Her smile fell. “Yes, we did. What a mess.”
“What will happen to Ryan?” he asked.
“I’m not sure, but she’ll spend some time in jail. At least until her bail is set. After that . . .” She shrugged. “Your brother and Zoey will press charges. Besides whatever else the police throw at her.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “Zoey told us that she was trying to blackmail you three.”
He stopped rubbing her feet and reached to grab his beer. “I thought she was off, but not the ‘whip a gun out’ kind of off.”
Her phone chimed, and she glanced down at it. “Well, that’s my break.” She started to get up, but he held on to her ankles.
“Are we meeting later?” he asked her softly.
Her eyes almost shined as she looked down at him. “I was hoping to, yes.”
“I’ll see you then.” He let her go and watched her slip her shoes back on and walk away.
“Lucky lady.” The woman was back, but this time she kept her distance.
“I’m the lucky one.” He hoisted himself up out of the water.
“If you two ever decide you want to play . . .” the woman called after him, and he chuckled.
“We have each other,” he said. He tossed his empty beer into the trash and strolled toward the kitchen to grab some dinner.
He figured while he was there, he could stock up the little tree house with some supplies. There was no use starving in the place while he and Elle stayed there.
After stashing the supplies, he took his time hanging the new sign outside the front door and then climbed down the steps to make his rounds.
Even though the parties had completely gone away since that first night, the brothers had agreed to continue making their presence known. Besides, he enjoyed his evening strolls. Even if halfway through this one, a light rain started to fall.
By the time he’d made it back to the tree house, Elle was there. She had set up candles around the room. He instantly wished he’d thought of the idea himself.
“What’s all this?” he asked, pulling off his muddy shoes before stepping into the small place. She walked over and greeted him with a kiss.
“I wanted to do that earlier.” She glanced up at him as his hands ran over her hips. “Thanks for the sign.” She motioned to the front door. “I love it.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I’ll be honest: I would have hated to gouge out Donni’s eyes, but I totally would have.” She chuckled.
“Who’s Donni?” he asked, enjoying the feeling of her in his arms.
“The lady at the pool.” She sighed and relaxed into his embrace.
“Oh, that’s right. I thought she was here with her partner?”
“Trilla,” she said and nodded. “She is, but apparently, Donni swings both ways, and Trilla knows about it.” She pulled back. “Don’t ask me how I found out about that.”
He rubbed his hands up and down her arms. “Have you been here long?”
“Long enough to see the massive stash of your food.” She walked over and pulled out two beers. “We’ll need a bigger fridge if you plan on keeping anything more here.”
“This one will do for now.” He took a sip. “Owen’s probably leaving soon.”
She stilled, the beer halfway to her lips, then sighed. “I suppose I knew this would happen soon. Especially after things seemed to be resolving.”
“Dylan’s staying,” he added.
“Yeah, Zoey told us that they’re going to build a place together.”
“Is that something you okayed? I mean, building a home on the campgrounds?”
“It’s not up to me. We all own this land and place together,” she answered.
“All?” he asked.
“Joe left it to us that way. Split in fifths,” she said. “In his way, he knew I’d need them to make a run of it.”
“I told my brothers I’m staying,” he blurted out.
She was silent for a moment. “What did they say?”
He shrugged, not wanting to go into what his brothers had said; besides, he didn’t want her to worry. “Not much.” He moved over and, taking her beer, set it aside. “If we could, I’d like to spend as much time as possible up here, in the trees, making love to you.”
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “I’d like that.”
When he kissed her, he poured everything he’d been feeling since he’d held her last into it.
“Does this mean you’ll go away with me this week on our days off?” he asked.
She tilted her head. “I suppose I could arrange it. Just two nights.”
“That’s all we need,” he agreed with a grin.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Elle stood at the water’s edge a few days later looking at the colossal yacht sitting at the end of the dock.
“When you said going away, I thought”—she arched her brow—“something else.”
Liam nudged her shoulder. “If you have to go, go in style.” He swung her bag over his shoulder and held out a hand to help her board the boat.
“Welcome aboard.” A crew member took the bags from Liam.
“How are we ever going to maneuver this thing out of the shallow river?” she asked, stepping onto the yacht.
“We”—his eyebrows shot up—“won’t. Captain Eddie will.” He nodded to the blond man standing in front of them. “With a small crew, we should be comfortable on our trip to the Keys.”
“Welcome, miss,” the captain said and nodded to her.
“We’re all set,” Liam told the man.
“Very well.” He turned to go.
“The Keys? There is no way I’m going all the way to the Keys and back in this. It’ll take longer than two nights.”
“Easy.” He pulled her into his arms. “We’re taking a nice slow trip down there. We’ll spend our last night in the Keys, then fly back the next morning. It’s all set.” He kissed her softly.
“What the . . .”
Zoey’s voice caused her to jump and look toward the dock. There she was, standing at the end, dressed for a morning horseback ride. “Whose boat is this?”
