Page 49 of Salvage Him
"I know." I sat down onthebed.
Abbie sat nexttome.
"You know you can always come home, right?"Abbiesaid.
"I'm fine,Abbie."
"Iknow."
"I like itdownhere."
"Sure, with the Dom dream team looking out for you"—Abbie took my hand—"what's nottolike?"
Ilaughed.
"You see Justin's face?" Abbie asked."OMG, I thought queso was going to come out of his nose." Wegiggled.
"Aww, it's been like old times, right?" Iasked.
"Almost. This was fun. Serious talk." She took my hand. "If you're not happy, then get happy, okay? Life is way tooshort."
"What about you?" I squeezed her hand. "Are youhappy?"
"Most of the time," sheanswered.
"What are you doing for money? You needanything?"
"Trevor is taking careofme."
"Yeah, but at whatprice."
"We all pay a price, don't we, Brookie? At least, my sacrifice allows me to bemyself."
I blinked back tears. It hurt to hear it, but she spoke thetruth.
The more time I spent with Harrison and Justin and Seth, I knew it was mytruth.
* * *
"There's my girl,"Paul yelled as he climbed into the car. He grabbed me behind the neck and pulled me in forakiss.
The kiss was . . . good, passionate,andwet.
He pulled back, and squeezed my neck. He kissed me again. I tasted scotch on his breath, and something else sweet. He cut off the kiss and said, "I need you to drive us home. I need to beinsideyou."
I narrowed my eyes. Who was this guy, and what had he done to myhusband?
I didn't speak. I didn't want to break the spell or whatever it was that came over him. I put the car in drive and pulled away fromthecurb.
Paul held my hand and kissed it. He held it over his heart as he stared out the car window. His heartbeat thumped against the back ofmyhand.
I couldn't remember the last time we were close and quiet enough to hear each other's heartbeat. It made me think of Harrison, but I pushed the thought out ofmymind.
"You know, I love Dubai. The culture fascinates me." Paul squeezed my hand. "I stayed at Cirses’s home. It wasn't a home really, more of apalace."
"Wow. I bet it was beautiful." Inodded.
"It was. You need to come next time. You would like the way it's decorated. Grand, but"—he kissed my hand while searching for the right word—"subtle."
