Alex Drakos: For My Lover Read online

  Two SUVs were waiting at the airfield, undoubtedly there for Alex, which only underscored the fact that her arrival was not planned at all. But as she got out of her automobile and walked around to the passenger side to wait for him to deplane, she felt a profound sense of dread. And it wasn’t about surprising Alex, nor was it about the townspeople and how they felt about her car either. It was all about that man at Wayne’s.

  Maggio Margolis was in her town.

  The man who knew all about her life when she lived with Vito Visconni.

  The man who could ruin her, and her marriage to Alex, by just opening his mouth and telling that one particular thing he knew. Kari felt sick inside.

  And that Live blog she read this morning wasn’t helping her mood either. According to the lady who posted it, Alex was seen boarding his plane in New York just over an hour-and-a-half ago, with a beautiful blonde on his arm. And her title for her short little snippet was so suggestive: Is the Billionaire Playboy, a Newlywed, Playing Again?

  Kari leaned against her car door and let out a long exhale. It wasn’t easy being married to a man like Alex. He was rich, which meant she had to deal with so many arrogant people who felt she didn’t belong in their circle. He was gorgeous, which meant she had to deal with so many women who felt he still belonged to them. And she worked for him! There were so many complexities to their relationship. But all of the talk about him and women and his old rep as a playboy? She wished it would all just go away.

  But despite the rumors and gossip and all of the other nonsense, she still had faith in Alex. She didn’t believe he was cheating on her. She saw how he looked at her, and she knew how he treated her. But there was still a little piece of her that wouldn’t dismiss the rumor mill outright. That piece of her came from her mother. Her mother used to always drill into her that she should never get too comfortable with her fellow human beings. Especially men. “You never really know people,” she used to always proclaim, “no matter what face they present to you.”

  That saying stayed with Kari her entire life.

  And maybe Lucinda was right: maybe that was why she held onto her tiny cleaning business. Maybe that was why that blog about that bimbo sighting was the driving force of her sudden need to meet his plane, even if she had total confidence in his love for her. Before she met Alex, she never believed for a second that self-doubt was in her DNA. Her DNA, despite her tough upbringing, allowed her to become a self-assured woman, not some worried wife wondering what her husband was up to at every turn.

  But you never really know people.

  That was in her DNA too.

  And when the door to the plane opened, and the steps dropped down, what happened next only enhanced that part of her DNA. Because the first person off of the plane wasn’t Alex, as she had expected, but was a tall blonde with a briefcase at her side. Kari could hardly believe what she was seeing. The woman kept jerking her long hair back as it kept getting into her face, and was raking her hand through it, too, as she climbed down those steps, got into one of the two waiting SUVs, and was driven away. As if she was Mrs. Drakos!

  Kari was, admittedly, a little stunned to see it. Alex never mentioned to her anything about having a guest onboard his plane when they talked earlier.

  But then again, she thought, she and Alex never really talked like that. They respected each other’s privacy almost to a fault, even in their marriage.

  But who was that woman? Was she some mistress he was planning to set up in Apple Valley and that was why she came to town? Was that gossip columnist right to say that the billionaire playboy, as they used to call Alex, was playing again? Kari didn’t know what to think. And then that Maggio appearance at Wayne’s, a man with the power to shred any ounce of respect Alex did have for her, was weighing on her too. It was turning out to be a nightmare of a day.

  She wanted to get back in her car, drive back to the penthouse, and take herself to bed.

  But it was too late for that. Alex began walking down the steps of his plane.

  He looked so elegant, Kari thought, in his tailored suit and with his short, conservative haircut still managing to blow in the wind. He ran his hand through that hair as he stepped off.

  He appeared to be, at first, heading straight for the second SUV, as if the woman getting off the plane first and then leaving was some ruse so that others wouldn’t think they had arrived in town together. Or, Kari thought sadly, so that his wife wouldn’t think it.

