A Dom Is Forever (11 page)

Avery looked at the magnificent white building in front of her. The Tower of London. She stood at the western entrance staring up at the sight of numerous historical executions and wondered how she ever thought she would find him here. A throng of tourists moved around the ticket office. The Tower was huge. She would never find him, and they hadn’t exchanged phone numbers.

She felt like an idiot. She was standing there in too-tight jeans and a sweater that formed a deep
V
that pointed right at her breasts, and she hadn’t seen hide nor hair of Lee. It was probably for the best. She looked silly. She couldn’t pull off the sexy look. Adam had to tutor her on how to put on makeup. She still wasn’t sure she looked good.

Tears pooled in her eyes as she clutched her purse. She’d screwed up royally, and she wouldn’t get a second chance with Lee. He would forget about her, likely already had. He would find a woman who didn’t have a wall built around her. She was a little like the Tower. Surrounded by walls, unwilling to let anyone in or out.

She’d dreamed about him the night before. She’d dreamed that he hadn’t kissed her in the street. He’d kissed her in her bedroom. He’d held her and touched her, and she hadn’t been afraid. She’d been aggressive. She’d given as good as she’d got. She’d been woman enough for him.

She’d woken up in a hot sweat, still able to feel his weight on her body, holding her down. He’d pinned her, forcing her to take him, but she’d loved it.

And it wouldn’t happen because she’d been such a pathetic idiot.

She glanced around. It was the right time, but there were just so many people. Maybe if she stood by the ticket booth she could find him. Unless he’d bought tickets somewhere else. There were a lot of tourist packages to be had in London.

With a heavy sigh, she walked over to the ticket booth and waited. It was penance of a sort. She would give it a half an hour and then go. Or maybe she would just buy a ticket and spend the day here. Alone.

Her cell phone rang. She pulled it out knowing exactly who it was. No one but Thomas called her, though she’d given Adam her number.

Her in-laws had the number too, though they would never call and she knew it.

“Hello, Thomas.”

There was a warm chuckle on the other end of the line. “How is the museum today?”

He’d had to listen to her talk about the British Museum and all its wonders for days now. As they’d taken their walks through St. James’s Park, he’d asked about all the rooms and been a perfectly polite companion. He had to have been bored out of his mind. When she’d asked if he’d like to come along, he’d always found a business excuse. “I’m making a change this weekend. I’m at the Tower.”

“Very nice, dear. I’m glad to see you’re branching out. We won’t be in London forever. We need to move on to Dubai soon.”

The Dubai offices were where
UOF
coordinated much of their relief programs for Africa and Asia. Thomas insisted on being very hands-on. She’d been told he would take a lot of meetings in Dubai. Many more than he took in London. He had only taken three donor meetings since they had crossed the pond.

Three meetings. And they hadn’t been the biggest donors. What had made Thomas take those meetings? What really made her boss tick? It was a question she’d wondered about more and more, ever since his brother had died. Brian had been the one to introduce them. She’d only really known him for a few months, but he’d been very nice. She’d stood at Thomas’s side at the funeral.

She was still waiting for his inevitable breakdown. It would come. No one was so strong that he could lose a brother and not cry.

“I’ll be ready. Besides, this is a yearly trip, right? We’ll be back in London next year.”

His voice went low, slightly intimate. “We will, Avery. We’re settling into a nice routine, you and I. Next year I’m going to schedule in some free time so I can see the sights with you. I don’t know that I like you running around London on your own.”

Who else would she run around with? “I’ve had a lot of fun.”

“I know you have, and I’ve enjoyed watching you bloom,” he said. There was a silent moment before he spoke again. “I was wondering if you were a little lonely today. Perhaps we could have lunch. I’m afraid the Tower would be a bit much for a man of my age.”

She couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “You’re not much older than me.”

“Oh, not in years, dear, but in all the other ways that count, I’m an old man. I have to meet that Bates fellow on Monday, so that means I won’t be back in the office until Tuesday. Why don’t you come over and keep me company?”

