by LL Collins
She tapped the screen on her cell phone to check if she had any messages. She didn’t, but she opened the text screen and hit Kayley’s name. She wanted to make sure she knew where she was this weekend and give her a quick update on what happened. Kayley had pushed her to listen to Justin and give him the benefit of the doubt, and she wanted her friend to know that she not only gave him a chance, he did something supremely romantic on top of apologizing. It was a Ben type move, something he would do for Kayley on a whim. It wasn’t that she wanted Ben; it was that she wanted the idea of someone wanting her, desiring her, cherishing her that much.
Sending the text, she put her phone down on the small table next to her and lay her head back, tilting her face into the fading sun. This isn’t at all what she thought she’d be doing this weekend. And if she was honest with herself, she was beyond flattered that Justin had gone all out for her. She had kept everyone away from her for so long that she had never let anyone get close enough to do something this nice for her.
Her eyes found Justin again as he pulled himself out of the water. Her pulse raced as she scanned his body, from the wet hair he was running his hands through, to his broad, muscular shoulders and arms, trim waist sporting an impressive set of abs, and swim shorts that didn’t hide the vee of muscle that led underneath them. Water running down those hot muscles made it even harder for her to stay in her lounge chair. What she wanted to do was run to him and jump on him. Wouldn’t that be interesting¸ she thought to herself.
He strolled towards her, his eyes raking her up and down just as she just did to him. Wearing her favorite skimpy red bikini with a cover up that covered her bruised arm from prying eyes, she knew the effect she had on him. She knew what she looked like, and she was proud of it. She smirked at him as he got closer, knowing that he wanted to go up to their room right now and get their weekend started, privately.
“You look good enough to eat,” Justin growled as he got close enough for her to hear. “I had to keep swimming laps to stop myself from being embarrassed if I got out of the pool. You are the hottest woman out here, by a landslide.” He tucked her hair behind her ear, making her knees weak. She hated how he could put her in a puddle of mush so easily, but loved it at the same time. She was a mess of contradictions, and her emotions ran the gamut with him. He was messing with her head. “What do you say that we grab a quick dinner at the tiki bar over there and then head to our room for the night? I’ve got quite a lot planned for us tonight.”
The way he said that left little room for negotiation, and she couldn’t argue with that if she tried. “Sounds good,” she purred, raising up on her flat feet to reach him. Grazing her lips along his jaw until she reached those luscious lips of his, she opened her mouth and slid her tongue into his, the feeling of his hot tongue intoxicating her. She backed off before she got any further involved and forgot where she was.
His eyes flashed as she smirked up at him. “Girl, you are going to kill me,” he muttered. “I’ll go order us some food and bring it back to our chairs. Anything in particular you want?”
Rachel lifted one eyebrow at him flirtatiously, and he got the drift loud and clear. Leaning down so that his lips brushed her earlobe, he whispered, “You better believe you are getting that. Now sit down and let your man wait on you.”
Justin walked away, a smile playing on his lips. It’s going just as planned, he thought, trying hard to keep himself from fist pumping in the air. She wasn’t all that different after all. She wanted the sweet words, the romance, and the apology. Tonight, he would show her in many ways how he ‘apologized’, and he’d be sure to keep showing her for the weekend. By Monday, she would be 100% his, and he could move on to the next part of their relationship. She would love it, just like they all did.
Turning the corner to head to where the tiki bar was, he noticed two guys walking the opposite direction. They were in their mid-20’s, attractive and muscular, and were talking loudly, probably having had a few too many around the pool today.
“Did you see that girl? Hot damn I’m gonna get that one’s number,” one of them said, shoving the other one playfully.
“Which one?” the other one said. “There’s a few around here I’d like to take upstairs for the night.”
“The one with the red hair and the red bikini on. Ho-ly hell. I’ve been watching her all afternoon! Did you see her with anyone? What I’d like to do with that hair wrapped around me …”
Justin didn’t even give him a second to process that thought. He grabbed his arm and shoved him back against the hotel wall behind him before he could even figure out what was happening. His friend stood, wide-eyed, staring at the scene.
“What the …” the blonde one yelled. “Get your damn hands off me, psycho!”
Justin gave the dark haired one a warning look to stay the hell away from him, and he backed up, his hands up. He turned his attention back to the pansy against the wall. “You will not talk like that about her, do you understand me? She is mine, and you don’t even get to look at her, much less talk about what you would like to do to her. Get it, asshole?” Justin put his forearm under the guy’s chin, making it so he couldn’t move. This guy was muscular, but had nothing on Justin.
“Listen, prick, get your hands off of me before I call the cops and press charges. Your girlfriend, if that nice piece of ass is really with your sorry self, is hot and is parading around here like she wants it. So, you know what? Guys are going to look. What are you going to do about it?”
Justin seethed, seeing red. Stepping so close he could feel the guy’s breath on his face, he put his nose even with his. “I’m going to punch your fucking lights out if you say one more thing about her. And call the cops? What kind of pansy ass are you, anyway?”
