“Well, you can at least have dinner,” Jonathan said with a smirk. “But only dinner.”
They headed up to the penthouse of the most expensive building in Detroit. It was farther away from the school than Violet liked, but she’d loved the apartment when they’d seen it. Jonathan had solved the distance problem for her by hiring her a driver so she could have someone else do the morning commute while she was still waking up and taking in her morning coffee. It was just one of the ways he got the opportunity to take care of her. Luckily, the building was close to his offices downtown, so by the time he left work, she was already home and grading papers for her students. He suspected his Detroit offices didn’t know what to do now that he spent more time in Detroit than New York City, but they’d eventually come around. It allowed him the opportunity to observe the Detroit offices and management, since performances had been poorer than he would have liked last year. Really, this was a good thing all around.
Since they’d moved in together, Jonathan found Violet to be a joy. It was incredible to be able to wake up and find her in his bed every morning. Violet, it turned out, was a cuddler in her sleep, and she tended to cling to him, as if worried that she’d let go and he’d disappear. Thus, he tended to wake up with Violet’s front pressed to his back and her cold feet pressed against his calves.
He f**king loved every moment of it.
They made love with abandon, talked about the future, and he didn’t even care that she tended to throw her shoes off wherever it struck her, and he could follow a trail of dirty clothes back to the bedroom. After all, they could always hire a maid.
All that mattered was that when he climbed into bed at night, Violet’s arms went around him. And when he woke up, he’d look over and see her lovely face on the pillow next to his.
Jonathan’s heart had never been so full.
Cade kept up a stream of easygoing conversation as they headed down the hall toward Jonathan and Violet’s new apartment, but Jonathan wasn’t listening. He’d been gone from Violet for almost a full day; he’d left before dawn that morning and was getting back after two the next morning. This was the longest they’d been apart and he missed the hell out of her.
“You sure she’s up?” Cade asked, stifling a yawn.
“She said she would be,” Jonathan told him, and opened the heavy wooden door to the penthouse apartment. Immediately, the smell of a spicy stir-fry touched his nose, and his mouth watered. He loved Asian food; he’d developed a taste for it in his travels, and Violet had remembered that.
As if she knew he was thinking about her, Violet padded out of the kitchen, dressed in one of his old T-shirts and a pair of his baggy sleep pants that clung tightly to her generous curves. Her dark hair was rumpled and her eyes looked sleepy, but she held a spatula and beamed at him. “You made it home! I was worried about you.” Her gaze went to Cade and warmed. “And you brought a friend. Hi, Cade! It’s so good to see you.”
“Violet,” Cade said, striding forward to give her a quick hug. “You’re looking lovely.”
They hugged briefly and as soon as Cade released her, Jonathan dragged his beautiful woman into his arms, kissing her passionately. She returned his kisses breathlessly, then pulled away. “You’re going to make me burn the food.”
“You didn’t have to cook,” he told her in a low voice.
“I’m glad she did. It smells amazing,” Cade said, leaning against one of the nearby counters.
Violet pulled away from Jonathan’s arms with a blush and a quick look of longing, and then she turned back to the wok on the gas stove. “I needed to do something to stay awake while I waited for you. Coffee?” She gestured at the half-full coffeepot on the counter.
“I’m good,” Cade said. “Can I look around while we wait for food?”
“Of course,” Violet said, and winced. “Just . . . excuse the mess. I haven’t picked up.”
“I won’t say a word,” Cade said with a grin, and disappeared into the living room.
Immediately, Jonathan grabbed Violet and began to kiss her again, pressing her against a nearby counter and grinding his erection against the cradle of her hips. “God, I missed you.”
Her return kisses were equally frantic, her hands clawing at his shirt. “Not half as much as I missed you.”
His hand slid into the waistband of her pants and she whimpered, pulling at his hand. “No, Jonathan, wait—”
“I don’t want to wait,” he growled. He’d been waiting all day to touch her again. To feel that sweet slickness pool between her legs just for him. Twenty hours without Violet was too long. How had he ever gone ten years?
“Wow, the ceiling in here is enormous,” Cade called from the living room. “Is the guest bathroom down the hall?”
“Y-yes,” Violet called out, sounding breathless as Jonathan’s fingers delved down the front of her sleep pants. She was pinned against the counter, but she wasn’t fighting him. Instead, she clung to him, her h*ps pushing against his hand in a silent plea for more. Ah, there it was. Her cl*t was already poking out, stiff with need, and her wetness hit his fingers as soon as he touched her folds. God, she was always so wet for him. He began to rub and loved the little whimpers she gave even as she started to ride his hand.
Jonathan’s mouth captured hers and he kissed her, hard and fierce, while he rubbed her to a quick, brutal orgasm. She came moments later, clinging to him for support, his palm flooding with her juices, her tiny scream smothered by his tongue. He loved the sight of that, and the glazed, exhausted, replete look she gave him when he pulled his hand away. She clung to him, tucking her head against his chest. “Mmm, I’m so glad you’re home.”
He chuckled and took the spatula from her hand and set it on the counter. The stir-fry was burning, so he turned off the stove even as she yawned and burrowed against him. “Let’s get you to bed, love.”
