Proof

Jared took her hand away, keeping hold of it as he pushed deeper into her with short, slow thrusts. Her sweet little cunt wrapped around his cock, warm and wet. Holding onto him as he buried to the hilt. His fingers wound through hers. They had been built to fit so well. He pulled back, withdrawing to the tip to slide all the way back in again.

"Mmm." The sound was as soft as ever, but lower pitched. Raquel ran her hand over his back. Her leg twisted tighter around his. He withdrew again, and with just a little more force, pushed inside her again. She raised her hips to take him deeper, moving with him as he began to thrust in earnest.

They found a pace together, her meeting his fluid strokes. Their bodies were pressed together as his hips fused with hers. Half his attention was on her face; she was looking at him with those innocent big dark eyes. The other half was on the build of enjoyable pressure in his cock as he drove in and out of her wet, narrow snatch.

Jared pressed his face into her black hair, thrusting deep. "You're mine," he said. "Mine."

"Yes." Raquel took his other hand, both sets of fingers grasping his. "Yes. Yes. I'm yours. Yes."

They quickened the pace together, the slap of their bodies more frequent. A low moan slipped past his lips as pressure rose. He throbbed in her. Swelled in her as her walls contracted around him. That little extra stimulation got him there faster.

"I'm coming." With another moan, Jared shoved himself deep into her one last time and gave himself over to intense pleasure. His face was still pressed into her hair, muffling his coarse grunts as he unloaded, his balls releasing their contents into her womb in fast pulses.

He stayed inside her while he caught his breath, a few aftershocks making him throb in her.

She released his hands to run hers over his body, turning her head towards his. With a breathless little laugh, she said, "We only skipped a night last night but you've filled me up. I feel like it's more than usual."

"The more the better," he replied without really thinking about it.

She smiled at the comment, but Jared found his own humor suddenly fading—somehow, it was a reminder of Jonathan and their recent conversation. More wasn't better. Two was a marriage but three was an offense.

A little of the tension returned, but he shook it off. He would question her after they got back from the concert. Now was the wrong time. There was a solid chance that she'd be upset at the insinuation. If he was going to upset her, he wanted to wait until she'd had the chance to enjoy the evening she had been looking forward to so long.

Jared withdrew from her, a string of their combined fluids followed the head of his cock as it left her well-fucked, cum-filled pussy.

Still lying on her back, Raquel reached for a pillow and put it under her arched hips, raising her legs to keep his cum inside her. "We only have 45 minutes before we need to be in the car. I'll lie here for 10 minutes, then we need to be very quick."

*****

They were the last of their group to arrive at the Octagon Room. The other twelve were already at the far end of the room. They looked lively, talking and laughing as they stood together in a loose circle. It was Harper who spotted them first. She broke off from the conversation to wave at them from across the sea of people, beckoning them over.

The Octagon Room was large, but it was already closely packed and yet more people were filing in from the night. The room was overly bright to Jared. As if the giant chandelier wasn't enough, there was light from the lamps at every corner of the octagon, bouncing off walls covered in frescoes.

Raquel held onto him arm as they went in, swept along through the glass doors with the surge of people who'd arrived at the same time. She looked around, her eyes widening with apprehensive pleasure. "So many people. I didn't expect this many. It looks like it'll be a full house. I know the music will be good, but as for my wine..." She squeezed his arm. "What if everyone hates it?"

"They won't."

"You don't know that."

"I do. You couldn't make a bad wine if you tried."

Raquel stopped to smile at him.

Jared looked her over. She'd chosen the blue dress in the end, but he wasn't complaining. Her juicy little body looked like it had been poured into it. One long slit showed thigh. She was displaying just enough of her body for him to enjoy looking at her but not enough for him to disapprove on account of other men seeing too much of her. Diamonds were at her ears, throat and fingers. His gifts.

She was the perfect image of a Kendrick wife.

"You've accomplished something tonight, for the sake of your musician friends," he said. "The turnout for the concert is good. I'm proud of you, Raquel. And I'll be even prouder when everybody compliments your batshit insane concoction."

She laughed, stroking his arm. "Thank you, Jared." In her heels, she only had to reach up a little more to give him a quick kiss. Then she looked across the room. "Harper's been waving to us since we came in. Let's hurry up and join them before her hand falls off."

