by Lori Foster
“Yep. He runs the best dive shop on the island. He’ll take very good care of you.” Jesse had been at the helm of the sailboat when he said this, and he’d paused for a moment, turning to study her. Gail remembered how powerful his gaze felt, how beautiful he was in the early light, his hair whipping in the wind.
“The next time you come to visit me, I’ll hook you up.”
Gail hadn’t known what to say. It surprised her that Jesse might want to see her again. She felt the same, of course, but it was a shock that it was mutual. She let the comment slide.
Snorkeling was the second mind-blowing thrill of the day for Gail. Jesse said the Key West Marine Sanctuary included the world’s third-largest living barrier reef. They slipped into the warm tropical waters and, after Jesse gave Gail a quick lesson in how not to swallow gallons of seawater, they were off.
Gail decided right away that the world she’d entered was like an underwater garden, bursting with color and movement. Her eyes bugged out behind her mask.
She saw what she recognized immediately as a stingray, and pointed it out excitedly to Jesse. Later, Jesse would tell her they’d seen dozens of varieties of tropical fish, including blue tangs, sergeant majors and parrotfish.
Eventually, they swam back to the boat for lunch. Jesse had packed cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches, fruit and chocolate, which nearly melted in the time it took to pluck it from the cooler and unwrap it. Jesse fed Gail small pieces, and she licked the sweetness off his fingers.
They returned to Margaret Street late in the afternoon, and it was then that Jesse introduced Gail to his home. She was awestruck by how rich and shiny it was inside, all the dark wood, the off-white plaster walls filled with art.
Jesse led her through the downstairs to his backyard, a shady and private oasis lush with flowering bushes, palms and a mighty tree that twisted around itself before it exploded into a giant canopy protecting the whole property. Jesse told her it was a 150-year-old banyan tree that he’d always thought of as the guardian of his family’s homestead. He led her to the hammock beneath the tree, where they snuggled together. The peaceful joy she felt in his arms—combined with the day’s salt air, sun and water—sent Gail almost immediately to sleep. She woke up when her cell phone went off, opening her eyes to see Jesse gazing down at her with a smile. She prayed she hadn’t been drooling.
Later that night, Gail was put at ease about Luis and Nestor when they picked up the girls in person. They seemed like well-mannered young men, and though they looked like identical twins, they told Gail they were a year apart. Holly and Hannah rushed them out the door before Gail could ask too many questions, but Jesse assured her that their father had laid down the law with them—they were to remain on their best behavior, or else.
It was then that Gail realized just how fortunate she and the girls had been. They’d arrived just days ago as tourists and strangers, but Jesse had brought them into his circle, making their vacation feel more like a homecoming. She didn’t know how she’d ever express to him how much that meant to her.
While Holly and Hannah spent Tuesday with the boys at Bahia Honda State Park beach, Jesse took Gail to art galleries and out to lunch. They returned to Gail’s cottage for a nap, a swim and a roll on the king-size bed. Jesse continued to surprise her with how generous and patient he was as a lover and how he managed to combine excitement with tenderness.
That was the first time that Gail worried she was getting too attached.
Gail spent Wednesday with the girls, joining them for an all-day water sports adventure on a catamaran. She invited Jesse but he declined, saying he had some work to catch up on and that they’d hook up for dinner. She missed him. She admitted that the idea of missing someone she’d just met was silly, but it felt strange to be in Key West without him. Gail started to think about how difficult it was going to be when she had to leave.
That was the second time she worried about getting too attached.
Gail had a blast with Holly and Hannah, parasailing, snorkeling, jet skiing and kayaking. Watching the girls ineptly race their kayaks had her doubled over in laughter. At lunch, Holly asked her mom if everything was going okay with the hottie captain. Gail put down her sandwich.
“It’s going just fine,” she said, smiling. “I’m having a lot of fun.”
When Hannah excused herself to go to the boat’s ladies’ room, Gail knew this conversation was pre-planned.
