by Maddie James
“I’m flattered that you’re considering having me for breakfast, and I’ll admit I like the idea, but you might want to pick something out before our waiter comes back.”
Jackie felt a slow flush creep over her neck and make her ears feel hot. Eating him for breakfast. Hmmm, tempting. But she had to keep her game face on and figure out what she was going to do about this infatuation before it could lead to disaster. A graceful exit after a congenial meal. It was the only way.
“Do you, um, have any recommendations? I’m guessing you’ve been here before?”
Mitchell looked her over. “I like it all,” he said.
Jackie managed to focus on the menu. Keep it simple, she thought. Choose something to eat, fill the tank, and you’ll be able to think better. Fortify with some protein, and you’ll be able to resist and get back to being the sensible girl you usually are. The girl who does not meet men in bars, fall into their arms, and then stay awake all night thinking about them. The girl who does not accidentally sleep with her boss and jeopardize her career and all her friends’ jobs. The girl who could reasonably think of a way out of this mess. The girl who hadn’t had this much fun in a while…
She managed to order and speak rationally to the waiter while trying not to look at Mitchell’s lips and eyes and hands as he chatted with the waiter and ordered his food. She wrenched her eyes from the temptation across the table and looked out at the blue, sparkling water.
She should be out there with Leah and Teri lying on the beach, complaining about their jobs, their love lives, their mothers…all the things they usually talked about. They should be making their plans for Shelly’s wedding and maybe even doing some good-spirited complaining about the bridesmaid dresses they were all enduring. It was a Christmas season wedding and Shelly had chosen black dresses with a sash made of a Christmas plaid done up in shiny taffeta. The black dress? Gorgeous. The plaid sash? Glitzy like a clearance prom dress. The flower girls were going to look cute. The big girls, well…they loved their friend enough to wear that awful sash. Cheerfully.
“You’re smiling,” Mitchell said. “You told me last night that you love the water.”
Jackie nodded. Let him think it was the water putting the little smile on her face. Sure, it was beautiful, but it was only one piece of the puzzle this morning.
“I think I could get used to living here.” She turned her blue eyes on him and said, “You live here, don’t you?” She wondered how he would answer. Would he openly lie to continue the charade?
Mitchell hesitated a fraction of a second and then nodded.
“I own a business on the island.”
He didn’t seem inclined to offer more details, and she knew very well why. He may have a house and a business on the island, but he owned businesses all over the country and had multiple houses. If he wanted to pretend to be a local, though, she’d let him. This was their last date anyway.
“Have you seen much of the island?” he asked.
“Hardly any. I’m just here for the weekend.”
Mitchell looked puzzled. “And you haven’t been here before? Cruise ships dock here all the time. I guess I thought you might be a regular here.”
A regular. Didn’t sound like much of a compliment at all. Like a regular bar wench, a regular one-night stand, a regular dancer who danced her way into men’s beds for the weekend. She concentrated hard on the plate of eggs and toast the waiter laid in front of her. She knew Mitchell was waiting for a reply, but instead she carefully unrolled her silverware from its napkin and spread the napkin neatly on her lap.
Suddenly, her hunger was replaced by a cool helping of reality. Mitchell’s reputation for being a bastard in business had been earned somehow. He probably was glad she worked on a cruise ship, so she’d sail off and he wouldn’t be saddled with her. She took a bite of toast. Fuel up, and say goodbye.
“I’d like to show you the island from a local’s perspective,” he said.
What was with this guy? Maybe he needed some entertainment for the weekend and decided she was it. She wished he was easier to refuse. Sitting close to him with their knees brushing under the table, she experienced a taste of the flames that devoured them last night when they cast restraint to the trade winds and explored every part of each other’s body. Jackie tried to squelch the image and those sensations. Her plan was to say goodbye.
“That’s a nice offer, but my friends are counting on me to go sightseeing with them.”
