Hot Seal Next Door_A Bad Boy Second Chance Romance

by Tia Wylder

  “It’ll be okay,” I said quietly. “If Rico was okay, he probably will be, too.”

  Adele nodded, but she looked anxious. “I hope so,” she said. “I really do.”

  The rest of the day was a blur. We took Rico into the kitchens where Adele made the finest spread the hotel pantry had to offer – stale bread, canned baked beans, and fruit salad from a tin. We talked as we ate, but my mind kept drifting. I couldn’t stop thinking about Franchot – now that we finally had evidence against him that was good enough to take him down, what would happen?

  I knew that I needed to speak with my lawyers immediately.

  Adele, Rico, and I all slept in the same room that night. I felt crazy, but I didn’t want to let either of them out of my sight. Now that we’d all come so close to nearly dying, it felt insane to think about being alone. I had a feeling that I wouldn’t get over my experience for a long, long time.

  The next day, the power was still out, but Adele managed to find cell service with her phone. She called the emergency authorities in Miami, and they promised to send a private plane to Nassau once they learned who I was. I was grateful to be leaving and itching to take the next steps, but something about leaving the Hotel St. Charles gave me pause. After spending days here in a crisis – more than once! – it almost felt like home.

  “Come on,” Adele said. She tugged my sleeve and guided me to the private plane. “We’re waiting for you.”

  I took one last look at the Hotel St. Charles.

  “Yeah,” I said. “I know. I’m coming.”

  --

  After we landed in Boston, I had Nick take Rico and Adele to their respective homes. Adele had charged her phone on the plane and sent me the recording. It wasn’t perfect – it was a little blurry, and her hand hadn’t exactly been steady – but it was just good enough.

  “This can work, man,” Barnes said. We were sitting in my office, watching the video enlarged on my computer screen. When I saw Franchot’s fat frame make an appearance on screen, I narrowed my eyes.

  “That fucker,” I said. “I can’t believe he’d do something so low.” I shook my head. “And to risk his goddamned life, just to ruin me!”

  Barnes cocked his head to the side and gave me a strange look. “With all due respect, man, that’s a pretty fucking weird thing to say,” he said. “You did the same thing.”

  “Not to ruin him!”

  Barnes raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?” He snorted. “I remember it differently.”

  “He was trying to ruin me first,” I said pedantically, well aware that I was sounding like a child. “And I had to take him down.”

  Barnes chuckled. “Well, everything worked out.”

  I nodded. “And thank god for that,” I said. I sighed. I’d told Barnes about the whole sordid adventure – leaving out the parts about falling in love with Adele – and he’d hung on my every word like I was some famed warrior coming back from the Crusades.

  “You should write a book,” Barnes said, raising an eyebrow. “You’d make a killing.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Not as much money as I will once the Nassau property is done.”

  “You’re still going through with it?”

  “Well, yeah,” I said. “After all that? How could I not?”

  Barnes was silent for a long moment. “I feel like an asshole,” he said. “I never should’ve told that girl to join you. I thought I was doing what was right. I don’t know, I guess I thought that when she got down there, you two could leave together.”

  I laughed dryly. “No,” I said, shaking my head. “You’ve clearly never seen Nassau in the throes of a hurricane.”

  “And hopefully I never will,” Barnes replied. “So, is she happy? She got her prize pig, just like you.”

  “I think she will be,” I said slowly. “I don’t know.”

  The truth was, I hadn’t talked to Adele in days. I’d called and texted, but she hadn’t replied. I figured that she was busy getting back on her feet and recovering from our ordeal. When we’d first landed in Boston, I’d wanted her to go to the hospital, but she’d refused.

  “I’m fine,” she’d told me. “You were right, after all.”

  She’d gotten in the back of my car before I’d had the chance to ask her exactly what she’d meant by that remark.

  “Well, you still into her?” Barnes smirked. “Or did the whole hurricane thing ruin it for you?”

  “I’m in love with her,” I said without even thinking about it. I leaned back in my chair and yawned. “Hey, you mind giving me some time? I need to check up on what I missed when I left.”

  Barnes got to his feet and clapped his hand on my shoulder. “Sure, man,” he said. “Not a problem. You doing okay?”

  I nodded. I knew that was the closest Barnes would come to admitting that he cared about me. But that was good enough for me. I’d never been great at telling people how I truly felt…but something inside my heart told me that was about to start changing.

  When Barnes left, I sighed. I’d intended to sit at my desk and comb through emails. I also needed to call my development team and let them know exactly what had happened. The police were treating my site in Nassau like a crime scene, and I was under strict orders not to disturb a single twig. Plus, I knew I’d have to contact my insurance company and tell them everything.

