Caught Between a Rock and a Hunka Man (Caught Between Romance Book 3)

by Sheila Seabrook

  With a shrug, she tucked her hands further into the pockets. “No alarm clock, no computer, the hottest guy on the island sleeping with me. Huh, I guess I am.” Her grin deepened. “So…build shelter first, steal condoms second?”

  Inch by inch, his big body relaxed. First his firm mouth, then the rigidness in his broad shoulders, and finally every other inch of his hunka hot form, and she knew she’d said the exact right thing. “My dad’s not going to like either of those.”

  She smiled and shrugged again. “He’ll get over it. Besides, it’s not like we’ll tell him about the condoms.”

  Paul’s loud voice boomed across the beach. “Marla.”

  She jumped and saw that her boss, with his entourage hot on his heels, was headed their way. “I guess it’s time to suck up.”

  “You don’t have to, you know.”

  “If I want to keep my job, then yeah, I do.”

  When Paul reached them, his first words were, “You’re going to catch cold sleeping out here.”

  Marla stuffed her hands into the pockets of her shorts and kept her voice even. “Which is why Reed is going to help me build my own shelter.”

  Paul glanced at his son, then back at her. “You’re going to catch something else.”

  Mary sighed. “Oh Paul, why can’t you get along with anyone?”

  Stiff beside her, Reed said, “If you have something to say, then come right out and say it.”

  “I can’t even trust you with the fire.”

  Reed shuttered his gaze. “Which is why I’m drawing up a schedule. We’ll all take shifts manning the fire so this doesn’t happen again.”

  The older man’s glower deepened. “Son, you and I are going for water this morning.”

  Bill stepped up. “I’ll get the jugs.”

  Without taking his gaze from Reed, Paul held up one hand toward Bill and growled, “You’re staying with the women.”

  Bill’s mouth tightened as he plopped down on the sand, a frown of contention on his face. Marla barely had time to notice that the rest of Bill seemed unusually tighter than normal before Paul grabbed her by the arm and tugged her away from the group. “A word alone, young lady.”

  She let him drag her down the beach and when they were out of earshot, Paul said, “You’re giving people the wrong impression.”

  “I am? How’s that?”

  “Sleeping every night with that boy gives people the idea that you side with him instead of me. I’m counting on your support.”

  Without taking her eyes off her boss’s face, she said, “You have my support, Paul. I’m as committed to you as I’ve always been. But if you want me to convince Reed to return to the firm, then you have to trust that everything I do is with that one purpose in mind.”

  The annoyance on his face turned to hope. “Do you really think you can convince him to return?”

  “I’ll totally give it my best shot,” she lied, guilt tightening her chest.

  He patted her on the shoulder. “Good girl. I knew I could count on you.”

  He left her to head across the beach to join Reed, and moments later, with water jugs in hand, the two men vanished into the thick jungle.

  Marla took a deep breath and blew it out. Now what was she going to do?

  She didn’t like Paul being disappointed in her. It made her feel like a huge failure. But she knew now that Reed would never return to the accounting firm, not with his own successful business to run. And there was no way the crotchety old man was ever going to accept that.

  In the end, it didn’t matter. Once they were rescued, Reed would return to his life, and she would return to the accounting firm. While her chance at partner would be off the table, at least she’d still have her job.

  Betty sidled up to her and nudged her on the shoulder. “You need to work extra fast. No telling how long before we’re rescued.” She reached into her purse and dug deep. “Where are those bottles of vodka? I’ll slip some into that boy’s water and loosen him up a bit. It worked with Paul.”

  Marla gaped at her mom. “How could you? Mary was your best friend.”

  “You want the truth? Fine, here it is. Paul and I always shared this combustible attraction, and with the Hag giving him grief over the amount of time he was spending with us, I decided to seduce him.” She paused and narrowed her eyes. “Don’t give me that look. Your father was gone. I had needs.”

  Grabbing her head between her hands, she sighed. “Mother, what did you do?”