“About your friends,” Mitchell said. Suddenly he looked very serious, almost worried. Oh, god, he knows who they are. He didn’t recognize her because she had only worked for his company for six months and he had seldom, if ever, been in the Chicago office during that time. Her friends, though, had been there for several years. He knew. Maybe he’d take it easy on them. He could choose to let it go. So what if they called in sick, shut down the accounting floor, and took off for the weekend? He was here, too, right? Of course, he did own the company. A minor difference.
“I have to confess something,” he continued.
Oh, God. He’d already fired them and they were packing their bags in tears upstairs and wondering where she was and what they were going to do.
“I wanted you all to myself.”
Jackie looked curiously at him. What?
“What do you mean?” She tried to sound as neutral as possible.
“While I was waiting for you in the lobby, I sent them tickets for a sightseeing charter boat. The tickets should have been delivered about twenty minutes ago. I’m hoping they’re heading downstairs to the dock right now.”
Jackie was stunned. He deliberately separated her from her friends and bought them off with free tickets. She knew her mouth was open a little, but she didn’t care. How dare he be so manipulative? How dare he buy her time for the day? No wonder people thought he was such a jerk. No wonder he had millions of dollars. He didn’t care how he got it.
“You bought my friends off?”
“It’s a first-class tour. It lasts all day. They’ll have lots of fun.”
“You tricked me.”
Mitchell’s lips quirked up just a little and a few fine lines appeared outside his eyes. He was enjoying this, she thought. He was having so much fun he was even trying hard not to laugh.
“It comes with a beach barbeque and all the alcohol they can drink. I know the man who owns the company. Trust me, they’ll never forget it.”
He was still smiling just a little and looking pleased with himself. Jackie tried to remember she was angry. Damn him for having a smile that started with his eyes and spread over his handsome face until it softened his square jaw just a little.
Just right.
Damn him for giving her friends a way nicer day than they could ever afford on their own because they didn’t exactly make a fortune working for his company. Damn him for being the largest temptation ever thrown in her path in all her twenty-five years.
Jackie struggled with herself. He wanted her all to himself for the day. He liked what he experienced last night and wanted at least one more day of it. He conspired to remove any obstacles like friendship and loyalty so he could get what he wanted. He was deceitful. He was hiding something. He had not been honest about anything so far. The jerk probably wasn’t even a Taurus.
A little trickle of guilt lapped at her feelings of outrage. She hadn’t exactly been honest with him about anything, either. About the only thing in the open between them so far was her real first name. He had used his real first name, too. But she also knew his last name and quite a few more things.
A boat horn just below them at the docks interrupted her thoughts. It sounded twice.
“That’s probably them leaving right now,” Mitchell said.
Jackie jumped up and went over to the railing and the view of the docks and the water. She was furious. Trapped. She thought she might just recognize those two girls waiting in line with a handful of other people to board a beautiful sailboat. It was a long gree
n sailboat with colorful graphics on the side advertising its sightseeing service and phone number. Deckhands in matching uniforms of white shirts and green shorts were helping guests board and already offering trays of drinks and food.
“Hey,” she yelled, waving furiously at the familiar sundress on the one girl and shorts and t-shirt on the other.
The two girls looked up and waved back. Even from a distance, Jackie could see they looked ecstatic. They were leaving her like rats leaving a sinking ship. Her two best friends were taking free tickets from their jerk of a boss and leaving her to fend off temptation all by herself. Jackie waved back, helpless. She couldn’t stop them now, but she felt betrayed and angry. How dare they look so happy?
Her back was to the table where Mitchell sat. She knew he was watching her. She could feel his eyes poring over the back of her shoulders and all down the rest of her. Her hands gripped the rail. Her friends were pretty much telling her to just go with it and have fun with Mitchell all day. Accepting his tickets was some pretty shortsighted thinking on their part.
One of her main goals for agreeing to see him this morning was to, ironically, protect her friends’ identity. Now they were off thinking only of having fun and getting what they could out of the weekend. Hmmm. Have fun on his dime all day and take him for a ride. If he intended to use her for the day, maybe two could play this game.
