By Invitation Only

by Wilde, Lori; Etherington, Wendy; Burns, Jillian

  Her words were a smart slap. His ears stung. She was interested in him simply because he had a reputation for casual relationships and she wanted a hot island fling. He stared at her, caught off guard by his hurt feelings. “Well, maybe I do.”

  6

  WELL, MAYBE I DO.

  Nick’s words still echoed in Olivia’s head two hours later after they’d returned to the resort in the limo with the others. What did that mean? Could Nick honestly want something more from her than a short, hot affair? Really? Nick Greer? But how was that possible? She couldn’t wrap her head around it. Couldn’t trust it. In spite of her doubts, her heart strummed with excitement. Nick wanted her.

  He’s never been in a committed relationship. He doesn’t know how to have one. Even if he’s not deluding you, he’s deluding himself.

  Olivia lay on the bed at the resort, feeling hot and achy and disappointed and sad and hopeful and worried and a million other different things. Nick had insisted she take the bed, even though the cool night breeze was probably what she really needed to soothe her heated skin.

  What was happening to her? It had all started when she hadn’t opened her mouth to tell Holly Addison the truth about who she was. She’d compromised her moral integrity, and now she was no longer sure who she was or what she wanted, and it was all so confusing. Especially since she’d had more fun in the past twelve hours than she’d ever had in her life. Unbelievable as that sounded, it was true. Whenever she was around Nick, she felt lighter, happier.

  For years she’d been pushing herself to excel. And then just when she’d been about to achieve her goals, her mother had gotten sick and she’d walked away from the Washington Post and come home to take care of her. She didn’t resent or regret it, but of late, her mind had been on dark things and Nick offered her a breath of fresh air.

  An escape.

  Ultimately, was that what attracted her to him? Could it be that he was a release valve for her moody, broody thoughts? Or was it that he was just downright sexy as sin?

  Yes. The answer was yes. That was why she’d wanted a fling with him. But Nick had suggested that he wanted much more than that with her.

  Question was, what did she want?

  She didn’t want to get hurt and she didn’t want to hurt Nick.

  Funny, she’d never thought she would agree with Nick, but he was right. It was a good thing they hadn’t had sex on the beach—a very good thing indeed.

  So why then did she feel so cheated?

  Get your mind off Greer. Tomorrow throw all your focus on Holly, get her story, get out of this romantic place and soon enough Nick will be nothing but a fond memory.

  THE FOLLOWING MORNING, Olivia went with Holly and her brides maids to have their dresses fitted. It was easy enough milking Holly for information on how she and J.D. fell in love. Holly was nervous and when she got nervous, she chattered endlessly, plus she felt safe telling her “cousin” all the intimate details of their relationship.

  The whole thing made Olivia uneasy, but she couldn’t deny she’d managed to get an amazing story. She battled with her conscience, her journalistic mind warring with the part of her that truly liked and admired Holly. Whatever friendship they’d formed under these false circumstances was bound to be destroyed by the article, even if it was a favorable one. As she and Holly and the bridesmaids ate lunch at a quaint French bistro on the cobblestone streets of Rapture Island, she had a strong impulse not to use the story, to call Ross and tell him she’d come up empty-handed.

  What would her grandfather do under the circumstances?

  It was a rhetorical question because she knew what he would do. With Grandfather—and her father for that matter—the story always came first. Friendships and even family a distant second.

  For the briefest of moments, she pondered the values that had been instilled in her since birth, that following the truth of a story was the noblest thing to which she could ever aspire.

  But now she had to wonder if people’s feelings might be just as important. It was a conflict she’d never dreamed she would have.

  With these thoughts on her mind, she arrived back at the bungalow late in the afternoon to find Nick wasn’t there. Relieved not to have the distraction, she sat down and started writing the first draft of her article. She’d just finished it with barely enough time to spare before she had to dress for the wedding rehearsal, when her cell phone rang.

  The caller ID identified Ross.

