After breakfast, Jacob discussed with her the details of the deal merger. He was acquiring a small centrifuge manufacturer to expand Golden Medical Equipment. Yes, he’d named the company after his sister’s nickname. She had insisted he used Golden instead of Goldie. He handed her the file and told her to do as she saw fit with the information.
She spent the rest of the morning going through the company file and making notes. She skipped lunch, after having a hearty breakfast, and made her way up to her room to pack since she was leaving the following morning. According to Jacob, she would be there no longer than a week, so she packed accordingly.
“I hope this deal closes quickly,” she muttered to herself.
Caroline made mental notes of what she needed to add to her itinerary. She’d have to visit the factory to see how they handled their facility and assess the company. Maybe work would take her mind off things for a while. She recalled her conversation with Jacob in their little meeting after breakfast.
“Demetri would not want you doing this to yourself, Goldie,” Jacob took both her hands and looked into her eyes. “You know that, right?” A lump had risen to her throat and she swallowed hard, unable to answer. She nodded instead. “Now, you need to start taking care of yourself for his sake; moreover, there’re still a chance he may be out there somewhere.”
“You think so, Jacob?” a flicker of hope registered in her eyes. “His body was never found.”
“Anything is possible, Caroline. I’m not saying you should start a search, all I’m saying is that you can’t allow yourself to wither away like this. Demetri wouldn’t want that.”
“Okay, you’re right. It would be impossible for him to survive in the middle of the South Pacific for so long with no food, water, or vessel. Moreover, if the Navy can’t find him, there is no way I can.”
She recalled the day she got the news. Being that his parents were deceased, she was the one he’d given as his next of kin. It was a Tuesday afternoon in late May, almost five weeks ago. She was finalizing the venue for the reception and was on her way out to make the down payment when the doorbell rang. Thinking it was the wedding planner, she rushed to open it.
Standing on the portico were four uniformed officers. Though they showed no signs of emotions on their faces, she knew that something was terribly wrong. She’d heard stories of this kind of visit and had dreaded the day that this would happen to her.
“Can I help you?” she managed to keep her voice steady.
“Hello ma’am,” the Naval Officer greeted. “I have been asked to inform you….,” the one in front started to speak.
“Please come in,” she interrupted, her voice shook a little.
She stepped aside and allowed them to pass. The officer who had started speaking looked at the others who nodded their agreement. They filed in one behind the other and waited for her to guide them into the drawing room where she offered them a seat. By this time, she was feeling weak to the knees and she needed to do something to gather her wits.
“May I offer you some coffee, please?”
The tall man with the dark hair and brown eyes may have seen her plea. “Thank you ma’am.”
She left them for a few minutes to get the coffee on. While in the kitchen, she took a deep breath. The maid, Rosa, was preparing lunch and was surprised to see her.
“Miss Caroline, let me get that,” she offered to do the coffee but Caroline stopped her. She needed to gather her strength for whatever was to come.
“No Rosa, it’s fine. Gracias,” she smiled at the petit olive-complexioned woman.
With the coffee ready, she went back to the drawing room. They were all standing, waiting for her return. She knew it was inevitable. They had to deliver the news, but she wasn’t ready.
“Is there anyone home with you ma’am?” the primary officer asked.
“I…my mother should be back at any moment,” she croaked. Her head had started to spin and she felt like she was sinking in a whirlpool.
A moment later, she heard the front door open and close, and her mother’s voice. “Caroline, is that…?” Madelyn’s question was cut off in midsentence when she entered the room. She rushed to her daughter’s side and looked from one uniformed navy man to the other. “What’s happening?”
“Ma’am, I am here to inform you that you fiancé,” he was looking directly at Caroline, “has been reported dead…,” everything went black from that moment for Caroline.
She awoke to find her mother hovering over her and Adam checking her pulse. The uniformed men were standing to the side, looking on sympathetically. It took a moment for her to remember who they were and why they were there.
“We’re fine now officers. Thank you,” Madelyn’s voice seemed far away as she spoke to the men who made their exit.
Silently, Caroline lifted her weak limbs from the sofa. Like a zombie, she walked to the stairs and climbed them. Her body felt numb and her mind went blank. A sort of exhaustion overtook her, and all she wanted to do was lie down. She awoke sometime later and bounded down the stairs. Madelyn was in the drawing room with their father.
“Oh my God, what time is it?” she shrieked.
“What’s the matter dear?” her mother moved towards her, concern etched on her face.
“The ballroom, I have to make the down payment today. Where are my car keys?”
“Honey, you don’t’ remember?”
“Remember? Yes, I booked the hall. Demetri is going to love it!”
“Caroline,” Madelyn took her hand and tried to lead her to the sofa.
“No Mom, I’ve got to get to the hotel and finalize this, or I lose the date,” she pulled away. “I can’t lose the date now. There are no other venues for that date!”
“Caroline, there’ll be no wedding,” her mother said sadly.
“What are you talking about?” her voice raised notch.
“Honey, the officers from today, remember they said that Demetri is dead?”
“No, that’s not true. How can you say that mom?” she backed away.
