by P. J. Mellor
When she struggled to sit up, to move away, he tightened his grip, holding her plastered to his side. His naked side against her naked side. Dang it, she so didn’t want to be there anymore.
“You wanted to know. You insisted. Now you need to hear it all.”
Slumping back against him, she blinked back tears. Stupid tears. Her nose stung. If it started running, she would be beyond mortified.
“Go on. I can probably guess what Rick’s reaction was, though.”
Ben’s chuckle echoed against her ear. “Truth be told, I was more horrified than him. And poor Rita!”
“What did Rick say? Did he beat you up?”
“I wish he had. I’ve beaten myself up enough for both of us over the past ten years.”
“You two didn’t fight?”
“Nope. Rick looked at each of us, nodded, and turned and walked out the door.”
“And she followed him and explained and they got back together?” Maybe if Ben had lived the life of a monk ever since, she could forgive him a night with Rita. Wait. She didn’t know him back then. She had no right to be jealous or hurt.
“Not hardly. He wouldn’t talk to either of us for months. He blocked our calls and e-mail. By the time we came home for the summer, he was gone. He’d joined the navy.”
“But eventually he forgave you both and came back for Rita, right?”
“Eventually. Hell, it might have happened sooner if—”
“If? If what?” And did she really want to hear it?
“If Rita hadn’t found out she was pregnant.”
A weight pressed on Reese’s chest. Was she having a heart attack? Breathing was difficult and it took a second to realize it was because tears were choking her.
A baby. Ben and Rita had made a baby together.
“A baby?” she finally said in a squeaky voice. “A boy or girl? Does it live with them?” She hadn’t seen a child anywhere around the hotel. Of course, she hadn’t been there too long.
“No. Anyway, that’s why we got married. There was no baby. She miscarried at five months. A boy.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“It’s not like you’re thinking. I can tell by the look on your face, you’re pitying me.”
“I feel sorry for anyone who lost a baby.” Was there something he wasn’t telling her? From the stubborn set of his jaw, it seemed likely.
“Rick came to his senses, but we were already married. And miserable. He and Rita started seeing each other—”
“That’s awful! She cheated on you? And while she was carrying your baby?” How could anyone lucky enough to be married to Ben be so stupid?
“Hey, it wasn’t entirely her fault. It takes two, you know. And, like I said, we were both miserable.”
“How long were you married?”
“About four months. Maybe. We all knew Rick and Rita belonged together, so we went to Mexico for a quick divorce. Rick went too, and they were married there.”
“Oh, Ben!” Crying now, she clung to him. “How did you stand watching her marry someone else when she was carrying your baby?”
He patted her shoulder. “It wasn’t that hard. It was the right thing to do. Besides, it wasn’t my baby.”
“What?” Raising up, she swiped at her leaky eyes. Ben was actually smiling at her.
“Rita and I never had sex. That night, after the party, we were both too drunk.”
“But you said he found you in bed together, naked.”
He nodded. “He did. I’m not saying we didn’t think aboutfooling around, but we were too wasted to do the deed. Plus, our hearts really weren’t in it.”
“But—but then why did you get married?”
“To bring Rick to his senses. When it didn’t work, we went ahead with it because … well, you know.”
“What a mess.”
He snorted. “Tell me about it. Like I said before, we were young and stupid.”
“But you did it for the right reasons.” She sniffed and smiled through her remaining tears.
“Maybe.” He neatly flipped her to her back. Lying on top of her, he kissed away her tears. “And maybe,” he said, insinuating himself between her legs, “I was waiting for you to come along.”
34
Ben pounded on the bathroom door. “Hey! Why’d you lock the door?”
Reese smiled at her reflection in the medicine cabinet mirror and spit out her toothpaste. “Because I knew if we showered together again, we’d end up back in bed, and you said you had things to do.”
“Maybe I meant you,” he called through the door.
Laughing, she rinsed her mouth.