  “One night I doused myself in Paul’s favorite perfume, met him at the door with a barely there dress, and handed him his favorite brand of scotch laced with ecstasy.”

  Her mouth sagged open. “You’re kidding me, right?”

  Betty continued as though Marla hadn’t said a word. “Thank goodness you were a sound sleeper because I’m not exactly the most quiet lover in the world.”

  She rolled her eyes, wondering if they would ever get to a point in their relationship that her mom didn’t feel compelled to give her all of the details. “Mother, cut the details.”

  “You and your inhibitions. You get that from your father’s side, you know. So anyway, I fed Paul oysters and…” She went back to digging through her purse. “Well I forget, but other foods I’d heard were good to heighten a man’s sexual desire. I turned on some romantic music and before supper was even halfway through, he had me out of my dress, his tongue down my throat, and his pecker in my—”

  “Mom.”

  Betty pulled her hand out of her purse and fanned her face. “Fine, use your imagination to fill in the rest of the story. But trust me, the details are the very best part.”

  “I am never going to be able to face Paul again,” she moaned.

  Bill stomped up beside her. “Do you know if anyone has found the coffee yet?”

  Still in shock, she stared at her mother. “No idea. Why don’t you check with Mary? She’s in charge of the food supply.”

  Mary walked up to them, shouldered Bill aside, and stopped directly in front of Marla, her hands on her hips. “Did I overhear your mother correctly? You’re pregnant?”

  Marla stepped back. “What?”

  Beside her, Bill snorted. “She’d have to have sex to get pregnant.”

  Betty stuck her hands on her hips and glared at her ex-son-in-law. “Who says she hasn’t?”

  His gaze skimmed Marla from head to toe and obviously found her wanting. “What did she do, find a blind man?”

  Betty took a step toward him. “You don’t get to critique her body or bedroom performance any more, not since you divorced her.”

  With her gaze zinging back and forth between them all, she stepped into the fray and put up her hands. “Enough already. Will you all just leave me alone?”

  Mary ignored her. “Are you or are you not pregnant?”

  With a shake of her head and a roll of her eyes, she answered, “Kind of hard to get pregnant when I haven’t slept with anyone since my divorce.”

  Bill smirked. “What did I tell you all?”

  But Mary wasn’t satisfied. “Then why is that woman bragging about a grandchild?”

  Marla shook her head, totally at her wits end. Right then and there, she decided that Reed was never leaving her side again, and she was never leaving his. “That woman used to be your best friend, remember? Why can’t the two of you bury the hatchet and just try to get along until we get rescued?”

  Trudy walked up then, glanced at the circle of faces, and asked, “What’s going on?”

  Ignoring her, ignoring Marla, Mary's frown deepened and she faced her rival. “I want the truth, Betty Blackhorne.”

  Betty slung the purse over one shoulder and shrugged. “I’m lonely.”

  “Well, aren’t we all?” As if she’d said too much, Mary snapped her mouth shut and stomped off.

  Betty patted Marla on the arm and quietly said, “Excuse me. I should go talk to her.”

  Thank goodness the inquisition was over. When she would have turned an
d moved away, Bill grabbed her by the upper arm and hissed, “What are you up to?”

  She peered down at his hand clamped around her arm, then raised her gaze to his face. “Absolutely nothing.”

  “You’re sleeping with Reed. You’re being nice to Trudy. You haven’t got a chance at the partnership because I’m going to take you down.” Bill released her and grabbed Trudy by the elbow, tugging her after him. “Come on, babe. I don’t want you hanging around this woman anymore.”

  Trudy shook off his hand, her voice quiet but firm. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

  But in usual Bill style, he ignored what he didn’t want to hear, and continued to drag Trudy down the beach. And even though the younger woman lagged behind, he relentlessly kept hold of her.

  Marla decided it was time to stand up for the poor girl.

  Bill needed something else to focus on besides attempted domination of another woman.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Trudy finally wrestled her elbow free of Bill’s grip and resisted the urge to sprint down the beach away from him. Instead she leaned into his space, glared into his pain-filled eyes, and hissed, “What is the matter with you?”

