Three Southern Beaches: A Summer Beach Read Box Set

by Kathleen Brooks

  “Just don’t fall in a pit the treasure hunters will all be digging. And if you find the treasure, I get half,” Taylor laughed before saying goodbye.

  “Treasure?” Mallory asked. “Trey is on the hunt for the Hung Island treasure? I can’t believe it.”

  Taylor shook her head. “Oh no. He’s not a treasure hunter. Every third night, he goes for a long run on the beach. He missed it the other night and he was just telling me he’s going now. He’s out to dinner with the guys right now, which gives me an idea. Girls’ night at the diner.”

  “Sounds good.”

  Mallory drove to Casey’s and was surprised to get a table after only a couple minutes. They both ordered burgers, fries, and milkshakes as talk of the treasure hunt filled the diner.

  “This place is great,” Mallory said as she finished the last bite of her burger.

  “I know. This was so much fun.” Taylor paused and looked guiltily at Mallory. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

  “Sure.”

  “Do you have a boyfriend at home? If so, how do you make it work?”

  “Actually I don’t. I was dating someone in the Secret Service, but it just didn’t work out. I can’t believe you and Trey would be having problems.”

  “No, we’re not. Well, not really. We’ve been together for seven years and it never bothered me before. But after going through all this, I find myself wondering why suddenly being boyfriend and girlfriend isn’t enough. I mean, we know we’re meant for each other.”

  “But he’s dragging his feet?” When Taylor nodded, Mallory just grinned. “When has a man ever done the right thing? I think it’s pretty clear he loves you. My best friend, Elle, just got engaged. So I understand that nagging feeling of needing to do the same, but with you it’s different from me. See, while I was asked a million times about a special someone, the truth is there hasn’t been anyone in a long time. But you have someone. Someone who I bet is anxiously waiting for you to give him a clear signal that you’re ready for the next step. ‘Cause we both know it takes a flashing neon sign for guys to get the hint.”

  Taylor took a sip of her milkshake and thought about it. “You know, I think you’re right. I just need to tell Trey I’m ready for more. I bet he’s just waiting for me to figure out that I was ready.” Taylor paused and looked Mallory over. She was so put-together, but there was something sad about the way she looked. “Did you have it once?”

  “I thought I did,” Mallory shrugged. Her phone beeped, interrupting any follow-up questions Taylor was going to ask. “This is my friend’s sister. She’s having trouble with some architect or something. If you’re ready to go home, then I’ll get you all locked up and safe for Trey. Then I need to do some research at the rental.”

  “Yeah, I’m ready. Lock me up, jailer,” Taylor teased as they headed home.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Trey pulled over at the end of the bridge and parked his car at the marina and locked it. The full moon and the energy surrounding the treasure hunt had him longing to hit the sand. It would also give him the time he needed to think of the perfect proposal for Taylor. The carnival was a bust. Maybe he could try dinner again. And the guys had suggested using the stadium for a picnic on the fifty-yard line.

  He put his headphones on and let his mind go blank. He took off down the familiar path toward the beach. If he pushed it, he’d be able to run almost to the resort and then home. Taylor and Mallory could take him to get his car in the morning.

  * * *

  Taylor licked the ice cream from her spoon as she sat by the large bay window and watched the treasure hunters digging up the beach. Some were standing on ladders ordering others to dig, some were walking around with metal detectors, and others were dancing around a bonfire trying to conduct a séance so the pirate captain himself could tell them the location of the treasure.

  She may not admit it, but Taylor loved the treasure hunt. Not necessarily the actually hunting part, but the way the town seemed to hum with energy and optimism. It was contagious. Her phone interrupted the chanting of the séance. Taylor clicked the new email and groaned. They were being called in for a reshoot in thirty minutes. She checked her watch and nibbled on her lower lip. Mallory was working on something, and this was an unscheduled shoot. She should be safe. After all, if something happened, she had her watch and could send an emergency signal to Mallory.

