Thanks Suki, I really appreciate this. If Anita and I can do anything, if you need our help at all, you must ask. I owe you, big time.” He glanced at me. “I’ll see myself out. Catch you later, Josh.”

I nodded as he left. Silence fell between us, a thick, dark blanket of confusion. I leaned back against the table, gripping the edge with both hands. Suki refused to look at me, but she didn’t get up to leave.

“I’m worried about you.” I spoke softly.

She looked up at me now, her eyes wide and shocked, her voice just a whisper.
“I don’t know why Gabe is behaving like this. And I know you’ve lied to me. I’m on my own here, Josh. I don’t know who I can trust anymore.”

With her arms wrapped around her chest, the body language screaming her anxiety, I moved closer, halting by the edge of the sofa.
“This is a horrible situation. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be. But I’m here, for you, if you need someone to turn to. I would never hurt you, Suki.” The words
unlike Gabriel
hovered unspoken.

“
It’s a bit late for that,” she muttered, then scowled at me.

I didn’t know how to react to that accusation and I hesitated before speaking.
“I know you’re upset right now and I get that you’re probably angry. If you want to unload on me, I don’t mind.” I tried to smile.

“
I’ve been married a long time. I find it hard to believe Gabe would do this, even though I can see the proof in front of me.” She absently twisted the rings on her finger, left and right, left and right again. “I need to talk to him. He needs the chance to defend himself. I owe him that much.”

I drew in a long, slow breath and moved closer, perching on the sofa arm right next to her. I could smell her scent, lily, and a hint of rose. It threw me right back into my dream and I had to force myself to focus.
“You think Gabriel has been drugging you. He shouldn’t do that.” My hand, unable to sit still any longer, crept towards her hair, running through the silky strands. I ached to hold her.

She shook her head, pulling away from me.
“And I
really
shouldn’t be sitting here with you.”

13.3 Suki

Josh wanted to give me a lift back to the hotel. I refused. Not only did I not want the risk of Linda seeing us together—or God forbid, Gabe—but I couldn’t trust myself to sit quietly in a car with him. I’d most likely blurt something embarrassing.

Even as I thought of Gabe, my treacherous body rebelled. When Josh stood beside me, one hand ready to open the door to his room, I felt as though my feet had become mired in some thick, sticky mud. I struggled to move. I didn’t
want
to.

The little flashes of amber glinted in his eyes, his lips started to curl upwards in a devastating smile. He didn’t speak, didn’t even seem to move, but now he was so close,
too
close. I could hear his uneven breathing, see the pulse in his throat, and smell his cologne. His face was covered with the start of a rough beard. It made him look like a pirate, dangerous and exotic.

“
You’re shivering.” His voice was so low and seductive, warm caramel, sweet with promise. His hand trailed a line down from my shoulder, brushing over my arm, pausing at my wrist.

“
I’m not cold.” My teeth chattered their own rhythm, but from anxiety rather than the temperature. Instinct battled with sense. Desire uncoiled in the pit of my belly, curling up to my breasts, every nerve on high alert. My nipples tingled, longing for attention.

Remember that kiss,
the devil crooned in my head, squashing my angel’s attempts to quiet him.

Just one kiss,
one more kiss.
It couldn’t hurt. It was just to say… what? Josh stared at me, his gaze burning, searing me with its blast, an expression of such longing on his face. I realised he was waiting for me to make the first move.

It’s only a kiss
. Without me even being conscious of it, I lifted both hands and pressed them against his chest. His t-shirt soft beneath my fingertips, he radiated heat. A little sigh when I touched him, he still didn’t move, still giving me the opportunity to walk away.

How could I? I could no more easily fly to the moon. I licked my lips, the nervous clamouring of my heart threatening to deafen me. Just a few inches closer.
It’s only a kiss
.

I brushed my lips across his, soft, light, almost teasing. He responded in kind, a warm touch, the tiniest of nips to my lower lip. One playful kiss after another, I could no longer tell who led and who followed. The natural transition to something deeper. I sighed as I felt his arms wrap around me, pulling me against his chest, our bodies impossibly close.
“Suki,” he whispered against my lips, his mouth slanting as he took possession of me. Our tongues rippled against each other, dancing, exploring.

My angel sighed in frustration as the devil grinned. How did I think this was just a kiss? It was so much more. Josh’s rough stubble lit new fires of excitement as it prickled against my face. I ran a nail down his cheek, scratching against the fuzz and he groaned, whispering as his mouth broke free,
“Do you mind it?”

“
No.” I delighted in the sensation. He made an inarticulate noise and lowered his head, nuzzling against my throat, his tongue pattering and swirling, igniting a new swathe of fires.

My hands had developed minds of their own, wandering happily up to his neck, rippling through his hair, cupping the back of his neck, drifting down, flickering over his spine. He moaned as I found a patch of hot skin where his t-shirt had ridden up. His lips claimed mine again, hungry and demanding, his hands now curled around my face, thumbs stroking my flesh as he ravaged my mouth.

I moaned, pushing against him, wanting our bodies touching all the way down. A ripple of excitement coursed through me as I felt the hard bulge in his jeans pressing against me.
God
, how I wanted him.

As though he’d read my mind, he left my mouth long enough to murmur a question.
“Would you leave him?”

He didn’t need to say his name. I gazed at him, stricken, my tongue thick in my mouth.
“I… I don’t know.” I’d never seriously considered it. Marriage was forever.

