by Dara Girard
“Why?”
He lifted his gaze. “Someone may have seen something. You don’t understand the dynamics.”
Aaron frowned. “What dynamics?”
“People don’t want to disappoint you. We look up to you, and nobody would want to admit that they’ve let you down. Let me find out what may have happened before you hire a new team.”
Aaron sighed. H.C. had a point. He remembered how eager he’d been to please his father. He had to be logical, even though the thought of how close Rebecca had come to getting hurt still angered him. He remembered how she trembled in his arms, the look of fear on her face, although she struggled to hide it from him. If he wanted to keep her safe, he had to trust others, and H.C. was one of the men he trusted the most.
“You have three hours,” Aaron said. Harvey nodded, then left. Aaron was headed back to his office when his cell phone rang. “Hello?”
“Someone is using your card in the VIP lounge,” the maître d’ said.
“Thanks.” He hung up. That was faster than he’d thought. Especially after what had just happened. He’d thought Rebecca would be busy working the rest of the day, but now he had a chance to see her again, sooner than expected, and he wouldn’t miss that opportunity.
You’re a lot wilder than you think, his sister had said. Maybe it was time to find out how much wilder. He went into the lounge and had the maître d’ point out where he’d placed her, but when Aaron walked up to the table, he knew it wasn’t Rebecca, even from the back.
“May I?” he asked, gesturing to the empty chair.
“Please.”
“Where’s Ms. Cromwell?”
Kelli smiled with flirtation. “I don’t know, but maybe I can help you.”
“Where were you this afternoon?”
Her smile disappeared. “Why?”
“I didn’t see you in the exhibit hall.”
She lifted a sly brow. “Were you looking for me?”
“No, I just thought I’d see you there.”
“I was there, but the moment you walked into the room, Rebecca was the only woman you saw.”
“I can’t deny it.”
“Lucky you were there. I think she should cancel the show.”
Aaron’s jaw twitched. “I won’t let that happen. This show will be a success, or do you doubt me?”
“No, that would be careless. I’d never underestimate you.”
He leaned back. “Good.”
“But I was shocked by what happened, so I had to get away. Rebecca’s working, like always, and told me to enjoy this little treat instead.”
“I see.”
Kelli shook her head. “No, you don’t. You might as well give up now. I can read people, and you’re not her type.”
“I suppose I’m yours,” Aaron said as he slowly traced a circle on the white tablecloth.
She leaned forward. “How can you tell?”
He flattened his hand and smiled. “I can read people, too.”
She rested her chin in her hand. “And what do you know about me?”
“You’re the kind of woman who rarely eats alone.”
“Food always tastes better with company.”
“And you probably have a boyfriend at home who doesn’t know that you like to keep company as often as you can.”
Her eyes widened. “How did you...?”
“Know?” he finished for her with a grin. “I’ve met many different people here, and I can tell the ones who are coming for a little holiday fun. I know the ones who think that what they do here doesn’t matter, as long as no one finds out. Let me guess...you’ve been with him over a year, yes?”
“It’s nothing serious.”
“I bet he thinks it is, or he wouldn’t have bought you that bracelet. I couldn’t help noticing the two hearts with the initials D.F. and K.D.”
She covered her wrist. “He just likes to buy me things.”
“Looks expensive.” He studied her a little more. “He’s about fifty, ready to settle down, sweet but not exciting, and he likes to take care of you. Has he brought up marriage yet? No? He will, and you know he will, and you’ll consider it for the sake of security because you don’t want to be some fashion designer’s assistant all your life. But you’re also young and want to be free. Am I close?”
Kelli folded her arms and glared at him. “You don’t have to look so smug. You don’t know all about me. I’m not a gold digger.”
“No, you love him very much. So what game are you trying to play with me?”
Kelli held his gaze. She looked shaken, but she was not ready to admit defeat. “I have my own reasons.”
“I’m sure you do, but I’m not in the mood to hear them.” He stood. “Excuse me.”
“Stay away from Rebecca,” she said.
But she spoke with such venom that Aaron sat back down and looked at her with more interest. “Why?”
“Because she’ll get hurt. You’ll hurt her. Just like her ex-fiancé. He was gorgeous, sexy, a little dangerous...just like all musicians.”
“You think I’m dangerous, too?” he asked in a low, deep tone.
“I know you are.”
Aaron sniffed and looked at her with pity. “Whatever you’ve heard—”
“I don’t have to hear anything. I know what men like you are about. If you really want to keep Rebecca safe, you’ll tell her to leave this island.”
He stood and pushed in his chair. “I have no intention of doing that. I’ll make sure the show is a success.”
“For her sake or yours?”
Aaron rested his hands on the table and stared down at her. “Do I look worried to you?”
“No,” she said, lifting her glass and taking a sip. “Just a little overconfident.” She set her glass down and held his steady gaze. “I know you think you can do a lot of things, but do you really think you can stop a curse?”
