by Debbie Flint
But where was Mac? He wasn’t answering his mobile – neither was Alexis. Sadie grabbed her bag and rushed out the door. Were they together? God forbid. She didn’t know. She didn’t know about a lot of things right now, but it was time to find out.
The waves usually worked his troubles away. The effort, the pounding against the body, the extreme coordination of muscles and mind. Usually surfing left Mac satiated, spent – like good sex. But without the annoying ‘morning after’.
This time, however, he felt nothing.
Mac stopped. Gave up. It wasn’t working. Nothing was working.
No matter how hard he tried, no matter how many waves he caught, no matter how much he tested his body with sheer physical effort, he could not shake the sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Losing to Tremain.
Beaten by slimeball Peter Galloway.
Worried about Bill.
But most of all a mixture of concern and disgust over Sadie.
‘Women,’ he said out loud, hauling himself and his board up the beach.
But the hut wasn’t empty. Inside, Alexis sat waiting. She’d also been swimming and was drying herself down. She threw her damp towel at him and it landed squarely around his face. She laughed. Mac didn’t.
‘Mmmm. Seems that six-pack is even more defined than I recall. Still looking good, Boss Man.’ And she reached out to trace her fingers along his stomach, which was dripping wet as he breathed deeply from his exertion. He caught her hand and pushed past it, throwing the wet towel aside and heading for the little shower behind a screen at the back of the hut. Mac grabbed a fresh towel and placed it on the hook, then disappeared behind the screen.
‘Okay, so what’s the news on Bill? Did you get through at last?’
‘Sure, it’s not good, Mac. He’s had some kind of seizure. It may be something he ate. Or one of his kooky Hawaiian herbs. His assistant was very worried about him. Said it’s touch and go. He’s in isolation until they get the test results, in case it’s something more serious. No visitors. Even you.’
Mac was behind the screen, removing his shorts.
Alexis went on, ‘But the assistant, what’s she called …?’
‘Makini.’
‘Yes, I knew it was some weird name.’
‘They’re all weird to you, Alexis,’ he said, popping just his face back out from behind the screen as he threw his shorts on the ground.
She wrinkled her nose at him, but he ignored her.
‘Well, anyway, she did witness the signing. Bill did sign over the company. She’s confirmed it. Peter’s in charge.’
Mac heard it all, but didn’t respond, just turned the shower on full, directly onto his face.
‘Sorry.’ She stood and picked up the wet towel and hung it over the top of the screen. Then took a step closer towards the shower area. ‘I’m sorry it didn’t work out, Mac. A deal ain’t done till the ink is signed, huh. Just a shame it was the wrong ink this time.’
‘Thanks,’ Mac replied.
‘Anything else I can do? For you? Boss Man? Like … anything?’
‘No, but thanks for your help. You can go now. There’s no phone signal here, so you can get my driver to take you if you like. Tell him to come back for me afterwards. He’s up in the car park waiting in the limo.’
‘Yes, I saw him. Waiting to make sure you were safely out of the water. Someone’s always looking out for you, huh, Mac. Thanks, maybe I will. Or … maybe I have my own plans.’ She got up and sashayed over to look out at the ocean. ‘What’s it like always having to be babysat, Mac? Simon’s like a nanny, isn’t he? At least BJ is his own man.’
Mac ignored her dig. She and BJ had never cared for Simon.
And, yes, Simon took care of Mac – he was always taking care of Mac. Always giving strict instructions to ensure Mac’s safety. Another few months and that wouldn’t be necessary – the tight schedules and stressful deadlines would all be over.
Well, maybe it can happen sooner, now …
Mac stepped further into the shower and gasped as the hot water hit his body. He contemplated his options. At least this next step was obvious – and the pounding of the shower spray was just what his body needed. He rubbed his chest and washboard stomach under the running water, feeling the tension in his muscles dissipate slightly.
But the tightness inside his gut was still there.
