Trust in Us

by Altonya Washington

  “Having a friend in the business is very nice but Dane, Zeke and Jay benefit more than I do.” He depressed the elevator’s down button and then hid his hand in a front trouser pocket. “My visits down here aren’t usually about vacationing.”

  “Hmm...” Alythia tapped her fingers along the powerful cords of his forearm. “Sounds like your friends and my friends both have workaholic friends in common.” She joined in for only a moment when Gage laughed to concede her point.

  “Is that all the enjoyment you get from Clive’s brainchild?” She ventured more steadily into the topic she had wanted to open since they left her suite.

  “Clive doesn’t complain.” Gage shrugged. “Especially when my trips down here result in free business advice for him.”

  The elevator car arrived with a melodic and subtle ring.

  “Does Clive only make moves you give the green light on?” Alythia asked once the doors closed and they began their descent.

  Gage leaned against the rich oak-paneled car and regarded her with a fresh awareness. “Alythia?” He waited for her eyes to rest on his. “Clive isn’t about to back out on this deal because of anything I say.”

  “I didn’t mean—”

  “Yes, you did.” His words held no accusation, only soft amusement.

  Sighing disappointedly, Aly lowered her eyes to the short carpeting beneath their feet. “Orchid’s always warning me about being so anally involved in my business.”

  The close confines filled with the hearty rumble of Gage’s laughter. “Do I even want to know what that is?” The question tumbled out on a chuckle.

  The doors opened into the exotic music-filled lobby. Gage offered his arm, which Alythia accepted without thought.

  “The explanation was forced on me,” she said in a resigned fashion. “No reason why I can’t share it with you.”

  Gage’s ready laughter resumed as he led them deeper into the lively lobby.

  * * *

  “So I guess you finishing off our appetizers means you approve of the restaurant?” Gage drained the last of his beer and signaled the waiter for another.

  Shameless, Aly scraped the last of the guacamole from a porcelain bowl. “It takes talent to make great guacamole and these folks have talent to spare.”

  “I’ll have to make sure Clive keeps his cook staff, then.”

  There was a moment of quiet and then a flood of laughter between the couple as memories of their earlier conversation filtered in.

  “So...anally involved in business?” Gage recalled the other path of their conversation before it had veered off into Alythia’s ravings over Anegada Weeks’ West Wing Restaurant Row.

  The resort boasted over thirty eating establishments all along various wings inside the resort’s main building. Each eatery carried a different theme and was staffed by Caribbean, Latin and Italian natives.

  Alythia helped herself to more of the crisp sangria she’d ordered. Settling back, she studied the colorful liquid through the tall cooler she held.

  “I prefer to think of it as being detail oriented. Orchid thinks I make a big deal of things when no big deal is required. It’s a flaw I’m trying to work on.” She shrugged and then drank deeply of the sangria.

  Gage frowned. “I wouldn’t say it’s anything you need to stress over.”

  Aly held her glass poised in the air. “Excuse me? Are you the same man I just interrogated on the way down here?”

  “I wouldn’t have called it an interrogation.”

  “No...you’re too polite to do that.”

  The assessment made him laugh again. Alythia didn’t begrudge the attention he drew. Women turned in appreciation of the man and the sound of his amusement and Aly couldn’t deny its ability to soothe.

  “You don’t know me very well.” He sobered a bit. “Being detailed or anally involved is often a necessity in business. Those who aren’t do so at the expense of their own interests.”

  “I see your point, but I think I could really stand to be a little less curious.”

  Gage tapped the base of the beer bottle while relaxing in his chair. “Questions aren’t bad things, Alythia.”

  “Tell my friends that.”

  To himself Gage agreed that questions could prove pesky for anyone who lived as footloose as her girls—or his boys. “How often do you find yourself on the receiving end of their disapproval?” he asked.

  Aly appeared stumped by the question but didn’t have to locate an answer straightaway. The server had arrived with a fresh chilled beer for Gage and to take their entrée orders.

