“I’m not sure about the length though.”
It was short. That was for sure. “I thought you liked my legs.”
“They’re great. Too great.”
Maya waited for him to say something else but he didn’t. Just left the compliment out in the air. Along with the insinuation that he thought she was too good for Rick.
Maya smoothed down the dress and turned the toe of her shoe. She wouldn’t have considered wearing towering silver stilettos, well, ever, but the shop assistant had assured her that with the pared back look of the gown, all would be well. Apparently the sales girl had been right if Dominic’s up and down was anything to go by.
Her phone trilled into action.
“I hope that’s Rick calling to say he’s arranged for a white horse and carriage to pick you up.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “A white horse? In this town? I think you’ve been out in the sun too long.”
It wasn’t Rick anyway. Maya answered the call, hoping there hadn’t been any issues with the media after she’d left. “Holo? Congrats on the placing.”
“Hey Maya. Yeah thanks. I’ll take the winner’s trophy off Rick next time huh? Sorry to do this over the phone, but I wanted to give you a heads up straight away. I know you’re pretty keen to get this all going pronto.”
Uh oh. “No problem.”
“It’s the Wolfe clothing thing. I can’t do it.”
“What? What do you mean you can’t do it?”
Dominic took a step towards her. “If Rick’s bailing on you, tell him to come up here and do it in person so I can politely tell him what a jerk he is.”
“Shhhh.” She waved him off. “It’s Holokai.”
“Is Dominic there? Maybe you should put me on speaker.”
“Okay.” She pressed the button and Holo’s dismembered voice came out of the phone.
“Sorry dude. You seem okay. But I just got told that Wolfe uses sweatshops for some of their stuff. It’s not cool man. And with you wanting to push the whole eco thing—well, I can’t put my name to that. No one’s gonna buy it. Not in the way you want them too anyways.”
“What? Sweatshops? I would never—”
Maya turned the speaker phone function off and put the phone back to her ear. “Where did you hear this?”
“A friend of mine is part of Green America. I always run potential sponsors by him, just, you know, as a double check. He’s totally discrete, I even made him sign a, what’s-it-called, a legal thing about not spilling who I’m working with, don’t worry B. But there’s a thing heaps of companies do, put designed in Australia but then it’s all made offshore for cheap. Not cool.”
“It can’t be true.” She turned to look at Dominic who was already on his phone. Was everything he’d said to her about his business, about his philosophy all a line? No way. She didn’t believe that, couldn’t believe it.
“Sorry babes. My friend never calls me with this stuff unless it’s legit. I have to pull out.”
“Just give me some time to work out what’s going on okay?”
“Sure. But like I say, it’s pretty solid. You better start looking for a new guy. And maybe rethink the whole eco thing. It’ll come over as lame if people work it out.”
Maya hung up the phone and waited for Dominic to finish talking to whomever it was he was calmly, but firmly, leaving a message for.
He turned back to her.
“I’ll call Rick. I’m not going. We have to sort this out.”
Dominic put a hand out to stop her dialing. “No. I have to sort it out. I think I might know what’s going on. It’s about time I dealt with it once and for all. I’ll fly back and work it out.”
Maya faltered. “Will you come back?”
The muscle in his jaw clenched. “Maybe. If I can work it out I might not need to. Let’s just see how it goes. You can stay here as long as you need to. We’ll keep in touch though.”
And just like that, he walked into his room and started packing. Maya watched him for a moment and then felt her phone buzzing in her hand. It was Rick. Time to go. She looked at Dominic one last time but his back was to hers and he gave no indication stopping what he was doing to say goodbye.
Heart hurting, she gave him a little unseen wave and walked out the door.
Chapter Thirteen
“I can’t get over how good you look with short hair. I’m totally a long hair kinda guy, but on you it just works.”
When she was close up and one on one with him like this, Maya remembered the way Rick’s voice had done crazy things to her. The freshly squeezed angel-lust blood effect. This was good. This was what she was supposed to be doing. Dominic’s voice was nothing like this.
Dominic. With the thought of Dominic, Maya’s concentration wavered and she realized that far from turning her into a puddle of need as it used to, Rick’s voice was currently flowing right over the top of her as he kept talking about what sort of physical attributes he liked in a woman.
“Honestly, I had no idea that we might ever be a thing. I said I’d make it up you so let me take care of this tonight. Anything you want, it’s on me.”
That was it? That was his making it up to her? “We’re at your sister’s wedding. I think it’s on her.”
He laughed and there it was. The crooked smile, that better looking version of James Franco thing that he had going coupled with his solid commitment to his sport.
He put a hand across the table they’d found off to the side of the dancing and covered hers. Maya jumped a little but he didn’t seem to notice. Were there sparks? Maybe a little tingle. “I’ve been thinking about how you’ve built up my sponsorship backers. About my brand you know. We could really make a go of this. I could go out and surf my butt off while you could sell it back on land. My butt I mean.” That grin again, only this time with a touch of innuendo.
Yep. She got it.