“Relax.” Liam chuckled. “It’s not mine.” He dropped his hands from Elle.
“He kissed you.” Zoey’s eyes narrowed as she moved to step aboard.
“And, you’re not invited to join in,” Liam joked, blocking her from getting into the boat. “We’re under a time constraint here, and as you can see, we’re almost ready to depart.”
“You must have time for me to look around . . .” Zoey started, then sighed as the crew members unhooked the last line. “Go have fun.” Her shoulders sagged slightly. “When you get back, I want all the details. All of them.”
“I promise nothing.” Elle laughed at the gesture Zoey made back to her. “She loves boats.” Elle sighed, then turned to him. “What if I was the kind of girl who got seasick?”
The dock grew smaller behind them as they made their way out to the bay, then the gulf.
“Then, I guess this wouldn’t be such a fun trip for you.” He leaned on the railing and watched her instead of the shrinking horizon.
“Okay.” She turned to him; they had been standing on the back deck watching the camp disappear. “Whose boat is this? Is it your father’s?” She knew that they could afford something this amazing but hadn’t heard Leo ever mention a boat.
“It’s a friend’s.” He shrugged. “I know a guy who . . . well, I know a guy. We’ve got it for the trip to the Keys, where we’ll get off, and he’ll jump on to take it down to Brazil for the next few months.”
“This is all ours for now?” She turned and really looked at the sheer size of the ship.
“All five staterooms, but more importantly, ten crew members, including our own chef, to make sure we’re comfortable on the trip. Come on.” He took her hand and pulled her toward a set of double stairs up to the next deck. The next level held a swimming pool, which they walked around, and then they continued past deck c
hairs to another set of stairs. This level had a deck area with tables, chairs, and sofas. One more set of stairs and they reached the top deck, where a circular hot tub sat toward the front of the boat, with a great vantage point over where they were heading.
“It will take us a little over twenty hours to get to the Keys, so we’ll stop just outside of Saint Pete to refuel tonight, then continue on and make it to the Keys early tomorrow.”
“All of this.” She sighed and rested against the railing. “Your friend must have owed you big time.”
“He did. I introduced him to his wife.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “That’s a story I’d like to hear.”
He motioned to the circular sofa, and she sat; then he walked over to a small black fridge and pulled out a bottle of champagne and poured her a mimosa. “Fruit?”
When she nodded, he brought the bowl with him and set it down.
“Carl is your average nerd.”
“What does Carl do to afford all this?” she asked, motioning with her champagne glass.
“He started a small DNA-testing business.”
“Small?” She glanced around. “Right.”
He chuckled. “He loves what he does.”
“How do you know Carl?”
“School.” He reached for a blueberry. After popping it in his mouth, he continued. “Carl had been on exactly two dates in his life before he met me. Needless to say, by the time he met Candace, he’d racked that number up a little.”
“How did you know Candace?” She pulled off her flip-flops and tucked her legs under her.
“We dated,” he answered, causing her to giggle.
“Of course you did. What happened? She traded you for Carl?”
He laughed. “I caught them together one night. I wasn’t pissed, because I had already decided they had more chemistry, no pun intended, than we did. They were meant to be. You can tell each time you’re around them. You’ll meet them in the Keys.”
“I’m looking forward to it.” She put a raspberry into her mouth and reflected on the trip ahead of them. She could imagine herself letting go, trusting Liam, and that scared her. After all, she’d trusted Jeff. Was this relationship destined to be doomed? She didn’t believe every man was like Jeff or her father, but the amount of secrets Liam and she had was a major roadblock. Would there ever be a time when she could feel completely relaxed and open with him? What would such a relationship look like? Could she trust someone like Liam with her heart?
She gazed out at the water, almost unseeing. “I’ve never been on a boat trip before.”
“Not even a cruise?” he asked.
She glanced at him. “No, we—the Wildflowers—planned to go on one, until Joe got sick.”
“You must miss him a lot,” he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
She relaxed into him and sighed. “He was my everything.”
She talked to Liam about Joe and how her life had changed drastically after her mother’s death.
“I’d gone from head of the class to the girl everyone was whispering about.” She shifted, looking up at him. They had already made it to the gulf and were heading into open waters.
She finished off her drink, and he poured her another one, as she told him about her school days prior to meeting the Wildflowers.
“They changed you,” he murmured against her hair.
“I changed me. But they helped me believe in myself again.” She glanced over as a younger man walked onto the deck.
“I’m Ricky. I’ll be taking care of you during this trip. I wanted you to know that lunch will be served on the main deck in fifteen minutes,” he said, then disappeared.
“Would you like to go see our cabin first?” He stood up and took her hand.
“Show me everything.”
He hadn’t been joking when he said there were five staterooms. Their bags were already sitting in the biggest one, which she deemed the master stateroom. The king-size bed sat facing a wall of windows overlooking the horizon. The shower in the bathroom was bigger than her own in the apartment and in the house in Pelican Point.
