by Rachel Cross
They trailed the dog as he led them up the sandy, winding, narrow path, flanked by purple flowering ice plants until they reached the house. Alec led the way up to the flagstone patio past the hot tub, fire pit, and outdoor furniture. He propped his surfboard against the stucco house, then gestured for her to follow him. Normally he would’ve rinsed and peeled off his wetsuit in the outdoor shower, but he couldn’t do that with her there. He hosed off their feet and bent to rub the sticky sand first off his toes, then hers. She gasped and pulled her foot away.
“No?” He looked up from his crouch, eyebrows raised.
“I can get it.” He sprayed her feet while she rubbed, then he hosed off the dog. Zack shook droplets of water from his thick coat onto both of them. She laughed as the spray showered her. He left Zack to dry off on the patio and ushered her in through the glass door. She followed him through the living room into the kitchen.
“I’ll put some coffee on while you hop in the shower.” Maybe it would warm her faster. He reached and reflexively touched a rough fingertip to her bloodless cheek. She froze, green eyes widening as she met his gaze. The touch startled him and he withdrew his hand as if burned.
“I’m sorry.” What made him do that? “I was thinking you seem awfully pale and wondered if it was the cold or your coloring.” He watched, entranced as a flush crept up her neck, into her cheeks.
She ducked her head. “Probably a bit of both. Coffee sounds great.”
He led her down the hall to his guest bathroom. Handing her a bath sheet from the linen closet, he backed away.
“I can throw your stuff in the dryer if you toss it out, meantime you can wear the robe hanging on the door.”
She thanked him and he padded down the hallway to the kitchen. God. How old was she anyway? Nursing school is two years, maybe four. He rapidly calculated. Even if she’d just gotten out of school she had to be at least twenty. He groaned. Twenty. Even for him that was young.
Moments later footsteps came from the hall. He turned to find a half-naked model standing in his kitchen.
He scowled. “Trinity.” This was all he needed this morning. What was she still doing here?
“What the hell Alec? Who is she?” Trinity put her hands on her hips and glared.
He recoiled at her tone. “What?”
“The girl, Alec?” She motioned in the direction of the hall.
“Why are you still here?”
He had made it clear in no uncertain terms that she should head back to LA first thing this morning. His teeth ground together.
Their relationship, if that was even the term, had taken an unforeseen turn last night when she arrived, unexpected, uninvited, and definitely unwelcome. Theirs was a no-strings-attached affair of more than a year that had run its course. Sure, it had been mutually satisfying. He took her to parties and introduced her to people who could help her budding acting career, they had a good time in bed — and she had little to no expectations of him. Apparently something had changed on her end. He didn’t flatter himself that it was newfound emotional attachment. There was no intimacy in it for either of them.
He sighed. Despite the length of their relationship he hadn’t seen this coming. Evidently she had decided to double down on him. The fact that she made the two-hour drive from Los Angeles last night should have clued him in. He never invited girlfriends up here. Never. And today of all days. He was exhausted and had Kate in his guest bathroom.
“I’m not interested in continuing,” he gestured between them with his hand, “this.”
“That’s obvious now.”
He didn’t correct her mistaken impression about the woman showering in the other room. Instead, he waited silent and expressionless as she gathered her things and got dressed.
She stalked out the front door and out of his life. He rubbed a hand across his eyes.
Alec finally had everything: a good career, excellent health, and affluence, a wholly enviable life. His past was an excess of everything: drugs, parties, rock, sex, and money. At the bitter end of his music career, the drugs and alcohol had erased everything good and very nearly erased him. His downfall had been long, spectacular, and public. Sober now for nearly a decade, he was irrevocably changed and mostly for the better.
Why, then, was there this disturbing similarity in the nature of his relationships? He was thirty-eight and sex was still recreation; usually with a succession of much younger model/actresses, and one reality TV starlet. The latter a mistake of nearly catastrophic proportions — thoughts of her brought the term ‘stalker’ to mind, in a very unfunny way.
Most of the reality stars had their personal dramas exaggerated with careful editing. He suspected hers had been carefully edited to preserve the illusion of sanity. The woman was downright unbalanced. He suppressed a shudder at the memory. It hadn’t helped that her show had been wildly popular at the time and her facade of emotional stability rapidly unraveling. When he ended it, she had threatened him and his dog. Zack had to be kenneled for two weeks and the law firm added extra security.
As Alec showered, he struggled to remember the last healthy, intimate relationship he’d had with a woman. He had changed and made coffee by the time Kate met him in the kitchen, swallowed up in one of his white robes.
“I, uh … ” She was clearly uncomfortable as she glanced around.
He raised his brows, and then it dawned on him. She was looking for Trinity. She must have heard them.
“Sorry about that. She’s gone. I didn’t realize she would still be here,” he said smoothly, handing her the mug.
“Oh. Okay. Thanks.” She accepted the cup and blew on it.
He stared at those lips again, then gave himself a mental shake.
She glanced up. “My clothes shouldn’t take too long to dry.”
“I’ll run you home when they are.”