The guy’s eyes flashed with indignation. “What, don’t say that she looks like she’d be a wild stallion in bed? I bet she is. Have you really done her, man, or are you just wishing like the rest of us?”
Justin didn’t even think, he just reared back and punched the guy square in the nose. Blood spurted out and hit Justin on his bare chest and face. His friend jumped on him from behind and he easily shrugged him off and turned to face him, the other guy crumpling to the floor.
“You want some of this?” Justin seethed, his teeth grinding he was gritting them so hard. “If I were you, I’d take your asshole friend in and clean him off, and if you’re staying the weekend here, I’d stay the hell away from me and my girlfriend. If I see either one of you again, you’ll be leaving here in an ambulance.”
Justin walked away, grabbing a towel from a nearby stack and wiping the dirt bag’s blood off of him. Throwing it in the used towel bin, he shook out his hand. Damn¸ he thought. He did it again. He looked around quickly to see if anyone saw him, namely Rachel, but everyone was going about their business as usual. The two guys were nowhere to be seen already. He rolled his shoulders, trying to shake out the tension. Breathing in and out in short bursts, he tried to calm his racing blood pressure and feel ready to see Rachel again. He had a lot to prove to her this weekend, and being all riled up over those douchebags wasn’t going to help.
“Divine,” Justin whispered into her ear, making a smile break out over her face. Turning over so she could see him, she ran her hands through his tousled hair.
“That it was,” Rachel agreed, pulling his face to hers and kissing him softly. After their quick dinner around the pool, Justin had made good on his promises and showed her very well how sorry he was. She took in the surroundings of the room. He had filled the small but beautiful hotel room with all types of flowers, and had candles lit around the room. It had been the most romantic thing she could remember being done for her in a long time.
“So,” Justin pulled her so she was resting her head on his broad chest. “Can you tell me?”
Rachel traced his muscles with her finger, furrowing her brow at him. “Tell you what?”
“Why you never date, never want anyone to get close to you.”
>
Rachel stiffened. There was no way she was telling him anything about Devin. Just thinking his name while she was lying in bed with Justin made her stomach revolt. She rolled over so that she was on top of him, raking her nails down his side and back up, using her lips to tease and tickle him from his chest up to his neck.
“Damn girl,” he hissed through his teeth. “You ready again?” Rachel lifted her head and met his eyes, clouded over with desire at her perusal of him. She didn’t care what she had to do, she wasn’t telling him anything that he wanted to know.
Shutting off her brain and just letting her body take control, she wished for the millionth time that Devin was beneath her, that he was the one that filled the room with flowers, took her on a surprise vacation, and was touching her. No matter how much she knew that she needed to let it go and allow Justin in, there was a lock and key around her heart, and she was afraid that the only guy that would ever unlock it was the one person she would never see again.
“You’ve been holding out on me all week, Rach,” Kayley said, taking a bite of her salad. “Spill it. Tell me all about the weekend.”
Rachel grinned at her best friend, glad that she was able to sneak away to meet her for lunch. They just never got enough time to see each other lately. “Well, you were right.”
“I love when you start like that,” Kayley laughed. “But really, what happened. Tell me all the details.”
“I don’t know if you want all the details,” Rachel kidded, “but, it was amazing. We laid out by the pool, walked on the beach, ate room service when we didn’t want to leave, talked, he filled the room with flowers, and well—we did other things really well, too.”
Kayley rolled her eyes. “I could figure that part out. So tell me about him. Obviously I only got to talk to him briefly at the restaurant and then when I saw him in the grocery store.”
“You saw him at the grocery store? When?”
“Right before he took you away, I had the kids in the store and ran into him. He was super sweet, asked me what he could do to make things better. I told him to prove it to you that he was sorry. I guess he did that. So what was his deal at the restaurant, anyway?”
Rachel processed her words. Justin had seen Kayley at the store and had asked her how to make things right with them. Wow. He had gone all out. For her.
“Uh, he was just jealous he said. Says he cares about me and knows that I’ve had issues with being in a relationship and thought that I would just throw him away. Really, he overreacted.” Rachel touched her arm, covered by her shirt. Kayley hadn’t seen that and she didn’t want her to. The bruises were fading but were still pretty ugly.
“And he dragged you out of there why?” Kayley asked quietly, her eyes watching Rachel.
Rachel sighed. This was the part that he had no excuse for, no matter how sorry he was. “He didn’t think, I guess. He has apologized so many times and so many ways, and promised that nothing like that would ever happen again.”
Kayley smiled, seemingly pacified with her answer. Rachel almost outwardly sighed at her acceptance. While she knew she could do what she wanted as far as Justin went, Kayley’s acceptance of him was important to her. “Well, I’m glad that you two worked things out. He does seem to care about you. Just be careful, though, okay? As much as I want you to be happy, I don’t want you to just settle for the first guy that gives you flowers and takes you away. Make him work for it.”
She put her hand over her friend’s. “Do you think that you can tell me now? We’ve known each other a long time, Rach. Long enough for you to know that I would do anything for you. I’m here for you, all the time. I think it’s time that you feel comfortable talking to someone about your past. What happened to you, Rach? Who was he?”
