by Sammi Franks
Table of Contents
Chapter One of The Marine, Seductive Sands: Book Three
The Contractor
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
About Sammi Franks
The Contractor
Sammi Franks
Contents
The Contractor
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
22. Chapter One of The Marine, Seductive Sands: Book Three
About Sammi Franks
Copyright © 2018 by Sammi Franks
1st Edition
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever including Internet usage, without written permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover by Opium House Creatives
Formatting by: Love Kissed Books
Created with Vellum
1
Will
“Go to your room!” I roared as I glared down my sister-in-law.
She laughed and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m twenty-three years old. You can’t send me to my room like some damn child.”
“I can when you’re acting like one,” I snapped as I raked a hand through my thick, wavy sun-bleached hair. I’d been pacing in the living room for the bulk of our discussion, but I was worn out, mentally and physically, after a long day remodeling the bar.
“Because I told you I’m moving? Because I’m getting married?” She threw her hands in the air and stomped her foot. “Let’s be honest here. You’re mad because when I leave, it’s going to inconvenience you. You might actually have to take care of Theadocia all by yourself and you’ve never done that, not even when Megyn was alive.” She stuck her chin out defiantly.
After practically collapsing on the sofa, I rubbed my face with both hands. There was a lot of truth in her words, but in my experience, backing down with one of the Spader girls was a mistake. Megyn always went straight for my soft underbelly, while her little sister was more inclined to go straight for my throat. “I can’t do this without you. How am I supposed to make a living?”
“Work while she’s in school. And you have time to find a replacement. This is my one week notice.” Mo grinned, knowing she’d won, and then dropped on the couch beside me. Only, as the victor, she kicked her feet up on the ottoman and folded her hands behind her neck assuming a relaxed and confident position.
I peeked over at her. “You know, it’s customary to give thirty days notice before moving out.” My brows rose hopefully.
She shook her head and her short brown curls bounced. “No can do, Will. I have a wedding to plan and a life to build in California.” Mo’s arms dropped to her side and her shoulders sagged. “I’m not abandoning you. Hell, I’m the one who dropped everything and moved in with you after Megyn died.” She clapped my knee.
“Three weeks,” I argued. “How am I supposed to find someone with such short notice? This is Thea we’re talking about. Hasn’t she suffered enough loss in her life?” I gave her my pleading eyes.
“You’re using the pitiful look on me? Really?” Mo laughed. “You can do better than that. Those only worked on my sister.” She rested a hand on her chest. “I, however, am impervious to your weak-ass charms.”
“Language,” I reminded her as I pointed to the ceiling. “You know Little Miss Nosy Britches has been trying to figure out what was causing all the tension between us since dinner.”
“Well, we can tell her in the morning.” Mo shifted and rested her head against my shoulder. “And the most I will agree to is two. Two weeks and I’m gone. That’s plenty of warning. After that, I’m driving south to meet up with my man.” She laughed and I realized that neither of us had done that for entirely too long.
“I don’t know how to take care of my own daughter,” I mumbled. “I’m a terrible father.” My head hung in shame.
“No, you’re not. You were in mourning and it was easier to bury yourself in growing your contracting business than it was to work through your feelings. I get it.” She shrugged. “But two years is long enough. I’ve given up a lot to be here for you and my life can’t be on hold forever, Will. You know this. You’re not the selfish type. You’re just scared.”
“Every time I look at Thea, I see a mini-Megyn.” Though it wasn’t manly at all, I could feel my eyes burning. “I couldn’t stand looking at her. Being around her caused so much pain. All I could think about was how much Megyn was missing.” I glanced at her to check her reaction.
Mo leaned forward. “Yeah, well, you’re here and you’re still missing it. Be the dad you used to be.” She wrapped her arms around her body. “Oh my word, how Meg used to brag about you. You were the man who showed up to every Lamaze class. You opened doors. You never failed to celebrate every holiday, no matter how miniscule.” She smirked. “Shit, when I first moved in, I half expected to discover you walked on water. Naturally, you didn’t, but your inability to create wine from water was most devastating.” She punched playfully at my thigh. “I’m teasing!”
I sighed. “I know. You’re quite funny. Sometimes.” I studied her sadly for a moment. “I don’t suppose the move south is a joke by any chance, huh?”
Standing, Mo started toward the stairs. “Nope. Not even a little bit. I need to go call Eddie before he goes to bed. I promised him I’d call after I talked to you, prove I’d done it.”
“If I wept openly in the background, would it help?” I asked wryly.
