Filthy Rich, Wild with Lust

Chapter 62

I twist my fingers as I look to the guide, who is patiently waiting with the harness. “Do you check the harnesses?” I ask.

“Yes.”

“How often?”

Henley chuckles and fastens his buckle. “Will you relax?”

“Says the boy who is afraid of a girlfriend,” I whisper angrily. “You are peer pressuring me into an early grave.”

Mischief is all over his face.

“Juliet.” He leans in and kisses me tenderly. “I love you. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. Trust me.”

“Fine,” I whisper. “Just so you know, I am putting this on the scorecard, and you better pay up big.”

He chuckles and pulls me into a hug.

“Like five carats big,” I grumble against his shoulder.

He tips his head back and laughs out loud, and it echoes through the valley.

And somehow, I just know everything is going to work out.

With my heart beating hard in my chest, I get my harness on and listen to the instructions. Together we stand at the edge.

“You ready?” He smiles over at me.

“Maybe six carats,” I mouth.

He chuckles and dives over the edge. He goes flying down into the valley, the sound of his laughter bouncing off the rock faces.

Thump, thump, thump goes my heart.

Fuck.

Just do it.

I close my eyes, and against my better judgment, I let go of the edge.

I’d follow him anywhere.

Juliet

The plane hurtles down the runway, and I let out a deep sigh. All good things must come to an end. Our perfect vacation is over.

We are so in love; our little speed bumps while we were away only cemented our bond even further.

This is it for us, and we both know it.

Henley’s learned that he can still be his sexually dominant self and be in love with me.

There are no lines, no one or the other.

Somehow in his mind he thought he had to choose, love me... or dominate me in bed, and he was struggling. Unable to choose between the s*x that he needs and the love that he wants.

We’ve finally found our happy place where we can have it all.

He loves me so much and yet now has the freedom to f**k me like he hates me... and it is so f*****g good.

I glance over to my traveling partner; he smiles and gives me a sexy wink.

Ugh, he’s infuriating. How does he look so good even after a stupidly long flight? I look like roadkill, and he’s over there looking all GQ -model-like.

“Welcome home to Los Angeles International Airport. Local time eleven fifteen p.m. Thank you for flying with us, and we look forward to welcoming you again very soon,” the voice says over the loudspeaker.

We leave the plane and go through customs on autopilot. “I can’t wait to get into bed.” I sigh. “I’m so exhausted.”

“I know, babe.” Henley puts his arm around me and pulls me close to kiss my temple. “Soon.”

I sleep in the car on the way home. “We’re home.” Henley wakes me up before he wheels our bags inside. I try to finish waking up enough to get out of the car. Damn, I’m wrecked.

Barry is jumping around and excited to see Henley as he opens the door. “Hello, pain in my ass,” he says as he pats his head.

I roll my eyes. He can act tough all he wants, but I know the truth.

Chloe went home today, knowing we would be here tonight.

I owe her a kidney for doing this for us. I can’t wait to catch up with her tomorrow.

Barry jumps up all excited-like. “Hello, hello,” I sing to him. I lie on the couch and hug him hard. “I missed you, did you miss me?”

“I didn’t miss your Barry baby talk voice, that’s for sure,” Henley mutters dryly.

I giggle. It’s true. Barry does bring out the baby talk in me. He and I speak another language to each other.

Puppy talk.

“Bed.” Henley grabs my shoulders and faces them toward the stairs. “I’ll have something to eat and then be up.”

“Okay.” I put my arms around his neck and kiss him softly. His hands go to my behind. “Thank you so much. I had the best time.”

“So did I.” He smiles against my lips.

“Can we go back next year?”

“Okay.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too. I’ll be up soon.”

I walk up the stairs, and I hear his voice. “Hey, yeah, I just got back.”

I frown. Who’s he talking to?

I stop on the spot as I try to listen. Who would call him this late?

Jenny.

He talks to her as he walks around organizing things. Why is she calling him at night at all?

He lets out a low chuckle. “Yeah, I know.”

And why is he f*****g talking back to her as if she’s his long-lost friend?

Ugh, after the best week of my life, I come home to the reality that my boyfriend’s PA is after him.

Is she, though... or am I just being insecure?

Probably a bit of both.

“You, too, hey?” I hear Henley’s hushed voice reply. You too what? “Bye, Jen.”

I quickly tiptoe up the stairs and jump into the shower. I don’t want him to know that I heard him on the phone, and the last thing I want to do is to fight with him over her... but I do need more information. I quickly shower, get into bed, and pretend to read my book as my mind runs a million miles per minute.

Eventually he comes to bed. “Hey.” He smiles as he walks into my bedroom. “I thought you would be fast asleep by now.” He sits on the side of the bed and kisses me and tucks a piece of my hair behind my ear.

“I woke myself back up.” I hold my book up. “Thought I’d read a little.”

“Okay.” He kisses me again and plugs his phone in to charge on the bedside table and walks into the bathroom. I hear the shower go, and I glance over at his phone. I wish I knew the code so I could see how many times she calls him a day.

Stop it.

Don’t be this person.

I will not be the jealous, insecure girlfriend, no matter how in love I am.

Henley showers and walks into the bedroom with the white towel around his waist. “Are you looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow?” I ask casually.

“Yeah, I guess,” Henley replies as he walks around tidying. He folds my clothes that were on the floor and lays them on the chair.

“How long has Jenny worked for you?” I act uninterested in the answer.

“I don’t know, twelve years.”

“Twelve years?” I gasp. “You’ve owned your business for twelve years?”

“No, she and I worked together at another company, and then we both left to work at another company before I asked her to come and work for me.” He puts my shoes in the bottom of my wardrobe. “We need to remodel this wardrobe. It’s doing my head in. Way too hard to keep organized.”

I could give a rat’s ass about organizing the f*****g wardrobe.

“So you’ve worked with her at three companies?”

“Uh-huh.”

“You must be close...” I twist my lips to hide my disapproval.

“She’s a good friend.” He crawls into bed beside me.

“Do you trust her?”

He frowns. “Of course I trust her.”

That makes one of us.

“What’s with the sudden interest in Jenny?” he asks as he slides his arm around me.

“She just...” I pause as I try to get my thoughts together. “She calls you a lot.”

“She worries about me. For a long time she’s been the only woman in my life.”

I blink, shocked. “I’m the only woman in your life now, Henley.”

He smiles and snuggles up to me. “I know, babe.” He kisses my arm. “It’s cute that you’re jealous of her. But you have no need to be. I am yours and only yours.”

“I am not jealous of her,” I lie.

Green with f*****g envy, actually.

“Good night, sweetheart,” he says as he lies down. He switches his bedside lamp off and closes his eyes. “I’m beat.” He glances over at me. “How are you still wide awake?”

Because I’m imagining the ways to burn Jenny alive at the stake.

“Not tired.” I fake another smile. “Good night.”

Within five minutes Henley is fast asleep, and my mind is racing.

I hate that he has this friendship with her and that he works with her... and that she sees him every day and that I know she’s not on my side.

But more than that, I hate jealous and insecure girlfriends.

I have to let this fear go. This isn’t who I am.

Juliet

“So I guess that’s it.” Rebecca shrugs.

We’re having drinks at my house before we go over to the street party.

“I mean, what did he expect me to do?” she continues.

Chloe and I listen intently. Rebecca met with John today, and she asked him for a divorce.

“What happened then?” Chloe takes Rebecca’s hand in hers.

“He cried and begged for another chance.” She exhales deeply. “And the pathetic thing is that if I didn’t know for a fact that he was still seeing her, I probably would have tried to forgive him.”

We fall silent, lost deep in our own thoughts.