  But I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t summon the willpower. For the first time since getting back to Boston, the exhaustion was hitting me like a ton of bricks. I switched off my computer, then walked over to my couch and crashed down. I was only lying there for a few seconds before I fell into a restless, deep sleep.

  Hours later, when I woke up, it was dark outside. The weather looked frigid and blustery, and I shivered as I got to my feet and pulled a sweater on over my shirt. The lights of the city suddenly struck me as lonely – so many tiny yellow squares, each the window to a different story, a different life.

  I’m getting maudlin, I thought as I stood there, feeling the chill air through the thick panes of glass. I frowned. It felt strange, to be lonely. I wondered if it was the time I’d spent with Adele, cooped up in the Hotel St. Charles.

  Or maybe it was something more. I’d always cherished my alone time – I’d always loved it. But now that I was away from Adele, something didn’t feel right. With a wry smile on my face, I picked up my phone and dialed a familiar number. I knew then that I had to get to her, to be with her. No matter what.

  --

  An hour later, I stood in front of Adele’s door, freezing my ass off, with a steaming pizza box in my hands. The door swung open, and Adele stood there, blinking at me. She was wearing black yoga pants that hugged the slender curves of her thighs and a shirt that hung loosely off one shoulder. She smiled when she saw me.

  “Hey,” she said in a raspy voice. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you back. I was sick – Lisa thinks it was because of all the water in Nassau.”

  I held up the pizza. “Maybe I should’ve gotten chicken soup, then,” I said. “But this might do the trick.”

  Adele looked at the box with clear hunger in her eyes. “Lisa hasn’t been letting me have anything but broth,” she said. “And that smells good enough to practically inhale.”

  She stepped back, letting me into her apartment. I looked around as I followed her into the living room and set the pizza box down. The apartment wasn’t very spacious, but I got the sense that Adele and her roommate were happy there – it was filled with personal touches and an eclectic sense of décor that I hadn’t seen since college.

  “Sorry, it’s a mess in here right now,” Adele said, wrinkling her nose as she flopped onto the couch and folded her legs underneath her body. “God, that smells so good.”

  I opened the cardboard box and handed her a slice before helping myself. We chewed greasy pepperoni and cheese for a moment in silence, then I swallowed and cleared my throat.

  “I want to thank you,” I said. “Because of what you did – well, because of what yo
u captured on your phone – Franchot is going to prison for a long time. The authorities are still investigating, but they’re going to make an arrest really soon.”

  Adele finished her slice and moved on to the crust, chewing thoughtfully. “Good,” she said. “I’m glad.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Me, too.”

  At the sound of footsteps, I turned around and saw Adele’s roommate, Lisa.

  “You shouldn’t be eating that,” Lisa said to Adele in a chastising tone. “It’s not going to help you get better.” Lisa’s gaze shifted to me, and she gave me a curious look.

  Adele stuck her tongue out before grabbing another slice from the box. “No way,” she said. “I’m already feeling better. Three days of broth made me actually want to die.”

  I snickered.

  “I’ll give you a piece if you leave us alone,” Adele said. She raised an eyebrow at Lisa. “Deal?”

  “Well,…okay,” Lisa said. She shrugged. “Not like I can leave my room, anyway. I still have ten pages of that stupid paper to write.”

  “Sustenance is important,” Adele said in a mock-serious tone. She handed Lisa a piece of pizza. “Now, get back to work. Jack and I have some…things to discuss,” she added, glancing over at me and cocking her head to the side.

  Lisa rolled her eyes, but turned and retreated down the hall to her room. As soon as we heard the door close, Adele bit her lip.

  “I heard about the captain of the charter boat,” she said. “I kept calling and calling for days. He actually survived – his boat didn’t go down, he actually drifted to one of the smaller Bahamian islands.”

  “Oh, thank god,” I said, closing my eyes. “That’s a relief.”

  “You’re telling me,” Adele said quietly. “God, I was so worried about him. I felt so guilty.” She blushed. “I’m lucky the company doesn’t want to sue me.”

  I snorted. I hadn’t even thought about that possibility, but now that Adele had mentioned it, I knew she was right.

  “So, anyway, thanks for this,” Adele said as she reached for a third slice of pizza. “And sorry I’m totally pigging out…I was starving.”

  “Well, it’s adequate payback for saving my development and tackling Franchot,” I said, smirking.

  Adele rolled her eyes and groaned. “God, no,” she said. She frowned. “You know, I feel guilty.” She glanced down into her lap and stared at the slice of pizza in her hands. “I didn’t really want to help you at first. I was originally against you, you know.”

  “I know,” I said quietly. “Trust me on that.”

  Adele stared at me. Her green eyes had never seemed so large as they did at that moment.

  This is it, I realized. This is it – I have to tell her now. I can’t wait any longer.

  “I love you,” I said. The words tasted foreign in my mouth, but somehow just right. I knew as soon as I’d said them that they were true, that they always would be true.