He informed her that the crew members were housed in the bottom two decks, while the upper three were reserved for the owner and guests. Seventeen employees were housed in the quarters below, where the kitchens and other facilities were located. The bridge was the only part of the third floor where the crew had to be, and even then, Elle and Liam had a private staircase to get back and forth. Unless they were needed, staff members went unseen.
There was even a theater room of sorts, with a massive television screen and lounge chairs with a sofa. But her favorite spot so far was the pool area. Even though it was a small jet pool, the deck around it and the open sitting area just inside were where she imagined spending most of her time aboard. Just inside glass doors sat a circular dining room. When they walked in, three staff members, including Ricky, jumped into motion.
She’d been wined and dined by Jeff before but nothing to this extent. With Jeff, however, it had all been for show, to win her over. He’d shown his true colors shortly after she’d committed to the relationship.
With Liam, she could tell this trip, this boat, and all its wonders were just a means to enjoy his time with her. He wasn’t trying to impress her, not really, since he’d made it clear that none of it belonged to him. Even though she knew he could probably afford it, he wasn’t trying to impress her or sway her in any way. Instead, he was just trying to relax and have a good time with her.
But still, part of her questioned if, in the end, she could trust him completely.
She had to admit it was an amazing lunch. Almost equal to Isaac’s meals. They had shrimp and scallops, followed by lemon cake.
“How about we lay out by the pool?” he suggested when they were finished and the table had been cleared.
“Sounds perfect. I brought some books.”
He leaned in and kissed her. “What if I promise to keep you too busy for reading?”
She melted against him and wondered how she was going to stay grounded for the next two days.
She used the bathroom to change into her new striped blue swimsuit and pulled her cream wrap around her hips, then braided her hair to the side and tugged on her hat and sunglasses. She picked up her bag with her sunscreen and books in it and met him at the pool. He was already in the water, floating on his back. The fact that he was almost as long as the pool made her chuckle.
“Come on in.”
“I thought you were supposed to wait an hour after eating,” she teased.
“I doubt either of us could drown in this thing,” he said, leaning against the edge of the pool and watching her carefully. “Then again . . . I guess it depends on what we’re doing at the time.”
She felt her knees buckle and slid down to sit on the edge of the chair to remove her sandals. She was thankful she had dark sunglasses on to hide the heat that had flooded her expression.
“Is that a challenge?” she asked, recovering quickly.
She watched him swallow as she stood and pulled her wrap off, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down on his neck.
“Get in here,” he said, his voice making her inner muscles ache for him.
“What about the crew?” she asked, glancing around.
“They’re nowhere near us. This isn’t their first rodeo.” He held out his hand so she could step into the water.
She took his hand and let him help her into the water. He nudged her hat off and set it on the side of the pool, then removed her sunglasses. When his hands moved over her, she could almost forget everything. She tried to keep her eyes from glancing around for fear that they would be interrupted.
“There, now I can watch your eyes change as I touch you.” His hands moved over her shoulders, slowly playing with the thin strap that held her suit over her breasts. With his hot mouth roaming over her skin, she relaxed into his hands as she forgot all about being watched.
She moaned and leaned b
ack against the side of the pool as her nails sank into his shoulders.
“Hold on to me,” he said, running his lips down her neck, causing a trail of bumps to rise on her skin. Her fingers almost dug into his muscles as his hands moved slowly over the material of her suit, causing her nipples to peak. He circled each one with a fingertip before nudging the straps off her shoulders and exposing her to the sun and to him.
When he ducked his head down and lapped at her breasts, she arched toward him and found herself slipping. She must have tensed.
“Easy, I’ve got you.” He shifted his hold and circled her waist with one of his arms, holding her better in place. Then, he moved them both to the corner, where he set her on an underwater bench. “Better?”
She nodded, feeling totally exposed, since her swimsuit was now on the deck by the pool. She wanted to cover her breasts, but she enjoyed the heat from his gaze and the sun. With him touching her, holding her, talking softly to her, she would have allowed him to do anything to her. She no longer cared that he’d lied or that he was keeping secrets from her and her friends. All that mattered now was being with him, getting him to make her feel the way she wanted, knew, that he could.
“Lovely,” he said, moving back slightly to get a better look. “But you still have more for me to remove.” He smiled and leaned in to kiss her until she was fully relaxed again.
When his finger dipped below her swimsuit, she moaned out his name and felt her body respond to his touch.
“God, I want you. Here, now, like this.” He shifted, and she felt his cock rub against her through his shorts.
“You still have some clothing to remove.” She reached for his shorts.
“Soon,” he promised her. “I’m not done touching you.” He nudged her suit down her legs, running his hands over her thighs, her knees, and her calves. Then he tossed the wet bottoms next to her top.
His fingers slowly circled her body, and she felt her breath quicken as he edged a finger into her, spreading her, filling her.
“Liam,” she begged after a moment. “Please.” She reached for him once more, only to have him sidestep.
“I’m in charge—not until I feel you come first,” he said. “Come for me.”
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