Becca recognized this man’s voice immediately. It could not belong to anyone else but Joe Snowden.
How cheesy!
She’d ditched him many times before. He should have known better. Did her resistance to his attempts to win her over make her even more desirable to him?
What a creep!
He was not going to let her slip away unnoticed, she thought as she prepared to fend him off.
Lidia gave them both a delighted look. “I know how much both of you love to dance!” she said. With that, she turned to the relatives next to her, pretending to immerse herself in their ongoing conversation.
Ballroom dancing had been one of Becca’s passions since childhood. She had taken endless lessons during her teenage years. It was not a very popular activity among teens of her time, but she did not care about fitting in. In fact, her dancing was to blame for her and Austin’s first meeting. She gave a slight sigh. Oh, well, Joe it is.
Joe was indeed an experienced dancer. To be fair, he was also impressively smart at the rehearsal dinner last night. Rebecca could not deny it. So, she decided to take the chance and try to enjoy the moment—especially when other pairs joined them and started to fill up the dance floor.
Cadence was waltzing with her brother, Lidia with her son. People were laughing, chatting at every corner. It was so much fun.
They drank a little of champagne, danced some more, and had more wine. Becca was one of the liveliest girls on the dance floor. Many man were simply too shy to ask her to dance. But Joe powerfully overtook her resistance.
She was carried away in this happy atmosphere and forgot all about the time.
Becca became really receptive to Joe’s smart and witty remarks. It must have been the alcohol talking. She never could get used to drinking.
“…there, it will be just perfect for us…” Joe’s last words were reaching her mushy brain from somewhere far away. She struggled to understand the meaning of what he was saying.
One thought jumped alarmingly into her foggy brain:
O.M.G! She had forgotten all about the meeting with Austin! How stupid of her! How selfish.
“I need to go, Joe! I promised to meet an old friend I have not seen in years,” she mumbled, not quite recognizing her own voice.
“What are you talking about, Becca?” Joe’s words became abrupt and colder than a moment ago. It made her shake off the drowsiness in the instant and start to think more clearly.
“Austin is waiting for me on his boat…”
What! Where had this stupid honesty come from?
She could not believe she was explaining to Joe!
“What? Are you crazy, Becca?!” Joe startled her with the sudden anger in his voice. Was he really that angry?
“Why would you care, Joe?” Becca almost shouted back. She was clearly pissed at herself for her stupidity.
“Why would I care to spend all my free time on this island around you, Becca? Why would I do this,” he gestured around, “if I didn’t have feelings for you?”
He was pacing around the little water fountain they were standing near, rubbing his hand against his chiseled forehead. His other arm was swinging wildly. He looked deeply concerned.
Becca could not quite pinpoint if his concern was for her or for himself…
His gentlemanly demeanor slipped into indifferent coldness. He looked like he was calculating something in silence.
“Forgive my outburst, Becca,” he said. “I just had such a good time with you tonight that I completely lost myself.”
I’ve got to go, Joe,” she said turning toward the marina.
In a rush, she excused herself from the startled Joe and raced from the garden toward the marina. Ironically, she heard the clock strike twelve as she rushed out.
***
Becca ran, skipped a bit, walked, and ran again. Something fluttered in her chest as she approached Austin’s yacht. The lights on the yacht were everywhere. A feeling of anticipation of seeing him filled her to the brim.
He had waited for her. She could see it by the immediate response on his face, when he caught sight of her. He rushed to the dock to meet her.
SEVEN
After couple of hours that Austin spent on his yacht, preparing it for Rebecca’s much anticipated visit, he felt exhausted and excited at the same time. When the sun began to set, he glanced at the clock, wondering what could be taking her so long.
Time stood still. The minute hand of the oversized clock sitting in the corner of the cabin slipped just a little more each time he looked at it.
She’s late, he thought, starting to get nervous.
Had she changed her mind?
A swoosh of panic entered in his tired brain. Doubt grew even stronger.
She was an hour late. Could she possibly have gotten into some kind of trouble on this serene friendly island? With her looks? Damn, sure she could! She probably did something stupid.
He remembered vividly catching all those hungry male eyes staring at her, when they thought nobody was looking. Austin knew that wild side of her when she lost herself and let her true playful nature take over. That “normal person” shell she invented for herself could be broken. He had that power over her. He could unleash that fun girl within when they were together.
Austin contemplated going in search of her and bringing her here and never letting her go anywhere alone again! If he had his way, that would be rule number one for her: Never leave his sight. But whom he was kidding? She had passed that innocent age when she needed a babysitter or would listen to reason—especially coming from the man like him.
I have no one to blame except myself! he thought.
He had been an idiot for not considering her safety before.
When it started to look like she would never come, he caught a faint sound of footsteps. Probably her fancy heels clicking against the old wooden pier as she rushed to the yacht—he hoped.
He hurried to the dock and saw her beautiful a little silhouette quickly approaching. She struggled on the pier, her heels sliding on the old wooden planks. Finally she kicked them off her feet and let out a lovely giggle, shrugging her delicious bare shoulders.