When she opened the door, he was leaning against the frame, looking so hot he took her breath away. How anyone with beard stubble, a faded T-shirt advertising a fishing charter, and wrinkled khaki shorts could look sexy was a mystery, but he definitely pulled it off.
“I was just going to take a hike to the other side of the island to make sure our guests aren’t taking advantage of our generosity. Wanna come along?”
His use of the word our sent a secret thrill running through her. She’d never been part of an our before. It was sort of like they were a real couple.
She liked it.
“Will you slow down!” Reese tripped through the underbrush, scraping her legs in the process, in her attempt to match Ben’s long, purposeful strides.
“Hey, I can’t help it if your short little legs can’t keep up,” he called back over his shoulder as he continued to plow forward.
“I’m hungry,” she complained when he paused and she was finally able to reach his side again. She looked down. “And I’m bleeding. Isn’t there a better path somewhere around here we could use?”
“We’re on the path, Blondie.” His smile was white in the filtered light.
The rain had let up, but it still covered them with a fine mist.
Reese followed Ben’s line of vision to the deserted beach. “Maybe they’re gone. It’s not raining so hard now. Maybe we can get out now too?”
Mother Nature chose that moment to crank up the volume of the wind, immediately following it with a stinging sheet of torrential rain.
“Maybe not,” Reese yelled through the noise of the renewed storm, answering her own question.
After a few more steps, she grabbed Ben’s arm and pointed. “Look!”
A dark dot bobbed in the turbulent water between the shore and the platform anchoring Ben’s larger boat. It looked like the fishing boat’s occupants were doing nothing except holding on for dear life.
“Aw, shit-fire-spit!” Ben kicked off his shoes at the edge of the beach and ran for the water.
“Wait! What are you doing?” Reese’s yells bounced back to her from the roar of the rain and surf. Her shoulders slumped as she watched Ben’s strong strokes take him closer to the yellow-slickered men.
She sank to the sand, clutching Ben’s Top-Siders to her chest. “Great,” she muttered. “Now what?” She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you dare drown and leave me stranded here, Ben Adams!”
There was no way he could have heard her yelling, but he turned and waved back at her when he reached the boat.
After an interminable time, Ben crawled to shore, dragging the boatload of men several feet behind him.
Now in shallow water, the men jumped out and dragged the boat up on the beach.
“Were y’all stranded out there overnight?” Ben asked as Reese walked up.
The taller man laughed. “No, we didn’t even make it that far, yesterday. We ended up spending the night in the cave again. When the storm appeared to be waning, we thought we’d try again.”
“Well,” Ben said, looking up, then out across the water, “this should be the last of it. We’ll be socked in the rest of the day, but tomorrow should be clear. Meanwhile, I want to remind you, you’re trespassing on private property. Due to the weather, you’re welcome to take shelter in the cave, but I don’t want to see you anywhere else. And I expe
ct you to leave everything like you found it, and clear out as soon as possible. Got that?”
The man gave a curt nod and walked to join his teammates as they hauled their boxes out of the boat.
“C’mon, let’s get out of here.” Ben grabbed her elbow and half-dragged her along as he headed back into the vegetation.
“Was there a problem back there?” Reese stumbled, but he caught her.
“None that I know of, but I don’t want to hang around and find out. Especially with you there.”
“Thanks, I think.” She grabbed his arm and turned him to face her. “Ben, I appreciate you being protective, but I’m a big girl. I’ve been on my own for quite a while and I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. Heck, if I can hold my own with the Dragon Lady, I can do it with just about anyone.”
He stared, the muscles flexing in his jaw. “You talk a good game, Blondie, but I’m betting you never had to worry about being gang raped by your boss.”
Oh, crap, she hadn’t even thought of something like that. “What? Do you think that is a possibility?”
He answered as he kept walking, pulling her behind him. “They’re strange men, Blondie, and you’re a hot little number. From talking to them, I’d say they’re pretty safe, but you never know.”
