Page 46 of Captivating Nights

Chapter 32

THEY’D BROUGHT HER BACK to the villa and while she soaked in a warm bubble bath, Xavier and Zane had arranged for room service to be brought to them. She’d never left their room that night, and once out of the tub, had never left their bed. Cali didn’t think it was possible for them to be even more attentive than they usually were toward her, but soon learned that it was. Something had changed between the three of them and she chalked it up to them realizing their time had almost come to an end.

She shivered as she thought about Rapture being stuck out in the water during a storm. There’d been a real possibility that her time not only in Virgin Gorda, but in her life, could’ve come to an end as well. Thankfully everything had turned out to be fine. She’d simply put that ordeal behind her while focusing on the best part of the excursion, which was the scuba diving itself. She couldn’t wait to get home and tell Emily and Natalie all about it.

In addition to that excursion, the men took her out on a few more the following day. She’d gotten to see various wildlife on the island, up close and personal, in their own habitat. They’d followed it up with an afternoon of shopping and now she was lying in their bed, fully sated from an explosive round of lovemaking. Sex. Crinkling up her nose, that inner voice of hers corrected her once more. No matter how much she wished things could be different, Cali was a realist. There was nothing but the physical between the three of them, and in a few more days, there’d be nothing left.

“Why do you keep doing this to yourself?” she whispered. Realizing she’d spoken out loud, Cali covered her mouth with her hand.

The men were outside on the patio, so hopefully neither had heard her. Cali glanced over at the bedside clock and realized the two Dominants had been out there for quite some time. As her curiosity got the best of her, she scrambled out of bed and wrapped the sheet around her. She walked toward the door, not intending to eavesdrop, but simply to see for herself that everything was okay.

As she got closer to the door, their voices became clearer and she stopped for a few seconds to listen. She knew it was wrong but stood there anyway, straining to hear anything she could.

“You need to tell her about Elena, Zane,” Xavier said in a vehement voice. “Calista deserves to know.”

“You’re right,” came the hushed response. “And you need to tell her about Raquel too.”

“Agreed,” Xavier had answered. “We should’ve told her about them last night.”

Having heard all that she needed to hear, Cali backed slowly away from the cracked door. Elena? Raquel? They had to be their girlfriends.

“Oh my God!” Cali forced herself to choke back a sob. “Assholes!” She kept turning the events of the past two weeks over and over in her mind. While she’d been busy falling in love, they’d been using her. She felt ill. In fact, she barely made it to the bathroom before leaning over the toilet, violently throwing up the contents of her dinner from earlier that night. She’d been such a fool.

The commotion she made was loud enough to grab their attention because Xavier and Zane appeared at the doorway.

“Are you okay, angel?”

“Belleza?

The concern in their voices sounded so sincere. Damn, they were good. Cali turned and grabbed a hand towel so she could wipe her mouth. She could barely even stand to look at them now but forced herself to do so. This would be the last damn time she’d ever intended to lay eyes on them again.

The two men were staring at her, and she knew they were waiting for an answer.

“I feel really sick. Dinner didn’t agree with me at all.”

Zane was the first to step toward her. “Maybe we should call someone to look at you, angel.”

“No,” she said abruptly, realizing right away how panicked her voice sounded. Taking a deep breath, she smiled weakly at him. “I don’t think it’s anything serious, but I should go back to my room and sleep off whatever it is.”

Xavier exchanged a silent look with his friend and then moved close enough to her to tip up her chin. “We need to talk to you about something, belleza, but as you’re obviously not well, we’ll talk at breakfast in the morning. You still have another full day here on the island, yes?”

Cali nodded mutely, fully intending to move that flight time up immediately. Whatever lies they had to feed her could go untold. She’d heard enough.

“We’ll talk in the morning, Sirs,” she said softly. “I’m so sorry I’ve ruined this night. I have no idea what I could’ve eaten that made me so sick. I should be better after a good night’s rest.”

“I hate leaving you, especially knowing you’re not well, angel. While I still think you should stay here with us tonight, I won’t force you to do so. We’ll eat breakfast at ten, little sub. Make sure you’re there on time. We have a lot to discuss and hopefully you’ll reconsider things after we talk.”

Cali doubted that. She didn’t need to hear how she was just another notch in their bedpost while she’d given them her heart along with her submission. They’d fooled her twice, and she intended to make damn sure that she didn’t give them a chance to make it a third time.

“I’ll be there,” she said, not even giving a damn as the lie slipped so easily off her tongue this time.

“Very good, belleza. We’ll walk you back to your room.”

She nodded then quickly got dressed. As promised, they walked her to her room and once inside, she slid down the length of the door, finally allowing her tears to win out. She sobbed brokenly for everything that had happened since she’d arrived here. Yes, they’d given her almost every fantasy she had dreamed up except the one that really mattered. Once again, happily ever after wasn’t in the cards for her.

She’d allowed herself to cry over her own foolishness, knowing she was the one to blame for her own unhappiness. Eventually, she scrambled onto her feet and grabbed her laptop. She needed to get off this island, immediately. It only took her a few minutes to change the departure dates on her return flights to Boston and to call a cab to pick her up from the resort. She had limited amount of time to pack, so she threw everything into her suitcases and zipped them up.

She had one final thing to do, which was to find a hotel room close to the ferry that would take her to Tortola in the morning. Thankfully, with the holidays over, there were plenty of vacancies and she could find something that was within walking distance of the ferry. She wasn’t looking forward to the layover on the other British Virgin Island but knew once she hit St. Thomas, her next stop would be home.

“That’s if they don’t catch you trying to leave,” she said to herself. At first she dismissed that possibility and then decided to go to the lobby just to be on the safe side. Gathering her luggage, she took one last look at paradise, then slipped quietly out of her room.

She’d just made it to the front of the resort when the cab pulled up out front of the building. She wheeled her suitcases to the vehicle and then slid into the backseat. Soon, they were on the road, and she felt a sense of relief that she’d gotten away. Knowing she’d one-upped the Dominants didn’t ease the pain deep in her chest, though, because despite their intentions toward her, she’d fallen head over heels in love with both men. They’d seduced her, used her, and the fact that she still felt like crying over them made her the biggest fool on the planet.

Get it together, Calista. She’d been nothing more than a sex toy. Even knowing that didn’t stop the memories of her letting them have their way with her, doing any and every perverse act they’d wanted. Zane and Xavier had played the roles of caring Dominants, and she was their dutiful submissive; one that was too blind to realize they were simply using her to pass time until they could get back home to their girlfriends.

“Such an idiot,” she remarked, this time aloud. The man driving looked back at her and arched his brow.

Cali turned her head, embarrassed. She was so over men at this point, even though it didn’t make her feel like any less of a naïve dimwit who was easily seduced. She’d attempted to find solace in the knowledge that she wasn’t the first and wouldn’t be the last to do so. She was just glad that she hadn’t poured her heart out and revealed her true feelings like she’d been so tempted to do since New Year’s Eve.

Cali turned over every encounter and conversation in her head until the cab pulled up in front of the hotel. After paying him for his services and retrieving her luggage, she walked into the hotel, glad this was the last time she’d ever need to be on this island. By the time she reached her room, she’d realized that agonizing over what had been wasn’t productive. She was headed home to be around people who genuinely cared about her and just needed to keep reminding herself of that.

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