  But he didn’t seem to realize his wife was even there. He was, in fact, almost to the SUV itself when he glanced over and saw, considerably further away, that Kari was parked there too. And although he seemed a little startled to see her, he smiled. She felt better when he smiled because it seemed so genuine.

  He said something to the driver of the SUV, presumably telling him he had a way home, and then headed her way. Kari stood erect and braced herself. How in the world, she wondered, was he going to explain that woman?

  Alex was pleasantly surprised to see Kari. It had been tough in New York, where negotiations for Drakos Capital to take over a major tech giant degenerated into a shouting match between his negotiators and theirs, and nothing was resolved. Now he and the head of the tech firm were going to have to get in a room together and hammer out their differences themselves. But even that was still unresolved as neither one of them could schedule a time. Seeing Kari standing there, looking so sexy, he thought, in her form-fitting sky-blue dress and heels, her beautiful, healthy hair blowing in the wind around her pretty brown face, was like seeing a breath of fresh air.

  He didn’t ask her what was she doing there because he didn’t care: she was there. That was all he cared about. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on her.

  “Hey, babe,” he said with a big smile as he made his way up to her.

  Kari couldn’t help but smile too. Despite her misgivings. Despite seeing that woman walk off of his plane. Despite Maggio and all that bullshit he bought to the table, she was thrilled to see Alex. “Hey,” she responded to him as he wrapped her into his arms.

  Alex was moaning as he held her, and as he smelled her sweet fragrance. He was pushing her up closer against him. He was already getting hard.

  And even though they were in a public space, he couldn’t help himself: he moved his hand downward from her waist, and gave her butt cheek one hard squeeze. He wanted to rub it, too, but refrained because of the location. He moved his hand back up to her waist, and rested it there instead.

  Kari could tell he wanted her, if his ever-expanding erection was any indication. And when they stopped embracing and she glanced down, she could see that he had tented his pants.

  “Thanks so much for coming,” he said to her, his smile contagious.

  “Welcome back,” she said to him. She placed one hand on the side of his handsome face. “You look so tired.”

  “I am,” he said.

  “Got it all worked out?”

  “More like I got nothing worked out.”

  “Ah, Al,” she said. “Sorry to hear that.” Then she opened the passenger side door. “Get in,” she said, “I’ll drive.”

  “No, you won’t either,” he said, placing his hand on the door handle. “You managed to get away from what I know is your super-busy workload to come and meet my plane. The least I’m going to do is drive you back.”

  Kari smiled, and got in.

  When Alex got behind the wheel, he didn’t hesitate. He drove away.

  But the mood in the car changed. Silence took over. Alex glanced at Kari a couple of times through the silence as he drove, but no words were exchanged. He could sense something needed to be spoken, and he had a good idea what, but he wanted her to tell him. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “I’m fine,” she said.

  “That’s not what I asked you.”

  But Kari didn’t say anything. She didn’t know where to start. And more silence ensued.

  Then Kari exhaled. And looked at him. �
��Who is she?” she asked him.

  Alex suspected that was the reason for her mood shift in the first place. But he appreciated that she finally spoke up. “Her name is Shannon Wyatt,” he said. “She’s the lead attorney at Drakos Capital.”

  Kari felt some relief, although it still made no sense that that gossip columnist would proclaim her to be one of Alex’s babes. “Why is she here?” she asked him.

  “One of my contacts at Justice informed me that the Feds might start snooping around at the hotel and casino, and they could potentially do so as early as today. I wanted her in place should that happen.”

  “But why would they want to snoop around here? We have nothing to hide.” Or do we, Kari wanted to add, but didn’t go there.

  “I know,” was all Alex would say about it, and then his cell phone rang. “But that’s the intel I’m getting.”

  As he pulled out his phone and spoke with Priska Rahm, his longtime executive assistant, Kari did feel better. Alex was no liar; she knew that much. She believed him.