“So, what do you do?” she asked idly, scanning his kitchen.
“I’m in entertainment law, musicians mostly.” He studied her reaction. She seemed mildly curious. “I was a musician.”
“Here in Cielito?”
“No, the firm I work for is in Los Angeles. I do some work remotely up here and I try to get here several times a week.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen you surfing.” She sat on the stool at the kitchen island and hooked an ankle over the bottom rung.
He nodded.
“Why law?”
“I’ve been asking myself that same question lately.”
She watched him with those intense eyes. “Why did you go into it in the first place?”
He thought about his motivations for a moment. It was a fair question. Perhaps he was trying to prevent people from making the same mistakes he had. Maybe it was the search for respectability after the excesses of his past. Most likely, it was because college, then law school had required so much time and energy he didn’t have much left over for anything else. Initially, that had been a key to his sobriety.
“I wanted to protect musicians from unscrupulous people. Most of the men and women who have success with their music are young and naive. They get these huge sums of money when they’ve never had money before, and you wouldn’t believe the way they mismanage it. Then there are the parasites who latch on. It’s a very ugly business.”
She nodded. “I can imagine.”
“The problem is, it’s tough to convince them to manage their earnings appropriately early on and later, when they get caught up in the dark side of the fame, it’s virtually impossible. It’s hard to watch.” He splayed out his hands and shrugged.
“It’s hard to watch people make the same mistakes you made?” she asked, softly.
“So you do recognize my name?” That surprised him. She was a little young to be a fan of Reeking Bliss.
“No. I recognize your intensity. Saving peop
le from themselves is a tough business, isn’t it?”
He stared at her, taken aback. This was no twenty-year-old. “Where were you when I needed a career counselor?”
She grinned at him and it stopped the breath in his throat. Her smile was incandescent.
“In high school, probably.” She laughed at the expression on his face.
“If it makes you feel any better, I’m guilty of the same. Nurses have a lot of experience trying to save people from their excesses.”
“How old are you?” Rudeness be damned.
She grinned. “Twenty-five.”
The dryer buzzer sounded and she retreated to put on her running gear. When she returned, he handed her a hooded sweatshirt from the hall closet and insisted she put it on, overriding her protests.
He helped her into his low-slung convertible and she directed him to her residence, a tiny guest house on a large estate. He pulled into her driveway and parked. She turned and thanked him, and was out the door and into her house in a flash. As he sat in the car, he got a whiff of whatever herbal body wash he’d left in the guest shower and something else, something he hadn’t smelled in a long time. Innocence.
Chapter 3
“Good God.” Ava Bennett’s hand froze, a drink midway to her mouth. “Tell me everything.” She put the cup down and leaned forward.
Kate watched her friend with a smile.
“Not much to tell.” Kate repeated what had happened that morning. They were sitting on Surf Coffee’s patio, sipping Chai tea and coffee. Sunlight dappled the patio, filtering through fragrant eucalyptus leaves.
“Was he hot?” Of course that was Ava’s next question. Typical Ava.
Kate smiled.
Her mother had said Ava was boy-crazy years ago when they were both thirteen and in middle school. Not much had changed on the inside. Ava was still outgoing, fearless and flirtatious. But on the outside? Eyeing her friend across the table Kate shook her head. Hard to believe the gangly girl with mousy hair, braces, and glasses, grew into the leggy, lean, and gorgeous blue-eyed blonde across from her.
“The guy I tried to resuscitate?” Kate laughed. “I have to say I didn’t notice. His lips were cold and blue.”
“Gross.” Ava frowned. “You know I don’t enjoy your nurse humor.”
Kate sobered as she considered the guy’s chances of recovery. Slim to none would be her guess.
“So … was the surfer hot?”
“Yeah.”
Ava shot her a suspicious, narrow-eyed look. “Just ‘yeah’? I don’t think so, girlfriend. You don’t get off that easy. Spill!”
Kate grinned. “Yes. He was absurdly hot.” Hot was an understatement. He was the most attractive man she had ever seen. Dark hair, strong jaw, brilliant blue eyes, beautiful bone structure, and a nose that wasn’t quite straight. Somehow it all added up to an astonishingly sexy male. And his body? Even in a wetsuit he had the body of a god. Had he noticed that she’d been tongue-tied? He was probably used to it.
“All right.” Ava made a fist and gave a tiny air pump.
“He’s also old.”
Ava cocked her head. “How old?”
Kate frowned. “Mid-thirties?”
Ava pursed her lips. “That’s not old.”
“He’s a lawyer — used to be a musician. He must do well, since he has a place right on the beach, near Mar Vista. He took me there to warm up, then he drove me home.”
Ava’s brows arched, her voice rose an octave. “You went to his house? Are you kidding me? That’s not safe, girl.”
Kate’s eyes widened. “For heaven’s sake Ava, he helped me rescue a stranger. I think that tells me all I need to know about his character. Besides, as it turns out, we weren’t alone.”
Ava cocked her head.
“So, I’m standing there, checking for soap, about to close the door when this blonde wearing a skimpy towel comes to the doorway.”
