Dangerously Sweet

by Angela Evans

  Echoes of his last conversation with the captain came back to haunt him again. Even as he walked on the white sand beach next to the crystal blue waters of Barefoot Bay, he was haunted by the case he’d been torn off of. Phrases like burn out and unnecessary risk were career killers in his line of work, but they’d definitely been brought up more than once. He was half convinced he’d taken this so-called vacation to prove to himself and the ones who held the controls for his career he could do it. That he could walk away from a case that pulled at him night and day. A case he’d fought for, and eventually lost before he’d gotten the conclusion he’d desperately needed.

  Dex kicked the sand under his feet with the same disgust he felt for himself at the moment, pulled his thoughts away from the case, and mentally redirected his thoughts to the reason he was here.

  Barefoot Bay. He could see where this place had earned its name. The powder soft sand all but beckoned you to kick off your shoes and sink your toes in, to walk out into the surf and let the water soothe whatever was ailing you. Walking down the beach towards the villa he knew Amelia was staying in, he told himself he just wanted to check in on her to see if she’d gotten her luggage and if she was doing okay. It was just being polite, he lied to himself, since he knew she was traveling alone, which was not safe for a beautiful woman in today’s world.

  First and foremost, Dex was a protector; he knew this about himself, he owned the label, and lived up to it in every way.

  Checking in on her didn’t have anything to do with the fact that riding in the limo with her was the first time he’d felt calm and relaxed in what might actually be years. It had nothing to do with the pull of attraction he felt for her. It had nothing to do with how soft her lips looked, or how snug the tank top had fit across her chest when she’d ditched that ridiculous flannel shirt. No, it was purely indulging his protective instinct. Period.

  Stopping in front of the last villa on the beach, he listened to the unmistakable sounds of splashing from the pool. Even with the sounds of the ocean behind him he could hear her breaking the surface of the water as she swam. He could almost feel her exhale at the shocking temperature contrast from the heat of the Florida sun, to the cool of the pool water surrounding her skin.

  Had she gotten her luggage? Did she have a bathing suit? Was she…skinny dipping?

  The pool was behind the villa; he could walk away. He could leave and not check on her. But he’d come this far, and now his feet seemed to have a mind of their own. He was climbing the steps and circling to the back of the villa before he knew what he’d do when he got there. Not smart. Not typical. Not anything he could control.

  Amelia was in the water all right and she was floating on the surface by the time he opened the gate and stepped inside the patio. She wasn’t skinny dipping, but she might as well have been; the pale pink underwear and bra she was wearing did more to suddenly make his shorts too tight than seeing her naked would have done.

  Maybe.

  He cleared his throat, needing to let her know he was there. He was not a damned leering pervert. He didn’t want to scare her or send her screaming to alert the resort security staff. Mostly he didn’t want to break the spell; he didn’t want her to leave.

  If he’d found her hypnotic earlier, he found her completely breathtaking now. He could no more walk away than he could refuse to draw another breath. Stunning wasn’t a strong enough word to describe her.

  “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” He forced his eyes to stay on hers and not dip lower, and that alone should have gotten him a commendation medal because damn she had the most perfect breasts he’d ever seen. And make no mistake, he’d feasted his eyes on them before she realized he was there. He was a gentleman, but he wasn’t dead.

  “Startle me! You damn near gave me a heart attack.” She was mad, no doubt about it, but she wasn’t screaming for anyone to come and rescue her from her. He liked that. She faced him head on, just like she had in the car ride from the airport.

  At 6’4” and 240 pounds, most people found him at least a little bit intimidating, but this girl didn’t blink an eye at his size or his bad attitude. She seemed to challenge him, and if he was in a mood to admit such things, he would have to concede he enjoyed that more than he had enjoyed most anything for a while.

  “I said I was sorry. I was walking by and heard splashing.” The excuse sounded lame even to his own ears, but it was all he had to offer.

  “So you decided to sneak in and catch me skinny dipping?” An eyebrow dared him to admit that’s exactly what he’d done.

  “I didn’t know you were skinny dipping,” he smiled, “but a guy can hope.”

  “My luggage is still MIA and the pool was too inviting to ignore.” A slight blush tinted her cheeks and somehow made her even more endearing than she’d been before.

  “Truth is, my family was already driving me crazy and I was looking for an escape.” What prompted him to share that confession he couldn’t begin to guess.

  “Family?” She was treading water effortlessly in the deep end of the pool as they talked.

  “My mother is getting remarried here,” he gestured towards the beach behind them. He practically groaned.

  She laughed at his misery. The sound was lilting and melodic and seemingly on their own his feet took a step closer to her. “Stop. If you come any closer you’ll get the full show.”

  He froze in place, but the magnetic pull was strong. “Sorry, again.”

  “Hand me a towel?” She indicated the plush white one laying over the lounge chair near where he stood. Grabbing the it, he walked towards the ladder and, determined to prove he wasn’t a peeping Tom, turned his head to the side while she climbed out and wrapped the towel around her. “Your mom is getting married?”