Turning the shower off, Mac realised he still had a bit of soap in his eyes, and started to rub them but only made it worse, so he kept them firmly shut. But when he reached around to feel for his towel, it wasn’t there. It must have fallen onto the wet floor.
‘Alexis?’
There was no reply. She must have gone. Probably just as well. Last time he’d been this low, this vulnerable, she’d also conveniently shown up and had preyed on his weakness.
Damn women.
They were all the same.
Weren’t they?
Who knows. Who cares? Maybe it really was too late for Mac to change.
Now where’s that towel rack?
Feeling along the wall to the shelf where the towels were kept, he finally felt the fluffy edge of some towelling, and pulled it towards him. But what he actually did was pull Alexis’s dressing gown wide open. She hadn’t gone at all. Instead, she’d undressed, and was standing up close to him, naked underneath it.
‘Alexis!’ Mac retreated back behind the screen and washed the soap from his eyes with water. ‘You’re the limit, you know that.’
‘I gotta shower too, Boss Man. Sure you don’t wanna come back in with me?’
‘No, I don’t, and cover yourself up. Those days are long gone. Hand me a towel, please.’
She reached for one round the corner, and he watched her in the mirror, peeking past the screen just far enough to make a ‘wow’ face at his naked rear view. He caught her and scowled. She shrugged, handed him the towel, and retreated. Then Mac emerged with it wrapped around his middle, she’d given him a small one – only just long enough to reach round. You could see the muscular thighs peeping out from the slit at the front. He pushed past Alexis and grabbed another towel for his hair.
‘Shower’s all yours,’ he said. ‘I’m out of here.’ Be civil, Mac, be civil.
‘Need me to do that?’ She moved in closer and started rubbing his hair, but he suddenly stopped and pulled her roughly to him by the arm. She offered her mouth to him. But instead of kissing her, he just held her still, trapping her arms by her side.
‘Ancient history, Alexis,’ he snarled. ‘I told you before. You know my rules. You know how to behave if you want to stick around.’ He glared into her eyes, daring her to respond. She did so, by freeing up her arms and immediately throwing them tightly round his neck.
Mac’s towel started to fall and he tried to grab it. As his arms stopped pushing her away, Alexis thrust her naked body up against him and reached up once more for a kiss. In the tussle his towel dropped to the floor, leaving Mac naked with Alexis skin-to-skin, her dressing gown wide open. But before Mac could react, there was a noise from the doorway.
‘Sadie!’ said Mac.
She was standing there open-mouthed, shocked.
‘The driver said you were in here … Oh for God’s sake, Mac!’ Sadie cried, and ran off.
‘Wait!’ he called. ‘It’s not what you think!’
‘Mac leave her! The heli-taxi’s been ordered for her. She’s leaving on the late night flight. She’s the one that’s outta here. I, on the other hand, am right here in front of you.’ And she stepped forward and thrust her rounded bosom into his chest. He just shook his head, stepped backwards, and turned away, reaching for his clothes.
‘How did she know to come here?’
‘A gal’s gotta do what a gal’s gotta do, Boss Man.’
Suddenly Mac got it. ‘Get away, Alexis. Get back to BJ before I tell him everything.’
‘And lose your best funding buddy? I don’t think so. But I’m going anyway. It just got kinda dull around here.’ She pulled her dress over her head and grabbed her bag. ‘And you just got kinda boring. Usually this body doesn’t need to beg.’ And she stomped off towards the door.
Mac chased past her after Sadie but the wind was picking up and she was almost back to the car park. He went to shout, then changed his mind.
‘Dammit.’ He stood on the darkened beach, the warm Hawaiian night breeze blowing his damp hair around, looking like a shot from one of those calendars, but with no one there to appreciate the view.
Alexis was off to take his limo. Way in front of her, Sadie had already reached her waiting cab.