  Grabbing a piece of paper from the kitchen, Taylor left a note for Trey and grabbed her scripts and notes. Taylor was sure Melanie's mistakes were the reason for the reshoot. It was so frustrating. When Melanie was on, she was breathtaking. However, getting her to act like that was worse than pulling nails.

  Taylor parked next to the back entrance of the ballroom where they’d been filming that day. She used her key and hurried inside. She wanted to beat everyone there so she could have a word with Jim to see what they could do to get Melanie acting better, literally and figuratively.

  The ballroom lights were off and she fumbled for a minute until she found the switch. The lights cast a low glow as they warmed up and the shadows seemed to move. Taylor felt the hair on her arms stand up and suddenly realized this had not been a good idea. Oh crap, she’d just pulled a bimbo move.

  “Hello?” she called out.

  “Oh thank goodness! It’s spooky in here,” Melanie laughed as she walked in from another entrance. Taylor let out a nervous laugh. She’d totally been jumping at shadows. “I guess we’re the only ones who read the messages from the tech line.”

  “Grant’s probably too busy looking at himself in the mirror to check his email. Do you know which scene we’re filming?” Taylor asked as she walked toward Melanie.

  The door Taylor had just come through opened an inch and then slammed shut behind her. Taylor and Melanie jumped and stared at it as they held their breaths. Taylor found her watch by touch and pressed the panic button.

  * * *

  Trey wound the way past his house and smiled to himself as he saw the light on in the kitchen. Taylor was probably raiding the ice cream he’d picked up for her. She loved ice cream . . . maybe he should put the ring in it? No, she could eat it and that wouldn’t be romantic. Trey’s smile fell from his face. He’d run several miles now and still hadn’t come up with a perfect proposal. At this rate, he’d never get married.

  Trey was so lost in thought he almost didn’t see the woman running toward him with her arms flailing and pigtails flapping. His eyes went wide and he tried to run around her but Cyndi Lu leapt at him. Trey tried to jump out of the way, but Cyndi Lu wrapped her arms around his leg. As he ran, he dragged her along the sand as if she were a toddler in full tantrum.

  “Get off of me!” Trey yelled as he pulled his ear buds out. He lifted his leg and shook it, but Cyndi Lu held strong.

  “No! You have to listen to me,” Cyndi Lu wailed.

  “Dammit,” Trey grunted as he jumped on one leg trying to dislodge Cyndi Lu.

  “It’s Taylor. I think she’s in danger,” Cyndi called from the ground as she clung to his leg.

  “Yeah, in danger from you,” Trey shot out as he changed tactics and started dragging Cyndi Lu down the beach to look for a cop. He was nearing the resort and there would be one around somewhere.

  “No. I would never hurt Taylor. She’s so kind to me.”

  Trey stopped and looked down at her still latched around his ankle. “Fine. I’m listening. Why is she in danger?”

  “She went back to the set tonight and they’re not scheduled to film.”

  “So? Mallory’s with her and they have reshoots all the time.”

  “But Mallory wasn’t with her and no one else was there either. When I peeked in the door, the only person there was Melanie. Melanie hates Taylor. I mean, hate, hate, hates her. Please, just go check it out.”

  Trey thought back to all the trouble Melanie had caused. It was true; she gave Taylor a hard time on set. But could she really be the danger? “Okay. Let’s go check it out. Let me call a cab
.”

  “No need. My car is right there.” Cyndi Lu started running up the beach to the public parking lot just as Mallory’s SUV went flying by. Oh shit, something was terribly wrong.

  Trey looked at the tiny yellow electric car. “I don’t think I’m going to fit.”

  “I’ll open the sunroof. Come on!” Cyndi’s pigtails fluttered behind her as she ran to her car.

  * * *

  Taylor finally let go of the breath she was holding. No one was there and now she felt kind of silly. At least Melanie was here with her. She’d give Jim another ten minutes and then call to see what was going on. It was obvious he hadn’t filled Melanie in on it either.

  “How do you think filming is going so far?” Melanie asked as she walked around the equipment set up from that afternoon’s shoot.