Madelyn looked at her husband with a worried expression. She took Caroline’s hand and tried to reason with her. “Honey, come sit a while. Your father will take care of the venue. He will make the call for you,” she cajoled.
It took a few minutes to get Caroline calm enough to follow her to the sofa. Madelyn called Rosa to bring some chamomile tea and it took another great effort for Madelyn to get her to have it. After two cups of the herbal tea, Caroline excused herself and went to her room. At dinner time, when her mother checked on her, she was fast asleep.
She shook her head to get rid of that day from her mind, but no matter how hard she tried, it kept coming back to her. It was a day she could not forget. It was the worse day of her life. She went back to packing for her trip. Briefly, she wondered if her father had really booked the hall.
“No, he must have cancelled it,” she muttered. A wave of anger flushed her skin. “How could they stop everything just like that? No, they’re right.”
Deep down, she wanted everything to be as it was before that day. She wanted to continue planning her wedding. She wanted Demetri to walk through the door and envelop her in his strong muscular arms the way he usually does. He was over six feet and he would lift her small five feet, five inches frame so easily, and twirl her around. Then, he would cup her face and press his full sensuous lips to her soft ones.
A ripple of excitement coursed through her at the thought of his lips on hers. She couldn’t help thinking of his hard body against hers, especially the first time they made love. It was her first time, and he, for such a huge guy, was surprisingly gentle.
He’d come home for a one week break before going off again on some covert mission. They’d been dating for two years and never passed second base. She was determined to make it happen that week, so she planned a trip to Las Vegas and then to San Jose. They spent only one night in Las Vegas before going to a beach resort in San Jose where they spent most o
f their time taking strolls or sunbathing.
It was a cool night in late October when they decided to have a private picnic on a secluded beach. They built a fire and made smores, had wine coolers and counted the stars. When she began peeling off her tank top and shorts, Demetri looked at her with eyes wide.
“I want to take a swim,” she informed him, looking at him with smoky eyes.
He’d never seen her fully naked before and she was nervous about how she may appear before him. Her breasts were not as big as she wished them to be. She’d been often told that blonds have big boobs, but that wasn’t true for her. She had a slender waist and a slight outward curve to her hips. Her slender legs were toned and her belly as flat as a pancake.
Demetri joined her in the water. “You’re crazy,” he chuckled.
“Aren’t we all?” she laughed and splashed him. They swam for about fifteen minutes when he caught her and pulled her close.
“You’re driving me crazy,” his voice was hoarse as he said it.
His hazel eyes had a weird glint in them. She moved closer to him, and in the water, she could feel his manhood sticking out. She ran her soft hands along his shoulders and down his chest. That’s when she noticed his tattoo. Before she could ask him about it, he pulled her up against him, the cool water lapping against them. He crushed her lips in an ardent kiss and held her tightly. That’s when she knew he truly desired her. She heard him growl deep in his throat as her breasts rubbed against his smooth chest and her pelvis pressed into him. She had no idea what she was doing, but from his reaction, she figured she was doing something right.
A knock at her bedroom door brought her out of her reverie. Caroline couldn’t believe how vivid the memory was. Her whole body tingled as she moved to open the door. Her brother Jacob was standing there, grinning from ear to ear with one hand behind his back.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
With a sly grin, Jacob pulled his hand from behind and held up an old Barbie with a naked butt. “This!” he declared.
“Oh God, Jacob, you’re bringing that up again?” she groaned.
He stepped into the room. “Just in case you forget you owe me,” he looked at her packed suitcase. “Are you ready?”
“Yes, I’m all set,” she replied, though she wasn’t feeling very confident.
“Okay, I’ll just leave this here,” he placed the doll on the bureau. “Seriously, are you alright?”
“I really miss him,” her voice was quiet.
Jacob engulfed her in a bear hug, “I’m sorry I could not be here when you got the news. I really wanted to be here. I’m sorry I had to spring this deal on you now, but it might do you some good to get your mind off of things.”
“I know,” she reassured him.
“I’ll join you in a few days in Fiji, and we can spend some quality time together after the deal,” he told her. “How about that?”
“That would be great.”
“Your plane leaves at seven in the morning. I’ll drop you at the airport,” they pulled apart and he walked to the door. “If you need anything more, let me know.”
After Jacob left, Caroline finished packing and spent the next few hours studying the company files more closely. She was rusty, not having worked for over a month. She didn’t want to go into the meeting unprepared and looking like an amateur. She took only a salad with chicken breast for dinner and went to bed around nine. Truth be told, she was nervous about this trip.
Chapter Three
Jacob took her to the airport and made sure that she went through the boarding gate before leaving. As she found her seat near the window of the airplane, she felt her heart start to beat heavily. A man took the aisle seat, but she barely noticed hm. It was strange. She couldn’t tell why her heart was thudding like that. She thought that perhaps it had to do with her anticipation of her brother’s business deal.