  But as soon as she thought about Maggio, and why in the world was he suddenly in town, that dread returned. He could just be a big-time gambler looking for the hottest hot spot, which The Drakos was at the moment. But snakes were snakes and she was willing to bet that Maggio was still one too. She had to keep her guard up when it came to that man.

  “When?” Alex asked Priska over the phone.

  “He’s flying into New York this weekend,” Priska responded. It was Friday afternoon.

  “I’m not meeting anybody this weekend,” Alex said. “I’m home for the weekend. I’ll meet him on Monday.”

  “He may not like it,” said Priska.

  “And that’s fine. He came to me. He needs my help, not the other way around. If he has a problem with my schedule, tell him to have a nice life and that’s that. He and his people have already ruined my week. I’m not going another round with them this weekend no matter what offer is on the table. Set up the meeting for Monday.”

  “Yes, sir, I’ll handle it,” Priska said, and Alex ended the call.

  Kari exhaled. “Playing hardball I see,” she said.

  “After playing along too long,” he said.

  “How’s your schedule for the rest of the day? Let me guess: hectic?”

  Alex smiled. “Not funny,” he said. “And very hectic. I’ve got a meeting at two, another one at two thirty, and three more meetings after that. And even after all of those meetings, the Governor of Florida is coming to town today, too, and he wants a meeting with me.”

  “The governor?” Kari asked. “What about?”

  “How Tallahassee plans to promote tourism in Florida by highlighting The Drakos.”

  “Oh, Alex! We don’t need more business! We’re turning people away by the droves as it is.”

  “I know that. I told him he should consider other businesses to highlight. But he still wants to meet. Since he can pass any kind of bullshit legislation that could restrict my license to run businesses here in Florida, I’m not turning down any meeting with him.”

  Kari smiled. At the end of the day, Alex was always all about the business. And the stress lines all over his face was beginning to prove that very point.

  “Pull up the tint,” she said to him.

  He looked at her, and then pressed a button on the steering wheel that did just that: it darkened all of the windows in the Rolls, not just those in the back.

  And then Kari, to Alex’s great delight, got out of her seat belt, unzipped his pants, pulled out his penis, and got on her knees.

  As soon as her sweet tongue touched him, he felt the electricity. “Oh, baby,” he said as she licked him. He was rubbing her hair and loving her bold move. “Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah baby, oh, yeah. Baby, yes!”

  Despite the massive sensations he was feeling in every fiber of his body, he continued to drive and to keep his eyes (barely) on the road. And Kari’s sweet tongue, as if it was just the medicine he’d been waiting for, did the rest.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Late that evening, Alex was in his office at The Drakos talking with Toker de Bergeron, his hotel’s General Manager, and Shannon Wyatt, the head of his legal team and the woman who had arrived in Apple Valley with Alex that afternoon. Toker was telling Alex how one of their acts, an A-list rap star slated to perform at The Drakos tomorrow night, wanted clearance to bring his pet lion and five of his marmoset monkeys with him.

  Shannon, not surprisingly to Toker, harped on the monkey part. “Monkeys?” she asked. “How fitting. The nerve of those people. I can’t stand rappers!”

  “They’re good guys by and large,” Alex said. “And I have no problem with the monkeys. It’s that pet lion I’ll have to take issue with.”

  Toker laughed. “And she didn’t even mention the lion!” Then his smile left. “Which isn’t surprising.”

  “I hope you told him no way,” Shannon said to Alex. “And if you didn’t, I’m sure I can come up with some archaic law you can use to put some weight behind your word.”

  “Alex is the weight behind his word,” said Toker. Although he understood why Alex hired her, he and Shannon did not get along. She had a brilliant legal mind, but she was so damn arrogant! “He doesn’t need any archaic law to give heft to anything he says,” he added.

  “That’s not what I meant,” said Shannon.

  “That’s what you said,” said Toker.

