Yours Truly (Billionaires and Brides #2)

by Krista Lakes

  For a moment, I let myself dream of the future. Noah loved me, and he wasn't a tourist anymore. He was staying. I hoped it was for a good long time. Or, if he had to return to his work, that he could make the island his home base. I couldn't leave because of my research. My life was on the island. Even if- I mentally knocked on wood- we weren't able to purchase the Grove, I still had work to do here.

  But the idea of having Noah with me was thrilling. Even if he had to take business trips, I could live with that. I wondered if he could just do all of his work from the island and make Beth take the business trips. That was an acceptable option too.

  I smiled and kissed his skin. This was the beginning of something amazing. I could feel it deep in my bones. Today was going to be the first of many perfect days together. Nothing was going to keep us apart.

  Noah's phone rang and startled me. The vibration on his nightstand was surprising, not to mention the old school ring he had chosen as a ringtone being very loud. I peeled my cheek from his chest, giving him and then his phone a very pointed and unhappy look. He laughed and kissed my forehead before twisting his torso to hit the 'Silence' button.

  I smiled and cuddled up against his chest again. Our bodies pressed together in the most delicious way, skin touching skin at every opportunity. I ran my hand over his chest, feeling his strong muscles. One of his nipples tightened as I came across it. I kissed the other nipple and felt him tense under me. I wanted another round. I wanted to feel him inside of me again. If I have my way, we may not leave the bed all day, I thought to myself.

  Unfortunately, his phone buzzed again on the nightstand. He had turned off the sound, but not the vibration.

  “Whatever it is can't be that important,” Noah grumbled, reaching for the phone to turn it off completely. He hit a button and tossed the phone back on the nightstand before grinning at me. “Now, where were we?”

  I grinned up impishly at him. I had some lusciously naughty ideas of what I wanted to do next. Things that would make my mother blush if she knew I had even thought about them, let alone knew how to do them.

  And then someone was banging on the front door.

  “Noah?” Beth's voice called from the door. “It's Beth. I need to talk to you.”

  He groaned and sunk into the bed. I pouted; he shrugged.

  “Tell a girl she has the day off, and all she wants to do is work,” he mumbled. Beth's knocking was incessant. There was no way we were going to be able to ignore her and get back to what we were doing. Noah made an unhappy noise in the back of his throat and sat up, swinging his legs off the bed. He stood, giving me a fantastic view of his naked body, and picked his shorts up off the floor. I sighed as his perfect ass disappeared into the fabric. At least he didn't put on a shirt.

  “I'll be right back.” He leaned over the bed and kissed me. I reached up, and made sure to show him exactly what he was coming back to. He made a low sound of masculine approval as he broke away and hurried to the front door.

  “Beth, I told you,” he said, opening the door. “No business today.”

  I slid out of bed, wrapping the sheet around my body and peeking out the bedroom door. I couldn't see Beth, but I had an excellent view of Noah's backside. I had plans for that backside... I wanted him out of those shorts and back in bed.

  “The lawyers called, Noah. It's happening today. Now.” Beth sounded calm and professional, but I could see her words’ had a worrysome effect on Noah. He stiffened and ran a hand through his hair.

  “Now?” he growled, his voice serious. I could only assume Beth nodded as he added, “I'll get dressed then.”

  He closed the front door and turned to see me watching him. His eyes softened, and his shoulders dropped a little as he walked back to me. Thunder rumbled ominously in the distance. It sounded like there would be storms this afternoon.

  “I'm really sorry, Izzy,” he said quietly, pushing a lock of sun-bleached hair from my cheek. “I have to take care of this. It's very important.”

  I sighed and looked longingly at the bed. So much for never leaving it. I turned back to face big blue eyes. He felt terrible about this. It was written all over his face. I touched his cheek. He had to be able to run his business from here if he wanted to stay on the island. I was willing to do just about anything to make that happen. I would have swum an internet cable back to the mainland if it made it possible for him to stay with me.