“It might, but do you know what would help most of all?” She licked her lips while she waited for me to respond.
“If I won the lottery and never had to work again?” I leaned back and stared over at her.
“Megyn told me you did this. She said that when some guys were hurt or scared, they lashed out. Then she told me that you don’t. You hide your pain with humor.” Mo rested against the banister. “You haven’t been funny since I’ve been here, and now you decide you’ve got jokes?” She groaned.
“I’ll be hilarious from now on if you would just change your mind,” I muttered.
She shook her head resolutely and I knew I’d lost, but I hated accepting it. “Here’s what you need to do, Will. You need to be the man you want Thea to marry. You need to treat her with the same love and respect you showed my sister. Make her so strong that no fuck boy stands a chance.”
My eyes widened and I glared at her while pointing at the ceiling again. “Little ears.”
“Yeah, I hope you�
�re paying attention.” She chuckled. “She’s not going to be this little for long. She needs her daddy. Starting now.”
I nodded sadly. “You’re right. I know you’re right. Couldn’t you be right from a nice apartment in town instead of two states south?”
Mo groaned. “Goodnight, Will. Two weeks. I mean it.”
Then I watched her skip up the stairs like she was light as a feather, which seemed strange since suddenly I bore the weight of the world on my shoulders.
2
Beatrice
When I came to this country, my goal was to get married to the man of my dreams, not help raise children. In fact, I wasn’t even sure I wanted children up until I met Stan. He was on holiday with his mates - a bachelor party he called it, but I was more familiar with it as a stag party. Considering Stan was American, I forgave him.
We met at a pub in Cambridge. I was studying literature at Pembroke and needed to step away from anything related to school after we had our exams. Stan was there with his mates and our parties hooked up from there.
I couldn’t stop staring at him. He was older than I was by a few years, probably mid-to-late twenties at the most, with shaggy dark hair and dark eyes, sharp cheekbones, and a warm smile. I liked that he was quieter than his friends. He didn’t seem interested in meeting women; rather, he was keen on helping his friend celebrate something as special as marriage. I wasn’t one to believe in the notion of love at first sight, but I definitely had stirrings for him.
We talked and danced that night, and for the rest of the time he was here, we met up and dated. It was a whirlwind. By the time he was leaving, I was already crying, knowing I was head-over-heels for him, knowing there was nothing I could do to make him stay.
Until he invited me to come with him.
“I’m crazy about you,” he said just before he left. “I’m away from home a lot but it would mean everything to me to have you waiting for me at home. Knowing I get to come home to you would make me the happiest man alive.”
Not exactly a wedding proposal but it was something I could work with.
When I told him I couldn’t just leave my friends and family to travel halfway across the world for a guy, he proposed. Being hopelessly romantic and having just earned my degree, I accepted. I applied for a visa two days later and was approved in August. My family thought I was crazy but I didn’t particularly care what they thought. They hadn’t been in love the way I was with Stan. I used all my savings to apply for that visa and had just enough left over for a one-way ticket. Stan picked me up August thirtieth, and I was positive on the drive home, we would start discussing possible dates, wedding venues, the lot. It was all I could think about on the eleven-hour flight over here.
But he was surprisingly quiet about the whole thing.
At first, I thought nothing of it. He probably wanted to focus on the now, get used to me back in his life. He didn’t want to waste our first moments together talking about our future when we had all the time in the world together.
We made love when we got home. It was dark by the time we arrived so I didn’t get a chance to look at where I would call my new home. I did notice it was a small town, with stop lights hanging from wires and houses spaced apart on decent plots of land. I could also hear the ocean, which was nice. I always loved the ocean. After that, we collapsed. Well, he collapsed. Due to jet lag and the fact that England was eight hours ahead of the west coast of the United States, I was awake. Stan hadn’t told me where to unpack so I left my clothes in my luggage. Instead, I padded into his living room and turned on the telley and watched the game until I fell asleep.
When I woke up, Stan was gone, with only a note saying he had to sail out early and didn’t want to wake me. He’d be back in two days and left me money if I wanted to get food as well as the keys to his car if I wanted to get around.
It went much like this for the next four months, until I confronted him. In my entire time here, we had yet to discuss the wedding at all. He hadn’t even gotten an engagement ring for me to wear, a band on my finger.
“I’m not going to change, Bea,” he said. “This is my livelihood. You don’t have to like it but if you want to get married, eventually, you’ll have to accept it.”
I didn’t.