“What about food—” she began sleepily.
“I’ll eat tomorrow.”
“What about Cade—”
He swung her into his arms and began to carry her toward the bed. “He can go get a hotel room.”
He thought Violet would protest, but she only buried her face in his neck and began to lick and suck on his skin there. He groaned with need. “Hurry up and kick him out, then,” she murmured as he pushed open the door to the bedroom and laid her in the rumpled bed.
Jonathan pressed a kiss to Violet’s forehead. “I won’t be long.”
He wasn’t; Cade discreetly emerged from the back of the penthouse once Jonathan shut the bedroom door behind him and adjusted himself. “You know,” Cade said, “I think I’ll just head out, if it’s the same to you.”
“Perfect.” Jonathan grinned at him in understanding. “You’re a good friend.”
“I might swing by the Lyons offices in a few days,” he said thoughtfully. “Thinking about getting a customized car for a friend.”
“It’ll be on me,” Jonathan said. Just leave in the next few minutes.
Cade nodded, seemingly distracted. “Catch you in a few days, then, man.” He clapped Jonathan on the shoulder. “Got keys I can borrow?”
“My roadster’s keys are on the hook by the door. It’s yours.”
Cade grinned. “I’ll see myself out, then. Tell Violet I said good night, and that it was lovely to see her.”
“Will do,” Jonathan said, and waited for Cade to leave. A few moments later, the blond man was gone and Jonathan went through the apartment, turning off lights and picking up Violet’s shoes so she didn’t trip over them in the morning. He tossed them into a nearby chair and then headed to the bedroom, stripping off his jacket.
Violet was already fast asleep, her cheek tucked into one palm. That was fine; he’d be perfectly happy cuddling his woman as she slept. Just touching her was pleasure enough. Jonathan stripped out of his clothes, turned off the lights, and climbed into bed.
Automatically, Violet turned toward him and he pulled her against his chest. She yawned when he pressed a kiss to her forehead and settled back into sleep.
At least, he thought she was asleep. A sleepy voice rose from the darkness. “This weekend, I think I want to visit my father’s grave.”
“Whatever you want,” Jonathan told her, pulling her closer against him. He admitted to himself that he was curious about what was in the old man’s grave, and if his treasured stele and Dr. DeWitt’s journals were hidden there, great. But finding those had been less important than getting Violet back, and he was content to wait until she was ready to approach the task again.
Good things came to those who waited, and ten years of patience had won him the best prize of all. Kissing Violet’s forehead again, he closed his own eyes, utterly content.
EPILOGUE
That Saturday, the skies were blue and the sun was out, the weather lovely. It was the kind of day that was made for picnics and walks in the park, not visiting a grave. But now that everything else in Violet’s life had somehow lined up, this was the only question still unanswered, and Violet wanted closure.
Even if the prize at the end of this treasure hunt was just one of her father’s silly notes or a research journal, at least she’d be able to move on from this. Hopefully, Jonathan’s stele would be enclosed there, and he could move on, too. No more manipulation from Dr. DeWitt from beyond the grave. She liked the thought of that.
“You look lovely,” Jonathan told her as she pulled on a plain black sweater.
Violet stepped into her black flats and gave him an odd look. She’d skipped makeup that morning, just in case she got emotional at her father’s grave. On top of that, she was wearing all black. Her lips twitched with a nervous smile; God, why was she nervous? “Lovely, huh? Why is that?”
“Absolutely.” He moved to her side, dressed in a black jacket. Instead of his normal T-shirt and jeans, he wore a collared black shirt and slacks out of respect for her father’s grave. His hand tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and he gazed into her face. “It’s the look on your face this morning. I can’t take my eyes off of you. You’re strong, and resolute, and every time you look at me, I see love in your eyes. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
An emotional knot threatened Violet’s throat and she tilted her face back, silently asking for a kiss. For comfort.
He brushed his lips over hers. “Shall we get going?”
She nodded, not trusting her voice.
Hand in hand, they went out to the parking garage and Jonathan drove his roadster while Violet navigated with his tablet and a maps application. The graveyard was all the way across town, and they drove in relative silence, the only sounds Violet’s quiet driving directions.
When Jonathan finally turned into a parking lot, Violet’s heart gave a painful little clench. “We’re here,” Jonathan said quietly.
She nodded, frozen.
“Do you know where he’s buried?”
She stared at the rows of gravestones and flowers, and then gave Jonathan a mutely pleading look.
He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Wait here, love. I’ll go ask.”
She waited in the car, clutching the tablet PC to her chest. The day was a gorgeous one, and the cemetery quite pretty. In the distance, an elderly couple walked the rows. For some reason, it made Violet incredibly nervous. It wasn’t death itself; her mother had passed when Violet was twenty-one, a miserable drunk to her very last moment.
Violet was terrified of what they’d find at her father’s grave and at the end of the scavenger hunt.
She and Jonathan had lived in bliss for the past few weeks. There was some schedule juggling, of course—they both had jobs. There were the usual growing pains of two people moving into a new place together. But God, she was happy. So, so happy. And she was terrified that whatever they found at her father’s grave would somehow ruin this fragile happiness and destroy it forever.