With her arm in his, they wove through the human obstacles separating them from their group at the other side of the room. It took longer than it ordinarily would, because they stopped for brief greetings when they encountered people they knew. At a place like this, it was natural that there'd be several acquaintances to greet.

At last, they reached their group. A quick succession of kisses, handshakes and greetings followed.

Jared had a return of tension as his eyes met Jonathan's. There was the same tension in Jonathan, because his mouth tightened. In a split second, silent communication passed between them.

Don't let anything on, Jared warned wordlessly.

I already gave you my word on that, was Jonathan's curt response, equally silent, but marked by the further tightening of his mouth and the annoyed flash in his eyes.

Their locked gazes broke when Jonathan turned to greet Raquel. As he did, it was as though the tension and annoyance had never existed. Jonathan greeted Raquel in the same half-flirtatious, half-brotherly manner he had always reserved for her. He was smiling as he leaned down to kiss her cheek.

"You look beautiful," he told her. "As always." Then he glanced at Jared to include the both of them in his next comment. "I'd have thought you two would be the first to arrive, seeing how Raquel is the fairy godmother of tonight's performers."

Raquel laughed. "I prefer to think of myself as a saint and not a godmother, thank you very much. I'm too young to be a godmother. Maybe when I'm 70, I'll be more open to being called a fairy godmother. But not a day before then."

Jonathan grinned back at her. "Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry, ma'am."

"What kept you two, though?" Craig prompted, his already wrinkled brow furrowing further. "We were just starting to wonder if we'd have to enter the hall without you. Or if we'd have to go outside to call you."

"It was my fault," Raquel replied smoothly. "We'd have been here a lot sooner but I forgot something and we had to turn the car back around after we'd already left the avenue."

If it hadn't been for the earlier conversation with Jonathan, Jared would have been amused at the way Raquel had just lied with complete believability. But now, instead of being amused at it, it needled him. Annoyance bit at him again, and it was still directed solely at Jonathan.

The annoyance continued to simmer in Jared, but he concealed it as best he could, and the general conversation passed with external smoothness.

Raquel left them after a few minutes, excusing herself to go backstage and wish her friends a final good luck.

Jared watched her slip away, weaving through the crowd without a backward look. He turned back to the rest. They stood talking and drinking for 15 minutes, until the crowd began to enter the concert hall. They went in as well.

Raquel didn't return for another 10 minutes, long after they had all taken their seats in the box. She returned just as the lights were about to go down, shifting past Maya, Tobias, Emily, and Joshua at the staircase end of the box. She took her seat in between Jared and Caroline at the middle of the row.

"You were gone almost a half hour," Jared whispered in her ear once she was seated. "How long does it take to say good luck?"

"I got fascinated with watching the last-minute arrangements so I decided to stay. It's crazy. I don't understand how productions have months to stage a show but it's always a madhouse in the final hour before the curtain lifts. I also went and talked to the head caterer to be sure they're ready to serve the wine at intermission."

The lights went down, the conductor stepped up to the pit, the audience broke into the introductory applause and the first number began.

Raquel put her hand on his thigh. Jared's head turned to hers. In the dark, they shared a look. She smiled. He smiled back. Even if they were tired enough that they went straight to sleep after they got home, they'd go another round tomorrow morning. It was a Saturday, so he could afford to spend an hour in bed with her before starting on the work he'd brought home with him.

She left her hand on his thigh throughout the first half of the evening. The concert was good, but his mind wasn't always on the music. More times than he would have liked, his was thinking about the conversation they would have once they got home. What, exactly, would her reasonable explanation be?

The intermission was an hour long. Jared preferred it to the concert, because the conversation could keep his mind on the present in a way that music couldn't. The refreshment was a finger food buffet rather than a sit-down meal, and the servers circulated with the trays of wine. Both he and Raquel were scanning the room as people took glasses and drank.

Jonathan, Caroline, Harper, Joshua, Whitney, Craig, Emily, Tobias, Everett, Dylan and Maya all sipped from their glasses without comment or change of expression. Jared then looked further afield, beyond their group. The servers had finished circulating. Everyone in the room had a glass of Raquel's concoction in their hands.

