Ocean Breeze

by Laura Conway

  Ocean Breeze

  Lesbian Romance Beach Reads Bundle

  Laura Conway

  Emma Collins

  Lauren Trevino

  Contents

  Marbella Sunsets

  One Way Ticket

  More Than A Holiday

  Dreaming of Paradise

  All Rights Reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including scanning, photocopying, or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder.

  Copyright © 2018

  Chapter One

  When Carley Morrison dreamed of traveling the world, she never imagined herself getting stuck in Marbella without a passport and just enough money to last her two weeks. Her American passport had been stolen, but at least she still had her Irish one. There were worse places she could have ended up than the south of Spain, but Carley hated feeling trapped and unable to support herself.

  She got a cold bottle of water from the refrigerator in the back room of the bar where she’d just gotten a job yesterday. Carley sat down across from a woman she didn’t recognize who looked about her age, but maybe she was only in her mid-twenties. Carley was tempted to just go back to the hostel. Her shift was over, but she might as well get to know the people who worked here.

  “Hey,” Carley said as she met the other woman’s eyes. “I’m Carley... How long have you been working here?” she asked in English, assuming that if she was working in The White Hart, there was a good chance she was English or Irish.

  “I’m Jessica, and I just started a few hours ago,” she said with a laugh. “You must be new too.”

  Carley nodded. She couldn’t figure out what part of England she was from. “It’s my second day... I wasn’t planning on staying in Marbella long, and I definitely didn’t think I’d end up bartending, but my passport was stolen along with one of my bags on my way here...”

  “Wow. I thought my reason for working here was bad.”

  “Why? What happened to you?” Carley asked, leaning forward and resting her elbows on the table while she brushed a stray piece of her blond hair away from her face.

  “I had a good job with Andrea Harris. Have you heard of her? Her dad is the owner of this place.”

  “No. I don’t know who she is.”

  “Well, she’s crazy,” Jessica said, her voice lowering to a whisper. Maybe she was afraid of Andrea’s dad wandering in and overhearing them. “She’s so particular, and I don’t even know when she sleeps. She expects you to be ready to go at a moment’s notice. Now, I have been on a few yachts and private jets, but I don’t think it was worth all the grief.”

  “What was your job?”

  “I was her personal assistant, which means I had to do everything from answering her phone to picking up her dry cleaning. You name it, and I’ve done it for her,” Jessica said with a wave of her hand. “I wasted the last two years working for her, thinking it would lead me somewhere.”

  “What does she do?”

  “She’s a business woman. That’s the best way to describe her. She has her hand in everything: real estate, golf courses, restaurants, bars, night clubs.”

  “Wow,” Carley said, shaking her head.

  “Look, it paid well. That’s all I’ll say.”

  “So, do you think she’s looking for a new P.A. right now?”

  “Probably. She couldn’t function without one,” Jessica said with a soft laugh. “Why? Do you want to work for her? After everything I’ve just told you?”

  Carley shrugged. “You said it paid well.”

  “Not well enough,” she scoffed.

  “Did you get fired or something?”

  “Yeah,” Jessica said, running her hand through her hair. “She was convinced that I stole from her, but I didn’t. I wouldn’t do something like that.”

  “I need money. Fast. I want to get back to traveling. I was supposed to be going to Portugal next.”

  “Go over to her place,” Jessica said. “Give me your phone, and I’ll put in the address.”

  “Can’t I just call her?”

  “She won’t answer her phone if she doesn’t know the number.”

  Carley slid her phone out of her shorts and handed it to her. “You think I’m crazy, don’t you?”

  “Yeah,” Jessica said with a shrug. “But you have different expectations than I did. I wanted to make connections, learn from her. You just want to get paid well and move on. You’ll be fine,” Jessica said, returning her phone.

  “Thanks,” Carley said, glancing down at her phone and the address that Jessica had entered into Google Maps.

  “I better get out there,” Jessica said as she stood up. “Good luck with Andrea.”

  Carley gave her a weak smile as she left. She got up and found her bag in one of the lockers against the opposite wall, double checking that her money was still there. She’d go back to the hostel where she was staying and freshen up. Then she’d try to find Andrea Harris.

  Chapter Two

  Andrea Harris took off her shades as she pulled open the door to her father’s bar. It still amazed her how much this place hadn’t changed over the years. Her father had gone for that authentic English bar feel with well-worn chairs and wooden tables that would probably be considered antiques.

  Andrea glanced at the photo on the wall just inside the door from their opening night thirty-four years ago. She could still remember it even though she was only eight, but her father had been so excited about opening his own bar here in Marbella.

  The months leading up to that night had been stressful. She remembered that part too. They’d been living in London, and even though they flew back and forth to Seville, where her mother and her family were from, she knew her mother wanted to return to Spain. Marbella had been the compromise. Seville was less than three hours away by car, but Marbella was the ideal location for an English bar.