  “I hate saying that,” he said with a sigh and another rake of his hand through his hair. I loved that gesture. It made his muscles pop in all the right places, and he didn't even know he was doing it. “I hate saying it, because it's not more important than you.”

  I smiled. “You going to tell me what you do for a living?”

  He frowned, confusion tightening his brows. “I thought I wasn't supposed to tell you until I was leaving?”

  “Well, if you aren't leaving, then go do your job so you don't have to tell me.” I grinned at him. His face relaxed into a gentle smile. “I'll get to see you tomorrow.”

  He wrapped his arms around me in a bear hug, giving me a peck on the cheek. “And many days after that,” he whispered. A thrill went through me. I could go for many days.

  When he let me go, I dropped the sheet, watching his pupils dilate as he took in the view of my body. Just because I was okay with him working didn't mean I wasn't going to show him what he was missing. His eyes followed me hungrily, the bulge in his pants telling me that he was enjoying the show. I bent over to pick up my swimsuit bottoms and wiggled my ass at him. He let out a quiet sound of pure longing.

  “I'm just glad you have a job that you can do here,” I said, straightening up. His pants seemed like they were about to bust through the zipper. “I'm glad you don't have to leave.”

  “Me too,” he murmured, his face awash with desire. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. “If I had time, I would show you just how glad.”

  With that he dropped his shorts. I gasped, feeling my body react to the sight of him hard and ready to go. He winked and shook his head in a slow 'no' before walking to his closet and pulling out a suit. I pouted as he also took out a pair of boxers. Reluctantly, I put on my own bottoms as he dressed.

  I gathered the rest of my things and then sat on the bed to watch as he got ready. The suit looked expensive and fit him like a glove. I still loved his naked form better, but he looked damn fine in a suit. He held up two ties as if to ask me which one he should wear. One was blue and the other green. I stood and took the blue one, wrapping it around his neck and easily tying a double Windsor knot.

  “Where'd you learn to do that?” he asked softly.

  “In high school. My crush was in orchestra with me and could never get his right for concerts. It was the perfect excuse to get to touch him.” I smoothed the tie down his shirt. I liked having a reason to be near Noah. “It worked. I got a date out of it.”

  “Lucky guy,” he whispered. I grinned up at him.

  “You have no idea. I am the best tie-tyer around.” I didn't tell him that the guy had gone on to break my heart when he left for college. It didn’t matter so much now.

  “You're definitely pretty good at it,” he whispered, leaning down to kiss me. “I should let you do all of my ties, too. Beth always messes them up.”

  Our lips met, soft and sweet. This felt good, like it could become normal. I could get very used to tying his ties for him in the morning. I pressed into the kiss until Beth started knocking on the door again.

  “I'll call you as soon as I can,” he promised, pulling back but not letting me go. “If I get this done early...”

  I went up on my toes and kissed his cheek. “Don't worry about it. I'll help Brooke with some shark-tagging today. Maybe I'll even bring you dinner from Adele's when I'm done.”

  His face lit up at the idea. “You are wonderful. Fantastic. Amazing.”

  I gave him a gentle push toward the door. “Flatterer.”

  He turned and grinned. “Is it flattery if it's tru
e?”

  “Noah? You ready?” Beth called through the door. I pushed him again.

  “Go to work. I'll see you this evening,” I told him as I slipped on my sandals and followed him. His hand went to the knob, but he didn't open it. Instead he just turned and kissed me again.

  “I love you,” he said simply as he straightened up and opened the door.

  “Me too.” I stepped out, nearly running into a now very businesslike Beth. She had a full dress suit that made her look professional instead of like a pixie. He winked at me before taking a file from Beth's hands. I grinned at him one last time before turning to head up the path back to the beach. This wasn't quite the way I had been expecting the day to turn out, but as I played with my shark tooth necklace, I figured it was still a pretty damn good day.

  Sandcastle Kisses: Chapter 17

  Thunder boomed. The air was heavy with the promise of rain as Brooke and I brought the boat into the dock and secured it. Lightning flashed out at the horizon, striking the water with a blinding brilliance. I double-checked to make sure the knots were secure on the boat; I didn't want it floating out to sea with the storm.