  “What you ought to do,” Shannon said to Alex, ignoring Toker, “is replace him with a country music star. That’ll pack’em in more than some rapper ever could. Country music is good, wholesome American music. Not that rap trash.”

  “Actually,” Toker said, “country music is the trash. Americans invented rap music. Which makes it authentic American music. Country music borrows too heavily for my taste, especially from the blues, which is, also, authentic American music. Country music is anything but.”

  Alex smiled. He knew Toker was going on about it to get on Shannon’s nerve, although he agreed with him. But Toke knew how to push Shannon’s buttons.

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Shannon said, taking the bait. “Country music is American music period. All that other stuff, that rap and the blues, are just genre music. Black music, if you will.”

  “Watch yourself, Shannon,” Alex said to his employee. He liked her legal abilities, that was why he hired her. But like Toker, he didn’t much care for her personality either.

  And Shannon, understanding who buttered her bread better than most, quickly corrected herself. “Oh, no, sir! I wasn’t being racist or anything like that. There isn’t a racist bone in my body. I was just telling it like it is.”

  “Or like you want it to be,” Toker said just as there was a quick knock on Alex’s door. “Which has no basis in reality,” Toker added.

  But Alex had already looked away from his bickering executives as Bob Michaels, the head of his Talent department and another one of his executives, walked in. By the rushed nature of his strides, Alex knew something was up.

  “All okay?” Alex asked him.

  “No, sir,” Bob responded, sounding breathless, as if he had just run up flights of stairs to get to Alex. “The FBI is here.”

  Toker and Shannon jumped to their feet. “Already?” Shannon asked.

  “Where?” asked Alex. “The casino? Is my brother back in town?”

  “No, sir,” said Bob. “But it’s not the casino. That’s the crazy part. They’re raiding the Housekeeping department.”

  Alex was stunned. “Housekeeping?” He jumped up then.

  Toker was shocked too. “Why in the world would they be raiding Housekeeping?”

  “I don’t know,” Bob said. Toker, as GM, was his direct supervisor. “But they are.”

  Alex grabbed the suitcoat off of the back of his chair and began heading for the exit. “Where’s my wife?” Alex asked Bob as he was heading out.

  “In her office,” Bob said. “That’s where they’re starting thei
r raid.”

  Alex could hardly believe it. He had a casino for crying out loud. A casino! But they were raiding Kari’s Housekeeping department? It made no sense!

  He, Toker, and Shannon, with Bob right behind them, hurried to the elevators.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Kari stood near the door of her office watching agents in blue raid jackets, with FBI written on the back of them, trash her office. They were going through every draw. Every file cabinet. Every stacks of files she had in that office. And because she was still settling in, she had plenty of stacks in that office.

  She and Bob Michaels had been discussing a complaint he received from a disgruntled starlet. One of the maids, according to the girl, had not cleaned her room adequately. It was clean. Kari inspected it herself. But it wasn’t clean to the little girl’s OCD standards. He wanted Kari to send the maid in to clean again, but Kari refused.

  And then the Feds showed up.

  Although Bob, as director of the Talent department, held seniority over Kari, who was head of housekeeping, Kari held another title: wife of the owner. Which gave her liberties nobody else on staff held. She therefore took advantage of that liberty and whispered in Bob’s ear, as soon as the Feds arrived, to go get Alex.

  Bob went and got Alex.

  And Alex, along with Shannon and Toker, arrived with Bob.

  “Alex,” Kari said with relief in her voice.

  “Are you alright?” Alex asked her as he placed his hand on the small of her back.

  “I’m okay,” Kari said. “But they’re raiding the place and they won’t tell me anything.”

  “Who’s in charge?” Shannon, pushing past Kari, said out loud to the busy agents. Although they looked at her, they ignored her.

  But when one of the agents looked past her, and saw that Alex had arrived, he left what he was doing and walked over to him.

  He removed the plastic glove he had on his hand and extended it. “Good evening, Mr. Drakos.”