  “Hey Dad,” Andrea said as she made her way over to the bar where he was pouring a pint.

  “Well hello,” he said in his thick London accent after he’d served the pint of beer to the man sitting on the other side of the bar. “I hear you’ve fired your P.A.”

  Andrea refrained from rolling her eyes. Her father was always questioning her business decisions.

  “Jessica works here now,” he said as he pulled out a bar stool and Andrea did the same, sitting down beside him.

  “Great,” Andrea said with a smirk. “Just watch out. I think she stole from me. A few pieces of jewelry went missing last week.”

  “Well, she seems like a nice girl. Have you found a replacement?”

  “No. You know how particular I am,” Andrea said, running a hand through her dark hair. “Jessica was with me for a little over two years... It’ll probably take a while to find someone else I can trust.”

  “You could always take care of everything yourself,” her father said.

  She met his hazel-green eyes, and it was like looking into a mirror. Andrea knew she got her looks from her father, but she definitely took after her mother when it came to her temperament and her personality.

  “I’m too busy to answer all the calls I get or to run around doing errands,” Andrea said, wishing he could understand how different their businesses were. “I need someone to manage my schedule and take care of all the little things. You should think about hiring someone. You work too much.”

  Andrew Harris chuckled, covering his daughter’s hand with his own, but Andrea wasn’t joking.

  “I’m serious, Dad. You need to think about easing up a little,” she said, knowing he wasn’t getting any younger. He was sixty-five, but most people would probably say he was in his late fifti
es. He’d been dying his hair black for years to cover up the grays that had started appearing.

  “I’d rather keep working hard for another while and then retire, but I’d prefer if my only child would show some interest in her old man’s business. I want you to take over, Andrea.”

  “We’ve been over this before, Dad. I have bigger things going on. I’m in the middle of opening a new golf course, and I’m shopping for another apartment building. This place needs too much attention.”

  “I can’t retire until I know you’ll look after this place,” Andrew said, standing up. “I don’t want you to sell it to someone else either.”

  “I can’t talk about this right now. I need to figure out the system Jessica set up for my schedule, and then I have to change all my passwords, get new locks, new passcodes for the security gates...”

  “I doubt Jessica’s a thief,” her father said as he went behind the bar again to pour another pint.

  “There’s no other explanation. I have to go... I’ll see you later, okay?”

  “Bye,” he said, giving her a wave.

  Andrea slid on her shades as she stepped outside into the blistering sun and onto the busy promenade, heading towards Puerto Banus. She’d go home and get changed into her running gear and go for a long run on the boardwalk. Andrea loved hearing the ocean’s waves crashing into the shore as she ran, often preferring it to music. She needed to unwind, and running usually did that for her.

  Andrea didn’t know how she would find a new P.A., but there was no doubt that she needed one, especially with the busy schedule she had coming up.

  She smiled to herself. When was she ever not busy?

  That was the way she liked it, though. She was always going after a new venture and working on ways to maximize her current investments. Doing all of that required a fantastic team and from a business perspective, she did have an impressive group of people working around her.

  Having a personal assistant kept her own life together. Yes, Jessica often handled business related tasks, but she was the reason that Andrea was sane. She never had to worry about when an appointment was or what time she needed to leave to get on her jet. Jessica handled everything like that, and right now, Andrea felt like she was missing a limb. She wasn’t sure how she would function until she found a replacement for her.

  All she knew was that she had to find someone. They would more than likely be under-qualified, but she’d take just about anyone that she felt she could trust right now. That was the most important aspect of a P.A. for Andrea. She had to be able to trust them. This person would be traveling with her, spending time in her home, and have access to her phone and business deals.

  She’d make some calls after she got back from her run. She’d find someone that had worked in her circle of friends and business partners. Someone respectable.

  Chapter Three

  Where is this place?

  Carley zoomed in on the map, pinching her fingers against the screen, looking for something that would let her know she was in the right place. She’d been walking along the boardwalk, passing mansion after mansion in search of Andrea Harris’s house.

  Carley retraced her steps, not taking her eyes off her phone. All these houses had high walls and security gates around them. It was impossible to tell which one was the right one. She should have asked Jessica for a photo instead of an address.

  It has to be this house or the one beside it.

  Carley almost dropped her phone when she collided with someone. She looked up as she apologized and was met by hazel-green eyes. She’d almost knocked down a runner. Her hair was tied back in a ponytail and her skin glistened, covered in a light sweat.

  “Are you okay?” Carley asked.

  “I’m fine,” the woman said in an English accent. “You should watch where you’re going.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I’m just trying to find this house,” Carley said, holding up her phone with the map. “You don’t happen to know where Andrea Harris lives, do you?”