  “You should try the sangria.” Aly sang her words of encouragement.

  “I’m good.” Gage was pouring the brew into a tall frosted mug.

  Aly was insistent. “If you try the sangria, I could order a pitcher instead of this inappropriate cooler.”

  “Order the pitcher, Alythia.”

  “And drink it by myself? Thanks for making me look like the lush.”

  “It’s the Caribbean,” he chuckled.

  “It is, isn’t it?” She reciprocated the waiter’s smile. “A pitcher of sangria and bring two coolers, please. In case Mr. Vincent changes his mind.”

  “You know, I promise not to give you a hard time if you want to chug the damn thing right from the pitcher.”

  Aly threw back her head and laughed vibrantly. Gage propped his chin on his fist and simply enjoyed the sound of it. Each time he caught a glimpse of her eyes, he was struck by their amethyst shade and the enchanting way the light filtered through the almond-shaped orbs.

  He thought she may have spied the intent way he watched her, because her laughter quieted a bit too abruptly. She seemed to withdraw a bit into herself. He didn’t want to push, but he didn’t care overmuch for the haunted look that had suddenly crept into her eyes.

  “Alythia?”

  “I love my friends, but they make me nervous.” She blinked then, as though sharing the confession had all at once drawn her up and out of her thoughts.

  “I can’t believe I said that.” She slapped her hands to her cheeks and watched Gage as if she was in awe. “You’re a little too easy to talk to.”

  Gage leaned close to pull one hand down from her face. “I promise it goes no further than our table.”

  “I still shouldn’t have said it.”

  “Don’t you have a right to your opinion?” He gave a flip wave and reached for his chilled Samuel Adams. “My friends make me nervous all the time—I never know when I’ll need to have bail money ready.” He smirked. “But I guess they feel the same way about me. It’s to be expected when it comes to friends, especially the wild and crazy ones.” The smirk became a lopsided grin that was intended to make her smile.

  Aly put forth a real effort, but clearly her heart wasn’t in it. “It’s not the same,” she said.

  “Because you’re women?” he guessed.

  The sangria arrived blessedly fast and Aly watched the rich red drink being poured as though she were a woman dying of thirst.

  “Sir? Will you be joining your lady?” the server asked.

  Alythia stopped the glass midway to her mouth. Her eyes clashed with Gage’s and she looked away, desperate for something to focus on across the dining room.

  Gage didn’t appear at all displeased by the waiter’s unintentional slip. “I’d very much like to join my lady.”

  “Yes...it’s different because we’re women.” Aly waited to voice her agreement until after they’d taken a few sips of the sangria.

  “Alythia—”

  She waved off the apology he was about to utter. “Blame it on my stupid curiosity, but I really want to know what’s going through your mind right now about my friends.”

  Gage set aside his cooler, losing his taste for the fruity drink. “Honey, I don’t know ’em well enough to voice an opinion like that.”

  “Not even the bride? That’s strange considering she’s about to marry one of your best friends.”

  “Jay tends
to live in his own world and has always had a problem with ridicule. Besides, he’s kind of kept us all in the dark about this.”

  “Ah...so he’d expect some kind of ridicule if he’d shared things with you guys about Orchid?”

  Gage made another stab at finishing his sangria. Silently, he complimented Alythia’s sharp mind while simultaneously condemning his loose tongue.

  “I promise that nothing you say here will go further than our table....” She smiled.

  “What do you want to know?” He set the cooler down.

  “I’d like to know what you think of my friends.”

  “And what’s that got to do with why they make you nervous?”

  “I’ll make it easy for you,” Aly countered, expertly sidestepping his question. “What do you think of them based on your impressions during the flight?”

  Gage rested an elbow on the table. Tapping fingers against his brow, he let her glimpse his weariness. He couldn’t see their conversation going anywhere but down. “I didn’t bring you out for this,” he said finally.