  Taylor shrugged as she thought of a polite way to respond. In full honesty, Melanie was dying a slow and horrendous death on film. “Well, I saw the footage from the beach scene and it’s good,” Taylor said diplomatically. Good was about the nicest thing she could say about it. Grant, as much as she hated to give him credit, was fabulous. Melanie, not so much. She was so fake that it came off as corny. She and Jim were still unsure how to proceed.

  “Good? I was spectacular. If this film weren’t a stupid romantic comedy, I’d earn an Oscar!” Melanie spat, suddenly furious. She jumped up from the actor's chair and started pacing in front of where Taylor sat.

  “Well…” Taylor started hesitantly.

  “But no. I get stuck on this piece-of-crap movie with a narcissistic lead actor, an asshole director, and a producer who is too young and stupid to know what she’s doing.”

  “Excuse me?” Taylor stood up slowly and narrowed her eyes. “I may be young, but I’ve been in this business for more years than you. I know it inside and out. What I don’t know, I do everything in my power to learn. That’s more than you can say. Your whining, pouting, and constant refusal to listen have put us almost a week behind schedule and we just started principal filming.”

  “My whining has been solely about you. You get in the way constantly. You’re nothing but a baby that has spun a spell on Hollywood so they let you pretend to produce. I need my moments in the spotlight, but you have some personal vendetta against me.”

  Taylor stopped what she was about to say. “What are you talking about? I don’t have a vendetta against you. I was the one that pushed for you to have this part.”

  “Really? Then why, tell me, are you constantly in front of the media? You’re chatting up the reporters like a politician. I’m the one who needs that. If I don’t get the attention I deserve, then I may not get another part—even a crappy part like this one. I’m thirty-one years old and a year older than Grant. I’ve almost aged out of Hollywood. Another couple years are all I have left before I’m cast only as a middle-aged mom. But then you decide to come back and steal the limelight . . . my limelight. You’re all Hollywood is talking about, not me!” Melanie screamed as she grabbed the metal boom mic stand and swung.

  Taylor was so surprised she almost didn’t move. But somewhere in the primal part of her brain, it registered she was under attack. She dropped to the ground and the boom mic cut through the air above her. Taylor crawled on hands and knees behind the chair. But Melanie was advancing on her again. The mic crashed down on the chair, knocking it to the ground and breaking its wooden leg.

  Taylor grabbed the leg and blocked the next shot from the boom mic.

  “I hate you! You’ve ruined my life!” Melanie screeched as she swung the mic stand again.

  “And you think killing me is going to help you?” Taylor gasped as she darted behind a big trunk of props.

  “Oh yes. I’ll be front and center at the funeral and dedicate my performance to you. I’ll make the media rounds talking about how wonderful you were and how blessed I was to work with you, even if our time was cut short. I’ll tell them all about how you thought I was the best actress out there and how it was your dream for us to win an Oscar. We’ll be nominated for sure.”

  “It was you.” Taylor was so shocked she almost got a mic to the head. “You’re the one who set the fire and who pushed me off the road.”

  “Of course it was! That stupid groundskeeper didn’t even see me as I walked by and tipped the gas can. And the police had no idea it was me who ran you off the road. My performance was so compelling that they never even interviewed me,” Melanie laughed.

  But then the laughter stopped and Melanie lunged over the trunk. Taylor didn’t have time to think. She brought the wooden chair leg down as hard as she could. The back door to the ballroom was ripped open right as the chair leg splintered over Melanie’s head. Trey, Cyndi Lu, and Mallory raced in.

  Taylor let out a relieved breath as she shakily turned to them. Trey’s eyes went wide only a split second before he sprinted toward Taylor. Cyndi Lu let out a war cry and Mallory hurtled production equipment in four-inch heels.

  “What?” was all Taylor got out before Trey’s shoulder collided with her midsection. The air was pushed out of her lungs as they crashed on to the floor. Her eyes went wide in horror as she watched the boom mic slam against Trey’s back.

  “Get off of her!” Melanie yelled at Trey as she raised the boom mic stand again.