“I mean, we’d make a good team, don’t you think? You and me.” Now his hand stroked hers and there were definitely tingles, not quite on the same scale as with Dominic but tingles for sure. When he swung his whole attention towards her, it was intense and Maya felt the heat of a blush heading up towards her throat. This was good. This was getting back to the plan.
“I think we’d make a great team,” she managed.
His hand squeezed hers and it was her turn to smile.
The reception had been short and sweet and now the wedding had turned to dancing and drinking. Maya looked out over the dance floor and saw her life in front of her. Her friends, her clients, her future. Rick’s sister looked radiant in her cream gown and her new husband gazed down at her adoringly as they cut up the dance floor.
“I’ve been thinking we could do a few side tours. You know, off circuit. I want to keep up the WSL thing as long as I can of course, but even I am not going to be like this forever.” He slapped his rock hard biceps. Rock hard biceps that he could be using to pull her close…
“If we started now, we could set up a few schools here and there. Or clubs maybe. Yeah, clubs with kids who pay a subscription for lessons when we’re in town. You know, Hunter’s Surf Hounds or something. You’ll think of a much better name.”
“That’s not a bad idea.”
“I know, right? With your amazing organizational pull, you’d have it sorted easy and we’ll just be able to turn up, do some lessons, shake a few hands and we’d be laughing in cash. Steady, easy income, no sweat, no worries.”
Maya squeezed his hand back. He said the magic, steady, word. They were so on the same wavelength. If she focused on his brand alone, they would be able to sit back and live off it. “That’s just what I’ve been thinking.”
His smile turned up another notch. “See. I knew you’d get it. You really get me don’t you?”
The tingle turned up the voltage a notch and Maya saw her future stretching full, bright and sunny ahead of her. But there was something that just didn’t sit right. Rick was perfect, but there was something…missing.
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Rick went on oblivious. “And then when we’re sick of all the travelling, you’ll have made me such an amazing brand that I’ll be able to do whatever I like and not have to move an inch. There’d be product launches, the speaking circuit.”
“Yes. They’re all great ideas.” Maya tried to pack as much enthusiasm as she could into her sentence.
“Hey sweets.” Rick dropped her hand and looked over Maya’s shoulder.
“Ricky! Fancy seeing you here. These are the girlfriends I was telling you about. They just love you. Can we get our photo with you? Please?” The sickly sweet voice wheedled and Maya turned to see four girls dressed in variations of hot pink, turquoise blue and white that Dominic would have cringed at.
“Sure. Always happy to accommodate my fans.” Rick gave her a wink and stood, looping his arms over one, two then all four of the women as they took turns taking photos on their phones.
Maya took a large gulp of wine and checked her watch. Had she only been with Rick for quarter of an hour? It felt like ages. Was that a good sign or a bad sign?
“Hey wanna dance? Girls want to drag me out there.”
The girls wanted to dance with him? Wasn’t this supposed to be her date? She shook her head. “You go, I’ll sit this one out.”
He smiled and with arms around two of the four girls, headed to the dance floor.
Clearly her flirting skills weren’t as highly toned as Dominic thought. That or Rick was more peacock than partner material. Maya looked down at the precisely ironed white cotton table cloth in front of her and realized it reminded her of Dominic’s shirt. That was the second time in as many minutes she’d thought about something in relation to her client.
Yes. Your client. Her client and teacher. The one who has your heart in a tizz. The one who didn’t fit with her plan. She wasn’t being fair to Rick. He’d been attentive to her. And she’d get exactly what she’d planned being with him. He was the perfect package. The perfect complement to her life plan.
Maya looked behind her for Rick’s return but he was still on the dance floor with his fan base. That was his job. And he was as good at his job as she was at hers.
She checked her watch again. Time was dragging. Like it never does when you’re with Dominic. Maya heaved a sigh but at the same time a little thread of relief started sewing itself around her rib cage. Was Rick really what she wanted? Sure, she’d get a surf partner with Rick, one she could build a brand with, but she wouldn’t necessarily get what she wanted. She wanted to feel like she did when she was with Dominic. Like she was the center of his world, not just someone who organized his life and who was available when he was in town, while he continued on with doing exactly what he wanted. Travelling the world, smiling at fans in every port.
“So what do you want Maya?” she whispered. A waiter walked past and gave her a sympathetic sorry-you’re-on-your-own smile. What she wanted was not to be on her own. To be supported, uplifted, encouraged, cherished for her own work, not for what she generated for Rick.
“Sorry about that. Fans will be fans, you know.”
Maya gave Rick a pert smile. Seeing him in front of her made it much clearer. She didn’t need arm candy. She needed heart candy. A guy who made her insides jump to sweet attention. Having a plan was all well and good, but perhaps it needed updating. She stood so she was standing face to face with Rick.
Really? You’re really going to walk out on all of this? If she left now she might never get a real chance with Rick again. With the life she had told everyone, including herself, she wanted for the longest time. And for what? To take a chance with Dominic? Someone who had made it clear there might never be a forever? She took a deep breath.
Yes. She had to. If she didn’t she would live to regret the what if that was roaring round her brain like an unhinged hurricane.
