High Tide

by Michelle Mankin

  “I’m talking about you taking a well-earned break from me and all this madness. Get some fresh air for a while. Check in with your family.”

  “No family to check in on, ma’am.”

  “Oh.” That was news to me. But then, Cash knew practically everything about me, and I knew very little about him.

  “I don’t like it.” Cash crossed his muscular arms over his massive chest.

  My stomach fluttered at the memory of how good it had felt to be enveloped in those strong arms.

  “Whether you like something or not doesn’t factor, though, does it? I mean, you don’t have to like my requests in order to follow them.”

  I was being bitchy, but this was the first time Cash had countermanded me, and it frustrated me. But mostly I was frustrated with myself for being weak where he was concerned. He’d rejected me, redrawn the boundaries, but there’s no doubt I’d quickly fall back into his arms if he offered me the opportunity.

  “I’m not talking about doing anything reckless while you take a break. I’m going to stay right here in my room with Ernie until Ollie arrives to take me to the gym.”

  “So you think a fashion designer is qualified to protect you?” Cash gave my bestie a dismissive glance before he retrained his immutable stare on me.

  “I’m more than what you see with your unimaginative eyes.” Ernie frowned. “More than what I do. You don’t know me, big guy.”

  I put up a hand in the air before this could get confrontational. “What he means is that he graduated from the police academy before he quit.”

  “Really?” Cash’s brows rose.

  “He’s capable, and he’s my best friend. I’ll be in good hands. I’ll be fine,” I insisted since Cash appeared unconvinced.

  “Oh, come on.” I stomped my foot and brandished my other hand. “It’s not like I’m going to run up and down Rodeo Drive shouting derogatory things about my stepfather with a target painted on my back.”

  I arched my signature brow, pressing my point sarcastically while using my high-powered artillery. “Have I ever acted reckless in your presence?”

  “Never.” Cash seemed reluctant to answer. Probably knowing doing so lent credence to my points.

  “Right.”

  Not that my bodyguard had known me very long. Only since Ash hired him to watch over Fanny and me back in Ocean Beach. But it was disturbing to note that had he actually known me longer, he would still be able to answer the question the same. Not only was I a people-pleaser, but beneath the surface glamour, my life was appallingly dull.

  “So, take the time I can give. You deserve it. I appreciate all you’ve done for me so far. When you return, we can reassess the terms of your contract, if you like, and discuss any unaddressed concerns you might have going forward. But for now . . .”

  I pulled in a breath and let it out slowly. When Cash merely glowered at me, I lifted my chin and threw down the boss card.

  “You will go. I’m the employer and you’re the employee, Mr. Cash. And it’s my determination that time off is what you need.”

  • • •

  “So . . .” Ernie paused for dramatic effect after the loud bang of the outer door signaled Cash leaving. “Can we talk now? Freely? About him?”

  “Yes.” I nodded. “Only I’m not sure exactly where to start.”

  “Let’s have a seat.”

  Ernie moved toward the couch, sitting where Olivia had been perched earlier. I dropped into the club chair beside him, curling my legs underneath me and carefully arranging the hem of my dress to cover my thighs.

  “Where the hell did you find a bodyguard who looks like that?”

  “Security You Can Trust,” I said.

  “Security you can’t take your eyes off, you mean.”

  “Stop.” My cheeks burned. “It’s not like that.”

  “Oh, please. Don’t even with me.” He wagged his finger at me. “My bestie meter has been on high alert since I walked in on you two.”

  “I was about to fall. He helped me down. Steadied me.” I paused internally at my simple explanation. It was the truth, but it felt somehow deeper and more profound.

  “If that’s all it was.” Ernie cocked his head. “What would have happened if I hadn’t come in when I did?”

  “Nothing,” I replied dully. “Nothing at all.”

  “You like him.” He reached over and tucked a loose strand of my hair behind my ear.

  I nodded.

  “Thought so. You look at him like he’s a carb buffet after an Atkin’s diet.”