  “Next Saturday,” he confirmed with a nod.

  “Do you like the guy?” she asked with what seemed to be genuine interest.

  “I have only met him a few times, but I ran him and nothing kicked up. He doesn’t make any red flags go up. Most importantly, my mom loves him. That’s enough check marks for me,” he answered.

  She was laughing again. “You ran a background check on your mom’s boyfriend?”

  “What’s so funny? If you cared about someone and had a resource to help keep them safe wouldn’t you use it?” He didn’t understand how anyone wouldn’t see the logic in that.

  “I wish someone had that resource that cared about me,” she muttered as she walked towards the bungalow doors.

  “What does that mean?” he asked, following her inside. Her bungalow was smaller than the one his family was sharing, but every bit as luxurious. “Did someone need to protect you from the ex-fiancé?”

  “No, I can protect myself. You don’t grow up on a hunting lodge in remote Alaska without being able to take care of yourself.” They were standing in the kitchen of her bungalow now, her wearing only a towel and dripping on the floor with her hair wet and her face pink from the sun. She looked like anything but a woman capable of surviving in the backwoods of Alaska on her own, let alone like someone who could protect herself from anything. She looked like a woman who needed to be kissed. Or at least that’s what he told himself.

  He took a step closer and watched as her eyes dropped to his mouth. That’s all he needed to know she was thinking the same thing he was thinking. Cupping his hand behind her head under her still wet hair, he pulled her closer.

  * * *

  “I’m telling you, it’s him. He cut his hair and shaved, but your guy is not doing time, he’s kicking back on the beach in Florida.” Hector insisted. “My question to you is, why would someone go to so much trouble to make you think he was inside if he’s not a cop?”

  When he’d spotted Dexter at the airport, he’d followed him to Florida. The reward for going above and beyond like this would be huge if he managed to pull it off.

  Silence was all he heard from the other end b
efore a low growl practically vibrated through the phone. “Find out who he is. If you’re right, you know what to do.” The click that followed was as deafening as if he’d slammed down the phone.

  Hector practically cackled with excitement. He’d had a gut instinct about the golden boy driver they’d brought in to run shipments the last six months; he had been right, and there was nothing he liked better than being right. “With pleasure,” he said to himself as he stuck the phone in his back pocket.

  Emerging from the shadows, he made a beeline for what he knew would be the greatest source of information in this resort. The cleaning staff. All he had to do was find the ugliest maid on the staff and flirt with her; she’d spill her secrets and if he played his cards right, he might even get laid in the process.

  * * *

  Staring up into his smoke gray eyes, Amelia knew he was going to kiss her, knew she should stop him, and she knew she didn’t want to. His warm hand on the back of her neck pulling her towards him didn’t need to exert much pressure as she swayed closer to his heat. She had one hand on the black T-shirt molded to his muscled frame and pulled him closer, while the other clutched the towel together that was still her only covering.

  It didn’t escape her notice that she felt more electricity with this man she’d known only a few hours than she’d felt with the man she had planned to marry. She pushed the thought aside. Maybe spontaneity wasn’t her enemy after all.

  His lips were inches above hers, his eyes were looking into hers, searching for any hint of resistance. He wouldn’t find any there; she knew for sure all he would see is the same hunger she felt. Pulling him closer, she closed the distance and pressed her lips to his, feeling the heat of his mouth and the scrape of his five o’clock shadow as he fitted their lips together perfectly. A groan escaped him, or maybe it came from her? She couldn’t say for sure.

  Tightening the hand on the towel she held on like it was the only protection she had. Was she protecting herself from him, or from herself? All she could think about was the sensation of being kissed by Blake Dexter and she never, ever wanted it to end.

  “Blake? Are you in here?” A woman’s voice echoed from the back gate startling them apart like guilty teenagers caught making out on the front porch after prom.

  “Shit,” he muttered while carefully setting her away from him. “Mom?” He went in search of the voice leaving her gasping to catch her breath while her fingertips touched her slightly swollen lips. It had been a long time since she’d been kissed like that. In fact, she wasn’t entirely sure she’d ever been kissed like that.

  Snapping back to reality she realized he was probably about to drag his mother into her bungalow where she stood wearing wet underwear and a towel, and looking thoroughly kissed. With a yelp she ran towards the bathroom where she had seen a bath robe hanging for guests to use after they bathed.

  She rushed back to the living room just in time to meet Dex’s mother, Patrice. His mother was the opposite of Dex in so many ways. She was soft, and warm, and easy to talk to. She made Amelia comfortable…even standing there dripping in wet underwear and a luxurious robe. Still Amelia couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if she hadn’t interrupted when she did.

  * * *

  Patrice Dexter could smell a phony story a mile away, and if there was one thing she knew for sure, her son was not the thug he was pretending to be. She’d always had her doubts, or maybe they were really hopes, but either way she knew for sure she had been right. Something was bothering him, keeping him on edge, but it wasn’t a rush to get back to the drug dealing world where he lived. She watched enough cop shows to know anyone who was dealing drugs was inseparable from their cell phone and he hadn’t touched his since he arrived. He wasn’t calling anyone, no one was calling him. His phone spent most of the time on the kitchen counter untouched and ignored. What kind of drug dealer would do that?

