After Him: An Enemies-To-Lovers Romance (Virgin Island Series Book 1)

by L. L. James

  After Him

  Virgin Island Series

  L.L. James

  Copyright © 2020 by L.L. James

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  For all you lovers out there.

  One

  Carmen Hogue had to either be the biggest idiot in the known universe, or she’d completely lost her mind. She preferred to think that she’d merely lost her marbles, but given her current predicament, she had to reluctantly admit to a liberal amount of stupidity.

  Just when had sensible, realistic, pragmatic Carmen Hogue lost her ever-loving mind one might wonder? Where exactly had her life had gone so completely wrong?

  She’d say, beyond a shadow of a doubt, it was the moment her darling, dear, pregnant—make that enormously pregnant—sister had looked at her with big, sad blue eyes and said with sugary sweetness, “You know I love you and you’re my best friend, right? And I feel I can always rely on you? Well Carm, I’m in a fix and I need you. I need your help.”

  With those few pleading words her sanity had stood up, waved fair-well and leapt right out the window without a backward glance. Poof! Out the door faster than thief at midnight.

  By the look of things—and the fact that she currently sat on an airplane crossing the ocean—her sanity appeared to be in no particular hurry to return.

  But wasn’t that just the way it always went? Just when Carmen had things laid out nice and tidy, no surprises in sight, life came barreling around the corner and blindsided her right upside the head. Wham! Stealing away her sanity and common sense for no good reason other than to laugh heartily while she sat dazed and confused in the middle of the road.

  To be completely honest, maybe her sanity hadn’t been stolen. Perhaps she’d just given it away. Unfortunately that was a distinct possibility.

  Taking a calming sip, she snorted into her plastic cup of airline ginger ale. Yep, that would be something I’d do. Wrap it up in a pretty little box with a nice gift card on it, and simply hand it on over with a big, stupid smile on my face. Just like I don’t mind at all and wouldn’t even miss it.

  Truth of it was, Carmen could have said no to her sister. Should have said no. She had no business pretending to be something she wasn’t. Something she really had no idea how to be.

  And she most certainly had no business pretending to be something she wasn’t in another country with a whole gaggle of people waiting anxiously at home dependent on her to pull it off. But damn it all, she’d been beyond pissed on Kate’s behalf and had wanted to do something. Just not this.

  Sighing deep, Carm slung back the last of the ginger ale and wished fervently that it were something stronger. Much stronger. Wiping the back of her hand across her full lips, she gazed around the cabin of the plane and tried to locate the flight attendant. A good stiff drink might be just the thing to help calm her nerves.

  Unfortunately, all attendants were curiously absent of the cabin. Sighing again, she hit the stewardess button, slouched back into her seat and turned her attention to the vast stretch of blue sky out the small rectangular window. When I get home I really think I need to take a course in assertiveness 101. You know, learn how to say no?

  Carm let her gaze focus on her reflection in the glass and whispered, “No.” Such a simple word, really. So why was it so terribly hard to say when it mattered?

  “Excuse me, miss. Did you say something?”

  Jerking back, she swung around in the narrow seat, blue eyes wide and swallowed a gasp of surprise. “Nope, no I didn’t say a word.” See, easy to say when it doesn’t matter.

  The flight attendant gazed for a lingering moment on Carm and smiled blandly. “Well, since you did hit the button and I’m over here is there anything that I can get for you?”

  Tipping the corners of her lips into an equally bland smile, she decided against the drink and replied, “No, thank you.”

  Nodding her tightly coiled head, the attendant turned to leave.

  “Oh, wait. Shoot. I did want something.” She did want that drink, after all.

  Faint annoyance shimmered in the attendants eyes for a brief moment before the false smile reappeared, “Oh, really? What would you like?”

  Ooh, sounds like someone had a bug crawl up her butt this morning. “I would much appreciate a glass of white wine, if you have it. Nothing too dry, please.”