* * *
A curse. There was that damned word again, Aaron thought as he left the lounge. He should stop thinking about Rebecca. He knew Kelli was right. Rebecca had given his special VIP card away. That meant she had no interest in him. Then why did that intrigue him even more?
He saw her on the beach. At first she was just a silhouette in the dying light of the sun, but he could tell by her walk and confident, free-flowing movements that it was her. Stay away from Rebecca, Kelli had warned him. I plan to do the exact opposite, he thought as he made his way over to her.
“Hello,” he said.
“Hi,” she said, keeping her pace.
“Mind if I walk with you?”
“Yes.”
He raised his brows, surprised. “Why?”
“Because then it will be very hard for me to ignore you.”
“Why would you want to ignore me?”
“First, because I know how much you don’t like the fashion world.”
“That’s true, but I’m willing to be tolerant, since I need to help your show succeed. H.C., my assistant, is talking to the crew, and we’ll have a new one in if—”
“I don’t want to talk about the show with you.”
“Why not?”
“Because you broke my heart.”
Aaron tapped his chest. “Me? Are you sure?”
She tilted her head at him. “You still don’t remember me, do you? Have I really changed that much?”
“There is something familiar about you.”
“Familiar, but not special, huh? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“Tell me how we met. Where.”
Rebecca stopped walking and pointed to the water. “Out there.”
“Out where?”
“In the ocean. Ten years ago, you saved me from drowning.”
She started walking again. “And when I offered my heart to you, you turned me away.”
He blinked and didn’t move. No, it couldn’t be. “Becca? You’re little Becca?”
She threw out her arms and kept walking, increasing the distance between them. “As you can see, I’m not little anymore. And I know it’s best to stay away from you. You once called me a little mouse.”
“I know,” he said, walking up to her, easily closing the distance.
“Yes, but the little mouse now knows better than to play with the lion.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I didn’t mean to hurt you—”
“What’s past is past.”
“And I don’t see you as a mouse anymore.”
She stopped and looked up at him. “I’m glad, because I want you to picture me as something else.”
“What?”
“A dragonfly that you will never catch.”
He shook his head. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I have every intention of catching you,” he said before his mouth covered hers.
Chapter 7
She wanted to pull away—her mind said she should, but her body didn’t move from the sensual assault. Rebecca resisted slipping her arms around him, but she let her mouth taste the sweet corners of his lips and then his tongue. And when he drew her close, his hard form pressed against hers, she ached for more. He kissed her like a man claiming his possession. For those brief moments, he took ownership of her body in a way no man had. It surprised and aroused her. She wanted to be his. She always had.
She almost cried out in despair when he stepped back. The bond was still there, no matter how much she wanted to fight it. The bond they had developed that night all those years ago. But he hadn’t felt it. He’d cast her aside, and she couldn’t forgive him for that.
She folded her arms, trying not to tremble, desperate that he wouldn’t see the effect he still had over her. “Finished having your fun?” she said, then lifted her hand to wipe his kiss from her lips.
He seized her wrist, stopping her. “Don’t fight this, Becca.”
She yanked her wrist free. “My name is Rebecca.”
“I’m sorry about—”
She covered her ears and turned away. “I told you, what’s past is past.”
He grabbed her shoulders and spun her to face him, his gaze like summer lightning, his voice urgent. “You’re smarter than that. Listen to me—”
She shirked away from him. “Stop, you’re scaring me.”
Aaron quickly released her and stumbled back as if she’d slapped him. “You don’t mean that.”
“I do. You’re—”
He held up his hand. “No, you don’t have to say it. Please don’t say it. I can hear that from anyone but you.” He turned and left, picking up a rock and throwing it in the water with anger.
Rebecca stared at him, regretting her reckless words, wondering why they had affected him so powerfully. Why they seemed to hurt him so much.
She pointed to his back as he became a smaller dot in the distance. No, no, no, I’m not falling for it again. I’m not going to see you as the damaged hero who needs to be rescued. I’m wiser now. Smarter. I won’t let you hurt me. But even as she thought these words, she could feel tears stinging her eyes because she wanted to run after him and tell him that she wanted to be with him. That despite her greatest efforts to stop, she still loved him.
* * *
A few feet away, Harvey stared at her, feeling the force of his pain. Seeing Rebecca with Wethers had been a major blow. He hadn’t expected that. When had that happened? Wethers usually kept a careful distance when it came to guests. Harvey knew that Rebecca couldn’t be his, but he could imagine being with her. He’d already planned what he’d hoped to order for her next time he took her to his friend’s jerk stand.
But Wethers had succeeded where he had failed. That was no surprise. She’d been kind to him, but he should not have mistaken her attention for attraction. Besides, Wethers was younger, with good looks and money. Of course she would choose him. Their parting didn’t look cordial, however, and that gave him some hope. Although he had seen him kiss her, perhaps Wethers’s advances were unwanted. And he knew why. He knew Rebecca’s secrets.