  “Hello?”

  “Well?”

  “Well, what?”

  “I haven’t heard from you in over twenty-four hours. The rumblings are getting louder around here. The new round of budget cuts are official. Heads are going to roll. Did you get a chance to talk with Holly while she was in Austin? I hope the answer is yes because otherwise…” He trailed off, leaving the rest to her imagination.

  Olivia hesitated, fingered the Pulitzer medal on the charm bracelet at her wrist and told the truth. “I’m on Rapture Island and the place is crawling with paparazzi, but I managed to get invited onto the Maynard compound. I’m beating out the competition. Well, except for Nick.”

  “What?” His excitement was electric. “How’d you do that? Never mind, I don’t want to know. I simply bow to your genius. You are a wunderkind.”

  Uneasiness rippled over her. She’d lied and connived and Ross was proud of her? It didn’t seem something to be worthy of praise.

  “What have you got?”

  “The story of how she and J.D. met. Her fears, her hopes, her dreams, details about the wedding—”

  “Written up?”

  “Just finished a rough draft.”

  “I want to see it.”

  Olivia thought about her deal with Nick, their promise not to scoop each other. “The wedding isn’t until tomorrow. I’ll have more for you after that,” she stalled.

  “I just want to see if you’re on the right track. With the brass breathing down our necks we don’t want to give them any excuses to can us.”

  “You can’t run it yet.”

  “I won’t,” he assured her. “I’m so damned proud of you. I knew hiring you was one of the smartest things I’ve ever done.”

  “All right,” she agreed reluctantly.

  “Good girl,” Ross said.

  “I have to go now, I’m in the wedding party and we’re about to leave for the rehearsal dinner.”

  “You’re in the wedding party? Damn, but this is going to be good. Send me the article before you leave for rehearsal.”

  “I’m doing it now.” With Ross’s praise ringing in her ears, she logged onto the internet, attached the article to her email and pressed Send.

  “SO REALLY,” NICK SAID TO J.D. as they were getting their tuxes tailored for the wedding. “Why Holly, why now?”

  J.D. looked at Nick as if he was a lost soul. “Are you having doubts about your relationship with Honey? Because if you are, don’t go through with the wedding. If she’s not the one—”

  “It’s not Honey,” Nick surprised himself by saying. “She’s a wonderful woman.”

  “But?” J.D. asked, giving a tug at his sleeves as he examined the tailored tux in the mirror.

  “It’s me.”

  “Ah,” J.D. said. “You are madly in love with her.”

  Nick startled. He couldn’t deny that he was in love with Olivia because J.D. thought she was Honey. He needed this interview. He needed job security. He needed that hefty contract his publisher promised if he could deliver on an interview with J. D. Maynard Jr. on the eve of his wedding. “Yeah,” he said, surprised that instead of feeling like a lying fraud, a warm, gentle sensation wrapped around him.

  “You’re where I was about six months ago.”

  “So you did have doubts!”

  “Not about my feelings for Holly,” J.D. said, stepping down off the wooden stool and shrugging out of the jacket. He handed it to his tailor, while Nick’s tailor was still busily pinning the hem of his high-dollar tuxedo pa
nts. “But about my abilities to make her a good husband. She’s a wonderful woman and she deserves the best.”

  “You were afraid you couldn’t be loyal to her,” Nick guessed.

  “Not at all.” J.D. smiled.

  “But you went out every night. Had women hanging from both arms,” Nick said.

  “Gold diggers, celebrity chasers…no one real.”

  “And Holly’s the real deal?”

  “You better know it. Just like Honey is the real deal for you. Let me ask you something, Nick.”

  “Yeah?”

  “What do you want most in life?”

  This interview. Nick shrugged. “To be happy.”

  J.D. laughed. “But what does that look like?”

  “A Ferrari in the garage?”

  “That’s not real happiness and you know it.”

  “Dude, you’re dangerously close to sounding like a Hallmark commercial.”