Everyone drank it. Nobody wrinkled their noises and looked twice at their glass. Nobody spat the wine out. Nobody shouted at the servers that the wine was terrible. Nobody keeled over and died. Nothing seemed at all amiss. People simply continued to drink and chat and eat.

Surreptitiously, Raquel slipped her hand into Jared's. Her nervous expression was turning to a smile. He returned the smile, and she squeezed his hand excitedly. A glass was in her other hand.

With a sneakiness in her smile that only Jared could detect, Raquel swirled the wine in her glass and made a general comment to their group: "I'm not sure about this wine."

Caroline took an experimental sip of hers. "It tastes fine to me."

Raquel darted a look at Jared. They shared a secret smile. He saw both pleasure and pride in her eyes. Once this private look had passed between them, Raquel turned her eyes to the rest. "I don't know," she said again. Throwing out more bait. "I'm just not sure I like it."

Joshua took a sip from his glass, holding it on his tongue before swallowing. "I agree with Caroline. It's fine to me too. I don't know too much about wine, yeah, but I don't think there's anything wrong with it." He turned to Maya. "What do you think?"

"I like it too," she replied, nodding.

"So do I," Dylan added.

"I think it's good myself," Whitney put in. "Jonathan?"

Jonathan, who was then in the middle of swallowing, merely nodded approvingly. The others made sounds of agreement.

Craig also held the wine on his tongue before swishing it around, then swallowing. "It's a little young," said the brutally frank elderly man. Craig Kendrick was often frank to the point of rudeness. "But it's good." He sipped again, tipping his head to the side. "Earthy. Smoky. A little fruity, too. Blackberry? Plum, maybe? A nice flavor. I really don't know what you're complaining about, Raquel. The rest of us all think it's fine. It seems to me that you're only being overcritical of any wine that doesn't have your family's label on it."

At this, Jared almost laughed aloud. He caught himself just in time. "Let her be," he said to Craig. "Being a wine snob is her birthright. Her family makes the best amontillado." He sipped from his own glass of mad-scientist wine. She'd made him taste it in the earlier stages of its production. He'd been her first guinea pig. The taste hadn't been pleasant back then. Now, it was.

"True enough," Craig replied. "Casa Torrejón makes the finest amontillado and nobody can deny that. But this isn't amontillado. It's a medium-bodied red. A completely different beast from sherry. Casa Torrejón can't hold a monopoly on every kind of wine."

Raquel gave a sly smile, looking like the cat with the cream. "Maybe the day will come that we just might."

Aside from the private smiles she kept giving him, there was no more mention of the wine. Jared knew she'd be bursting with glee the instant they were alone. And tomorrow morning, she'd be on the phone to Spain to report on the experiment's success.

They returned to the hall once intermission was over. Another hour saw the closing of the concert. The final notes faded and the audience applauded as the performers took their bows.

Jared and Raquel were the last of their group to leave the Arts Center. While the others left and the rest of the crowd quickly thinned, Raquel took Jared with her as she went to chat with the conductor. After that, he waited in the Octagon Room while she returned backstage to congratulate and say goodbye to the performers. Her bohemian friends.

Jared was the very last person in the Octagon Room when Raquel finally emerged from backstage. She was smiling apologetically as she came to his side and took his arm. "Sorry I kept you waiting again. I tried not to stay too long backstage but I didn't want to be rude." Before he could respond, she was squeezing both his hands as excitement shone from her eyes. "The wine, Jared. The wine." She laughed. "Everyone liked it. If they liked my crude and barely-aged baco noir, just think of how the real thing will go down!"

Her obvious happiness lessened his impatience at how long she'd kept him waiting. "I told you they would."

"So you did. I can't wait to call Mama tomorrow and tell her. She told me she wanted proof that a New York baco noir could be worthy of having our label on it. I have that damn proof now. Oh, I can't wait to call her tomorrow!" Raquel squeezed his hands again, still beaming. "Let's go home."

It was also one a.m. in the morning as they left the Octagon Room. She remained cheerful throughout the drive home, alternately talking about the wine and the music. She took off her shoes, stretching her legs out to his side. By the time the Bentley was passing through the gates of home, conversation had been exhausted and they were sitting quietly. She had moved across to his side, resting her head on his shoulder. His arm was around her. She yawned more than once.