  Carley didn’t know what the chances of this woman knowing Andrea Harris were, but if she lived around here, she might just know which house was hers. Jessica gave her the impression that she was practically famous around here.

  “A friend of mine gave me her address,” Carley said when the woman didn’t answer her. “And Google Maps brought me this far, but there’s two or three houses along here, and I don’t know which one it is.

  “Who’s your friend?”

  “Her name’s Jessica. She used to work for Andrea.”

  The woman nodded. “I know Jessica... She got fired, right?”

  Carley thought she sounded like she was from London, but she couldn’t be sure. “Yeah. She was her P.A.”

  “I hear she goes through a lot of them,” the woman said with a slight smirk.

  “I don’t know, but Jessica was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.”

  “And what do you want from Andrea?”

  “I was hoping to be her new P.A.”

  “Really?” the woman asked, her eyebrow arching.

  “Yeah,” Carley said with a sigh. “It’s kind of a long story, but I was robbed a few days ago, and I need a job that pays better than the bartending gig I have right now.”

  “Okay... What do you know about her?”

  “About Andrea Harris? Not much. Jessica said she was a successful business woman, but I’m not entirely sure of what she does. Judging by the neighborhood, she must be good at it,” Carley said, glancing at the high walls and the gated entrance behind her.

  “Maybe you should do a little research before you go looking for a job with someone,” the woman said, her hands on her waist.

  “I didn’t have time. Jessica said that she’d be hiring someone else immediately, that Andrea can’t function without an assistant. That’s why I’m here. I’m broke, stranded, and a long way from home.”

  “Where’s home?”

  “Connecticut. I was traveling around Europe. I’ve been on the road for a few weeks now, working my way through France and now Spain. I was supposed to go to Portugal next week, but I need to replenish my funds first and get a new passport... I’m Carley, by the way,” she said, extending her hand.

  “Carley... Nice name,” the woman said as she shook it, but she didn’t offer her own name. She took her phone out of the pouch that was strapped to her arm. “Give me your number, and I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate it,” Carley said as she entered her name and phone number into the woman’s phone. “I’m hardworking, and I’ve worked at a lot of different jobs.”

  The woman didn’t acknowledge her as she put her phone away again and took off running, her toned figure disappearing into the crowd.

  Well, that was strange....

  Carley stood there for a few seconds before she turned and started walking back towards her hostel. The last few days had been so stressful. When she’d gotten off the bus in Marbella and her bag wasn’t in the hold underneath, she went into a panic, searching again and checking all the other bags that were around her in case someone had taken hers by mistake, but it wasn’t there.

  She’d been robbed, and all she could think of was how stupid she’d been to leave her American passport and her wallet in the bag she’d put in the hold. She’d kept the cash she’d had and her Irish passport in the messenger bag that she’d brought onto the bus with her. She’d had such a safe experience on her travels so far that she’d let her guard down. That was the first time she’d made that mistake, and she would never take that chance again.

  At least she had another passport. Carley wasn’t totally stranded. She applied for an Irish passport and citizenship when she realized she was entitled to them. Her father’s mother was born in Ireland, and that gave her access to an Irish passport which would make traveling through Europe a lot easier.

  Carley still needed to replace her American one, though. She’d done some research last night, and the nearest U.S. Embass
y was in Fuengirola. She’d take a bus there tomorrow and get the process started. She’d already gone into a police station in Marbella to report the robbery. That hadn’t taken long, and hopefully the staff in the embassy would be just as helpful.

  Chapter Four

  Andrea sat down in front of her computer, her wet hair tied back in a messy bun. She needed to get her security back in order. She’d already changed the passcodes for the gates outside. Now she wanted to change the password to her email account, but she couldn’t even remember it herself. She’d already typed in seven different attempts.

  Andrea rested her head on the glossy white worktop. Jessica was the one who stayed on top of her emails.

  Wait... Jessica kept a master password sheet somewhere.

  Andrea searched through all the files on her computer in the documents folder and came across a file called ‘PW List.’ She double clicked on it and, thankfully, there were all her passwords. She logged into her email account and started the lengthy process of updating them. She really needed to find a new P.A. as soon as possible. She couldn’t be spending time on things like this every day.

  Andrea picked up her phone and scrolled through her contact list until she found Carley’s name. Carley Morrison.

  Andrea started typing a message.

  I heard you’re looking for a job. You were at the right location. On the gates outside my house, you’ll see ‘NO8DO.’ Be here at eight o’clock tonight. Andrea

  She pressed send before she thought about it too much. Anyone would do right now, and the fact that Carley was desperate could be an advantage. She’d work hard, and Andrea couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but even though Carley had bumped into her while she was running, Andrea liked her. For some strange reason, she could see herself trusting her.