She sniffled a little. It didn’t look like she had anything better to do, and Thomas did sound lonely. Perhaps she could help him prepare for the meeting with Bates. It was odd. He usually kept her close to his side, but he always insisted on meeting the donors he chose to meet alone. Her boss had some weird peccadilloes, but then the rich really were different. “Well, I don’t think my friend is going to show up, so I guess I could stop by for a while and let you decimate me at chess.”

“A friend? I had no idea you were meeting a friend. Is it Theresa? She seems nice enough.”

Theresa worked in promotions and outreach for the
UOF
. She was ten years older and spent all her free time with her husband and five kids. “No. It’s not Theresa.”

She could hear his disapproval over the phone. “Well I hope it’s not the younger girls, Avery. They can be rather wild. I don’t like the thought of you getting involved in their antics.”

Sometimes he sounded like an overprotective father. “It’s no one from the office. It’s a man I met yesterday at the museum, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to show up.”

There was a long pause. “I had no idea you were looking for male companionship.”

What was wrong with Thomas? His tone had gone positively glacial. “I wasn’t really looking. I sort of fell into him.”

“Well, it’s probably best he didn’t show up. Men take advantage of women like you.” His voice went right back to silky smooth. “So I’ll be expecting you in twenty minutes or so? I’ll have chef make a nice luncheon.”

His words sort of faded into the background because Lee was standing right in front of her. There was no mistaking him. He was staring at her, the heat from those emerald eyes nearly scorching her. She couldn’t tell if he was still flaming mad or happy to see her. She just knew that she was so very aware of him.

Her heart sped up. Was this lust? Love at second sight? It didn’t really matter because she felt something for the first time in forever. She’d fooled herself that she was fine, that she was over the tragedy and starting to live again, but everything she’d felt had been echoes of real emotion.

This was what she’d missed for years. Heart-pounding desire at the very sight of him.

“I have to go, Thomas. He’s here.” Even to her own ears, her voice sounded breathy.

“What? Avery, we should talk about this. What do you know about this man?”

She knew that he’d gotten tired of waiting. Lee stalked the distance between them.

“Hang up the phone, Avery,” he said in a deep voice that brooked no disobedience. Yeah, she kind of liked that, too.

“I’ll see you on Tuesday, Thomas. Sorry I can’t make it for lunch.” She hung up the phone and looked up. He was invading her space, forcing her to tilt her head up to look at him. It was a blatant show of alpha male dominance. He was bigger. He was taller. He was stronger. “Hi, Lee.”

His dark hair was falling over his forehead as he stared down at her. “Did you decide you could afford me?”

Tears filled her eyes. Damn it, she’d told herself she wasn’t going to cry. “Are you going to make me regret coming here?”

If she had to, she would make her apology and then leave. It had been a dumb mistake, but she hadn’t meant to hurt him.

His eyes softened slightly, his hand coming out to touch her hair. He brushed a loose strand away from her face. “Why are you here?”

She could totally save face. She could apologize and walk away and then she never had to know if he would reject her. He could be perfectly relegated to fantasy. She would be safe. She could make her way to Thomas’s place and spend the afternoon playing chess and having tea, and she would never know if Lee might have changed her life.

“Because I want you to forgive me for being so afraid.”

He looked down at her chest, blatantly eyeing the valley of her breasts that were oh so visible because Adam had convinced her the V-neck sweater was a good idea. “Is this new look for me?”

“I wanted to be pretty.” If he laughed at her, she would likely break down.

A brilliant smile crossed his face, like the sun coming out from behind the clouds. “You can’t not be pretty, Avery. You’re beautiful. And you’re forgiven. Tell me something, sweetheart. Did you come here to just be my friend? I made it very plain what I want from you.”

Sex. God, he wanted sex. “I’m nervous. I don’t really know you.”

“Then you should get to know me.”

“You’re going to leave. You’ll go back to the States.”

“Not for a while. I’m here for a couple of months and then we’ll see. Avery, I’m not going to push you. Let’s go do some sightseeing, and we’ll see where things go. I like you. Let’s consider today a date and take it from there. Can you trust me that far?”