They both looked up through the backseat window as the driver went past the house. The light in Travis's bedroom was on. Jared looked at Raquel, and they smiled at the same time. "I told you that boy would still be awake," she said.

They went into the house from the east door, Raquel barefoot with her shoes in her hand. Smothering yet another yawn, she went straight for their bedroom. Jared stopped at Travis's door. He opened it, standing in the doorway to look in.

Travis Kendrick, a blue-eyed child of 12, sat lounging on the floor beside his bed. He'd left the childhood plumpness stage behind and was now in the preteen beanpole stage. He was all limbs, with a curly mop of dark hair that framed his face and fell over his eyes. Eyes that were currently fixed on the flatscreen TV. The remote was in his hand.

Travis hardly looked away from the screen when Jared opened the door. He just said in a distracted tone, "Hi, Dad."

Automatically, Jared looked at the screen to check on what his son was watching. Spider-Man was rappelling down a skyscraper. "Hi. Go to bed."

"In a minute," Travis replied, his eyes on the screen.

"Now."

"But the movie isn't over yet."

"Now. It's almost 2 a.m."

"But it's not a school night. Tomorrow's Saturday."

"Travis. You either go to bed now or that TV comes off the wall first thing tomorrow morning. Choose."

That was what got his attention. Travis looked up, heaved a melodramatic sigh to show just how difficult and unfair his life was, and switched off the TV. "There," he said with only a hint of sulkiness in his tone. "It's off and now I won't get to see how it ends. Happy?"

"Be asleep in five minutes and I will be." Jared went farther into the room. Just to touch his son's shoulder and to ruffle the already unruly hair. When he'd done that, he made for the door again. "Make damn sure you're snoring by the time I come back to check on you. Or else."

"You do realize I could just fake-snore, right?" Travis called after him, the trace of sulkiness replaced by a trace of humor.

"There's an easy way to tell if you're asleep or not. If you jump up like an acrobat the instant I creep in here with a crowbar to unmount the TV, it'll be a dead giveaway."

Travis grinned. "Yeah, I'd jump you. I'd tackle you and grab the crowbar."

"Tackle me? When you're 70 pounds soaking wet?"

Travis raised his chin proudly. "I've gained 4 pounds."

Jared fought back a smile. "4 pounds, huh? Gain 40 more and maybe you'll have a hope in hell of tackling anybody above the age of six. I'd go to bed if I were as skinny as you. The way you are now, that TV would come off the wall if I decided to come in here with that crowbar. Sleep, scrawny boy, sleep."

Jared was about to shut the door when something occurred to him. "Raquel let you go out this evening."

"Yeah."

"She didn't ask too many questions before she just agreed to what you wanted."

A sneaky grin spread over Travis's face. "Yup."

"It's only because she loves you. Don't take advantage of that."

Travis gave him a look of pure innocence. "Take advantage of it? I'll have you know that I am insulted you could even suggest such a thing. Deeply hurt and insulted. Me, take advantage? I would never even dream of doing that."

Jared opened his mouth to scold, but ended up just laughing. He'd have a serious talk about it to Travis later, when they could both keep straight faces. As it was, they were both laughing as Jared shut the door behind him. He turned off the hall light on his way to the master bedroom.

Raquel was at her dresser. Her dress was partially unzipped and she was taking off her jewelry. "Is he in bed now?" she asked.

"Yes." Jared observed his wife's profile as she dropped her earrings into the box she stored in their bedroom safe. It was time to begin. There was silence awhile, then he said in a casual tone, "I hear there are plans to open a Dragonfly Hotel in Long Beach similar to the one here."

Raquel seemed not to find anything particular about the mention of that hotel. "Oh, really?" she replied conversationally, opening the safe to store the jewelry box. "Well, the location they're choosing sounds to me like it's a sensible business decision. Long Beach is a good place for a new hotel."

She said this easily. Nonchalantly. With no mention of her having been to the Dragonfly Hotel as recently as 10 days ago. Ordinarily, his having mentioned it should jog her memory. If she had innocently forgotten to mention it before, she should mention it now. If she had innocently forgotten.

Jared looked at her profile a few seconds more. Pushing away the first surge of genuine uneasiness, he took off his suit jacket. "It might well be a sound business decision but we'll have to wait and see. We both know that hospitality businesses have the tendency to fail more often than they succeed."