“Better safe than sorry.” “Right.”
The rest of the walk back to the hotel was made in silence, with Reese thinking about the logo on the men’s slickers. She’d seen it before. The image danced in and out of her memory like an annoying gnat.
Finally, as they neared the back steps, it hit her.
“Ben!” She ran up the steps and grabbed the back of his shirt. “I remember where I saw the logo!”
35
“Any luck?” Paige dropped into the chair next to Bailey on the front porch of the hotel.
Bailey stuck her iPhone into the pocket of her rain jacket and sighed. “No. It’s either nothing or it fakes me out with a ring before going to Reese’s voice mail.”
“Same with me. I just tried, by the window in my room.” She smiled at her friend. “So … what did you do last night?”
Bailey grinned and looked down at her lap. “The same thing you did, I imagine.”
“Oh, yeah? Way to go, Bay! I thought young Trevor was pretty cute.”
Bailey threw a wry glance her way. “His name is Travis, and he’s not all that young.”
“Do tell.” Paige raised her eyebrows as she crossed her legs, focusing her attention on her friend. “Really. Tell.”
“No! We’re not in junior high anymore, Paige. Besides, I’m not the kiss-and-tell type.” She primly smoothed the skirt of her sundress.
“Okay, I’ll tell,” Paige said with a smile. “After our first tumble, Brett let me tie him up. Then I gave him a little—”
“Paige! Please. Really? TMI!”
“Hey, I was just trying to help.” Paige settled deeper into her chair, her sandal-clad feet on the porch rail.
“By telling me the intimate details of your night of debauchery? Thanks, but I’ll pass.”
“Debauchery? You don’t even know the meaning of the word. I could tell you about—”
Bailey held up her hand. “Please. I know you’re much more, um, experienced in that area than me. Heck, you’re probably more experienced than Reese and I put together. But, you know, there are some things I really don’t want to know. Plus, it’s a lot more fun finding it out for myself. Do you understand what I’m saying? Nod your head if you do.”
Paige executed an eye roll. “Cute. Yes, I understand.” She sighed and looked out at the angry gray surf. “What I don’t understand is why the hell Reese let herself be talked into going out in this kind of weather.”
“It probably wasn’t storming when she left.” Bailey took a sip from the water bottle on the table and set it down, idly dragging her finger through the wet circle on the slate. “Plus, you know Reese. Dragon Lady says jump and she asks how high. Reese probably wanted to gather as much information as she could, before the auction, so she could make the most informed bid possible.”
“Yeah, that sounds like Reese. We need to get her over that tendency.”
“I kind of understand it.” She arched her eyebrow at Paige. “Not all of us have high-paying jobs, you know.”
“It’s not all about the pay. Well, okay, the pay is great, but I also love what I do. If Reese could say the same, I’d butt out and let her continue making a pittance. She’s not happy, Bailey.
We both know it. But if we don’t push her, she’ll stay right where she’s at and be miserable until she’s old enough to collect her pitiful retirement. Assuming Dragon Lady even has those benefits.”
“There are some things you need to figure out for yourself, Paige.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Exhaling, she met Paige’s gaze. “And for right now, I plan to try to relax and enjoy what time I have here before we have to go back to the real world.”
“It is kind of nice here, isn’t it?” Paige looked out at the water. “I wish the rain would stop, so I can at least get in some quality beach time before we leave.”
“I wish the rain would stop too, so Reese can safely return from Lord knows what’s out on that deserted island.”
“Yeah, well, there’s that too.”
“Are you shitting me?” Ben pulled Reese into the kitchen and reached for some towels from the stack by the door. “Are you sure? An oil company?” He handed her a towel and then shook his head. “Although that grid you saw could be from some kind of seismic testing. I know they do that when they’re looking for oil and gas deposits. But … it doesn’t make sense.”