  “Very well. Just a moment.” The attendant ducked hurriedly down the aisle away from Carm, leaving her once again alone. She gazed after her a moment then shrugged her shoulders and stifled a yawn. Covering her mouth with a hand, she yawned again, her tired body protesting the early morning rush.

  After the day she’d experienced, she considered a five a.m. flight a cruel act of inhumanity. She’d had to get up at the ungodly hour of three a.m. to make the blasted thing and she’d never been up that early for anything before in her life. Then again, Carm had never been asked to take a trip to the British Virgin Islands before either.

  Nope. Never. Well, that was until yesterday when her sister had dropped the bomb on her.

  There she’d been, sitting comfy-as-you-please on her deep cushioned couch, a cup of steaming coffee—which was rather excellent, by the way—in her hand, talking about the upcoming baby. It was no surprise to her that her sister’s scumbag ex-husband was a monstrous prick, but what her sister proceeded to spill to her next blew her away.

  Putting a bracing hand over her swollen belly, Kate stated, “I’m going to lose my business. Mark is doing all he can to see fit that I go under.”

  “What? You’ve got to be joking? Why on earth would he do a thing like that? You started the coffee house. It’s yours, not his.”

  Grimacing, Kate’s face flushed a deep rose. Averting her eyes, Kate chewed on her bottom lip for a moment and muttered, “Well, technically that’s not true. Mark gave me some of his trust fund money to start the company and I made him a silent partner. He insisted that I add a clause into the contract stating that in the event Café Venetia suffered and were about to fold he would gain control. He would then be able to decide what to do with it.”

  Puffing a long strand of caramel brown hair over her eye on a huff of breath, Kate continued, “Now, before you give me that look, let me finish. I thought it a sound decision at the time. It was before we were married and he had all the security. Not me. Mark’s family has all that money, after all, and they would have cleaned up his mess. Not mine. That’s why we wrote it that way in the contract. I see now it was a stupid move on my part.”

  Running her hands through her shoulder length blond hair, Carm held the ends at the base of her neck and asked, “Ok, so what is going on? I thought business was doing well. In fact, didn’t you just hire a new barista a month or so ago and that new manager?”

  Kate sighed, rubbed her stomach in slow circles. “Business is doing well. That’s not the problem. The problem is my coffee supplier. He’s threatening to void our agreement.”

  Surprise showed on Carm’s face and she glanced down at the heavy orange mug in her hand. “You mean this supplier? The one that makes the best beans ever? The elite supplier from somewhere in the Caribbean? The one that grows small amounts of high-end, organic coffee beans high in the mountains? That supplier?”

  Kate reached for her own flowered mug of decaf on the rattan end table and nodded, “The one and only. I worked
so hard for that deal. The old British man who owned the company gave me a run for my money, I’ll tell you. He was very hesitant to throw his hat in with a small independent start up café. Eventually I wore him down and convinced him to take a chance on me. Until recently it’s worked out beautifully.”

  Taking a sip of the rich, creamy brew, Carm lifted a lightly arched brow. “Then what’s the problem?”

  Kate sighed again, “I caught Mark in bed with those twins from Vegas and threw him out, that’s what. He’s decided that I have too much delicate information. He’s terrified I’ll use it to ruin him in the eyes of his very affluent family. Mark’s feeling vulnerable and vindictive and is doing a preemptive strike in order to discredit me. He’s determined to see me drown so I’ll maintain my silence. Cock-eyed, totally warped logic if you ask me, but there it is. Never mind the fact that I’m carrying his child, or that we had at one time been madly in love enough to pledge our undying devotion to one another.”

  “Rat bastard.” Carm mumbled into her mug.

  Lifting her mug high in the air, Kate saluted, “My sentiments exactly.”

  She gazed across the room at her sister perched on the couch with pillows under her feet looking like she’d swallowed a beach ball. How could any man do such a horrible thing to a woman he once loved enough to marry?