“Is everything going well with Luis and Nestor?” Gail asked.
Holly shrugged. “They’re cool. I mean, it’s not like anything serious will happen between any of us, but it’s nice to get the inside treatment here, you know? They know all the best places and can get us in free everywhere and everything.”
Gail smiled at her. “It’s the same with Jesse.”
Holly didn’t say anything for moment and tapped a fingernail on the side of her water bottle. Eventually she looked up, and Gail could see she was upset.
“Holly, is something wrong?” She reached for her daughter’s forearm, now brown as a berry and covered in a sun-whitened fuzz. “Has something happened?”
Holly gave her a smirk. “I don’t know. You tell me.”
Gail nodded, patting Holly’s arm until her daughter yanked it away. “So you’re angry that I’m spending so much time with Jesse?”
“No. Not angry.” Holly scowled at her, the wind tossing around her daughter’s soft blond hair. “Just concerned that you don’t know what you’re doing.”
Gail bit her bottom lip to stop from laughing. “I see.”
“You’re not very experienced, Mom, and you’ve been out with Jesse at all hours, doing God only knows what, and I just don’t want you to do something you’ll regret.”
Gail smiled at her daughter. She was touched that Holly saw her as needing guidance when it came to men. “What are you worried might happen, honey?”
Holly made that clicking sound of disbelief with her tongue. “Hello? I’m worried that you’re going to get totally sprung over this guy that you hardly know, Mom!”
Gail didn’t want to sound tragically unhip, but she had no choice. “Sprung?” she asked.
Holly shook her head in disbelief. “You know, crushing on him, falling in lust with him, when it’ll never amount to anything. Seriously, Mom, rule number one is you never, ever fall in love with a guy you meet on spring break—it’ll only bring you pain.”
Gail took a big gulp of her water, stalling. She couldn’t deny that Holly had a point, but the fact still remained that Gail was the thirty-six-year-old woman in this conversation, and Holly was the child.
“I appreciate your concern, but I can take care of myself just fine,” she said eventually. “Jesse and I are adults and we know what we’re doing, and that’s enjoying each other’s company.”
“What-evs!”
Suddenly, Gail understood what the conversation was really about. She smiled at her tenderhearted daughter. It had been just the two of them for so long that Holly must feel a little possessive of Gail.
“Do you want me to spend more time with you, honey? Do you feel like I’ve abandoned you or something?”
Holly’s mouth dropped open. “Uh, not hardly, Mom.”
Gail had begun to frown in consternation when the lightbulb suddenly went off in her head. This time, she was certain she’d gotten to the bottom of things. “Am I embarrassing you, Holl? Is that it?”
“Duh!” Holly said, smacking her palms on the table. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Think about it, Mom—it’s my spring break, but it’s my mother who’s letting herself go totally wild with some hot guy, riding through town on a moped with her thighs on display! It’s absolutely humiliating!”
Gail was stunned. “You saw me?”
“Yeah. Me and everyone else. Luis called you a party girl.”
Gail sat up straighter. “He did? Really?”
“That’s not a compliment, Mother.”
Gail tried not to smile too much, because she knew she n
eeded to address the cause of her daughter’s discomfort, but she was secretly thrilled with her new reputation. She’d been a lot of things in her life—book-worm, mommy, trusting wife—but never a party girl.
“Holly,” she said as gently as she could. “I appreciate your looking out for me. I really do.”
Her daughter shrugged.
Gail knew that Holly had never seen her mother as a sexual creature, because her mother hadn’t seen herself that way. Not for a very long time. It had to be disconcerting for her daughter, and maybe a little threatening.
“You know that you will always be the most important person in my life, don’t you?” Gail asked.
Holly picked at the paper label on her water bottle. “I know, Mom.”
“You need to be absolutely clear about that, honey, because it turns out I really like this dating thing.”
Holly looked up and blinked in surprise. Gail touched her daughter’s hand.