She paused after drying her face, thinking. “It doesn’t? Didn’t they tell you they were collecting some kind of samples?”
He nodded. “Yeah, soil samples. But there’s no oil on Serenity.”
Briskly toweling her hair, she asked, “How do you know?”
Okay, now would be as good a time as any to come clean. Of course, knowing he had enough money to stop the auction would make it a better time. No, it was past time.
“Reese, I … how about a cup of coffee or hot chocolate? There’s still plenty of both in the pantry.”
“Um, okay”—she followed him to the pantry—”I don’t suppose there’s any cream in there?”
“Nope. And, trust me, if there was, you wouldn’t want it. I guess that means you want hot chocolate? And, before you ask, no, there is no whipped cream or—wait! Ah-ha!” He reached deep on the back shelf and pulled out an old blue tin canning jar. “Marshmallows.” He shook the jar. The mini-marshmallows moved as one. “They may be a little stale, but what’s to go bad? They’re bound to soften up once they soak in the hot chocolate a little.”
“Since I have no idea, we may as well give it a whirl. What can I do to help?”
“Tell me everything you know about this oil company. What was it again? H.V.?”
He turned on the faucet and they watched the water trickle into the kettle.
“H.C….H.C. Worldwide, Nationwide? Something like that, with the word Oil.” She closed her eyes, envisioning the logo on the door of the limo again. “Yes, I think that was it. It was printed above the logo, and in smaller print, under it, it said A Division of H.C. Industries.” She frowned. “At least I think that’s what it said. Like I told you, I was kind of in a hurry. Ordinarily, I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it. But it irritated me that it was illegally parked right smack-dab in front of the door to my building. I almost ran right into it when I left, which irritated me more.”
“I still don’t get why an oil company would be interested in an old hotel.” He set the kettle on the stove burner and twisted a knob.
“I doubt it has anything to do with the hotel, unless it’s sitting on top of an oil well. What do you remember about the island from when you came here as a little boy? Maybe we can figure out what’s going on.”
“Okay.” He took her hand and drew her to sit at the ta
ble in the bay window of the kitchen. “I haven’t been totally honest with you.”
She drew back on her hand, but he held tight. “Excuse me?” Her voice was small and frightened-sounding. “What are you saying?”
“Shit-fire-spit, woman, stop looking at me like that! I’m not some criminal, if that’s what you’re thinking.” He released her hand and dragged his through his hair, eyes closed.
“Then what, exactly, are you?”
Their gazes locked.
“The grandson of the late owner.”
The teakettle began to make noise, breaking the silence of the big kitchen.
Ben got up and took down two mugs and began spooning hot chocolate mix into them.
“I don’t understand,” Reese finally managed to say. “Then you lied, before, when you said you weren’t planning to bid for the island?”
“No, that’s true. I’m not bidding.” He gave a short bark of laughter to keep from choking on his words. “Hell, I barely have enough money to get by, forget buying a piece of property like Serenity Island.”
“But would you, if you could?”
“Nope.” It’s mine. All I would have to do is pay the back taxes and the damn auction wouldn’t take place. He’d tell her, but not just yet. The pity on her face already was enough to turn his stomach.
He plunked her mug in front of her on the old table and took the chair opposite her. “Well? Aren’t you going to say anything? You always seem to have something to say about everything.”
“Sorry. I was just thinking.” She blew on the hot drink, then took a tentative sip. “Pretty good. But I think I’ll wait to try out a marshmallow.”
Ben held up his finger as he chewed. And chewed. “Good idea. They’re still a tad tough.” With obvious effort, he swallowed.
“Okay,” Reese began, “since this was your grandmother’s place, I’m assuming you were out here quite a bit.” He nodded. “Did you live here?”
“No. But I spent most of every summer out here.”
“When was the last time you were here?” She took another sip.
“Hell, I don’t recall. Maybe five years ago? I spent about a month, doing odd jobs for Gram and putting on a new roof.”