He shifted, leaning forwards, his forehead resting lightly against mine. It felt gloriously intimate.
“I want you, Suki. So badly.” His voice was husky. “But not like this, not when you belong to another man. It’s not right.”

“
I need to think about it.” I hesitated. “I’m scared.”

“
Don’t be,” he breathed, wrapping his arms around me, pulling me into the shelter of his body. I wanted to stay there, I felt strangely safe in his embrace, a shelter from the storm currently raging across my life. As he delicately nibbled my earlobe, I forced myself to face the cold, hard truth. I didn’t know if I had the courage for this.

With my knees rapidly turning into jelly, I dug deep and eased away, my breathing rapid and clothes dishevelled.
“I need to go.”

“
Suki,” he trailed a fingertip down my face, skirting across my lips. “We could be so good together. I want you more than I can say.” It felt as though the devil himself were standing there, tempting me. I longed to stay. Instead, I turned and walked away while I still could.

13.4 Josh

Frustration balled in my chest. I stomped around the hotel room, hands thrust deep into my pockets, feeling a savage need to kick something. Hard.

It suddenly came to me. I knew what had to be done.

I rang Gabriel, safe in the knowledge that Suki couldn’t have arrived back at her hotel yet. He answered, cool and arrogant as usual.

“I have something for you,” I announced. “I’m staying in the Alexander Hotel. Can you come over later?”

“
How much later?”

I wanted him to think he had the upper hand.
“I’m going be busy this afternoon, maybe after seven?”

“
I’d prefer earlier.”

I sighed, putting a wealth of frustration into it.
“Six o’clock, then. No earlier. Room one-oh-seven.”

“
I’ll be there.” The bastard chuckled.

Not long now, and he wouldn’t be laughing any more.

13.5 Gabe

“Suki.” I called her name as I walked back into our suite, dumping my phone on the side table. There was no sign of her. Delaney wanted to see me at six. Now that was interesting. He had to know I’d been trying to shift the focus onto him for Craigowan’s little episode, and I had no intention of him pushing it back my way. I’d go to his room earlier and try to catch him unawares.

The bathroom door was open, but no Suki in there. A cursory search of the suite confirmed she’d taken her handbag, but she wouldn’t have her phone, that was in my sports bag. While she was out, I’d take the opportunity to hide it, make her think she’d mislaid it. I checked the drawers. She’d dumped a pile of lingerie in one of them and that would do nicely. I flicked through her bras and stuffed the phone underneath, my fingers catching on something scratchy in the process. I frowned, looked more closely and picked up a blister pack of pills, half of them gone. Flipping it over I recognised them straight away. One pill for each day of the month.
Microgynon-30
blazed across the middle.

The temptation to crunch them up and throw them down the toilet was overwhelming, but I held back, keeping a rein on my fury for the moment. I’d wondered why Suki was still not pregnant, after several months of sex without condoms. It didn’t take a genius to explain. I sat down on the edge of the bed, tossing the blister pack from one hand to the other. How long had she been taking them? How long had she been lying to me? If I’d been smacked in the face with a mallet, I couldn’t have been more stunned. There was no chance these were old pills, she’d only brought the bare essentials with her to Spa and obviously, oral contraceptives were essential for her.

I’d thought I could trust her. I’d thought she was different from Elvira, but she’d been lying to me. Where the fuck was she? I went to fetch my phone and rang Mum, but she hadn’t seen her all afternoon. I placed the pills on the table, right in the middle, immediately visible and sat down to wait for her.

13.6 Suki

Swiping my keycard through the lock, it suddenly occurred to me that Gabe could be back. I might have to explain where I’d been.
Falling in love with Josh.
Maybe not the best answer. Coming back here in the taxi, I’d stared blindly out of the window, only realising the drizzle had turned into a downpour when I climbed out again. I burned for Josh. I yearned for him, for his touch, his lips on mine, the heat blazing in his eyes.

“
Welcome back.”

I froze, halfway through removing my thin, damp jacket. Forcing a smile to my lips, I turned to face Gabe, lounging against the table.
“Hi.”
Christ
, I hadn’t even come up with an excuse for being out. “I, er, wanted some fresh air.”

One eyebrow lifted, he pointedly turned to look out at the rain hammering against the window.

“I didn’t go far.” I opened the wardrobe with shaking hands, reaching for a hanger, needing the moment turned away from him. He must be able to read it on my face. Harlot. Tart. Not quite Whore, but not far off. My cheeks were burning, partly with shame, but also stubble-burn from Josh’s prickly face.

“
Bitch
.”

I paused, frowned at the row of hangers and turned my head.
“What did you just say?” I must have misheard him. He’d spoken in a normal, conversational tone.

“
I called you a bitch. Perhaps a lying bitch would be more appropriate.”

I gulped. How did he know? I could feel a dark, hot flush rising from my neck. My face would be glowing like a beacon any second now. Struggling for control, I tried to respond.
“What are you talking about?”

He stood there, waiting for me to look at him, then stepped to the side and gestured at the table. I followed his fingers and closed my eyes for a moment.
Oh God
, this wasn’t going to be pretty. Now that I looked at him properly, I could see the anger beneath the outwardly quiet surface. The tic that pulsed in his cheek, the dark, almost black eyes and the tightness of his jawline.

“
Why, Suki?” He still didn’t sound as angry as he looked. He shrugged, his eyes never leaving mine. “I mean, why not just tell me you’re not ready for a baby? Would that be so hard?”

Put that way, he sounded reasonable.
“We should talk about this, Gabe. I don’t think we ever really talked about it, you just decided for us.”