  I blushed, and he tapped my nose.

  “Don’t deny it, darling. It happens all the time in situations like these. You’re isolated here together. He’s your employee, and it’s forbidden. Naturally, you’re madly attracted to him.”

  “Yeah. So what do I do? I feel so awkward around him.”

  “I say give in to the desire so long as you both know up front what you’re getting into.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “I’m suggesting a fling. A hookup without attachment.” His eyes narrowed. “But then you haven’t had one of those, have you?”

  I shook my head. The ends of my loose hair skimmed the bare skin of my shoulders.

  “You’ve played it safe up till now, but after all you’ve been through, you’re overdue for something unplanned, something not so serious. If it weren’t for the wretched circumstances outside of all of this, I’d say I was glad someone finally came along to inspire you to let loose a little. I honestly can’t remember the last time you were like this about a guy.”

  “Chris Hansen.”

  “That was just a publicity-contrived relationship for the miniseries, and you know it. You dropped him before you even went on to your next project.”

  “Not exactly. He wanted me to put in a good word for him with Samuel.”

  “Oh, Hollie.” Ernie grabbed my hand as my eyes filled. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “It’s embarrassing never being enough.”

  Guys were either like Cedric and wouldn’t risk Samuel’s ire, or they were only using me like Chris.

  I shrugged, trying to downplay how much it hurt. “Romance just isn’t for me.”

  “Romance is for everyone, darling.” Ernie took my hand. “Someday someone will come along who won’t give a shit who your stepfather is.”

  “No.” I shook my head, disagreeing vehemently.

  That would never happen. I’d known it for a long time now, and accepted it. Samuel had ruined everything.

  “Hold on,” I said, wheezing. “I have to catch my breath.”

  My lungs were on fire, and my spandex exercise shorts and sports top were sopping wet. Sweat stung my eyes. The mirrored walls of the hotel gym blurred in and out of clarity around me.

  “Ten-second rest.” Ollie shook his head. “No longer.”

  Beneath the worn brim of his TRAINER TO THE STARS emblazoned ball cap, his amber eyes narrowed and his full lips flattened disapprovingly. It was an expression all too familiar to me that said don’t you dare give up, Hollie, while at the same time seeming to imply that I could actually accomplish the insane things he was asking of me.

  “All right,” I huffed out, the only thing I could manage to say with my heart beating so fast.

  Every muscle in my body screamed in protest, yet because of that look, I bent at my waist and retrieved the coiled jump rope. Gripping the handles tight, I resumed jumping without tripping or stopping once—a miraculous feat for me—all the way until the timer went off on his phone.

  “Good,” he said with a small nod, which, coming from him was the equivalent of a gold medal.

  My lips lifting, I nodded back.

  He was tough, but a lot of personal trainers were tough. It was his understated methods that made me feel the satisfaction of pushing myself beyond my limits that I paid the big bucks for.

  Those methods made Ollie Sanders one of the most in-demand trainers in LA. He didn’t need to spend a
single dollar on marketing. The toned bodies of his clients when they walked down the red carpet in slinky gowns and formfitting tuxes were all the advertising he needed.

  “So, tomorrow afternoon? Same time?” he asked, handing me a white towel to wipe the sweat from my brow.

  “Not tomorrow. I have commitments.”

  “All right. Then we’ll just have to double the time on the jump rope, do squat thrusts with weights, the row machine, and pushups on the next workout to make up for your skipped session.” He raised a brow.

  “Sure.” Not sure. “Sounds great.” Sounded like I was going to die. “Do you mind walking me back to my room?”

  “No, of course not.” He jogged ahead of me and pulled open the glass door so we could exit the gym. “You okay?

  “From the workout, yeah. I mean, I’m hurting like hell, thank you very much, but it’s just what I need to get back in shape.” I gave him a side glance as we moved side by side into the narrow hotel corridor. “I have a security guard who takes my safety very seriously. I promised I’d have someone stay with me until he returned from his break.”