  Adjusting positions, she tucked her fuzzy slipper-covered feet underneath her in the oversized chair. It was bad enough Kate had lost her house and had been forced to move in with her, but to lose her passion and life’s work as well? That was just three kinds of wrong.

  A wave of anger for her beloved sister washed over her as she gazed at Kate. No one was going to push her sister around, not if she had anything to do about it.

  “Tell me the rest. Get it all out so that I can see what needs to be done.”

  A small smile lifted Kate’s puffy face, reminding Carm how pretty she usually was with her long caramel hair and bright blue eyes. The past month of bed rest was taking toll on her, however.

  Gone was the rosy complexion and full volume, silky hair. Lanky strands and puffy skin had taken their place due to lack of exercise and medication. Even Kate’s poor toes looked like swollen little sausages. And she still had over two months to go. Poor thing. Kate was one pregnant woman that really did look like a beached whale, albeit a really cute one.

  Feeling very protective of Kate and her soon-to-be niece or nephew, she resolved to do whatever needed to be done to help. Although a first grade teacher and not a businesswoman, Carm could fully understand the consequences of losing one’s sole supplier in a business dependent on the best quality coffee available. Especially if one wanted a fighting chance against the big name chain coffee houses.

  “My supplier died.”

  Carm’s eyes whipped over to her sister and she sputtered, “Excuse me? What did you say?”

  Kate huffed again (must be hard to breathe around all that belly), “I said, my supplier died. The owner of Blue Mist Coffees dropped dead a few months ago. I didn’t think much about it at the time since I had a standing agreement. Well that, and I was wrapped up in dealing with a lying, cheating, louse of a husband. Anyway, Mark has recently found out about the supplier’s death and has decided to use it to his advantage. He’s been calling down there, making outrageous claims. I don’t know what he’s saying to the new owner or my other contacts, but so far I’ve lost my bakery supplier due to Mark’s vindictiveness and now I’m about to lose my coffee supplier.”

  Wishing a nasty STD on the jerk, she inquired, “What about calling the new owner yourself or getting a different supplier? Who is the new owner anyway? Have they given any indication of reneging on the agreement?”

  Tears began swimming in Kate’s eye, and she wiped at them with a swollen hand. “I wish it were as easy as simply finding a new supplier, but it’s not. The new owner is the son, a William Stokes. And yes, he has implied such a thing. In fact, I received a call from him last week. I tried every thing I could think of to reassure him and retain his faith in me, but it appears that Mark’s already made a trip down there to meet with this man in person.”

  Looking at Carm with watery eyes, Kate sniffed, “I’m on very shaky ground right now. Mark has been blacklisting me with every available coffee supplier, using his connections to make sure no one will come within fifty feet of me. Add to all of this that he has also withdrawn all his financial support and backing and I’m left with next to nothing. It hasn’t been cheap to hire a full-time manager to take over while I’m incapacitated—and with the cost of medical insurance these days, I don’t see how I’m going to get through this.”

  Carm watched with an aching heart as Kate wiped at a tear and continued, “And this William Stokes won’t listen to me. Not over the phone. He insists that I meet with him in person to go over things and take a closer look at the agreement. He’s bailing, Carm. I know it. And I’ll be left with nowhere to turn as Mark has made sure of that with all of his contacts and nastiness.”

  Kate thumped her fist against the couch cushion and squeezed her eyes shut. “All of this torment because he’s afraid his hoity-toity family might find out their precious Harvard graduate likes to dress as a Vegas showgirl while doing the horizontal mambo in groups.”

  Carm snorted, she couldn’t help herself. “Damned blue-bloods. Think only about appearances, don’t they? Remind me to never become involved with one, ok? On a side note, was that little weasel really wearing the full costume?”

  Kate peeked an eye open. “Tassels, feathers, and all.”

