The doorman got shoved out of the way by another man and his camera. Within seconds, Olivia was backed up against the open door with no way out of the crowd.
“How does it feel to have the whole country focused on you as Brad Pearson’s woman?”
“Is it true you’re carrying his baby?”
“What?” she snapped, trying to focus on the person who’d asked the ridiculous question.
“How long has the affair been going on?” someone else shouted.
She knew the business, knew how they acted, but this was the first time that they were focused on her. It was overwhelming.
BJ had rushed around the car and now forced himself through the crowd. “Get back,” he growled, elbowing them roughly to the side as he reached her and blocked her from their reach. “Back it up right now or someone’s about to get tossed across this car.”
“Who are you?”
“That’s a threat.”
“You’re right, it is. And not an empty one. Now move back.”
Emotion welled inside her at his defense of her. She couldn’t find any words as he settled beside her when they’d been granted the space he’d demanded. She looked up at him; his expression was fierce as he draped a muscled arm over her shoulders.
“Are you okay?” he asked gently and she nodded, wanting only one thing in that moment and that was to kiss him. “Good. Sorry—they threw me off guard with their stampede.”
“It’s okay,” she finally managed. “You got here and I’m glad you’re with me.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “You can do this. I’m just your support.”
She smiled and loved the way his warm breath feathered over her skin. She looked into his eyes as he pulled back and smiled. She could hear the cameras clicking away but she did not care.
“Hey, who are you?” a man asked, taking a step forward and snapping a close-up.
“I’m the guy who doesn’t enjoy having your camera stuffed up my nostrils. Now step back,” BJ snapped.
“Hey man, don’t get ugly—”
“We’ll keep this civil if you keep your distance. I have no problem taking your cameras. Miss Sinclair will answer questions if she feels like it. If she doesn’t, we’ll get on with our dinner date. Now give the lady some room.”
“Hey, we have a job to do.”
“And did I say I cared about your job?” BJ countered. “I only care about Olivia.”
Olivia’s heart raced at his words and though she didn’t look up at him, she could visualize the icy warning in his eyes as the cameramen all kept their distance. This was intense.
She held up her hand. “Okay, everyone calm down. I’ll speak to you. I’ll answer one question at a time, if I can. But I will tell you that there is nothing between me and Brad Pearson. I’m not exactly sure why Brad chose to kiss me that day or why he’s continued to say things that are clearly only figments of his own creative mind. He has his reasons, of which I am not privy to. For those answers, you’ll have to ask him. And he is not here.”
“Why were you with him at that hotel?”
“Many of you know I was simply his media rep, his media liaison. We were consulting over the state of his excessive party experience of the night before. That was it. As much as all of you were startled by that kiss that day, I was too. As I’ve told my family and friends, that kiss blindsided me and meant absolutely nothing to me. Or to him. Contrary to what he’d like you to believe.”
“What do you mean, blindsided you?”
“Exactly that. It came out of nowhere. There is nothing romantic between us.”
She almost laughed at the disbelieving looks on the reporters’ faces.
“We’re supposed to believe you were in that hotel room with him and nothing was going on. Yeah, right.”
Instantly, BJ pulled her snugly against him. “I don’t like your attitude,” he challenged the speaker.
Olivia rested her hand on his chest and patted him. She looked up at him and smiled, hoping to calm him down and stop drawing so much attention. She didn’t need a fistfight on the front pages of the tabloids.
Flashbulbs erupted the moment he looked down at her and too late, she realized the photo she’d just given them. The romantic embrace they appeared to be in would make front and center of the tabloids’ covers. To her surprise, BJ smiled down at her and winked; for a moment, she thought he was going to kiss her. He dipped his chin and then paused and pulled back. Instead of kissing her, he gave her a gentle squeeze and then focused on the crowd.
“If you boys want a story, it’s not here. I can assure you that Olivia was blindsided by that kiss from Brad Pearson because she’s with me, and I can guarantee you she didn’t need a thing from Brad Pearson.”
Olivia gasped at his words and then before she had time to get her thoughts together, BJ blindsided her with a kiss of his own.
She wanted to be furious. She really did but at the moment, all she could do was grab hold of him and hang on as cameras snapped and she experienced the kiss of her life.
It was more than the kiss on the boat. This kiss was powerful, overwhelming, and clearly stating to anyone watching that she was his woman.
The tabloids were going to have a field day tomorrow.
But she didn’t even care. BJ had basically thrown down the gauntlet and she instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck and held on.
Chapter Nine
He had lost his mind, he concluded halfway through kissing Olivia. This was her reputation and he was acting just like that jerk Pearson.
Except that he realized he could kiss Olivia for the rest of his life.
But this could hurt her.
Slowly his senses returned and he pulled away, looked down at her and braced for outrage.
Instead, she was smiling. “Well,” she whispered, “when you say let’s give them something to talk about, you really give them something to talk about.”
“This could cause you more problems.”