  “Good plan.” Ollie pushed open the next door, propping it open for me to step through.

  Outside, the evening air was mildly cooler than it had been earlier. I gulped in greedy gulps of non-climate-controlled air, feeling like a canary sprung from its cage every opportunity I got to spend time outside the confines of my suite. Voices and splashes from a nearby pool accompanied us as we made our way across the lushly landscaped property.

  “I was sorry to hear about all of that trouble for you.” Ollie glanced over at me, his features shaded but the concern distinguishable beneath the brim of his cap. “You seem to be doing all right.”

  “Managing,” I said as we retraced our steps along the same sidewalk we’d taken to the gym. “Coping. Doing what needs to be done.”

  “A good deal more than that. You’re not backing down. You’re taking the fight straight to a very powerful, influential man.” He stopped at the end of the path. We had reached my secluded suite.

  “Yeah? Crazy, huh?”

  Moving closer to the unit, I slid my key from my pocket and could see our combined reflections in the sliding glass door. I looked terrible, sweaty and rosy-cheeked. My trainer looked like a cover model for Men’s Fitness magazine.

  “Crazy brave,” he said, and I shifted to more fully face him. “Like David and Goliath, biblically brave,” he added, and my eyes widened.

  “Thanks.” I tilted my head. I’d never said a bad word about my stepfather to Ollie. Not that I didn’t trust him; it was just Hollywood Basics 101. Never badmouth anyone unless your plan was not to work in the entertainment business long.

  “A lot of us are pulling for you to take Samuel down, Hollie. He’s abused his privileges. I have more than a few clients who’ve shared about unpleasant dealings with him. They’ve been cheering for you since the charges came out. I’ve been cheering for you.” He inclined his head to the door, his eyes narrowing. “Someone seems to be waiting for you. Your security man?”

  “Yeah,” I said as Cash slid open the door, his massive form and immense frown nearly taking up all the space.

  “Maximillian Cash,” my bodyguard said gruffly, extending his arm.

  “Ollie Sanders.” My trainer reached to take the hand offered to him.

  Both men had amazingly defined musculature. Cash was as tanned as Ollie. Everyone in California seemed to worship the sun, but my bodyguard’s skin was also heavily freckled.

  They clasped hands and stared each other down. Biceps bulged. Forearms strained as they squeezed, and they narrowed their gazes. Obviously, they were pitting their strengths against each other, taking each other’s measure. The air popped with tension, like their veins.

  “Nice to meet you.” Ollie lifted his chin and the tension abated. Apparently, Cash passed the test. “Take good care of this little lady. She means a lot to me.”

  “She means a lot to a lot of people,” Cash said, lifting his chin in return.

  Were they allies now? Just like that?

  “See ya, Hollie.” Lifting a hand over his shoulder, Ollie turned and walked away.

  “Tomorrow. Yeah.” I watched my trainer for a moment, mentally shaking my head at how easily guys bonded, and then I turned around.

  “You didn’t take a long break,” I mumbled to Cash, pretending my heart hadn’t fluttered when I’d first seen him standing in the doorway, and pretended further that it didn’t flutter more as I stepped inside and slipped past him.

  He smelled good, clean and soapy, as if he’d just showered. My shoulder brushed against his chest. It was like grazing a block of granite, except for the heat that blasted me. My melted legs wobbled.

  I heard the door slide closed behind me. My heartbeat sped up as the lock clicked. Locked inside the suite. Alone with Cash.

  Intimate, this felt so very intimate. After earlier—whatever it had been that had happened—things felt different between us.

  “I’m headed to the shower.” My voice had a breathy quality to it that had nothing to do with my workout.

  Keep going, Hollie, I told myself as I reached the halfway point between the living room and the bedroom. Don’t think about what happened. Don’t think about him. Definitely don’t think about being naked in the shower with him here, just on the other side of the suite.

  “It felt long being apart from you,” he said, completely obliterating the framework of the world as I’d previously known it. “The entire time, I counted the minutes until I decided I’d been away long enough that you would consider it as a break. But I was miserable. I’d much rather have stayed here with you.”