“I just had a call. The sponsor that I was talking to you about, I really need to sort something with him.”
“Oh that’s a shame.”
“I know. I’m so sorry. And you know if I could stay I would. But it’s really urgent. It could change everything for me if this goes wrong.” It wasn’t exactly a lie.
Rick shrugged the look of disappointment on his face stronger than Maya had expected it to be. “Girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. It was a great wedding though right?”
She smiled. “The best. I love weddings. So glad for your sister.”
The disappointment lifted quickly. “Yeah. Great. Cool. Well, we can go out for dinner another time. Just the two of us.”
“Uh huh.” Maya turned and left.
After reaching the hotel in record time, Maya stopped in the foyer. After all the energy she’d spent lusting after Rick—she shook her head at herself. What a lot of energy she’d wasted. Looking at the lift which would take her up to Dominic’s suite, she faltered. Dominic had invaded her thoughts all evening. And your heart, how about the grip he’s got there?
Maya looked at her cell. The last call was from Holokai. She never should have gone on the date after Holokai rang. If she dealt with that, maybe tackling the hold Dominic had over her would be easier.
He answered straight away. “Hey. Sorry about the whole Wolfe Clothing thing. But you know me, I can’t be doing it if it’s anything other than straight up legit.”
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Maya paused, then hoping she was doing the right thing, told Holokai all about Henry and the near-drowning incident.
Holo blew out a long breath. “That’s one hell of a story, and doing the whole clean up the beaches thing is a nice touch. But it doesn’t change anything.”
“It does. Don’t you see? Dominic would never let his company use sweat shops, it’s just not in the way he operates.”
“He’s got you good hasn’t he?”
Maya startled. “Sorry?”
“No criticism. I reckon if I watched some guy save a kid from drowning I’d be pretty hooked on him too, but the answer is still no. Mr Wolfe-man might be all good, but his company is lame. And he’s the boss. No way is he not going to know about this.”
“So you’re still not going to do it?”
“Not until he can show me the whole thing is straight up legit. Good luck with him. Seems like a nice dude.” He rang off before Maya could ask him what he meant by his last statement.
Nice dude? Yep. Dominic definitely was that. And? And the world seemed expanded when she was with him. The world, her place in it, her body, her mind. Maya groaned and let the heart flutterflies out of their cage a moment. Plan be damned, Holokai was right. Dominic Wolfe had her good and proper. All of her. And if she didn’t give herself a chance and tell him, she might regret it forever.
The lift was taking an age so Maya raced up the stairs to their suite, slotting her key card in the door while still regaining her breath.
“Dominic?” she called out as she pushed into the room.
He wasn’t in the room but she felt, rather than saw that there was someone else in there.
“He’s gone out.” A leggy, blonde, red taloned woman spoke from the couch.
“Oh. Right.” It was taking the stairs two at a time that was making her heart almost leap out of her chest. Wasn’t it?
“We ran out of wine.” The woman stood and it was as if her shadow reached out and towered over her. “I’m Giselle. I work with Dominic.”
A work mate. Of course. Maya’s heart calmed a little. “Sure. Sorry, I ran up the stairs.” She looked around properly and saw Dominic’s bags still waiting in the corner. Maybe it was a last minute thing before he flew back to Sydney.
Giselle smirked. “In a hurry to see him were you? Sorry to disappoint. It’s hard when he’s working so intently. But you get that don’t you? He told me you work all the time. Nice that you got to go out on a little date. Gave us space to catch up.”
A little date? Dominic had told this Assyrian sun goddess all about her?
“I decided it was time he put us first for a change.
”
Us? Maya must have looked as dumbfounded as she felt because the woman waved her left hand around so that the diamond on her finger caught the light and flashed into Maya’s eyes. “He gets so caught up in work he forgets all about what we were supposed to be building together.”
He was engaged? Maya didn’t need to stuff her heart flutterflies back in their cage because they all reacted instantly, dropping like stones into her stomach. “Well, I don’t want to get in your way. I’ll just grab a jacket and a few things and give you some space.”
“Oh would you? Thanks darling. I can see why Dom likes you, you’re such an accommodating little mouse.”
Mouse? Perfect. Hoping the blush wasn’t already showing, Maya raced into the spare room. Stuffed most of what she could see into a bag and turned to check the room. Her whole body felt like it might collapse at any moment. If she didn’t get out of there fast, she was going to be found in a dusty pile in the corner. Dead. Done. Ruined. She’d given up her chance with Rick to be crushed like this? Grabbing the bag she high tailed it out of the suite throwing a wave over her shoulder to Giselle in the living area.
She was dateless. Homeless. Heartless. Everything she’d so carefully stacked up was tumbling down and it was all her own fault.
Maya gulped back a sob. No, she wasn’t going to cry. It was just more proof that in life, if something was too good to be true, you were unlikely to wake up with someone making breakfast in bed the next morning. There was a reason she had a plan which didn’t include falling in love.
Chapter Fourteen
“Your little PR girl popped in, but she left again.”
Making over Maya (Hot Tide Book 2) Page 16