Slipping a hand up under her skirt, he pressed the length of his cold bottle against her panties, and she gasped in a breath that reminded him of how she breathed in the throes of passion. ‘You’re not going fast enough,’ he said.

His body blocked hers from the view of the yard, and she was still half-in, half-out the shed, so he fingered aside her panties and touched her core with the condensation covered bottle.

‘Don’t do that,’ she said, but when she tried to stand up, he splayed his other hand on the small of her back and held her down.

‘Take a couple of steps forward, I’ll close this door and fuck you right here.’

‘We are not having sex at my ex-boyfriend’s place,’ she hissed.

‘Why not? Worried about upsetting him?’

‘No, but I am not a trophy,’ she said, groping around she found his wrist and pulled his hand off her back so that she could stand up.

But he took the opportunity to seek out her breast, which he fondled through her dress. Kissing along the scratch Trudi had left on her neck, he flicked her earlobe with his tongue. ‘This fucking heat, doesn’t it turn you on?’

‘No,’ she said, using her body to move his around, she remained flush with him but brought the pool into their view. ‘But I do think that we should get a pool.’

‘At the apartment?’ he asked.

As it stood, they didn’t have a fixed abode. They had been living in North Carolina, then they flew to his apartment in California, but Mauri wanted them to live at the mansion. Right now, they lived in a hotel in Vegas, so putting in a pool wasn’t an option.

‘Wherever we end up,’ she said.

He didn’t like the way she sighed as she spoke, she had to be fed up with his ties to the Starks, and he could understand that after everything they had put her through. Turning down Mauri should have been his first instinct, but he couldn’t be stupid enough to ignore the chance that Mauri was presenting. If they took over the Stark empire, then Dax would be able to give Ivy anything she wanted.

He had money from the many fights he’d taken part in over the years. But he wasn’t dumb enough to think that he could fight for the rest of his life, he would have to retire eventually, probably sometime soon. His bank account was healthy and would support them if they chose to live a modest life. But he wanted to take care of Ivy and living in the opulence of the Stark mansion would give her the luxury he felt that she deserved.

‘Why don’t you go inside and call Mauri,’ Ivy said. ‘I’ll finish up out here.’

All she was doing was transferring her things from several smaller bags into a larger one and a suitcase that Saul had given her to use. It shouldn’t take her too long, and she didn’t want to be party to his conversation with Mauri anyway.

Leaving her alone, he went inside, passing Saul without speaking to him, and picked up the phone to dial Mauri’s direct number. Few people had direct access to Mauri, Dax was one of the lucky ones.

‘Hello?’ Mauri answered the phone, he wouldn’t have recognised the number calling him so his suspicious voice was understandable.

‘It’s me,’ Dax said. ‘I need something.’

‘Anything.’

‘The guy Ivy worked for in Vegas, who was he?’

‘Darryl Kay,’ Mauri said. ‘He’s on his yacht, sailing in the Pacific now.’

Men like that didn’t own sailboats, they owned ships that were filled with luxuries. Staying in Vegas had no doubt been a step down for the man. ‘He owed you something?’

‘Several somethings,’ Mauri said. He had connections all over the world and kept a running tally of who he’d done favours for over the years. Maurice Stark had no shame in calling in a favour when it suited him. ‘What do you want with him? Did he touch Ivy? Hurt her?’

The concern in Mauri’s voice was no doubt meant to curry favour with Dax, but it hadn’t occurred to him to question what Ivy had gone through in the three days she’d worked for Darryl Kay.

‘He just did you a favour?’ Dax asked.

‘Yes.’

‘When did he leave Vegas?’

‘Not long after we took Ivy,’ Mauri said. ‘The man had a weak stomach.’

‘If Ivy left something in Kay’s place, where would it be now?’ Dax asked.

‘Is there something in particular—‘

‘Do you know the answer to my question?’

‘I can look into it,’ Mauri said.

Standing in Saul’s kitchen, Dax dropped his fist to the countertop. Mauri knew all the details of an operation like that especially one that involved his future daughter-in-law, as Ivy was supposed to be. There was no way that he had to “look into” anything, he already had the answer.

‘You’re forgetting who you’re talking to, Mauri,’ Dax said, lowering the bass of his voice. ‘If you want me to trust you, then you better show me some respect. I can walk any time I want.’

‘Yes, I know,’ Mauri exhaled. ‘I’ll have her things ready when you come to the party. I’ll find out where they are, and I’ll have them brought to your suite.’

Their room, so Mauri was expecting them to move into the mansion after the party. While growing up in the mansion, Dax had resided in the staff quarters, he had never had a suite in the main body of the house like Brad and Trystan did. Mauri was going to great lengths to make him feel special, Dax just hadn’t figured out why this was so important to the old man yet.

‘Good,’ Dax said. ‘You do that.’

After hanging up the phone, Dax remained in the kitchen. Keeping watch out of the back window, he made sure that Saul didn’t go anywhere near Ivy while she sorted through her possessions.

Slugging more beer from his bottle he fixated on her ass again, but knowing that Saul was also enjoying the view of her body irritated him. After this day, his wife wouldn’t go near any man who had touched her in the past, he would make sure that she knew it.

Chapter Nine

Ivy had her doubts that Maurice Stark would deliver for them, but Dax was confident that he would. Dax had been conditioned from a young age to have utter faith in his mentor, that kind of unshakable trust confounded her.

After witnessing Dax’s turmoil when Mauri failed to accept their relationship, she worried that Dax would crash if he was disappointed again. During their early days, Dax had been convinced that Mauri would embrace their marriage once he knew how much they cared for, and loved, each other. It hadn’t worked out that way at all.

When she requested that they stay in Vegas for the week instead of rushing back to LA, Dax had yielded. It gave them time to relax and enjoy themselves without the watchful eye of the Stark network.

But on the Saturday of Maurice Stark’s party, they flew back to California with Ivy’s possessions in tow. Having her clothes and knick-knacks back was great, but what she really wanted was the bag Mauri had promised would be at the party tonight.

They hadn’t been back at the apartment for very long. Dax had gone straight into the shower, leaving her to deal with the unpacking and laundry. Now in the bedroom closet sorting through their apparel, she heard him come out of their bathroom and move into the bedroom, so she called out to him.

‘Are you ever going to tell me what happened?’ she shouted just loud enough for her voice to carry through the open closet door.

When he came into the doorway, he was already clothed though his hair was still damp. ‘Tell you about what?’ he asked, clipping the metal strap of his watch closed.

‘What happened between you and Mauri at that midnight meeting?’

‘That was months ago,’ Dax said. ‘The meeting when I told them to go to hell then spent seven weeks trying to find you?’

‘Yes,’ she said, folding a clean tee-shirt into a drawer, she closed it then set her sights on him. ‘You saw Mauri alone then you came back here to tell me that he had commanded us to go to a meeting at midnight at his mansion. I told you that Mauri would want you to hand me over to Trystan, so you let me leave here, to escape from them. But you went to the meeting by yourself, and it was something that happened at that meeting which made you walk away from them. You followed me across the country after that. Why did you come after me?’