“Oh my gosh!”
“I know, right? She was gorgeous, Slavic model hot. So I’m thinking, is this his wife? But before I can even introduce myself, she tells me she’s with Alec and I should get lost.”
Ava’s hand came up to cover her mouth.
“Then she huffs out of there and heads down the hall. I probably should have closed the door at that point but I stood, listening.”
“Was it his wife?”
“No. She marched to wherever he was and yelled at him.”
Ava’s mouth slackened. “Whoa.”
“I know. Total player, right? After he told her to leave, I ducked back into the bathroom and started the shower before they could catch me listening.”
“Wow.”
“He figured out I knew she was there and told me she left.”
“Are you going to see him again?”
“What? No. Didn’t you hear anything I said after ‘he was hot’? Honestly.” She ticked the reasons off on her fingers. “He’s old. He’s a player. Lives in LA. Rich.”
“So? You sell yourself short.”
“I love you, Ava, but no.”
Kate’s hand moved to her chest reflexively, then to her neck. Plucking out her shirt, she ducked her chin, leaned back and glanced to her navel. Not there.
Releasing her shirt, she sat forward. She withdrew her hand, heart sinking. The beach.
“What is it?” Ava asked.
“My locket. It’s gone.”
Ava’s brows drew together. “Maybe you left it at home?”
Kate shook her head. “I never take it off,” she said, almost inaudibly.
“Oh, hon.” Ava moved forward to cover Kate’s free hand. “Where did you see it last?”
“I’m pretty sure I had it on when I went running … ”
“Oh Kate, if you lost it in the water or on the beach … ”
Kate pressed her lips together, blinking rapidly.
“Small price to pay.” Maybe she would go back and search the beach. She discarded the idea immediately. The tide had come in and gone out. If the locket had fallen off on the beach or in the water, it was gone forever.
“Tell you what. We’ll rent one of those metal thingamajigs with the headphones.”
Kate gave her a wan smile. “Thanks, but I think we both know it’s gone.”
“Maybe, but — ”
“It’s okay.” Tears threatened to reveal how she really felt so she changed the subject.
“So, Emma called this morning.”
Ava sighed. “What does she need now?”
“She hit me up for money for a ski trip.”
“I hope you refused.”
“I did — ”
“Good.”
“ — And then I didn’t.”
“Damn it. After her credit card bill last month? And all the overtime you’re working? It’s ridiculous.”
“I know. I know. I just feel bad for her. If Mom were still alive … ”
“She could never have afforded to send Emma to a private college. Are you kidding me? Your mom was a book-keeper.”
“We have the money from her life insurance policy — ”
“Kate. You’re pissing me off. You got loans for nursing school so you didn’t have to touch the principal of the life insurance policy. Now you’re spending all that money on Emma’s tuition, working overtime to pay for her room and board and she’s into you for money for a ski trip? Where’s your ski trip?”
Kate shifted uncomfortably in her seat and looked away.
“Seriously? Say no to the ski trip. You have coddled her for — ”
“Enough, Ava.” Kate scowled. “When she comes home for Christmas, I’m going to lay it all out there for her.”
Ava gave her a narrow-eyed stare. “All of it?”<
br />
Kate’s hand moved automatically to her necklace.
Damn.
“All of it, Kate?” Ava asked, quietly. “Your finances? Even tell her the truth about your dad?
Kate bit her lip. “Yes. It’s time she understood about Dad. God, Ava, she won’t let up about him. Did I tell you she mentioned trying to find him — ”
“Holy shit. That could be dangerous.”
Kate rubbed a hand over her face. “She’s eighteen now, so it’s not as dangerous. He couldn’t get her college money if he tried. Although, yeah, that’s the only reason he’d be interested in us.”
Ava’s expression was sympathetic as she leaned out, putting a hand on Kate’s arm.
“She needs to grow up. And you need to get on with the life of a twenty-something without a dependent. When your mom gave you that locket and asked you to protect Emma, she didn’t mean forever. Maybe losing the locket is a sign from your mom?”
Kate studied her hands in her lap, throat thick, willing tears away. Ava would never understand.
“I’m sorry, Kate. About the locket, about everything.”
Kate looked down again. “I know. Thanks for listening. How’s work going for you?
Ava laughed. When she wasn’t chastising Kate on how to live her life, Ava was Cielito’s most in-demand event planner. “The same. I love it though.” Her eyes danced as she leaned into Kate. “Last weekend we had a real doozy — second marriage, trophy wife, at the vineyard. Whew. My God, Kate, the dress was so low cut, it was crazy. My heart stopped every time she took a deep breath. I thought the minister would have a stroke.”
Kate grinned. Ava had the best work stories.
A little while later Kate checked the time on her phone.
“I’ve got to get home.”
“Wait. I got carried away talking about my job. I want to know what’s up with that doctor at work?”
Kate felt the heat rise in her neck. She took a quick sip of her stone cold Chai tea to hide her rosy cheeks from Ava.
“He’s been really sweet. He found me in the cafeteria eating before my shift Tuesday night and sat with me.”