“At this moment, I don’t care.” She then took him by surprise and pulled his head back to hers and kissed him thoroughly.
“Are you two going to do that all day?” someone yelled.
Olivia chuckled against BJ’s lips. “Maybe.”
He smiled into the cameras. “If we want to. We are not your entertainment. You can leave whenever you want to.”
Olivia giggled and BJ almost busted out laughing at the cameramen’s expressions.
He looked down at her. “I could kiss you all day and let them take the same photo over and over again but I’m starved. How about you?”
She nodded. “Let’s go inside.”
Keeping her close, he pushed through the cameramen. An older man standing beside the doormen waved them toward the open door.
“Horace,” Olivia exclaimed. “Thank you.”
“Get on in there, little lady. We’ll take care of this.”
Olivia wanted to give him a hug but decided getting inside was best. This had been a very unexpected turn of events.
“Thanks,” BJ told the older man Olivia had called Horace. He nodded curtly, and then practically pushed them through the door, which immediately closed behind them. BJ looked back and several doormen and bellhops moved to stand in front of all the doors. The fiasco was over. At least for the moment.
“Who was that guy?”
“That’s Horace Finley. He’s been the handyman and the maintenance man here at the resort since I was a little girl. He’ll make the guys keep them out of that entrance. But the beach is public, so there is no keeping them from there. So we could have more photo ops.” She laughed.
“Well, I promise I won’t be kissing you again. I hope I didn’t just make life harder on you.”
She cocked her head and hit him with wide eyes. “And what if I want you to kiss me again?”
“As much as I enjoy it, I’m worried what those guys are going to plant on the cover of those magazin
es tomorrow.”
“So? I’ve lost my job. My reputation is already shredded. So what’s one more? And this one I actually liked.”
“Hey you two,” Cali called from the upper level. “That was some show you two put on out there.”
“How did you see us?” BJ asked and then it hit him—they had security cameras.
“Smile, you’re on Candid Camera.” She laughed. “Come up here. Jillian is on the phone to the restaurant, getting you two a table.”
“Let the games continue.” Olivia chuckled and led the way through the small group in the hotel lobby and up the curving stairs.
“You two were pretty cozy out there. Did you want to set the tabloids on fire tomorrow?” Cali asked the minute they reached her.
“It just happened,” Olivia told her older sister.
BJ kept quiet and let the sisters talk. He could only imagine what kind of trouble was going to break out tomorrow when Olivia’s brothers and dad saw the magazines. He was fairly certain they would not be smiling about the photos. The sisters seemed to take it in stride and actually seemed thrilled about the situation considering they were arranging dinner. It was baffling.
“We assumed you would want dinner near the beach so we’re having our best table prepared. If the cameramen want another photo, they are going to have to work for it.”
Jillian was hanging up the phone as they moved inside. “So, Levi briefed us about the plan, so we’ve been waiting. Now you’re all set. He didn’t fill us in on the plan to start new rumors, though.” Jillian and Olivia looked almost identical…and to most people they were. But BJ knew the twinkle in Olivia’s eyes and the way she considered things before she spoke. He knew Olivia by heart. Jillian was beautiful, too, but from the moment he’d met her at the hospital during Gage’s emergency surgery, he’d never felt anything for her other than that she was a nice person.
He’d felt instant chemistry with Olivia the moment he’d touched her hand and looked into her eyes that morning she was stuck on the roof.
“Thank you for doing this, BJ,” Jillian said, breaking into his thoughts.”
“Glad to,” he said. “We knew this is where they’d be camped out. We thought about making them work to find us but decided to be obvious and get it over with.”
Cali and Jillian were all smiles.
“Oh, you were obvious.” Cali chuckled.
“I hope I haven’t made life harder for Olivia by what happened out there.”
Jillian and Cali studied Olivia, who looked completely unfazed.
“She looks okay to me,” Cali chirped.
“Me too,” Jillian agreed. “Now go. The evening is young and romance is in the air at Windswept Bay.”
He wasn’t exactly sure what to say to that and didn’t have time to anyway as Cali held open a door at the back of the room, and Olivia took his arm and led him out onto a stairwell on the outside of the building.
Somehow he sensed that he’d lost control of the evening after all. But he was more than ready to find some time alone with her.
The sun was hanging just above the water as they walked up the charming plank bridge that led to the lovely outdoor restaurant that overlooked the beach and the water. The candlelit tables on the deck were quiet and very romantic. Olivia’s stomach fluttered as she envisioned finally sitting down with BJ for, at least, a partial bit of privacy.
Their hostess was Blair, a nice girl who Olivia didn’t know. She led them to a table in the corner of the deck. There was a large planter cutting the table off from all the others.
BJ paused at it. “Is that always here?”
“Honestly, it’s been awhile since I was here but I have a sneaking suspicion that it appeared moments ago per instructions from the main office.”
“I thought it was in an odd position. But I’m glad to see it. Your sisters seem to be enjoying this evening almost as much as I am.” BJ chuckled and held Olivia’s chair for her as she sat.