That should be the rule number two, he thought: Never, ever expose those curves for public observation!
Austin sighed with relief. She had come to him, unharmed. That was a good beginning… She stumbled on something and swore to herself. Then, she picked up her purse and ran toward him, like a little girl would run toward the magic unicorn of her dreams.
Austin noticed with horror the bloody footprints with each step she took. He ran toward her, scooping her up. She fell right into his arms.
“Rebecca, oh my God! You hurt yourself! Let me see!” He tried to lift her foot from the ground.
She acted unaffected by what he was fussing about. Austin was terrified by the cut that run across the bleeding sole of her left foot.
“Oh! Hi to you too! That would be more appropriate,” she protested, pouting her full lips and grabbing his crisp, white shirt with both hands, pulling him toward her face. She was about to place a hot kiss on his willing, greedy lips, when it struck him, that something was wrong with her behavior.
He quickly assessed her light-headed demeanor, her fast intimacy, her tolerance to pain which should have come with a cut that size, and her giggles. She must be drunk! Or worse!
“Let me carry you to the boat, Rebecca,” he said. “You have no shoes. And this metal step-ladder is just too spiky—even for you!” He smirked.
She did not mind a bit! She was light and soft and smelled like a medicine cabinet with spilled alcohol rub.
Austin carried her to the kitchen and gently placed her on the countertop. She giggled even more. He worried about her cut and her current state.
“You are such a romantic, Awe-ste-e-en,” she drawled with a sexy inflection in her voice. “I did not come without shoes…It’s just …they were so tiring and I was in such a rush to…” She paused and looked at him
seductively. She did not mumble like a drunken person would. She was deliberately trying to look sexy and sound stupid. He did not like it at all. Was she playing some kind of game?
His head was spinning. His body was trembling with sudden desire for her. He just simply could not think straight. But think he must!
She was still talking when he hurried to get the first aid kit.
Where in hell was it?
Finally, he found it He ripped it open searching frantically for the antiseptic and sterile pads to take care of her wounded foot.
By the time he was done cleaning and dressing the cut, she had quieted. She was leaning back against the wall. Perched on the countertop, she was sound asleep…
Shit, Shit, Shit!
He tried hard not to disturb her sleep as he carried her from the dining room to his sleeping quarters.
This was not the way he intended to spend the night—especially after her attempts to kiss him. With a sigh, he placed her gently on his oversized bed…
She looked so beautiful in her sleep. Some people lose all their attractiveness when they sleep. Not her. Damn his over-stimulated body! It was his manhood responding to her closeness. He cursed his urges.
He wished she was not so hot. Or, that he wasn’t recalling that innocent girl he knew from his past. Why was she acting so strange? She acted as if she were not herself. And she’d fallen asleep all of a sudden. She had not even looked all that tired!
Austin was a man with undeniably strong male instincts. He was a man who could reach ecstatic highs just looking at a beautiful woman. He was also a man who would risk a bullet to protect his woman. It was an automatic response.
The woman on his silk burgundy bedspread looked like a goddess, untouched by man.
Yet, there was no way in hell she could be still a virgin! Weird as it was, the realization that they had never actually had sex before made him uneasy.
She was hot and she was not afraid of him. But she should have been, then, and even now! Men like him were capable of doing crazy things to her. The wild man in him was ready to rip her seductive dress and have her right there. She had been so willing and he was a human male after all!
Watching her, Austin let himself linger on memories of her sweet body, the soft skin he could feel under his touch. He felt his heart soften. His breathing calmed as he relaxed. No one ever saw this soft and mushy side of him.
Austin always guarded himself under the pressure his business provided. He ran a successful natural resources company in the agriculture sector. He had customers all over the world. He dealt with powerful strangers all the time. People thought they knew him well. But, in reality, they did not.
His mind finally succeeded in over-riding his body’s urges. Austin poured himself a glass of wine.
This was not even close to how I expected this night to end, he thought surveying the dining table elegantly set for two.
EIGHT
Becca was staring at the unfamiliar ceiling, wide awake and totally lost in the dream she just had had. The dream had actually scared her. Her heart was tearing in two bloody pieces when she woke up crying. She found herself in a very comfortable, luxurious, but unfamiliar bed.
Just as she started to become fully awake, she remembered vividly the hurt she had experienced in her sleep. In her dream, a strange guy had lured her into a dark corner of an unfamiliar room. She screamed at the sensation of being raped as he pounded at her with the ferocity of an animal. She was torn apart by the sense of injustice.
Somehow, the man in her nightmare felt like Joe and smelled like him. But his face and his well-defined muscular body were so painfully known and desired by her that she almost cried his name: Austin!
What the hell am I doing here?
Was she dreaming again? She realized in instant that she must have been. There was no way she would be in this bed, all dressed, and hurting. Every part of her body weighed a ton. She felt heavy and uncontrolled. Then reality hit her. Her mind started to scream at her with an aching sense of regret.
What had she done?! How come she was in this bed? Thank God she was alone!