  He rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “I need coffee.”

  She fisted her hands at her sides and resisted the urge to punch him in the noggin, maybe give him something to think about besides the lack of coffee. “Oh, for crying out loud, we’re all going through withdrawals. No one else is acting crazy.”

  He blinked, clearly startled by her harsh tone. “Is that what you think?”

  She crossed her arms over her chest. This time, he didn’t even glance at her breasts, which caught her off guard and sort of worried her. But she was on a roll. She was standing up for herself and screw their relationship. “Add mean and selfish and spoiled, and that’s the sum of your personality.”

  The glower on his face deepened. “You’ve changed.”

  She poked him in the chest. “You haven’t seen anything yet, buster. Like it or not, there’s a whole lot more change in my future.”

  “Well, I don’t like it.” He stepped back. “Maybe, just maybe, we’ve reached the end of our relationship. You aren’t the only fish in the sea.”

  “Oh, for crying out loud,” she muttered. “Talk like a human being.”

  And just like that, he turned and stalked away from her.

  Trudy stared after him in stunned disbelief, and realized too late that she’d gone too far. Poised to sprint after him, she remembered that her mentor wouldn’t take crap from anyone. And she definitely wouldn’t go begging for a crumb of affection from a man who was such an idiot, he didn’t even know he had a good thing in the palm of his hand until it walked away.

  Marla wouldn’t let any man brow beat her either, and if Trudy was serious about one day being her own boss, then she needed to grow a pair.

  She turned away and wrinkled her nose. Now she was beginning to talk—make that, think—like Bill.

  Needing company, she trudged across the beach in search of the other women. Mrs. Readner and Betty were deep in a conversation that Trudy didn’t want to interrupt. But as she quietly passed them by, she couldn’t help but overhear Mrs. Readner say, “I heard you talking to Marla about a baby.”

  A baby? Trudy slipped behind a rock and spied on them as Betty faced her enemy. “You misheard.”

  “Don’t lie to me, Betty Blackhorne. Isn’t it enough that I looked the other way whenever Paul came to see you? I saw the booties you were knitting. She’s already pregnant, isn’t she?”

  Betty’s posture instantly deflated. “No, she’s not. She’s stubborn and willful and determined to focus on her career and live with me till I die.”

  Trudy saw something in Mrs. Readner’s posture soften. “Is it true? Were you planning to use Reed to get her pregnant?”

  Betty eyed her with renewed interest. “That would make us relatives.”

  “Which means you’d have to share baby time with me, wouldn’t you?” Mary took a step closer and hissed. “You’re not going to get this baby all to yourself, Betty Blackhorne. We’re sharing, even if it means we have to be civil to each other for the child’s sake.”

  Betty got a calculating look in her eyes. “We always did work well together. Maybe we should collaborate and come up with a knock-up plan.”

  As the two women wandered off down the beach, Trudy pressed her hands to her hot cheeks, leaned against the rock, and breathed a sigh of relief that they hadn’t caught her.

  OMG, could it be true? Marla and Reed were perfect together.

  As she headed down the beach in search of Marla, she wondered if she should tell her about the overheard conversation. But when she discovered her mentor behind a boulder with scissors in one hand and Bill’s pants in the other, the conversation vanished from her thoughts and all she could do was gasp out, “What are you doing?”

  Frozen in mid-cut, Marla slashed her a look that screamed busted.

  Had everyone gone insane? As the silence between them stretched out and Marla remained frozen in place, Trudy closed the distance between them and plunked down cross-legged on the sand. “Don’t worry, Bill isn’t with me.”

  Visibly relieved, the other woman went back to snipping and shredding. “This probably seems petty and childish.”

  “Not at all,” Trudy said, then ducked her head. “Yes, actually it does, but I promise not to snitch on you.”

  “Thank you.”

  The grateful look in Marla’s eyes was like sweet music to Trudy. She wondered how she should broach the topic uppermost in her thoughts.