“Something’s happened to me here, Holly. I think I’ll be going back to Beaverdale ready to start living again. My life is going to be different, and I hope Jesse will be part of it. I want you to be okay with that.”
“Did I miss anything?” Hannah returned from the restroom, and she plopped back onto her spot on the bench. Holly glanced at Gail one last time and lowered her eyes. “Not a thing,” she said.
JESSE HAD A STRING OF surprises lined up for Gail, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had so much fun in the pursuit of someone else’s happiness.
His buddy with the little house on a private beach up in Pirates Cove told him he was out of town but the house key was in the usual place. “Knock yourself out,” he’d said. “Beer’s in the fridge.” Lelinda had hooked Jesse up with her friend who ran the dress boutique, who helped Jesse pick out something he thought Gail would love: a deep red halter dress made of the softest cotton, with a full skirt that would hit her right above the knee—perfect for a night of salsa lessons. He’d booked her a ninety-minute massage, as well. And he’d reserved his favorite table at the Grand Café for her last night in town, an event he chose not to think too much about.
It gave Jesse pleasure to see Gail stagger out of her massage, a look of ecstasy on her face. Then he took her home and gave her cause for a few more. Their nighttime skinny-dip in Pirates Cove was a sensual heaven of warm water, soft touches and wet kisses. Later, on blankets spread out near the beach campfire, Jesse rolled with Gail, held her close and buried his face into the side of her neck when he pushed inside her. That’s when the realization went through him like an electric current—in a couple of days she’d be gone, the smell of her skin would be gone, her laugh would be gone. It seemed impossible.
Gail cried when she opened the box and found the red dress. She held it up to herself and twirled for him, trying hard to fight back her tears.
“I feel as though I’m in a dream,” she told him. “Thank you, Jesse. Thank you for being so kind, for making me feel so special.”
He’d taken her by the shoulders then and set her straight. “This isn’t about kindness, Gail. Meeting you is one of the loveliest surprises of my life. You are special to me. You are special, period. Don’t ever forget that.”
When he took her dancing at the open-air Latin music club, she became a focused and serious student, doggedly repeating dance steps until she got them right. With some encouragement—and a few mojitos—Gail managed to loosen up enough to simply enjoy moving to the music. Jesse thought she was more beautiful that night than he’d ever seen her—radiant, relaxed, her eyes shining with happiness.
It was hard to believe that the confident, booty-shaking party girl in his arms was the same woman he’d encountered on her porch only a week ago, tongue-tied, stiff as a board and self-conscious.
During a slow song, Jesse held Gail close, swaying slowly with her in a sea of dancing couples. He kissed her fragrant hair and nibbled on her bare shoulder. He could barely make out the words she whispered into his ear.
“I think I’m falling in love with you.”
Jesse pulled her tighter, fear and longing coursing through him simultaneously. He moved her body in rhythm with his own until he was ready to respond.
“I feel the same,” he said. “You’re very easy to love, Professor.”
That night, after Gail checked to make sure the girls were home safe, she returned to his house. She stripped off her simple robe and joined him in his bed, kissing him from head to toe. Jesse felt the love pouring out of her and into him. Her love felt like a blessing, and the most intimate gift anyone had ever given him.
“I want you to come back to Key West soon,” he said. “As soon as you can.”
Gail sat up, letting one leg dangle over the edge of his bed. She tipped her head and smiled at him tenderly. “I appreciate your saying that. But I’m worried that after a while you might forget me. It would be perfectly natural.” She gestured at their naked bodies in the moonlight. “This sort of thing usually turns into nothing more than a nice memory.”
Jesse sat up, too, and grabbed her face in his hands. “That’s not going to happen, and you know it.” She tried to look away, but he wouldn’t let her. “Gail, what I’ve had with you has been special. Unique. And I don’t want it to end with your vacation.”
Her smile spread.
“But there’s something you need to know about me first. Please hear me out.”
A tiny crease formed between her brows. “Okay,” she said, her voice tentative.