  “Thanks for the help today, Izzy,” Brooke said, heaving her gear onto the dock. We’d had an amazingly successful run. “This data is going to be amazing. If the Grove thing doesn't work out for you, I'll take you on my project in a heartbeat.”

  “You are most welcome, but I have a good feeling about the Grove. That's where my future is,” I told her, securing another rope on the boat. Another peal of thunder made the air shudder around us.

  “Yeah, you do mesh better with baby sharks than the big scary ones,” she teased. I had done more than all right with “the big scary ones” today, but she was right. I enjoyed the nursery of the Grove far more than the wild of the open ocean.

  “You go on in. I'll finish tying up and bring in the cooler.” I tossed her the empty canvas bag that had held our lunch.

  “Sounds good.” Brooke nodded, her light blonde hair catching in the wind and whipping around her face. “Thanks, though. You're the best.”

  “That's what everyone tells me these days,” I replied with a laugh. Brooke picked up the rest of her equipment and hurried down the dock toward the house. The storm was coming in fast. I could see the rain creeping toward the island along the ocean in thick gray sheets. I finished lashing down the rest of the boat, grabbed the cooler, and hurried to the backdoor in an effort to beat the rain.

  Thunder shook the windows as I fought the wind to open the kitchen door. The storm was picking up and tossing the leaves of the palm trees around like they were in a crazy dance party. The t-shirt and shorts I had changed into to work on the boat flapped wildly around my body as I struggled with the door. With a loud slam, the wind shut the heavy storm-door behind me, and I set the cooler down. The room was dark and gray, since the light was off and it was so cloudy outside. I ran a hand up to smooth my windblown hair, moving the cooler with my foot so that it rested against the wall and out of the way.

  “Izzy?”

  I startled, looking up at the kitchen entrance. Standing in the doorway to the next room was Doc, his arms uncharacteristically crossed in front of him. I wasn't sure if it was just the gray light of the storm, but he looked older. Tired. Where I was used to smiles and light, dark lines were now etched into the planes of his face. Something was wrong.

  “You scared me,” I said, putting a hand to my chest. My heart was pounding, and my palms were suddenly sticky with sweat. The grim look on Doc's face frightened me. “Did something happen to Devon or Lucas?”

  “Devon and Lucas are fine,” Doc answered. His face crumpled a little, but he did his best to hide it. “I need to talk to you.”

  He turned and walked into the living room, and I followed. Something bad had happened. Something he wasn't looking forward to telling me. A small table lamp was on in the living room, casting strange shadows on the fish tanks and adding to the deepening sense of gloom. The wind howled outside.

  As I entered the room, Devon stormed past me. His face was pale against his freckles, and his eyes flashed with anger. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought there might have been tear marks on his cheeks. He hurried through the kitchen, slamming the door behind him as he went out into the storm. My heart rate ticked up higher. Something was definitely very wrong.

  Doc sat down on one of the ancient couches, looking weary and worn. The pale yellow light of the lamp wasn't kind to him and only accentuated the length of his nose and the age of his skin. I didn't see Lucas, but Doc had said he was okay. Nothing could have happened to Brooke in the thirty seconds since I had seen her. Worry clutched at the pit of my stomach.

  “What's going on?” I asked, peering through the dark kitchen doorway after Devon. He was probably on his way to Mimi's. I hoped he got there before the rain hit.

  “You should sit down, Isabel.” Doc's voice was low and guarded. No one called me Isabel. Ever. Unless it was something bad. Something very bad.

  “Doc?” I sat carefully on a worn, tan-colored easy chair. At least, I assumed it had been tan at some point in its life. The chair was probably older than I was.

  Doc stared at my feet for a second before looking up. There was defeat in his clear green eyes.

  “We didn't get the Grove.”

  I heard the words, but my brain refused to comprehend them. This wasn't possible.

  “What do you mean?” I barely squeaked. “We had enough money... the grants and the donations... and...”