  Probably best not to do it right away.

  Her stomach grumbled loudly. “So what kind of food do you dream about? I’d settle for a bowl full of those tiny marshmallows—not the colored ones, just the plain white—tossed with milk chocolate.”

  Without hesitation, Marla replied, “Caramels and cashews.”

  The thought of all that tasty food exploded in Trudy’s mouth and sent pleasure rocking through her midsection. It was almost better than an orgasm.

  Almost, but not quite.

  Yeah, she was definitely going to miss Bill if they were truly broken up.

  She chewed on a fingernail and watched the other woman work. Finally she sighed. “Sometimes—no, make that all of the time—Bill treats me like a dumb kid.”

  The scissors stopped in mid-slice. “You need to stand up to him, Trudy. Don’t let him push you around.”

  “I know, but it upsets him when I go against his wishes. He thinks you’re a bad influence on me.”

  The boss lady glanced down at the shredded clothing, then with a shrug, continued to shred the pants. “Since you’re not stopping me, he’s probably right.”

  “He says I’ve changed. I’m going to take that as a compliment instead of the derisive remark he intended.”

  “Maybe he’s not the right guy for you.”

  “I’ve considered that.” She planted her elbow on her knee and cupped her chin in her hand. “But my heart says I might want to spend the rest of my life with him.”

  “Seriously?”

  Trudy gave a glum nod. “Stupidly serious.”

  Marla set aside the shredded clothes and raised her gaze to Trudy’s face. There was compassion in her eyes, and a bit of humor sneaking out. “I promised Reed I’d build us a shelter and steal some of Bill’s condoms. Want to help?”

  “Sure.” She gave a sigh and pushed to her feet. “In fact, you can have them all.” She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “We won’t be needing them now, not unless he changes his attitude toward me.”

  “Good girl,” Marla said, and she looped her arm through Trudy’s in a friendly gesture, then stopped as they came face to face with the other two women.

  Mrs. Readner peered around them at the sliced up trousers. “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing,” Trudy said at the same time as Marla. She exchanged a look with the other woman and bit back a sm
ile.

  Betty ignored the pants. “Trudy, tell my daughter that she’s going to be old before your time.”

  Trudy snuck a glance at the boss lady. “Ummmm…no?”

  “Don’t pay her any attention,” Marla said with a shake of her head as she refocused on the older woman. “Mom, by the time you’re ready to go into the retirement lodge, I’ll be ready to join you. Just think, you’ll have constant company.”

  “I’d rather have grandchildren,” her mom muttered. “How can you not be interested in sex. I’m your mother and I was always interested in sex. Why, when I was your age…”

  Trudy’s eyebrows went up.

  “Boundaries, Mom.”

  Betty sighed heavily. “Right, you don’t like sex.”

  Mrs. Readner stepped forward. “It’s not like you have to enjoy sex to have a baby, dear. I saw the way my son looked at you. All you have to do is show up wearing one of those outfits your mom packed for you and he’ll take care of the rest.”

  Trudy nodded her head and nudged Marla in the shoulder. “It’s true. He really likes you. And by really, I mean really-really likes you.”

  Marla glared at Trudy, then turned her glare on the two moms. “Okay, what’s up with you two?”

  “We’re united,” Betty said.

  Mrs. Readner added, “And we’re willing to share our grandchild fifty-fifty.”

  Marla huffed out a sigh. “No way. You two would be fighting over the child constantly. Besides, Reed is off limits. I wouldn’t dare risk my job by getting involved with him. You know that Paul wouldn’t tolerate that kind of irresponsible behavior.”

  Trudy stared back and forth between the three women. Losing her parents at such an early age had taken away any opportunity to become best friends with them, and her breasts had successfully ruined any chance at being friends with other women too.

  After a weighty silence, Betty peered at her daughter with a sneaky look on her face. “I might not mind sharing, you know.”

  Marla huffed out a laugh. “You share like a two-year-old.”

  Her mother grinned back at her. “See how much you know about children, dear. You’d be a great mother.”