  Adele looked stunned.

  “I know, you don’t believe me,” I said. “We almost died, and we spent half of the time bickering when we weren’t afraid of dying. But I do love you, Adele. I’ve never met a woman like you before. You’re smart and driven and capable…and god, you make so many stupid decisions sometimes! But I’m the same way, Adele. I’ve done the exact same things before in life. We get along because we’re so similar. And that’s why we fight, too, I think.”

  Adele swallowed hard. She blinked at me. “Jack, I—“

  I held up a hand to silence her. “Don’t say it,” I said. “Don’t say it back if it’s not true, and even then. I want you to think about what you want. But I’m willing to do whatever I can to make you happy. Hell, I’m changing my company so that every development is going to be as environmentally sustainable as possible, and I swear you can hold me to that.”

  Adele’s eyes got bigger with every passing second.

  “And I donated two million dollars to a wildlife fund that helps displaced natural species in the Bahamas,” I said. “In your name.”

  Adele’s eyes were brimming with tears. “You mean it,” she said softly. “You…you really do love me, then.”

  “Yes,” I said, suddenly worried that my own voice would break with emotion. “I love you. And I think I always have.”

  The force of Adele throwing herself into my arms very nearly knocked me backward. She pressed her lips to mine and kissed me passionately, wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me close. I could feel her heart frantically pounding in her chest, and the strange fragility of the sound made me love her even more. Adele moaned softly as I put my hands on the small of her back and pulled her onto my lap. There was nothing more natural than holding her body in my arms, and I knew then that I could never let her go, that I wanted to hold onto Adele forever.

  When Adele pulled away, she rested her forehead against mine.

  “I love you, too,” she said softly. Then she winked. “Pizza breath and all.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Adele

  “I can’t believe it!” Lisa pulled away and looked out the window. “It’s finally happening!”

  “I can,” I said, rolling my eyes. “It feels like it’s been years, doesn’t it?”

  Lisa nodded. “Yes,” she replied. “It really does.”

  I crossed the room and took a flute of champagne from a table set up in the corner. Lager College was hosting a pre-graduation party for all of their doctoral students, and Lisa and I had decided to come after some convincing from our colleagues, Andrew and Sally.

  I glanced down at my watch. It was only three-thirty, and I knew the party was expected to go on until the late evening. I didn’t want to abandon my friends, but I missed Jack terribly. He’d been away on business for the last two months, and he’d been so busy that we’d barely spoken. At first, I’d worried that long distance would ruin our relationship. But now, if anything, I realized that the distance between Jack and me had just made us stronger than ever before. It had been six months since that disaster in Nassau, and Boston was in the midst of a perfect, summery bloom.

  “Hey,” Lisa said, tapping me on the shoulder. “Wake up, sleeping beauty. Come over here.”

  I followed Lisa over to a crowd of doctoral students, all excitedly chattering about their post-graduation plans. When the conversation turned to me, I shrugged.

  “I honestly don’t know yet,” I said, shaking my head and taking a sip of champagne.

  Andrew narrowed his eyes. “How can you possibly be serious,” he said. “You took down one of the world’s biggest villains, and you don’t even know what you’re going to do next?”

  I flushed slightly and laughed. “That might be true,” I said. “But I think I just want to take some time off and look for a good job, or maybe a postdoc.”

  “You should look into Oxford or Cambridge,” Andrew said. “I know they’re taking two or three environmental science postdocs.” He puffed out his chest and gave me an arrogant look. “You’d be good enough to get in.”

  “That’s all the way across the ocean,” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t think I want to go that far away.”

  Andrew narrowed his eyes. “Adele, don’t be ridiculous,” he said. “What, are you telling me you’re going to stay in Boston forever?”

  Jack’s gorgeous face popped into my head and I shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “Whatever happened to all of that ambition?” Sally asked. She frowned. “You were like, so set on changing the world.”

  “I put Louis Franchot in federal prison,” I said with a smirk as I finished the last of my champagne. “I hardly think that gives you room to call me unambitious.”

  Andrew and Lisa laughed, but Sally just looked put off.

  “I just don’t know how you can't possibly have plans,” she said, tossing her head. “It’s so irresponsible. That’s not like you, Adele.”

  Lisa rolled her eyes. “Come on,” she said. “Come get a drink with me.” Lisa linked her arm through min
e, and we walked over to the windows and looked down at the city streets below.

  “Sorry about her,” Lisa said. “I think she’s just jealous. You’ve done more at twenty-four than most of us will do in a lifetime.”

  I flushed. “I don’t think it’s that,” I said slowly.

  Lisa frowned. “Oh yeah? Then what?”

  “It has to be Jack,” I said. “Sally probably thinks I’m…oh, I don’t know, some kind of traitor just because I’m dating him.”