  Aly shook the fruit at the bottom of her glass and shrugged. “I’m sure you didn’t.”

  “That’s not fair, Alythia.”

  “I’m not accusing you.” She fixed him with a nonjudgmental look. “You’d be well within rights to expect I’d follow in my friends’ footsteps. I just think it’s best to get it out of the way and tell you you’re wasting your time with me if you expect that. I’m not made that way.”

  “Your dining requests are coming through just now.”

  The attentive server returned with the food update. Gage pushed back his chair and stood, drawing the waiter aside, where they conducted a brief and quiet chat.

  Alythia watched Gage push a few bills into the man’s shirt pocket, and then he was helping her from her chair and escorting her from the dining room.

  * * *

  Nerves mixed in with a considerable amount of regret, but Aly kept up with Gage’s long strides out of the restaurant. She could almost feel the waves of fury he radiated. He surely had every right to be pissed, she thought, recalling Orchid’s consistent accusations about her anal involvement in business. That was an inaccurate summation. She was anally involved in friendship drama, which always found a way to weave itself in and make her a complete basket case.

  Alythia decided not to waste time in trying to explain herself to him. She’d just accept the silent treatment on the way back to her suite. At least he wasn’t too angry to walk her back. Then they could forget their poor attempt at following their friends’ dance steps to the bedroom and get on with enjoying the rest of their vacations separately.

  It was then that Alythia discovered they weren’t headed back to the suites but out of the resort’s main hall entirely. Aly shivered as much from the chill of the evening air kissing her bare skin through the wrap as she did from the anticipation of what was to follow their sudden departure from the dining room. Curiosity had her close to bursting, but she pressed her lips together to silence any questions that might have tried to slip past.

  “Questions aren’t bad, but there are occasions when the timing is,” he said from where he stood behind her once they were on a deserted strip of the beach.

  Regardless of what was in store for the remainder of the evening, a portion of Alythia’s unease did begin to fade when the ocean’s quiet roar reached her ears. Awed, she moved as if tugged by some unseen force toward the sound of the water. The surf was just visible via the strong moonlight and a powerful glow radiated along the rear expanse of the resort to douse the beach with a mellow illumination.

  Once again the sea air that had calmed her upon arrival so many hours earlier had the same effect as she inhaled it then. Even the rush of the waves bumping the shore induced a great degree of solace. She smiled when the cool water sluiced between her toes, gliding between the soles of her feet and her sandals.

  Gage stood off to Aly’s side several feet away and just outside the range of the seeking water. Head bowed, his hands were propped lightly at his lean hips.

  “My friends make me nervous because they do things that other people expect me to do when I’m with them.” She at last gave him the answer he wanted. “So much of me wants to be that way, free and without a care for the consequences, but I—I can never trust it and relax enough to... Part of me wonders if I just care too damn much about what people think of me or...maybe I just...” Care too damn much about who I’m free with. She could only share the last with herself.

  “Jeena thinks I’m a Goody Two-Shoes.” She laughed and then turned to Gage, who stared fixedly while she confided. “I know you hate apologies, but I really am sorry for ruining your night.”

  He regarded her for a few moments more, tracking his golden-chocolate gaze up and down her body. Slowly, he covered the distance between them. Smoothing his hands over her arms, he massaged her through the silken material of the wrap.

  “You didn’t ruin my night.” The massage he applied to her arms served to draw her closer even as it pampered her.

  “I wanted to have dinner, laugh and talk...not about this....” He joined in when she laughed. “My night was about as far from ruined as it could get.”

  His head dipped and he plied her with what was intended to be a peck. That peck turned into something worthy of residing in the realm of full-blown lust. In the back of her mind, Aly remembered what she’d said about not being able to relax enough. That was a myth that Gage Vincent was effectively demolishing as his tongue enticed hers into a lazy duel.