He took a deep breath, knowing there was no way to do this but push through it. Jesse owed her the truth, and it couldn’t be postponed another second.
“Something happened to me last year,” he said softly. “A woman came to stay in the house next door—your house—and she seemed really great at first. I’d never allowed myself to fall for a tourist before her.”
Gail gently pulled at his wrists until his hands fell away from her face. The look of confusion in her eyes nearly killed Jesse.
“Go ahead. I’m listening,” she said.
“It was nothing but a setup, Gail. She basically blackmailed me, almost ruined my life.”
“But…” Gail shook her head as if trying to sort through her thoughts. “She didn’t succeed, right? She didn’t hurt you, did she?”
“She sure as hell tried.”
Gail blinked, remaining silent. Slowly, she began to scoot back on the bed, never taking her eyes from his face. She brought the sheet to the front of her body, that beautiful body she’d become comfortable sharing with him. It was painful to watch.
“I’m not sure I understand,” she said, resorting to her tightly wound professor voice. “I always assumed I wasn’t the first tourist you’ve been involved with. Are you just reminding me of that reality?”
He’d made a mistake. He should have told her up front. Chago had been right—this was the train wreck he’d seen coming.
“Not at all,” he said.
Gail suddenly laughed. “Wait a minute—you know what?” She smiled and held up her hand, palm out. “We’ve had a wonderful time together. Let’s not ruin it. You don’t owe me an explanation about anything.” She began to stand up. “I should probably go home and pack.”
“Please don’t.” Jesse placed his hand on her shoulder. “Please.” She stayed but angled her body away from him. “Don’t shut down on me, okay? I’m telling you this because you deserve the truth.”
She lifted her chin. “Then just say it.”
“The woman hired a smarmy lawyer and spread gossip about me.” Jesse watched as Gail’s eyes went huge. “She spun a fantasy about how I smacked her around, got her pregnant and then kicked her to the curb. She took me to court and filed a fictional paternity suit against me. The whole mess was picked up in the tabloids and the celebrity magazines.”
Gail reared her head back and frowned. “Was any of it true?”
Jesse laughed. “No! Of course not! It took a ton of money and a few years off my life span, but
I got everything thrown out. She was a nut job.”
Gail nodded very slowly. “I’d like to say I’m sorry for the pain she caused you.” Her eyes were earnest, hurt. “But why did you pick this moment to tell me about her? You wanted me to know there was another spring-break slut before me, is that it? That you’ve done this kind of thing before?”
“Oh, God, no,” Jesse said, his heart breaking. This was a nightmare. “You are nothing like her, Gail. There’s no comparison.”
“Then why are you telling me this?” Gail’s voice was ominously flat. “And better yet—why would celebrity magazines give a rat’s ass about what happened between a tourist and a part-time tour guide? And where did that ‘ton of money’ come from?”
Jesse automatically tried to touch her but she recoiled. Clearly, she wasn’t interested in his touch.
“Did you teach her to salsa?” Gail’s lips began to quiver. “How about skinny-dipping at a private beach? Did she get the VIP treatment like I did, with the dolphins and the private lunches and the fancy dresses and everything else you did to make me feel so special?”
Jesse raked his fingers through his hair. This was worse than he imagined it would be, and he hadn’t even gotten to the good part. “Please hear me out.”
“I thought I already had.” Gail stood, reaching for her robe. She whipped it off the floor and onto her body, yanking hard on the sash around her waist. “You just said you were falling in love with me and you wanted me to come back soon, but this—” Gail waved her arm around. “It’s like you’re giving me a warning not to get my hopes up, that I’m not all that special after all, that you did this before and you’ve always regretted it.”
She turned away from him. Jesse leaped from the bed. “Gail, don’t. That’s not why I’m telling you.”
“Then why?” she asked, spinning around.
“Because I need to explain to you who I am. She targeted me because I’m sort of famous. She wanted my money and her fifteen minutes on TV.”
Even in the low light, Jesse could see Gail’s face drain of color. “Sort of famous?”