Page 29 of Steamy Ever After

“Go right ahead,” Landon replied, an unexpected calmness taking over his demeanor. A large brown envelope sat on the table separating them, and he slid it toward her. “I’ll be more than happy to show them these.”

Ivy eyed the envelope but didn’t pick it up. Instead, she sneered at it. “What is it?”

“Those are the original photos of you and some guy named Frank Harrison. The pictures you then had photoshopped—very professionally, I might add—with me in his place. The pictures you then sold to several tabloids, claiming that we had an affair and I got you pregnant.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Despite her denial, Ivy had paled when Landon mentioned the other man’s name. “Those pictures were real, and you can’t prove otherwise.”

“Oh, really? Well, then, let’s just ask Frank, shall we?”

The guard at the door opened it and gestured for someone to enter. A man Clarissa didn’t recognize walked in, followed by Landon’s attorney—Marsha Han. Ivy suddenly looked like she would faint at any moment, her face devoid of color except for the makeup she wore.

The man—Frank—looked eerily similar to Landon. He was the same height and had a similar build. Their hair, skin color, and facial features were pretty close too. If Clarissa didn’t know her ex was an only child, she’d swear this stranger was his sibling. However, Landon was far more handsome.

She watched and listened as Frank related how Ivy had devised the scheme to become famous for sleeping with Landon and breaking up his marriage. Apparently, she’d blamed him for her not getting a prominent role she’d wanted a year before the scandalous pictures appeared in the tabloids. Clarissa’s tears started once more as it became clear, based on Ivy’s screaming at the man to shut up as she ripped up the envelope and its contents, that it had all been a hoax. One Clarissa and everyone else had fallen for.

How could she have doubted Landon? Back then, he’d begged her—not for forgiveness, but to believe him. He was her soulmate, and she’d given credence to that bitch’s tale over his denial. They’d lost all that time together because Clarissa had failed to follow her heart. How could Landon ever forgive her? Why would he even want to?

Her renewed sobs prevented her from paying attention to most of what else was being said in the video, but she did hear Landon’s lawyer mention something about a lawsuit.

Clarissa shook her head, trying to dislodge the headphones. “Turn it—turn it off. Please, Landon. Oh my God, please! I’m so sorry! Please! Turn it off!”

He removed her headphones and then tossed the phone to Ian, who promptly dropped it onto the floor and crushed it with the heel of his boot. As Landon knelt in front of Clarissa, supporting her while she bawled and buried her head into his shoulder, Mitch and a Dungeon Master quickly untied the ropes restraining her. Suddenly, she was free and collapsed against him.

CHAPTER 8

LANDON

Without saying a word, Landon scooped Clarissa up into his arms and strode into the crowd, which parted like the Red Sea for them. He headed for the empty private playroom he’d reserved earlier, hoping he’d have a chance to use it. Thankfully, a passing male submissive offered to open the door for him so Landon wouldn’t have to juggle the woman in his arms. The door closed shut behind them as he set a shivering and still crying Clarissa down on the burgundy sheets atop the king-size bed. Grabbing a clean blanket from a nearby stack, he wrapped it around her naked body. Next, he retrieved a cool bottle of water and a few individually wrapped pieces of dark chocolate that were kept in the small refrigerator in the room.

As he sat beside Clarissa, someone knocked and opened the door just wide enough to slide Landon’s toy bag into the room before shutting it again—probably Mitch or a Dungeon Master. After twisting off the top of the water bottle, he held it to his sub’s quivering lips and put his other arm around her, pulling her close. “Drink, sweetheart.”

Between her sobs, she barely took a sip.

“More,” he ordered, ensuring she didn’t wind up gulping the water and choking on it.

It took a few minutes, but her crying finally ebbed after she drank half the bottle and then nibbled on a piece of chocolate, which brought her blood sugar up.

“I-I’m so sorry, Land?—”

“Shh, baby. It’s okay.” Some strands of her hair, wet from her tears, were stuck to her pale forehead and reddened cheeks. He brushed them back with his knuckles.

Clarissa buried her face into her hands and yelled hoarsely, “No, it’s not! You must hate me. I took that bitch’s word for it over yours. All these years! I’m such an idiot! How?—”

If he let her, she would continue to beat herself up over everything. He pulled her hands away from her face and cupped her chin. “Clarissa, hush. I could never hate you—I still love you. I always have and always will. None of this was your fault. It took a private investigator years to finally uncover the source of the original photos. I never thought it would take that long, but Ivy did a good job of covering her tracks. I don’t know how much of the video you paid attention to toward the end, but I told her the investigator even found the guy who altered the photos for her. He was some poor schmuck she’d gone to high school with, and for some stupid reason, he was in love with her for years. She’s been stringing him along, convincing him the hoax would advance her career, and when she hit it big, they could be together. The guy’s a bit of a nerd—very socially inept—and an expert with computers and Photoshop. She’d been using him all this time, and he believed she was in love with him. Same thing with that guy, Frank. What they see in her, I have no idea.”

When he’d told Ian and Devon about the video and the proof he had that the photos had been altered, they’d given him shit about not coming to them sooner. Their computer hacker could’ve gotten the evidence back when it all had originally happened. However, he hadn’t been thinking straight at the time, and several directing jobs had kept him on the West Coast and in Canada, on and off for over twenty months. The private investigator he’d eventually thought to hire worked in L.A. and knew the ins and outs of Hollywood. While it had been easier for the man to find out that the images had been altered after consulting with an expert, connecting all the dots had taken a bit longer. Landon had insisted on finding the collaborating witnesses before presenting Clarissa with all the ammunition needed to convince her he’d never cheated.

He kissed her temple and snuggled her tightly. “Now that you know the truth, Marsha will release everything to the press and file a defamation lawsuit against Ivy. I guarantee she’ll never work in Hollywood ever again—unless it’s for a porno flick. I couldn’t care less what happens to her though. All I care about and have ever cared about is you. I want you to be my wife again. I want to travel the world with you and grow old with you like we’d planned. I want it all, but only with you by my side. I love you, baby.”

Clarissa burst out crying again. “I-I love you too. I always have. Even when I hated you—when I thought I hated you, I still loved you. That’s why it hurt so much when I thought you . . . Oh God, all those men I dated. That I slept with!” Her tears fell in earnest again as she lifted her watery gaze to his face and shook her head. “They didn’t mean anything, Landon, I swear. I was trying to forget you. To prove to you and the rest of the world that I didn’t need you. To make you hurt as much as you hurt me. But you didn’t hurt me. I should’ve believed you. How can you ever forgive me?”

“There’s nothing to forgive.” He stroked the back of her head. “I just want you back where you belong. Please say you’ll give us another chance.”

Instead of giving him a verbal response, she lifted her chin and kissed him, and Landon felt like he’d died and gone to heaven. So many nights of being alone. So many years of searching for a way to bring them back together. And yet, in that moment, it felt like they’d never been apart. The long-buried familiar arousal she evoked from him returned with a vengeance.

He shifted her until she straddled him. The blanket fell from her body, giving him full access to every bare inch of her. His tongue delved into her mouth, where it dueled with her own. His hard cock throbbed painfully against his leathers, but he didn’t want to stop caressing her arms, back, and shoulders to release it. Goosebumps pebbled over her soft skin wherever he touched her.

All thoughts of the Slot Scene Spectacular fled his mind. It didn’t matter that they still had time on the clock and another chip drop available. Landon finally had Clarissa back in his arms, and there was no way he would let her go any time soon. Hell, if he had his way, she’d be glued to his side for at least the next few months to prove to himself this wasn’t all a dream.

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