  I stopped inside the doorway to the bedroom. My heart thumped wildly as his heavy footfalls followed behind me.

  “Hollie.”

  My breath caught as he touched my arm. A soft touch of his skin to mine, but that gentleness ignited a spark, and my whole body became an electrical conduit of heat.

  “Don’t.” I grabbed the door frame with my hand. “Don’t play games with me.”

  “I’m not playing games. I was trying to do the right thing. You’re underage, and my employer. I thought I had it straight in my mind, but then I went away and came back to see you standing there with someone else.”

  He exhaled a humid breath that felt like the prelude to a lover’s kiss on the sensitive skin on the back of my neck, and I shivered.

  “One look, and I knew that nothing makes sense except that I want to be with you.”

  He put his hands on my arms. Shocked, I glanced down at the long, masculine fingers wrapped around them.

  “Can’t you look at me?” He gently turned me around.

  I glanced up, rocked by his earnest expression. I could barely process his words, let alone formulate a reply, given the insistent pounding of my pulse and the undeniable rush of heat and hope coursing through my body.

  “Talk to me.” His eyes searched mine. “Tell me I didn’t mess things up. That we can work this out.”

  I felt myself sliding into the warm limpid depths of his beseeching gaze.

  My cell suddenly rang. Well, it blared a love-and-light-filled Academy-award-winning song inside the pocket of my shorts.

  “That’s Fanny,” I whispered. “She calls every day at this time to check in on me. I need to take this.” I offered an apology in my eyes.

  “Of course.” The clear blue in his gaze turning murky, Cash released me. “Don’t let me keep you.”

  His lips flat, he dipped his head and took a step back. The warmth was gone. Flesh and bone transformed to stone. The abrupt change from the heat of his passion to the cold of his professionalism made me unsteady.

  “The call is obviously what’s important,” he said, not meeting my eyes. “And gives me my answer. Two birds, one stone. My apologies. Let’s pretend this never happened. I won’t make the same mistake again.”

  “Hello?”

  Answering my phone, I
dropped onto the bed and stared listlessly at the door I’d just closed. The image of Cash with his back turned to me filled my mind while his words clanged in my ears. I released a shaky breath, rubbing my chest with my free hand. The inside of it burned as though a downed power wire sizzled and snapped within it.

  “What took you so long to answer the phone?” My sister’s beautiful melodic voice centered me.

  “I . . . was . . . working out.”

  “You don’t sound right.” Suspicion raised her voice an octave. Fanny wasn’t buying the lie, well aware that I stumbled between words when I wasn’t telling the truth. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”

  “Not really.”

  “Did Samuel do something?”

  “No. I haven’t heard anything from him directly. The lawyers are handling everything.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “Cash,” I whispered, my gaze remaining on the door. I felt like I’d just weathered an unexpected storm. Had I avoided a mistake or missed an opportunity?

  “What about him?”

  “I think he likes me.” I twisted the comforter in my fingers. “But . . .”

  “Of course he likes you. Everyone likes you. Every stranger is your new next friend. You’re just like Mom was in that regard.”

  “I’m not.” I shook my head, even though she couldn’t see me.

  “You are. You’re sweet. People are comfortable around you. That’s because you have a gentle spirit, just like she did.”

  “Gentle, meaning I’m a pushover,” I grumbled.

  “No,” Fanny said firmly. “Gentle, meaning you’re kind.” She sighed. “You don’t see yourself accurately. You’ve been putting yourself down a lot lately. I wonder if that’s because of what happened with Samuel.”

  I froze.

  “You’re not responsible for what he did.” She kept going before I could get a word in to stop her. “You should talk to someone about it. About the way it was growing up. Make sure you get it all straight in your head.”

  “I can’t,” I whispered. “If I see a shrink, I’ll have to disclose that in court. I would make his case for him. The lawyers would use it against me, and I’d lose everything.” And Samuel would win like he always did.