  It all seemed perfectly reasonable to her, her son was not a drug dealer. He was pretending to be someone he wasn’t, but she didn’t know why. She was just glad to have her family back together for the week. She’d never dreamed Dex would actually show up and agree to walk her down the aisle. Seeing him standing in the doorway earlier today had made her heart swell with so much joy she’d had to choke back tears. She’d hugged him so many times today she could tell he was starting to grow weary of all the attention and affection, but she just couldn’t seem to control the urge to wrap her arms around him. He looked like someone who needed a hug, and she definitely needed to hold him tight.

  The house was quiet around her, everyone else had gone out, but parenting habits are hard to break and she couldn’t relax until Dex got home. She’d seen him heading towards the neighboring cabana, where the pretty redhead was staying. The girl and Dex had ridden in from the airport together it seemed or so Francine had overheard in the lobby earlier. The girl’s luggage was lost, and she was traveling alone, those were just a few of the things Francine had discovered through her eavesdropping. She’d discovered the girl was a sweet girl by innocently striking up a conversation with her. Another point towards Dex being a good guy, like she knew he was in her heart, because she also knew the redhead was not the kind of girl who would be running around with a thug.

  A woman, especially a mother, could tell these things about people. She’d grown up in a rough neighborhood, she’d raised her kids in a worse neighborhood, and she knew what guys on the wrong side of the law looked like. She knew what the women those guys ran around with looked like. She could spot them with her eyes closed, and her son and the pretty girl staying next door…neither one fit the mold.

  Carrying her glass of red wine out on the patio, Patrice glanced next door and could clearly see the outline of two silhouettes through the neighbor’s window. Not that she would snoop; that wasn’t her style. She just always liked to know what was going on with her kids, and if that meant she had to employ devious tactics so be it, she thought with a sly smile.

  Chapter Three

  Amelia awoke to the sound of her phone ringing. She hadn’t seen her phone since she’d been in the limo with Dex, so she started searching through her purse. The shrill ring accompanied by the vibration stopped before she located it, but almost immediately started again. With a growl of frustration, she upended the entire contents of her purse on the bed and began filtering through them until she spotted the elusive phone and snatched it up before whoever was calling her hung up. Again.

  “Hello?” she answered breathlessly.

  “Melli?” her little brother, Luke, asked from the other end of the line using the pet name he’d used for her since he was a toddling two-year-old who couldn’t quite manage Amelia. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. I couldn’t find my phone in my purse.” With a sigh, she turned and sat on the edge of the mattress, running a hand through her hair that desperately needed washing.

  “What the hell, Melli? You just take off? I’ve been calling you since yesterday. We were worried sick.” His tone changed from concerned to pissed off. She could picture him clearly, his dark hair mussed from running his hands through it all night. His face getting redder by the minute as his blood pressure ratcheted up. He might be her younger brother, but he’d always been her closest confidante.

  “I left a note,” she mumbled. “Look, I’m sorry. I had to get away. I needed some space and you know as well as I do that with our clan, eighty acres isn’t nearly enough to get any privacy from each other.” Silence let her know he agreed, so she plowed on. “I was going to call this morning but that whole jet lag thing…yeah that’s no joke. I was asleep when you called, I haven’t even showered yet.”

  “Where are you?” he demanded.

  “Like you haven’t already checked the GPS on my phone,” she scoffed.

  “Busted. Florida? What the hell is in Florida? That’s a long way from Barton Lodge.”

  “A long way from the BLR was what I was looking for in a destination.” As she talked, she
walked out of the bedroom to the deck surrounding the pool. It was well past noon, so the sun was shining bright. She could see the beach from where she stood; it was definitely not crowded, but there were people scattered here and there. Some sunbathing, some throwing a Frisbee, others just going for a walk on the beach. Everything was so calm and peaceful, she suddenly wanted to get off the phone with her brother and hit the beach herself. “Look, I’m fine, that’s what you need to know. I just need some head space.” She paused, considering sharing the story of what Jeffery had been up to with her brother.

  “I can hear your wheels turning from here. Spill it.” He was smiling now; she could hear it in his voice, which meant he was no longer worrying about her. Mission accomplished.

  “I called off the wedding.” There, bombshell dropped, she thought.

  “Good, Jeffery is an asshole.” She laughed at his extremely accurate statement.

  “Yes, yes he is. I got some emails that showed not only was he cheating on me, but he was only marrying me in hopes of gaining control of the lodge and the property it sits on.” Silence greeted her confession.

  “He’s a dead man,” was all her brother said, but it was more the calm, almost icy cold way he said it that let her know she had been right to head out of town while her brothers cooled off. Without her at the lodge, Jeffery would have no reason to show up out there, giving her brothers the time they needed to realize she was better off without him. She’d called him on her way to the airport and made it clear they were finished, and advised him to steer clear of her brothers for a while.