Rachel’s eyes filled with tears unexpectedly, and she looked around the crowded restaurant, not wanting to cause attention to herself. “Kay,” she started, trying to swallow the lump in her throat. She knew that she should tell her, she did. Making the words come out of her mouth was a totally different thing.
“It might make you feel better,” Kayley prodded gently. “Realize that the past is in the past and you can move on and be happy.”
Rachel shook her head. She didn’t believe that. Even though Justin was a great guy who seemed to care about her, she still felt that at the end of it all, she’d be alone. Just as she deserved. Kayley watched her patiently, not saying anything else.
The urge to tell her overtook her. She was tired of it. “His name was Devin,” Rachel began, angry at herself when her voice came out shaky and unsure. “I loved him, Kay. With everything I had in me.”
Kayley smiled thinly, covering her hand with hers again. “I’m here, Rach. I’m listening.”
Rachel looked down at their hands and took a deep breath. “When we met, I was a young college student. I was only 19, and he was 4 years older than me. Some friends and I went out that night to this bar where it was bike night. I have no idea what we thought we were doing there, a bunch of young college freshmen. But, we were dancing, laughing, and people watching, when he came in. The second I saw him, I swear I stopped breathing. He was the most captivating man I’d ever seen. He walked right over to me and asked me to dance, and we spent the whole night together. From that night on, we were inseparable. Like two parts of one whole. I knew right away that he was it for me. I was done. Without him, I was only part of myself. We were together for two years when—when …” She broke off as her phone started ringing.
Looking at the screen, she saw that it was Justin. Tapping the screen to answer, she put the phone to her ear, purposefully not looking at Kayley. She couldn’t believe she had even said as much as she did to her. What was she thinking? It didn’t make her feel any better to tell her. All it did was make the stabbing pain start up again around the walls of her heart.
“Hey Justin,” she answered, trying to keep her voice from shaking. That was all she needed was him asking her what was wrong.
“RACHEL!” Justin’s voice boomed over the line. Yanking the phone away from her ear, she immediately stood up at the tone of his voice.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. Kayley stood up with her, searching her face.
“I need your help! Please!” His voice was strained, agitated.
“Are you hurt?” She tried hard to not make her voice hysterical, but her stomach clenched in anticipation of what he was going to say.
“I’m—I’m …”
“Justin!” Rachel shouted. “What’s wrong? Where are you?” Maybe he was in shock or something; he wasn’t making any sense at all.
“I’m at the hospital. I had an a—accident at work. Can you come get me?”
Rachel hugged her friend goodbye and ran for the car, her stomach clenching in fear.
Justin slid into Rachel’s car, careful not to bump his hand. They had just left the hospital with 35 stitches in his hand and forearm after a stupid accident at work. Thankfully it wasn’t worse than it was. He hoped he still had a job after that bonehead move, but it was time for the next part of his plan¸ one that would land him at Rachel’s house.
“You okay?” Rachel touched his non-injured hand softly, and it was all he could do to not grin. Nothing worked better than playing on a woman’s desire to take care of people, even a woman like Rachel.
Justin laid his head back against the head rest as she pulled into traffic, headed to her house. “It hurts pretty badly, but I’ll be okay. Thanks, babe, for coming and taking care of me.”
Rachel smiled at him. “Of course. You scared me to death when you called. I’m glad, even though it looked pretty nasty, that it wasn’t any more serious than it was. Have you always worked construction? Seems like a really dangerous job. Have you hurt yourself like that before?”
Not doing work¸ Justin thought to himself. “A few minor injuries, thankfully nothing major. This is the worst I’ve ever hurt myself. I’ll be okay, babe. Nothing a little TLC from you won’t fix.” He purposely evaded her
question, and she dropped it. He wasn’t getting into his past, especially when she wouldn’t get into hers. He couldn’t imagine that anything she had done in the past could compare to his story, though he hadn’t had the time to do the digging he wanted to do. This would be a perfect opportunity to find out exactly what Rachel Dawson was hiding.
“And a few weeks of vacation,” Rachel teased, pulling into the beach house. “Guess we will get to play nurse and patient.”
Justin’s eyes flashed at her suggestion. “I may only have one working hand, but I can play a mean game of nurse and patient. Lead the way, Nurse Rachel.” Justin followed her into the house, feeling smug. She felt sorry for him now. This was going to be a piece of cake.
Devin stood in the small kitchen, looking out to the backyard. This was it. Home now. The house was good enough to suit his purposes. His new boss, Andrew, had helped him find it, and he hadn’t even seen it in person until today when he moved in. It hadn’t taken long to unload his boxes from the U-Haul, and his next order of business was to find a grocery store. He started work tomorrow and definitely needed some food.
His stomach clenched as he thought about his new adventure. He was excited that he was starting this new part of his life, but nervous as well. He was going to be part of the SWAT team now. It was what he wanted, doing something more challenging and rewarding.