  Suddenly Melanie wasn’t there. In a flash of blonde hair and pearls, Melanie and Mallory went flying over the trunk and landed on the other side. Taylor blinked as a blur of pigtails leapt onto the trunk above her. With a cry of anger, Cyndi Lu did a driving elbow drop, the likes she’d only seen in professional wrestling, off the trunk and disappeared from sight. Melanie’s screaming died suddenly and was replaced with gasping sounds.

  Trey looked on in complete disbelief at Taylor before anger and fear filled his eyes. “What the hell were you thinking coming here alone?”

  “I’m sorry. It was so stupid of me. I thought the person after me wouldn’t know about the change of schedule and I left you a note for you to come pick me up. I thought a five-minute drive here was all I had to worry about.”

  Trey leaned down and kissed her hard. He had almost lost her to a crazy diva. He wasn’t ever letting go of her. As if a vision from above, he knew what he had to do.

  Standing up and stretching out his throbbing back, he helped Taylor up. They both stepped forward and looked over the trunk. One perfect stiletto was pressed against Melanie’s throat while the skewed pigtailed stalker sat on her.

  “How do you run in those heels?” Cyndi asked reverently.

  Mallory shrugged one perfect shoulder without a single hair out of place. “It’s a talent. Just like knowing all the stats of the Vultures and making the perfect pitcher of sweet tea.”

  “I think you just lost your stalker,” Trey whispered to her.

  Taylor laughed and wrapped her arm around his as Junior and some of the other deputies rushed into the room with weapons drawn.

  “I think I lost my favorite horny deputy, too,” Taylor teased as they watched Junior strut around Mallory, his eyes shining with excitement.

  “You know what you haven’t lost?” Trey asked as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

  “Hmm?”

  “Me.” Trey kissed her gently then. She was his life and there was no more waiting. Tomorrow would be the beginning of their new life together, come hell or high water. And he just happened to know someone even the devil wouldn’t cross who could make it happen.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  The clock lights glowed blue in the dark bedroom as Trey stared up at the ceiling. When they had gotten home, he’d made love to her over and over again, just thankful to have her in his arms. Her adrenaline had worn off and she was now sound asleep next to him. But his was still pumping through his body.

  Turning on his side, he stared at his cell phone sitting next to the bed. It was four o’clock in the morning. He knew what he had to do. Sliding naked from the tangled sheets, he grabbed his phone and slipped on a pair of athletic shorts before sneaki
ng out the front of the house.

  He dialed a number he knew by heart and waited for the sleepy voice to answer.

  “I need help,” Trey said when the phone was picked up.

  * * *

  The lights blinded her, the camera clicks were deafening, and panic threatened to strangle her throat. Mallory held up one perfectly manicured hand and smiled with such cold precision that Taylor shivered. And so did the media. They took a collective step away from Taylor as Trey placed a protective arm around her and led her into the ballroom where the actors and production crew were gathered.

  “It’s strange being back here. It looks so innocent and just last night it was nearly the place of my death,” Taylor whispered to Trey.

  He squeezed her shoulder in silent support and Taylor took a deep breath to try to relax. She was safe, she kept repeating over and over again. She didn’t know if she could do this today. Looking around at the dejected faces of the crew, she knew she’d done the right thing.

  Jim cleared his throat and stood up. “This was a hard lot to have thrown on you and while we all believe in this project, we understand putting it on indefinite hold.”

  The crew nodded, the disappointment clear on their faces. Sure they cared for her, but some of the people she’d hired were veterans on their way out of the industry. Others were newbies just thankful for a chance and Melanie had ruined that for them.

  Taylor stepped away from Trey and folded her hands in front of her. “Thank you all for being so supportive and understanding. We’ve lost our lead actress. This shoot has had more incidents than I care to remember. It seems that fate was against us . . .”

  The crew nodded and dropped their heads. Some kicked their feet quietly against the carpet as they waited to be laid off.

  “Just as it seemed fate was against Darin and Kathy. But he found her against all odds. He didn’t give up and, with an order of roses, started a courtship that lasted their whole lives. And I’m not going to give up, either.”