He backed off, and she could breathe again. “Yes. I would like to spend the day with you.”

She wasn’t sure she could pull off the whole brief hook-up thing, but she could go on a date.
God
. She was on a date. He reached out and took her hand, threading his big fingers through hers. Warmth spread across her skin.

“Come on. I want you to meet my friend. His name is Ian. Don’t let him scare you. He only looks like he eats small children for breakfast.”

Avery followed him. Her day was definitely looking up.

* * * *

Thomas stared down at the phone in his hand, an unholy rage threatening to take over.

What the hell did she think she was doing? Had she picked up some local? Or some bloody fucking tourist?

He should have insisted she stay here with him, but no, he’d sent her to the tiny flat Brian used to use because he wasn’t ready to make his play. In Dubai, he intended to meet with some doctors who could use “inventive new therapies” to strengthen his legs. He’d also scheduled some plastic surgeries of a most unusual variety. Thomas Molina had several spinal surgeries over his miserable life. The lack of scars hadn’t mattered until he’d decided to take Avery into his bed. She would be looking for scars and thin legs. He had to have a reason they were stronger than they looked. The whores he paid didn’t give a shit, didn’t even realize who he was.

Who he was supposed to be.
Fuck
. Sometimes it got jumbled in his head. He needed to get rid of the fucking cane so he could be a man again.

He was sick of the cane, and god he hated that fucking wheelchair. He was a man. He was a brilliant man who’d killed his way to the top, and the fact that he couldn’t just throw down Avery was starting to chafe. She should be in his bed, begging for his cock.

He should be her god.

Maybe she wasn’t as innocent as he’d thought.

Who was this fucker?

Molina took a long breath. He hadn’t gotten where he was by being impulsive. He also was a brilliant judge of character. Avery was sweet and lonely, and he’d waited too long to make his move. He’d put it off because dealing with Eli Nelson was harder now that he’d left the Agency.

Nelson was a danger to everything he held dear. Nelson was also necessary to the Lachlan Bates deal.

Ten million was too much to push aside because his dick wanted to play with someone he didn’t have to pay.

He forced himself to calm down. If he called back, he could lose her. He had to play the supportive boss. He’d been right in the first place. He needed to cull her from the herd. He needed her alone and vulnerable.

This was a long game, and he was damn good at long games. Patience had gotten him to where he was. Patience and the willingness to destroy anyone who got in his way. Even his own family. Taking care of some tourist would be a breeze.

He’d purposefully squashed her friendships here in London. A word here and a word there and suddenly no one invited her to lunch, and she was perfectly free to spend her afternoons with him. It would be even easier in Dubai. She would feel much more isolated as a woman in a Muslim country. He would make sure the people around her were friendly enough, but they would keep their distance. She would be alone, and she would feel the need to have a man protect her.

But it wouldn’t hurt to figure out who this fucker she was seeing was before he killed him. A man in his position couldn’t be too careful. The last thing he needed was some dumbass intelligence agent bumbling in and fucking everything up.

He pressed a button on his desk, and within seconds his door opened.

“You rang, sir?” Malcolm was dressed impeccably in a three-piece suit. On paper, he was Thomas Molina’s driver. In truth, he was so much more important. Malcolm was his enforcer. Malcolm had been with him since the day of his rebirth. He did have Eli Nelson to thank for that.

“I need you to find Avery and follow her.”

Malcolm’s expression never left the blank, bland facade he wore even when he was slitting a throat. “Should I kill her, sir?”

Again, he was forced to hold his temper. “No. She’s got a boyfriend.”

“Will wonders never cease?”

“I don’t need your sarcasm.” Malcolm had made it clear he didn’t understand his attraction to Avery, but then the man had no use for innocence. As far as Molina knew, Malcolm’s grand love was his SIG Sauer and his bank account. “I need information on the man. I have a trace on her phone. Call her if you need to find her, but as far as I know, she was visiting the Tower of London this morning. I don’t want her to know she’s being watched.”

“And what should I do with this boyfriend of hers?” Malcolm asked, his eyes finally glinting slightly as though he was sure what was coming.