She turned around and leaned her back against the railing. She faced Mitchell and looked him in the eye. This dangerous dance they were doing with each other kept on adding more complicated steps, but she was a fast learner. He would be a formidable foe, but she could dance the dance, too. After all, she knew who he was, and, as far as she knew, he thought she was someone she wasn’t. Just thinking about having the upper hand, even a little, gave her stare-down a little more confidence.
Mitchell locked eyes with her for a moment and then smiled congenially. “You should finish your breakfast,” he said. “We’ve got a big day ahead of us.”
Chapter Nine
A taxi dropped them off in front of an elaborate building just outside the downtown area of Key West. It was a brightly-colored caricature of what tourists probably thought buildings on this island should look like. Instead of being one cohesive structure, it looked like four long buildings joined together under one roof. The silver metal roof also covered a deep porch which ran the length of the whole front side. Each of the four buildings sported a coat of different and impossibly bright colors.
A small yellow storefront on one end advertised its offerings with a huge painted wooden cut-out of an ice cream cone out front. The next electric green part of the building was a t-shirt shop. Key West t-shirts and tourist trap souvenirs hung in the windows. A lady was putting shirts up outside, too, preparing for a hot sunny Saturday with tourists crawling all over the island.
Mitchell paid the taxi driver generously. He put his hand across Jackie’s shoulders again and steered her toward the building. They approached the third and, by far, largest part of the tourist-mall structure. It was electric orange with a moped suspended from the roof. A large colorful sign announced it as Hermanos Island Mopeds. Jackie wasn’t surprised by the name. She saw signs for it yesterday and noticed coupons in the tourist magazines at the airport. Coupons on the hotel desk and in their rooms advertised ten dollars off a day’s moped rental. It was apparently a local institution. And it had great advertising.
She stopped in her tracks before they reached the porch.
“Are we renting a moped?”
Her resolve to be a fearless match for Mitchell’s machinations had strengthened by the minute in the taxi. She was playing along, matching his interest with a carefree spirit which emboldened her.
All well and good until she faced that moped hanging crazily at an angle just below the huge sign. She had never been on a moped or a motorcycle in her life. Didn’t even own a bicycle. The last time she had been on a bike she was twelve and her parents still lived in the suburbs on a street quiet enough to ride. And she didn’t miss it. Inline skates she could do. A moped? No way. Her insides turned to jelly.
“It’ll be fun,” Mitchell said. “Best way to see the island.”
“That’s what all those Hermanos ads say,” she said.
“I know,” he said.
He wore the same wicked grin he had at breakfast when he announced her friends were going out to sea with free tickets. They were probably sunning themselves on the deck of a sailboat sipping drinks offered by handsome waiters in deck shoes and shorts. Some friends.
“You’re not afraid of riding a moped, are you?”
“Of course not,” she said quickly. Unless Mitchell was obtuse, she knew she wasn’t fooling him.
“You’ll have to pass the test,” he said. “Just a formality.”
“Test?”
“Just some cones out back that you have to run the moped through. Safety course. Just makes sure you know how to drive one so you don’t end up road kill on the wild streets of Key West.”
“Oh,” she said. All her plans of looking cool and beating him at his own game were going to come down to her desperate attempt to navigate a two-wheeled contraption with a powerful motor through traffic cones. With people watching. Maybe being road kill would be the least of her problems.
Maybe it was the feeling of panic, but Jackie could swear she heard dogs barking from somewhere. It sounded like a lot of dogs. I should get out of the sun…or lay off the alcohol. Or both.
“Hey, Mitchell.”
A tall man who looked like an untrimmed version of Mitchell leaned against a rough wood pillar on the shady porch. Floppy chunks of dark hair nearly shaded deep green eyes. He looked like he hadn’t shaved in about three days, and his Canvas shorts were fringy around the edges. His bare feet were jammed into untied sneakers, and he wore a faded Hermanos Island Mopeds shirt that had once been red.