Caroline was barely able to concentrate on the demonstration and hardly heard the pilot’s signal for takeoff. She had around twelve hours in the air so she decided to spend most of that time relaxing so that she would not be tired for her meeting in the morning. She found it wasn’t easy as thoughts of Demetri filled her mind. She hoped that Jacob hadn’t set her up with a blind date on the island, because she knew him well and knew what he was capable of doing.
“Miss Sutherland,” a woman’s voice interrupted her thoughts. Her eyes flicked open to look into the pale blue eyes of a flight attendant. “Can I get you anything?”
“Coffee would be nice,” she smiled at the young woman who was around her age.
The stewardess was back within five minutes with her coffee and a complementary croissant. She smiled and thanked her. She was surprised that two hours had gone since the plane lifted off and they were already over the Pacific. As she looked down over the blue-green waters of the ocean, a heady sensation overtook her. The memory of her fiancé’s demise came rushing back and her throat constricted painfully.
After she had regained some semblance of composure, and went downstairs the day after the Navy Officers’ visit, Madelyn filled her in on what they had to say. They were dropped somewhere over the pacific on a covert mission of which they could not give details. They were supposed to board the submarine waiting for them at the bottom of the ocean. All special watches were synchronized to meet at a designated time; however, Navy SEAL Demetri McFadden never arrived. The black box from the aircraft, of which they could also give no details about, showed that he alighted the craft and hit the water. According to their report, there was nothing amiss with his parachute so he should have been fine.
After a thorough search within a hundred mile radius in shark infested waters that are thousands of meters in depth, his parachute and a tattered diving suit were recovered. There were also fragments of his goggles and his special service wrist watch found on the ocean floor. It was determined that he could not have survived.
Caroline finished her coffee with croissant and beckoned to the stewardess to bring her another coffee. She needed the caffeine in order to settle her nerves. Passing over the ocean where her fiancé died was nerve-racking. Though it was not in the same area, just looking at the water below gave her a sense of trepidation.
Bile rose to her throat and she winced, closing her eyes and trying to relax.
“Are you okay?” a man’s voice deep voice penetrated her thoughts.
It was her neighbor. He had the palest blue eyes she’d seen on a man and a lock of his brown hair fell carelessly on his forehead. His smile was warm and his eyes softened as they observed her.
“Yes, thank you,” she smiled back at him.
“Holiday?” he asked.
“No, business,” she replied.
“Too bad. I hope you get a chance to enjoy the island. It’s beautiful,” he informed her. His voice was warm too.
“You go there a lot?” she was only trying to make small talk since he was so polite.
“I live there,” he replied. Just about then, someone from the seat across the aisle handed him a folder. “Excuse me.” He looked so disappointed when he said it that she was sure he wanted to talk more.
She was thankful for the interruption and took the opportunity to close her eyes again. She spent the rest of the journey dozing or thinking about her meeting. There were a few things to take care of before closing off on the deal. Jacob should be there by the time she made her decision about the acquisition; however, she was still nervous about it.
When she arrived at the airport, a car was waiting for her to take her to the InterContinental Resort. It was breathtaking. She’d never seen anything like it in the United States. The resort was amazing. The air was crisp and clean, just what she needed to clear her head.
The only thing that was off was the time difference. She left Washington DC at seven on Tuesday morning, and even though it was a twelve hour journey, she arrived in Fiji on Wednesday at eleven. It seemed she skipped an entire day when in fact Fiji was sixteen hours ahead. L
uckily, she slept on the plane, so she may not experience jet lag. Caroline decided to wait and see.
Jacob had gone ahead and booked a one bedroom suite for her. One with a beachfront view. It was breathtaking, and for a moment, her stress was lessened. She walked through the living space which opened up to what appeared to be a terrace and watched the gentle waves roll in. But not long after, she felt a sense of dread as the memory of her lost fiancé surfaced. The ocean took him and anger slowly grew within her.
Her first meeting was set for two in the afternoon, so she had time to freshen up and have lunch. She took a well needed shower, pulled her hair back and secured it with a claw clip at her nape. She donned a pale blue skirt suit with a beige blouse, giving her an approachable look.
She opted for a scallop dish with a glass of Chardonnay. It was a safe choice given that she had no clue what most of the dishes on the menu consisted of. Of course, the boiled bat dish left a lot to the imagination, and she was afraid that perhaps the dish really consisted of a bat. With her lunch completed, she waited diligently for her meeting, but as they say, ‘the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.’
“Mizz Sutherland,” a waiter with an accent that sounded more like a western drawl approached her. “A message for you.” He handed her a piece of paper. Meeting postponed for Friday at 10 AM. Sincere apologies. Mike Satturby.
“Thank you,” she smiled and he walked away. “Hmm, not a good sign,” she murmured, wondering why Mike Satturby postponed the meeting. Was there something wrong?
Caroline went back to her room and put through a call to Jacob. He already knew about the meeting being postponed.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Apparently, something happened when he was away on business. He said a bum broke into the factory and stole some of his equipment, and the worst part is, when approached by his men, they got beat up.”
“What? I hope the guy’s in jail,” she commented.
Reminding The SEAL (Navy SEAL Military Romance) Page 2