  The act progressed, slowly at first, as though Gage was more intent on exploring than taking. He stroked the roof of her mouth, crested his tongue along the ridge of her teeth before returning to play with her tongue. He evaded when she would have engaged and chuckled when she whimpered her impatience at his tactics.

  Aly wouldn’t, couldn’t, stop to consider what type of mixed signal she might have been giving him. After all, she’d just claimed that she could never relax enough to be free, only to turn around and kiss him senseless. She didn’t care what he thought in that moment, only that he kept doing what he was doing.

  Alythia hadn’t given thought to how hungry she was for affection until it was being oh so incredibly given to her. She reciprocated the suckling intensity he treated her to when he had her tongue entangled with his. She planned to give and take for as long as she could.

  Or until the sound of glasses, dinnerware and cutlery filtered through her erotically charged thoughts. Alythia sighed her disappointment when Gage patted her hip, easing her out of the kiss as he did so.

  Opening her eyes, Aly immediately searched for the source of the sounds that had interrupted her romantic moment beneath tropical stars. Blinking owlishly, she frowned at the sight a few yards from where she and Gage stood. There was a table set for a candlelight meal for two. She looked to him.

  Gage slanted her a wink. “Dinner is served.”

  Chapter 6

  Dinner looked amazing and she was in fact starving. Alythia was, however, willing to let her stomach take a backseat to her... She wouldn’t finish the thought. Not even silently. Instead, she tried putting on a gracious look, yet felt her facial muscles failing her miserably.

  “Clive sure does pull out all the stops for his friends,” she noted as they neared the beautifully set table. “At least you’ve got friends who offer less stress than they give.”

  “You didn’t know him in college.” Gage grinned, then sobered a bit. “Clive’s a good guy.” He rounded the table after pushing in her chair and looked to be debating his next words. “He’s ethical, too. You can believe me when I say that he’d never accept or back out of a deal because of anything I or anyone else might say.”

  Alythia shook her head, hitting her cheeks with a few wavy locks. “I shouldn’t have said that, assumed that he was—”

  “What? Like most of the men you’ve done business with?”

  “Ha! No...no, actually, I’ve been fortuna
te enough to deal with mostly women in my business so far.”

  “Glad to hear it.”

  Alythia was wincing. “That didn’t sound quite so cold in my head.”

  “I’m still glad to hear it. If your effect on Clive is any example, you’d probably have more men than him falling in love with you.”

  “In love?” she said with a laugh, and then reached down to unfasten and remove her sandals. “He sure is easy to please. We haven’t even had a real conversation in person yet.”

  “The man’s been known to fall in love during a phone call, so...” Gage provided a noncommittal shrug.

  * * *

  The couple indulged in a round of laughter at Clive’s expense. Gage was the first to sober and had more fun watching Alythia succumb to another bout of mirth. His laughter had curbed into a smile as he shifted, reclining comfortably in his seat, and watched her. He’d wanted to kiss her since he saw her, wanted to know if her mouth was as soft as it looked and if her tongue felt as sweet as the words it formed sounded.

  He shifted again, realizing that his wants were starting to affect parts of his body best left settled.

  “Bless you,” Alythia was saying as the servers set dinner in place. She had ordered a petite sirloin with scallops and au gratin potatoes.

  Chef salad and rolls served as the table’s centerpiece. Gage indulged in a heartier New York strip, his side portions just a tad larger than Alythia’s. They dined in companionable silence, which was marked only by the sound of waves and the faint vibration of music. The grooves bumped from either the resort’s main building or the beachfront bar a ways down the shore—it was hard to tell which. Nevertheless, the sounds were a perfect accompaniment to a delicious meal.

  The sounds were a perfect accompaniment to a delicious meal until they were marred by the unmistakable undercurrents of argument. Gage caught the voices before Alythia did. She heard him curse and looked up and back over her shoulder, closing her eyes at the sight of Jeena and Zeke.