  “It is the day before my wedding. I’m allowed.”

  “True.”

  J.D. cocked his head. “Do you want to hear my read on you?”

  Might as well. Get some besotted love advice from J. D. Maynard Jr. “Sure.”

  “You’re like me, an intensely loyal person.”

  He was? Nick squirmed.

  “Don’t move!” the tailor admonished fiercely.

  Nick thought about his loyalties. He was loyal to his family. He went to dinner at his parents’ house every Sunday evening without fail, unless he was out of town. He’d never missed his nieces’ and nephews’ birthdays. If any of his sisters ever called him, night or day, he was there. He loved them with an intensity that scared him. He thought of the friendships he’d had in his life. He tended to keep those light. In grade school, he’d had a best friend who was like a brother, and then Peter’s family had moved away and Nick remembered feeling true grief at the loss.

  And then there was Max. He remembered the old coonhound who’d dogged his every step from when he’d gotten him on Christmas the year he turned six until the day Max had died on Nick’s high school graduation. Now that had been pain. It had hurt so much losing his best buddy in the whole world. Even now, just thinking about that dog made him tear up and he had the strongest urge to run out of the tuxedo shop and go do something to distract himself. Parasailing, hang gliding, making love to Olivia.

  “Yes,” J.D. went on, “you’re so loyal that when you make a commitment to someone, it’s for the duration. You’d lay down your life for the other person without blinking. But that kind of loyalty doesn’t come cheap. When you commit yourself to something you stay committed.”

  Nick felt J.D.’s words all the way to his bones. It was as if the other man had looked at him and seen his every secret. It was startling and unsettling.

  “What was your life like before you met her?” J.D. asked.

  “Um…I have a wide circle of friends.”

  “You partied a lot. Just like me.”

  “And now?”

  “Now I understand what I was doing.”

  “Which was?”

  “Hiding from the pain that I knew commitment would bring.”

  “You’re not afraid now?”

  “Nope.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because the thought of being without her hurts a hundred times more.”

  It was crazy, but Nick understood what J.D. was saying. He’d avoided falling in love because he knew that once he did, he would be the most dedicated person on earth. That level of commitment made you vulnerable. Every time the one you loved got hurt, it was worse than a hit to your own body.

  “Time to man up,” J.D. said. “Time to feel the pain and know that it’s a good thing. Without accepting that pain is a part of being deeply in love, you’ll never grow up.”

  “That’s twisted, man.”

  “And the truest thing I’ve ever told anyone.”

  THE WEDDING REHEARSAL was fun and romantic. The dinner afterward was lavish. Nick got to meet J. D. Maynard Sr., one of the richest men in Texas and the rest of J.D.’s large family. He learned that, other than her cousin Honey, Holly had no immediate family. Her parents had both passed away and she’d been an only child.

  But all through the rehearsal and dinner, Nick hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off Olivia and he kept thinking about what J.D. had said to him. When they got back to the bungalow, he immediately went to the hammock on the beach because he knew that if he stayed in the room with her, he’d make love to her.

  Around midnight, the moon vanished behind a heavy cloud that had rolled in. The air lay thick, sultry. Nick lay in the hammock rocking back and forth, trying to will away his boner.

  It was a losing battle.

  Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her. Her full pink lips, those sweet round cheeks and that tumble of blond hair twining down her shoulders. He recalled their kiss from the night before and he tasted her on his tongue—the nectar that was Olivia—a little tart on top, but soft and sweet underneath. He smelled her scent—like sunshine and flowers and cotton. He heard the sound of her voice, challenging him in the way no one had ever challenged him. She mixed him up and turned him around. Why did he love feeling so lost?

  The wind kicked up, swaying the hammock with a sultry breeze. Maybe sleeping with her would cure the need. Maybe she was right and it was just all hot chemistry. We aren’t cut out for a relationship. She’s a cat, you’re a dog. Natural enemies. Besides, you’re not long-term relationship material.