If she looks back …
But she didn’t. She got straight in, and they pulled away without a backward glance. He watched the cab disappear slowly out of sight, taking Sadie with it. Mac felt frozen to the spot. The ache in his chest doubled. Now it actually hurt. What was that ache? Maybe he’d pulled something.
A minute later, Mac’s limo also whisked Alexis away, leaving an empty car park – apart from one other brave soul sitting in their black Mercedes. I wonder if he’s got women trouble too, Mac thought.
At last, he turned and walked back to the beach hut, kicking up the sand angrily as he went. Well this trip had been a turn up for the books and no mistake.
Maybe it’s for the best, he thought.
He had, after all, taken Sadie halfway round the world on a gigantic goose-chase. And Mac didn’t know how to handle ‘goose’. Usually everything just worked out – so smoothly, so efficiently, so predictably. What Mac wants, Mac gets …
Except this time.
Mac finished dressing and sat staring into space for a while.
Once again, Mac was all alone.
There was a growing battle in his head and it refused to be quashed. And right in the middle of the maelstrom, was his conscience.
Yes, he should try to contact Sadie. He needed to explain about Alexis. He shouldn’t have to, but he felt the need to. Why, God only knows.
But then what good would it do? She wouldn’t believe him, and in any case, he’d done exactly the same and not believed her about Peter earlier on. The irony wasn’t lost on Mac. Touché.
What a mess. A right royal botched up mess.
Proving once and for all, that women had no place in his business life. Especially this woman – in fact, she had no place in his life for either business or pleasure.
But no sooner had he thought it than the same angst-ridden feeling was gnawing at his gut once more. His head was saying ‘let her go’. But his heart was telling a different story.
Finally, he sat on the steps of the hut, swigging a beer and feeling the warm wind on his face, feeling more down than he’d felt in years. It hit Mac like a sledgehammer that even now, after all that had happened, there was only one person in the world he would have wanted to be with right now. And in that moment he knew that was precisely why he had to let her go.
It wasn’t too late to charter a private jet – better get the hell out of here, before he changed his mind.
Chapter Fifteen
Back in her hotel room, Sadie’s case was open and clothes strewn all over the bed. The run back to the cab in the humid air had made her need yet another shower, and she calmed herself beneath the bracing spray.
Seeing Alexis and Mac in the beach hut had been such a shock. All thoughts of finding Mac and telling him her theory about Bill had gone straight out of her head. Instead, all she kept seeing were flashbacks of Alexis’s perfect ample boobs pushing up against Mac’s washboard stomach. She felt sick, she felt angry, and she wanted to punch something.
As she stomped through reception, she’d seen Graham and Derek, who were bickering amongst themselves about an email from Alexis. They too had also been booked unceremoniously on the next plane back home. Sadie wasn’t sure why, but she soon found out. Before she bid them goodbye, the guys had made the bottom drop even further out of Sadie’s world, by announcing to her that according to the email MCA were giving up on the deal, that was it, game over. And they told her Peter Galloway’s definitive triumph. Derek and Graham were miffed about the last minute changes, but they already had their next assignment for BJ.
Now back in her room she was resolute. Soon the heli-taxi would whisk Sadie away to the airport for the late night flight, and a day later she’d be home. What a difference a day makes.
Her mind was racing. Just what was Mac’s game? She was sick of it.
Men!
When will you learn, Sadie, me girl? When will you learn?
Give them a wide berth till the girls are grown – that was the plan. Stick to the plan. It’s a good one. Then you can’t get hurt. Yes, good plan.
Coming out of the shower, she noticed the light flashing on the phone on her bedside table. Her heart pounded as she pressed the button to listen to the message, then chastised herself for still hoping beyond hope that it would be Mac.
But it was Peter’s smarmy voice that began talking.
‘Sadie, they said you’re packing but don’t leave. Not just yet. I need to see you, but I have some important business to attend to first. It’s true, things have changed, but … there’s more to tell. Don’t leave. I will contact you later.’
What the …?
