The Power Trip

‘I understand,’ Flynn said, realizing that pushing her was not a good idea. ‘It’s a lot to take in. For both of us.’

‘Yes, it is,’ she answered quietly.

And where do we go from here? he felt like asking. Just friends, lovers no more? What’s the deal, Sierra? Is there a future for us?

Was he experiencing an urge to go back in time, rekindle the feelings they’d once had for each other?

Did he still want her?

His heart said yes.

His head said no.

Whether the photos were fake or not, still didn’t explain the fact that she’d been pregnant with Ham’s baby when she and Ham were involved in a car accident. She’d told him that they were merely platonic friends, so how come the pregnancy? Obviously she had no idea he knew.

Jesus Christ! Why was this happening? Why was Sierra back in his life? Just when he’d gotten together with Mai in Paris and thought that maybe he was finally over Sierra, this had to happen.

Too fucking bad. He could deal with it.

He had no choice.

Chapter Fifty-Six

Muttering under his breath, Manuel led the rich ones back to the beach and the tenders that awaited them. He considered his current group of affluent tourists a bunch of lowlife animals, although animals would never behave in such a disrespectful and lustful way.

Did the tall black man think that nobody noticed when he pulled the large-breasted blonde behind the palm trees and made her do something to him that only putas indulged in?

And the big Russian man having sex with the dark girl under the waterfall. Disgraceful. Couldn’t they wait until they were home and it was nighttime, like normal people?

Manuel was thankful for his wife and daughters. They were fine upstanding women who would never behave in such a lewd and filthy fashion.

As the tourists got into the boats, Guy handed Manuel a healthy tip.

He took it, vowing to himself that he would go back to fishing for a living rather than continuing to deal with people like this. They contaminated him with their unbridled libidos and sexual perversions. He was a simple man, he preferred a simple life.

* * *

Hammond jumped into the boat right behind Lori, sitting himself down beside her.

‘I bet you’re ready for a nice warm shower,’ he said, edging close. ‘Get all that sand out of your pretty little cooch.’

‘Excuse me?’ Lori said, not sure she’d heard him correctly.

Hammond gave an easy chuckle. ‘No offence,’ he said smoothly. ‘That’s what my mother used to say after a day trip to the beach. Of course, our beach was in the Hamptons, but that’s another story.’

Lori stared at him — she wasn’t sure how to respond.

‘You are a very pretty girl,’ Hammond continued, his eyes undressing her. ‘Quite the temptress.’

Cliff had warned her that politicians were horny bastards, and apparently he was right. At first she’d been flattered by Hammond’s attention, but not any more. There was something off-putting about this one.

‘Why didn’t your wife come today?’ she asked, putting the emphasis on the word wife.

‘All this is too energetic for Sierra,’ Hammond replied. ‘She’s quite… delicate.’

‘Really?’ Lori said sharply. ‘She doesn’t look delicate.’

‘I know,’ Hammond said with a put-upon sigh. ‘It’s a personal burden I carry.’ A meaningful pause, then a lowering of his voice. ‘Between us, Lori, Sierra has uh… emotional issues. It’s the sad truth I live with.’

What was this? Confide in Lori Day? ‘Sorry to hear that,’ she said, brushing sand off her bare leg while not believing him at all.

Hammond leaned over, his fingers lightly touching her upper thigh.

She quickly jerked back.

‘You missed a bit,’ he explained.

‘No, I didn’t,’ she snapped.

‘I apologize,’ he said. ‘Merely being helpful.’

Saved by Taye and Ashley who piled into the tender. Taye was grinning as if he was eight years old and had just gotten a new bike for Christmas. Ashley seemed a bit flustered.

‘Wish I’d brought a camera,’ Lori mused, edging away from the Senator.

‘Me too,’ Ashley said, not quite as aloof as usual.

‘We could probably sell our pix to the tabloids for a fortune,’ Lori joked, immediately realizing it was a dumb thing to come out with.

‘I don’t think so,’ Ashley said tartly, exchanging a look with Taye as much as to say — I told you she was a bit rough.

‘I was joking, of course,’ Lori muttered, totally embarrassed.

‘I have a hunch that our host wouldn’t find it particularly funny,’ Ashley said as the tender took off, bouncing over the waves at a brisk pace.

‘Lay off, toots,’ Taye whispered in Ashley’s ear. ‘Give her a break.’

Ashley ignored him; she was too busy thinking about what dress she would wear to dinner. Something dazzling. Something to catch Cliff Baxter’s eye, for she was quite sure that he fancied her. And why not? She was much sexier than his girlfriend.

* * *

Sierra was tempted to reach for the Xanax as she awaited her husband’s return. She also stared longingly at the bottle of vodka Hammond had so thoughtfully ordered to be brought to their room. She knew he preferred to see her medicated, whether it be from pills or booze. That way he felt he was in complete control.

She managed to resist both temptations. Instead she sat by herself in their stateroom, dredging up every past memory she could about the photos, and the way Hammond had attached himself to her after Flynn had left for London, claiming that Flynn had asked him to look out for her. What a lie that had turned out to be. According to Flynn, he had asked no such thing.

So… if Hammond had lied about that, what else?

The photos, of course. She’d shown them to him and he’d carried on about how he’d always known Flynn was a cheater, and that he hadn’t wanted to upset her, but now that she’d seen the proof with her own eyes…

Next he’d insisted on destroying the photos, had taken them from her along with the typewritten note. Then he’d tried to talk her into getting an abortion.

Oh God! Of course. If the photos were fakes naturally he hadn’t wanted her studying them. And if he envisioned her as his future political asset, then Flynn’s baby would certainly not factor into his plans.

Had he crashed his car on purpose? Had he wanted her to lose Flynn’s baby? She shuddered at the thought.

Now that she knew what kind of man Hammond really was, she wouldn’t put anything past him. He was an evil man, hiding beneath the cloak of a political do-gooder.

When Hammond returned from the island trip she was ready to face him. He barged into their stateroom spewing complaints about the heat and the bugs and how he’d had no chance to speak privately to Aleksandr. ‘I deserve more respect from these people,’ he complained. ‘I am a United States Senator, for crissakes. I am