  “Someone outbid us at the last minute,” Doc interrupted gently. He reached out across the small space and put a hand on my knee. The air seemed to be leaking out of the room somehow, leaving me short of breath. “The lawyers say they can't release who won the bid until the sale is final, but some of the comments they let slip don't bode well. It sounds like a hotel company.”

  The foundations of my world were crumbling. The Grove was supposed to be my project. My future. I had so many hopes and dreams for research, conservation, and education, and they were all fading before my eyes. If a hotel company had bought the land, the Grove was going to be destroyed. There was no way a fancy tourist hotel would want the mangroves taking over their beach front property. It had happened to other mangrove groves in too many places to count. They would raze the Grove to get at the beach underneath. The island's government wouldn't stop it, because another hotel would bring in more tourist money.

  “Izzy?” I noticed that Doc's eyes were rimmed with red. This was painful for him too. He had devoted years of his life to studying the ecology of the area, not to mention the thousands of dollars and man-hours he had put forth to try and make the Grove a nature preserve. This was as much a blow to him as it was to me.

  “I'm so sorry, Doc,” I whispered. Details were suddenly all I could see. Doc was wearing a frayed green shirt that had a small hole in the left sleeve. The couch he was sitting on had a miniscule stain in the corner of the center cushion. The light in the third aquarium was flickering. My mind was trying to focus on anything, on everything, other than the news.

  “It's not your fault, Izzy,” Doc comforted. He was handling this better than I was. I could barely breathe. The air was now completely gone from the room. Doc peered at me, a frown of concern deepening on his already lined face. “Are you going to be okay?”

  “No,” I gasped, standing up far too quickly. The room spun. Thunder shook the windows, further disorienting me. I stumbled against the end table with the lamp. The room swayed in the movement of the light. I was going to be sick.

  “Izzy, it's going to be okay.” Doc's voice was distant, but somehow his hands were on my shoulders. I didn't want his comfort. I wanted to rage and scream and cry. It wasn't fair. This wasn't how things were supposed to be. Everything had been perfect this morning, and now it wasn't.

  Noah. He was still perfect. Things were better when I was with him. I knew he couldn't fix this, but I needed him. I needed him to hold me and lie a
nd say that things would work out better in the end.

  I shook off Doc's hands, twisting away from him and banging my thigh against the table. It was going to leave a bruise, but the pain felt far away.

  “No, no, no...” I chanted, weaving my way out of the living room and into the kitchen. Doc was just a couple of steps behind me.

  “Izzy,” Doc called, grabbing my arm and spinning me to face him before I ran out into the storm alone. “Where are you going?”

  “Noah.”

  Doc let me go and nodded. “Be safe.”

  I ran from the kitchen, slamming the door behind me. Wind whipped at my hair and sand bit my skin, but I didn't care. I almost wished it stung more so I could forget the sick sensation in the pit of my stomach. I ran from the house, my feet pounding on the cement as I headed for Noah's place.

  There was too much and not enough in my mind. The Grove was going to be destroyed. I was sliding out of control and had no brakes to stop me. Months of planning, fund-raising, meetings, and hoping were for nothing. Everything I had worked for, everything Doc had worked for, was going to disappear into a monstrosity of a hotel.

  The storm hit the coast with a hiss. Gray sheets of rain cascaded against the sand as it made land. I didn't care. I kept running down the path until I hit the Grove.

  I stood in the pouring rain, staring at the tangle of wood and brackish water. It would never be considered classically beautiful. It wasn't what people expected of a tropical island paradise. But it had been my passion. I had seen myself in that Grove.

  Logically, I knew I would recover. This wasn't the end of my career, but for this moment, this second in time, it was a knife in my heart. I ran past the Grove, the sobs heaving in my chest. It was all going to go away. The green and brown murky depths would no longer stand guard over the fledgling fish and sharks. The birds would have to find somewhere else to live. It felt so wrong that something so important to the local wildlife could disappear so easily. I would have to find somewhere else to chase my dreams.