  Why not?

  Why couldn’t he have a long-term relationship? Where was it written in stone that he had to stay single just because he made a living blogging about the single life? He could change the direction of his blog to reflect the changes in his life. Change was a good thing, right?

  Nick sucked in a deep breath. Did he want to change? Was he really ready to pursue something more meaningful? Was Olivia really the one?

  Overhead, the clouds rumbled and fat drops of rain fell from the sky.

  OLIVIA WAS WIDE-AWAKE when she heard the back door slide open and the sound of rain rustling the vegetation, but she pretended to be asleep. Her heart started pounding like a bank robber on the run, beating so hard that she feared Nick could hear it in the silence of the room. She had her eyes closed, barely able to resist the urge to peek at him from behind her eyelashes.

  He sank down on the other side of the bed.

  Every muscle in Olivia’s body tensed as she waited and waited and waited until finally she couldn’t stand it one minute more. “Are you ever going to say anything?” she asked.

  “I think we should just face this thing head-on,” he said.

  She sat up. “What thing?”

  “Don’t even try to pretend what’s going on between us doesn’t have you as jumbled up as it has me.”

  “I don’t want to be jumbled up.”

  “Neither do I, but damn it, I am.” Nick blew out a breath.

  In the darkness she heard rather than saw him shove a hand through his hair. “So let’s not do it. You were right last night. Bad idea.”

  “Granted, it might be unwise, but I want you so badly I can’t think straight and I’m pretty sure you’re just as addled as I am.”

  “More so.” Olivia’s toes curled in anticipation. This felt crazy, illogical, out of control, and she loved it.

  “What can I say, Olivia, is this feeling is all new to me.”

  “Why me?”

  “I wish to hell I knew. You’re confusing and confounding and irritating but whenever I think about you, I smile.”

  “Yeah, well thinking about you makes me smile, too.”

  “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “I don’t want to get hurt.”

  “So where do we go from here?”

  They sat in the darkness for a long silent moment, the wind buffeting rain against the terrace door. Olivia’s head swirling, her body throbbing, her sex crying out for him.

  “Olivia?” he whispered.
<
br />   “Nick.”

  He reached out across the mattress and then she was in his arms. He tugged her into his lap, his lips weighed heavily against hers, his tongue languid and warm. Her pulse slipped through her veins brilliant as mercury—cool and quick.

  Her body heated up, her nipples beading even harder as his erection pressed against her bottom. The man was big. Bigger than anyone she’d ever been with and she was both thrilled and nervous.

  “You are such an intriguing woman,” he murmured. “You had my attention for months, but I always felt you were too uppity to give me the time of day.”

  “I was,” she confessed.

  “Why the change of heart?”

  She shrugged. “Getting to know you better. That playboy shtick is just a front. You hide behind it because you’re afraid of anything deep and meaningful.”

  “I could just be a jerk.”

  “You’re not.”

  He reached out to brush her hair from her forehead. “You have no idea how much it means to me to hear you say that.”

  Their mouths melded in a fresh surge of passion. Olivia had never in her life wanted a man as much as she wanted Nick. Any lingering misgivings disappeared in the thrust of pure sensation. Nick’s tongue explored her and she volleyed back, an equal partner in the erotic duel, kissing him with a force so all-consuming she felt as if she’d been swallowed by the universe.

  Silently, they undressed each other. He slipped her sleep shirt over her head. She yanked at the waistband of his cotton shorts. His palms skimmed over her body, caressing her breasts, her waist, her hips. She licked his skin, salty with sea air and delighted in the taste of him. Ravenously he kissed her and Olivia unfurled, coming fully alive, throbbing with the tympanic tempo of escalating hormones. Her fingers trembled with anticipation, her muscles tensed, anxious for more of him.

  Nick speared his fingers through her hair, held her still while he branded more kisses over her face. Touching his lips to her forehead and eyelids, cheekbones and chin—nibbling, sucking and licking.