“I think you’re right.” Olivia smiled at the hostess as she accepted a menu from her. “Thank you for this arrangement.”
“Oh, you’re welcome. And if you notice, the rocks there,” she pointed out toward the beach and the rocky area, “makes it hard on snoopy people to be snoopy.”
BJ laughed. “Well, look at that. They’ll have to work hard if they want a shot of this dinner.”
“Yes, sir, that is the plan.”
“Your sisters have a wicked sense of humor. I like it.”
Olivia looked around. “I wonder if they are hunkered down somewhere, waiting to see if any cameramen get doused out there when the tide rushes in.”
BJ looked startled. “You mean they’re going to get out there and then get wet?”
“Oh, not too bad. Just a little if they don’t leave before it gets dark.”
“Well, as long as it’s not dangerous and we don’t have to go out there and rescue someone then I guess we’re okay. The last thing we need is to be in the news for endangering someone.”
Olivia patted his arm. “Stop worrying. They are big boys and they do not have to get on the rocks. Especially since there are signs everywhere telling them to stay off the rocks. They’ve gotten enough photos. They’ve gotten quotes. They have what they need so they can go home now.” And Olivia meant it. She was tired of them. What she wanted was to have this evening with BJ without distractions.
BJ covered her hand with his. “I have enjoyed every moment of this unexpected day. And I assure you, if you need to do more kissing for the camera, I will do it. I am your man, Olivia Sinclair.”
Her skin tingled with awareness and Olivia’s heart thundered at his words. She struggled not to wear her heart in her expression. “But you said there would be no more kissing,” she said, breathlessly.
He sighed. “A man will do what he needs to do. So if the need arises, I’m all in.”
How could this man make her smile with every fiber of her being? “I hope it does.”
“So do I.”
Maybe she didn’t want the paparazzi to go away just yet after all.
Chapter Ten
Olivia woke the next morning smiling.
She was up early and had a cup of coffee while she sat on the deck, enjoying the sunrise and thoughts of the wonderful day before.
Dinner had been amazing, though she could have eaten cardboard and she wouldn’t have known it. BJ was mesmerizing. They’d quickly been lost in conversation and had actually forgotten about the cameras that might or might not be snapping their photo. They hadn’t even paid attention to whether anyone dared to climb out onto the rocks and risked getting caught in the tide.
She’d asked him once again about his feelings about having just found out that he had a brother he’d never known. And she’d instantly known that she’d hit a chord.
He’d tensed. “It’s hard realizing you have a family you were kept from. I have a sense of betrayal that I don’t like thinking about where my mother is concerned. Then again, I also wonder, why did she take me and run? But not just run—she hid me. Why?”
Olivia wondered that too.
Maybe the lawyer would have the answers BJ needed.
He and Lilly had followed their dreams after losing their parents but Olivia could tell he missed his sister. Olivia hoped she would come to Windswept Bay at some point.
She also hoped that in two days when Gage and Shar arrived home from their honeymoon that the two brothers could begin the process of bonding.
Olivia was ready to spend some quality time with her parents and siblings too, she realized. Time that didn’t involve paparazzi. BJ’s situation gave her a new perspective on her own family and she was glad she was home. Finishing her coffee, she stood and headed inside. It was time to get dressed. She was going to spend time with her family while she tried to figure out what she was going to do with her life after all the scandal blew over.
BJ had gone out early for some quiet time on the early morning ocean. It was a favorite time of da
y for him, especially when he needed to think.
Soon he was going to need to start booking some fishing charters to replenish his bank account. But not yet. There was so much going on in his life, he’d needed the time.
The fact that he had inherited a fortune still seemed unreal and he couldn’t even bring himself to embrace the idea. Even almost two weeks after having learned who he was.
He made a good living with his fishing charters. Certainly nothing in the realm of wealth but he had a life most people would envy and everything he could want. And he had the freedom to go wherever and whenever he wanted. That was priceless.
To know now that he had more than he would ever need or use in his lifetime was unsettling. He needed to talk to the lawyer. Tomorrow would be here soon enough, he told himself. But he was ready. It was time to get this all sorted out because he had more important things to focus on than money and even an inheritance. He had Olivia to focus on.
She was amazing and he couldn’t get her off his mind. She was there constantly. Everything else was squeezed into a side pocket of his thoughts while she filled everything else with her wit and charm and lovely self.
And she was lovely.
If he could have her, he’d give everything else up, even his boat and his lifestyle. He hadn’t gone to bed after dropping her off at her place after an amazing three-hour dinner that had been spent talking about everything and anything. And mixed with so much laughter that he’d needed.
And he knew he would do what it took to see whether the two of them stood a chance of having more together after both of their lives settled down and they regained their equilibrium.
There was no doubt that he was falling for her.
He docked the boat around eight and was securing it to the pier when he glanced toward Shar’s place, hoping to glimpse Olivia on the deck having coffee. What he saw chilled him to the bone.
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