She tried frantically to remember what had happened last night. All she could recall was a wedding. Cadence and Rom were a married couple now. How long had she been here? She had not even slightest idea…
***
Austin woke up uncomfortable and stiff from lying on the narrow build-in divan stretched along the wall on opposite side of the room. He thought he’d heard some commotion and quiet cries coming from the bed where Rebecca was sleeping. Austin jolted to his feet, but slowed down a bit not to scare her even more.
She was crying, almost silently, sobbing with her eyes wide open, on his bed in the moonlit room.
“Rebecca,” he said her name softly. He did not know how to deal with this situation.
What was wrong? Was she ashamed of herself for acting like a fool last night? Was her foot hurting? Was the alcohol wearing off?
“Please, Rebecca, tell me what’s wrong.” He came closer to her, trying his best not to make things worse. The last thing he wanted was to increase her sobbing. It was heartbreaking!
She gradually came to her senses. But still she couldn’t guess why she had accepted Austin’s invitation. Taking into account possible consequences, she muttered, “I am so sorry, Austin. So sorry! I never wanted to end up like this at your place. Oh my God!” She sat up and ran her hands through her messy hair. “I don’t even remember how I got here. I did not drink a lot, did I? I wanted to talk. That’s why I came to you! I wanted to see you, to catch up. That’s all.” She started to sob again.
This time, it seemed like her tears were angry tears. She was upset with herself. She jumped out of bed with a look of frustration on her face. Briskly straightening her rumpled cocktail dress, she realized that her foot was bandaged. Becca gave him a questioning look and plunked back down on the edge of the bed. She put her arms down resting her hands on her knees and gave a sigh: “I guess you know much more than I about what had happened,” she said weakly.
Austin needed some answers of his own.
***
When he finally told her about her “grand” entrance last night, he did not mention the part about her being seductive, and trying to kiss him. She seemed not to remember either. He told her that she was probably too tired to withstand the little champagne that she claimed she had and she quickly fell asleep.
But, deep inside, he had a very annoying suspicion. He knew all too well how bad the situation with Rebecca could have ended up if she had not come here to him. The nagging thought that she might have been drugged by some low life would not leave him.
“You did an amazing job with organizing the wedding yesterday, Rebecca. That must have been a tremendous load,” Austin was trying to probe. But, he realized that she was not listening to him. She sat there totally zonked out. She was trembling like a leaf in the wind now. Finally, she asked: “How long was I out?”
To answer her question, he consulted his watch: “It is four in the morning… almost six hours. It’s okay,” he reassured her. “I took good care of you. Thank God you made it to my place.” Austin was getting irritated with himself. “I should’ve come down for you.”
“Did I make out with you?” she asked. “Because I remember nothing… It’s weird and scary!” She shook her head, confused and a bit ashamed of her bold question and even more for the mess she was.
“I am not sure if that would be so bad!” Austin attempted to make a joke. But, he quickly realized how inappropriate it was. “No,” he answered. “But you hurt your foot on the way here. I had to carry you up here, and put you to bed after you passed out on the kitchen countertop, while I was taking care of your cut.”
“You are joking!” She glanced at her feet, and saw that he wasn’t.
“Not at all. But it was kind of funny, though. God, I really had a chance to see you in a different light!”
“So, did I gross you out?” She put bot
h of her palms over her face like little kid, hiding from the truth.
“Yeah, a bit. I never thought I’d be such a pussy about seeing blood.”
“Hmm? You are not a vampire!” she noted with appreciation. She was relieved that nothing really bad had happened.
“Your foot was bleeding quiet badly. I was about to take you to the emergency room, but then you fell asleep, and I managed to stop the bleeding. Thank goodness I had a real doc stock my medicine cabinet and first aid kit with all the meds I’d need on board. You know, I’m at the sea, alone” He gazed out the window behind him. “…often, lately.”
“Thanks, I guess. But that wasn’t why I came here…”
“Are you feeling alright? Hungry? I had a table set up for us last night.” He ignored her last comment.
“Austin, it’s amazing here! I don’t remember you loving the ocean all that much. This must have cost a fortune!” Becca said, ignoring his last words in return.
She was so open with him, so trusting. He almost did not know how to react. In a world where he could not trust many people even slightly, her candidness was like a breath of fresh ocean air that he had learned to love so much!
“I am a grown up man now, Rebecca! Not that stupid, self-centred adolescent who abandoned you and did not even deserve to be around you.”
He wanted to match her honesty. He felt, in that instant, that he could. “I was not a big fan of the water. You are right! And I was not big fan of RELATIONSHIPS. Life changes us in some unexpected ways…” He was surprised how quickly he was ready to expose himself to her judgments, without any reservation, without holding anything back. “Now, what else do you remember, Rebecca? How unfeeling I was? When I left you without any reasonable explanation?”
“Forget it, Austin! I am not hurting anymore. I loved you then and I wanted good things to happen for you. I can’t blame your mother for wanting the same for you…” she looked like an angel descended from the sky, so serene, so open to him.
Time After Time Page 5