As promised, he hadn’t hinted at her secret meeting at the house in town. He’d barely spoken to her, knowing it best to keep his distance for her sake. But today she’d done something that bothered him and threatened everyone else. That’s why he’d followed her to the beach. He’d come to talk to her about why she’d been lurking behind the stage a half hour before it collapsed. Was she behind what happened? There had to be a reason she’d been there, but why? Why would she sabotage her own show? He didn’t know what to do. His first loyalty was to Wethers, but his heart cried out to protect her.
Should he tell Wethers his suspicions? Would he even listen to him? He had no proof, and it was all just speculation. Just because she’d been there didn’t mean she’d done anything. She wouldn’t try to hurt herself. Was it the curse? Rebecca seemed to be different when she was in the exhibit hall than when she’d been in town. What other secrets was she hiding?
* * *
You’re scaring me. He never thought he’d hear those words from her, and they pierced his heart. He could take those words from Martha or Ina, but Becca had been different. She’d been one of the few people he’d felt most comfortable with. The one person who didn’t make him feel as if he lived in the shadow of his ancestor, being compared to some of the wickedness Pierre LaCroix and his ancestors were known for. He had thought Rebecca was someone who didn’t get caught up in talks of curses and superstition. A person who’d once made him laugh. Had she changed so much? And why did that thought hurt? He hadn’t been looking for her. He never thought he’d see her again.
Aaron walked into his house, poured himself a drink and finished it in one swallow, letting the liquid heat burn his lungs. He probably should take a cold shower instead. Kissing Rebecca like that wasn’t like him—he usually took his time, but he hadn’t been able to resist. He’d planned to just tease her. Just a quick, light kiss to prove that she couldn’t ignore him. But the moment his lips touched hers, something inside him leaped forth, transforming him from a man who prided himself on his restraint to a rogue who didn’t give a damn. He devoured her, indulging in the heady sensation of her soft curves pressed against his body. It was only when he thought of taking her right there on the sand that he came back to his senses.
His father had raised him to be a gentleman, to be considerate. But he hadn’t been; he’d cared only about the pleasure she was giving him, pleasure for which he’d been hungry for so long. He set his glass down. He’d once hurt her, and now she’d hurt him—fine cosmic justice.
He remembered with pain the young man he used to be. A young man who, at twenty-five, thought he knew all about life until he’d gotten his heart trampled on by his first love, Tonya. She’d been a popular radio announcer at their local station, and he’d been dating her for two years, with plans to marry her, when she’d called him to the station one night and demanded to know where their relationship was heading.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, when do you plan to marry me?”
“My father’s been ill, and I’ve had to take over some of his duties. When he’s back on his feet we can talk about marriage.”
“I don’t want to talk about it. That’s your problem, Aaron. You’re always talking about things, or planning things, but you rarely do anything. Why don’t we just elope?”
“You know I couldn’t do that to my family.”
“Don’t you ever want to do something impulsive?”
“What’s gotten into you?”
“I want to get married. I want to know where
I stand with you.”
“You know that I love you, but—”
“But what?”
“You’ve never once said that you love me.” He’d later regret baring his heart to her and saying those words when he learned she had deliberately kept the intercom on, and they’d been on the air, so his speech was heard by the entire island. Within minutes he was a running joke. He’d have cab drivers shout “I love you” as they drove by. Schoolgirls would say “We love you, Aaron” before laughing and running away. Ten years ago, he’d been a source of fun on the island, which was why he had tried to blend in with the college crowd that was staying at his family’s hotel that spring break. At least none of them knew him or about his embarrassing declaration. He wanted to be seen as the proud owner of Red Beacon Hotel, not the pathetic, weak ex-boyfriend of a radio celebrity. His parents had been against the match in the first place, and her callous betrayal had proven them right.
“Focus on work. Everything will die down soon,” his father said.
“I knew she was beneath you,” his mother added.
He’d been remembering their discussion when he’d seen Rebecca go overboard. He had volunteered to go on the boat trip, since one of the chaperones had fallen ill earlier that day. He’d taken charge that night, organizing Becca’s rescue. Taking her home had been a gamble, but he’d felt she was his responsibility, and he’d seen the respect in the EMTs eyes as well as the police officers, and craved it. He’d enjoyed being with her throughout the night, almost regretting when morning came and he had to send her home. He had wanted to show her some other sights on the island, but then thought better of it.
Two days later, he’d gone to his private place by the cliffs just to get away from another unfortunate meeting with his ex—and her new love—and try to forget the two groups of girls who’d shouted “I love you” when he had walked past. That evening, he’d planned on diving in the water, not caring about his clothes, when someone suddenly tackled him to the ground. He remembered Becca hitting her head and saying how she was trying to rescue him. He’d thought she was crazy but sweet, and after he’d checked her cut, he’d wanted to treat her to an ice cream cone and show her his progress on his latest diorama. But then she said those mocking words: I love you.