Maybe I should have given him another chance. Maybe I should have tried to be more understanding because I did know he was a fisherman and I did know their jobs weren’t exactly typical. I knew he had an odd schedule and I still chose to come out here, expecting the same man from before, from his mate’s stag party.
But regular life wasn’t like it was when on vacation, was it?
I left and found a sympathetic old woman, Marlene, who took me in and had me do chores to pay my keep. I moved out while Stan was away, leaving him a note if my own. The next day, I applied for my work visa. That took a couple of weeks to approve and once it was, Marlene helped find me a job. She knew the principal at the elementary school and soon I had a job there as an assistant, working with a first grade class.
“And that’s my story,” I concluded, sitting across from a pretty young woman at Coco to Go, a small cafe right on the water. She had pretty brown hair and a gigantic rock on her slender ring finger.
“That’s fascinating,” she said. “Now, being a nanny is much different than working with kids. Are you comfortable living with a single father and his child - who is absolutely delightful by the way? He’s not really around. As a contractor, he works from sun up to sun down and Thea needs someone stable in her life.”
“Absolutely,” I said. “That is not going to be a problem, Mo.”
“Perfect!” She jumped up and stuck out her hand. “I’ll take this to Will and we’ll be in touch.”
I smiled. Perfect. This was a good step to take, a first step to being on my own two feet.
3
Will
“I found her!” Mo squealed as I walked in the door after work.
In the two days since she’d announced her departure, I’d never seen her so determined, so driven, so…organized. I swallowed hard. Post-talk, I’d come up with a brilliant plan. At least I thought it was brilliant. I ran it by Max and Bodhi and neither of them seemed to think differently. “I’ll come home really late at night,” I announced as I sucked down a beer. “And then, Mo will be asleep. If she can’t talk to me about it, she can’t leave. Am I right?” I held up my bottle, waiting for them to clink theirs against mine, but instead, they exchanged looks. Crap. Even they knew I was an idiot.
I sighed and pasted on a smile. “So, God is a woman after all, huh?” I patted her on the head like I was indulging Thea, and then made my way to my bedroom.
“Shut up and sit down, Will,” Mo grumbled.
“I’m just gonna get changed, take a shower…” My voice trailed off as I met her angry glare.
Her arms were crossed over her chest and though she’d been seated on the couch staring at the television when I’d arrived; now she was standing in the middle of the room tapping her foot. “Now,” she urged, in what can only be described as a mommy voice.
I hesitated and glanced up the stairs. This might be the one time I was actually hoping my daughter would hear me come in and rush to see me. I needed a distraction, any distraction so I could make my clean getaway. “But Thea…”
“Is sound asleep. I should know, I tucked her in. Again. While you were hiding at the bar.” She jerked her head angrily toward the couch. “Sit down. We’re going to talk whether you like it or not.”
“After my shower. Promise.” Even as I spoke the words, I had my fingers crossed by my side.
Her brow arched. “I know you, William Treadway. You probably have your fingers crossed right now. No worries.” Mo shrugged angrily. “I’ll just follow you up the stairs and talk to you while you’re in the shower.” She took a few steps until she was behind me, ready to follow.
My shoulders slumped. My head hung. “Fine. Let’s talk.” While she stepped aside, I trudged to my spo
t on the couch and sank down. I leaned my elbows on my thighs and laced my fingers as I stared at the area rug. Megyn had picked it out and though I’d thought the shag would annoy me, I’d actually grown to love them. Swallowing hard, I waited for Mo to speak.
She sat beside me, her frame seeming even slighter when she was close. And though she had similar features to Megyn, they were as different as night and day. “It’s going to be okay. I found someone I think will be perfect.”
“I doubt it,” I muttered.
“Do you have no faith in me whatsoever?” She huffed. “You haven’t even let me tell you about her.”
“So spill it. Tell me about the glorious grifter you think I should hire to replace you. Where’d you find her? Under an overpass? Asleep on a park bench? Did you even do a background check?” I growled. She might force someone new on me, but that didn’t mean I had to like her. “And I get final pass. After all, I’m the one who’s paying her.”
“Take all the passes you want, you ungrateful ass, but remember when it’s all said and done, I’m leaving in two weeks.” She flung a piece of paper at me and stomped up the stairs.
I watched the paper flutter to the ground. Since I’d been watching Mo storm off for two years, this was actually far more interesting. With a sense of foreboding, I picked it up and read it. Beatrice Browne. With an ‘e.’ There was a local number. I frowned. I think I recognized the number. Standing, I slowly made my way upstairs to talk to Mo. I lightly knocked on the door before entering.