“Jimmy,” said Mitchell. “Didn’t think you’d be up yet.”
“Gonna be busy today. Besides, I think I got more sleep than you did.” Jimmy looked at Jackie and grinned. “And now I see why.”
His glance swept over her and left a warm glow. His smile was friendly. When Mitchell’s glance swept her, his look was predatory.
“This is Jackie,” Mitchell said.
“I figured. I’m Jimmy.”
“Nice to meet you, Jimmy,” she said.
So, Jimmy and Mitchell had already talked about her. No doubt they were related. Brothers? Probably. Jackie was in over her head, but she was still a quick study. Of course. The light dawned on Jackie and high school Spanish class supplied the missing piece. She glanced up at the sign over her head.
“Hermanos. Brothers,” she said, as she glanced from Mitchell to Jimmy. It should have been obvious from the start. This was the business in Key West that Mitchell owned. It seemed like an unusual choice. It was totally unlike any of his other businesses and it couldn’t even come close to the profit margins he expected from his holdings. Why would he waste his time with such a small time operation? Was it because of his brother?
“It’s a family business,” Mitchell said.
“More or less,” Jimmy added.
Mitchell’s jaw tightened and he shot Jimmy a look.
“I’ll get you started,” Jimmy said and jerked his head to indicate they should follow him.
As Jackie entered the cool shop with Mitchell only an inch behind her, she heard dogs barking again. Maybe it was the moped panic again, because she could see all the way through the shop to the large blacktopped lot behind it. In the lot, shining rows of mopeds waited for tourists to rent them and careen madly around the island, thumbing their noses at convention and traffic laws. It was almost as reckless and unlike her as her wild night on the sand with Mitchell last night. But this could really be deadly.
Mitchell winked at her and squeezed her hand as he walked confidently toward the back door. No doubt those rows of shiny machines were just waiting to terrorize people like her, but she
matched Mitchell’s brisk pace as they headed right for them. This game was not for chickens.
Jimmy leaned over Jackie as she sat on the hot vinyl seat. The cute red sundress was one more obstacle she didn’t need. How was she supposed to know she’d be on a moped today? She tucked the skirt under her on the seat, but it wasn’t going to stay there for long.
At least her sandals had straps on the back, so she probably wouldn’t lose them in the horrible disfiguring accident ending her young life somewhere on the streets of America’s southernmost town.
“Here’s the gas,” Jimmy said. “You just turn this knob.”
Gas. Right.
“Brakes are here. That’s pretty important,” he said sagely.
Stopping. Good idea.
“Turn signals here,” he said, “Gotta use those. Cops aren’t too fond of mopeds on the streets anyway. Don’t wanna give ‘em a reason to pull you over.”
Getting arrested. Hmm. Jail sounded pretty safe, all things considered. She wondered if Mitchell would bail her out. From what she had seen so far, he’d probably ask for conjugal visits. It might be worth it.
Jackie looked over at Mitchell leaning against the orange wall, watching her every move. Smiling. He’s enjoying torturing me. I know it. She tried to conceal her panic at the thought of piloting a Moped, but she doubted she’d pulled it off. The way he was smiling at her, he either wanted to hear her beg for mercy, or pull her off the seat of the Moped and do things to her body that would have her begging for mercy anyway.
She dragged her attention back to Jimmy who was now pointing out the orange cones and instructing her on the details of the course. She had the uncomfortable feeling she’d missed something while she was distracted by Mitchell. Jimmy patted her encouragingly on the back.
“Piece of cake,” he said. “Let’s see you do it.”
Jackie glanced over at Mitchell once more. She wasn’t looking for reassurance from him necessarily, but it wouldn’t hurt. He still wore that Cheshire cat smile. It irritated her enough to inspire her to take one foot off the ground and give the gas a little twist.