Would he repeat his offer? Should she complete her alienation from Mac by jumping ship? For the sake of her own fortunes? Or just pack her bags once and for all and go home back to her everyday life once more?
She wished she could ask Mac his advice. But he was the last person she’d be able to talk to right now. Not after what happened on the beach. Maybe Bill could have advised her. In any case, Sadie didn’t want to leave without at least saying goodbye. And if he was able to just listen, thank the old man for giving her such an amazing opportunity – even if it hadn’t worked out. If she could sneak past the hospital militia to see him.
She sat in her dressing gown, thought it through, then made a few calls.
Peter Galloway was not answering. Sadie chose not to leave a message.
And she tried Simon a dozen times but he must still be in transit.
She was missing her daughters enormously, and her mum, she admitted begrudgingly. Although she’d probably get a right ‘told you so’ for going off gallivanting and it not working out. What would she do next? Maybe one more call to Peter, just in case … But she felt the pit of her stomach fall away at the notion of ‘going over to the dark side’, along with a huge wave of guilt that she’d been away from home for so long. What a mess.
She wasn’t really hungry but her tummy seemed to have recovered enough to nibble something, and for the first time this trip she thought what the hell, and ordered the most expensive item on the menu to go on Mac’s bill.
Serves him right, she thought.
A knock at the door had Sadie scrambling for her robe, calling as she did so.
‘Just a minute!’
But it wasn’t her chateaubriand at the door.
It was Mac.
‘Oh,’ she said, the sight of him immediately making tears prickle at the back of her eyes. Suddenly she couldn’t breathe. ‘What do you want?’ she asked. Her chin was proud, her face strong, but her resolve was weak. If he’d taken her into his arms right then and there, she would have had him back – back! What are you talking about? You never had him in the first place.
‘I wanted to explain,’ he said. ‘I needed … to explain. I owe you an apology.’
‘There’s no need. What you and Alexis get up to is totally your affair.’
‘We weren’t getting up to anything. She is very persistent, she was t
rying to kiss me, and my towel slipped.’
‘How very convenient.’
‘Sadie, there’s no need to be like this,’ Mac said.
‘Oh, but there is. Doesn’t this sound familiar, Mac? You didn’t believe me about Peter. And this is no different.’
‘Well, it is a bit,’ he said.
‘Okay, yes it is. He tried to kiss me in public, fully clothed, and Alexis tried to kiss you in a private beach hut, stark naked!’
‘Sadie, I’m sorry. Okay, it works both ways. Let’s … let’s forgive each other and at least leave on good terms. I had such high hopes …’
‘Yeh because what Mac wants, Mac gets, right?’ She turned away from him and began clearing some of the mess into her suitcase.
He just smiled, closed the door, and walked towards the window. Sadie pulled her robe around her more tightly. Suddenly alone in a room with Mac again, with next to nothing on, made her senses heighten.
‘Did you see the sunset?’ he asked. Her window looked out over the ocean. ‘It was the most amazing cacophony of crimsons and oranges and deepest yellows.’
The sun had also all but set on one of the most eventful days of Sadie’s life. She joined him at the window and sighed.
‘Yes, I saw it.’
‘Amazing, wasn’t it?’
Nothing was said for the longest moment, and then Mac broke the silence.
‘Sadie, don’t go.’
‘What?’
‘I said I don’t think you should go.’
‘Mac, I don’t know what to say,’ Sadie said, feeling brighter, despite her best intentions to be angry with him. ‘I was—’
‘I failed. With the deal.’
‘I know.’
‘But it’s not over yet. Peter is likely to make you an offer – you might not have missed out after all,’ Mac went on.
Sadie’s shoulders dropped. So that’s what he came to tell her.
‘Peter may be full of shit, but if I know Tremain he’ll investigate this need for scientific studies before he agrees to do what Peter wants. Especially if there’s money changing hands up-front for bringing you on board. And if he knows what’s good for him – and I think he will – Tremain will want you as part of the deal.’