  She snorted again and covered her mouth with her hand. Shaking with silent laughter, she looked at her sister and caught a glimmer of amusement in Kate’s eyes and faintly turned up lips. Now that’s more like it. There’s my sister.

  “All joking aside—which Mark as a showgirl is actually pretty damned hilarious—what can I do to help?”

  And that’s when it had happened. That precise moment when her sanity had taken a flying leap out the window on a permanent vacation. Ok, so maybe she really had given it away.

  Kate had proceeded to beg her to take a trip down to Blue Mist Coffees in her place to stop the owner from bailing and renegotiate the terms of the agreement. Never mind that Carm knew nothing about business. She knew plenty about Elmer’s glue, rubber cement and the ABC’s. If Kate had said someone wanted a Santa made on red construction paper with a cotton ball beard, she had them covered, but she knew nothing about negotiating terms with high-powered businessmen.

  Especially when her sister’s life—and the life of her unborn child—depended upon it. But, before she knew it, all good sense had disappeared in the wake of a pair of watery blue eyes and a swollen belly.

  And the clincher? The one thing that tipped the scale? Beside Kate informing her that the ticket had already been purchased and arrangements made on her behalf?

  One word: please.

  Just that simple. And Carm was in way over her head, pretending to be a savvy businesswoman when she was really a first grade teacher; making or breaking a deal that determined the fate of her beloved sister’s livelihood and all who worked for her.

  Just another average day in the life of Carmen Hogue. No big deal. No sweat, nothing to it.

  Yeah right.

  How could she say no? Kate certainly couldn’t do it. She couldn’t even get off the couch for longer than it took to go pee, much less hop on a plane bound for the British Virgin Islands to placate a cold, unsympathetic businessman.

  No, the health of her unborn baby was Kate’s first—and only—priority in Carm’s mind. And Kate didn’t trust anyone else to do it. She didn’t even trust any of her employees. Kate had no way of knowing who her loser ex had talked to at the café and coerced with false promises into sabotaging her.

  When it came right down to it, she was the only option. That’s why common sense had packed a bag, pulled on a traveling hat and hit the road.

  Which explained why she found herself sitting aboa
rd a plane bound for the beautiful tropical island of Tortola on a sunny Friday afternoon. It also explained how she was forced into playing hardball with a man she’d never met, over a bit of business she knew nothing about.

  Well, almost nothing. Next to nothing. No more than the little bit of knowledge she’d gained during her brief cram session with Kate.

  Shaking her head to clear her mind, Carm stretched her long, linen clad legs out in front of her and shifted to find a more comfortable position. Plane seats were definitely not made for tall women.

  Finally finding a relatively comfortable spot perched on her left hip with her body facing the window, she startled at the voice that came over the speakers. Nerves jumped to life in her stomach as the pilot announced arrival time loomed a mere ten minutes away.

  After a long, exhausting day of plane hopping she should have been thrilled to be at her destination. However, she felt a faint prickle of fear tingle the back of her neck as she gazed down at the island slowly coming in to view below.

  She was in way over her head.

  As the plane started the final decent all Carm could do was pray that someone down below would be kind enough to throw her a life jacket when she started to drown.

  Tortola was stunning. Shielding her eyes against the brilliant glare of the late afternoon sun, Carm surveyed her surroundings as she waited outside the airport for a taxi. There wasn’t a car rental at the airport and she needed one to take her across the bridge onto the main island and her hotel. Once there she would call Kate to let her know she had arrived safely and go over the details for the meeting one last time.

  Kate was relying on her to straighten the mess out and she wanted to be as prepared as she could be, considering she’d learned this bit of news only yesterday morning.

  A hint of spice stirred the balmy air, turning Carm’s attention. She closed her eyes a moment and took a deep breath in appreciation. Wanting to locate the wonderful smell she opened her eyes and turned to the side. And smiled broadly at the sight before her. A small, dark island girl in a bright pink dress held a woven basket full of brightly colored tropical flowers.