Searching for Sea Glass: BEST-SELLING AUTHOR (Sea Glass Secrets Book 1)

by Wingate, Teal

  “This is not a good idea,” she said as JD drove her beat-up wreck around to the side of the building.

  “Why?” he asked, turning his head to look at her.

  She wasn’t the most classically beautiful woman he’d ever brought here. No, that would be Leanne. But Sunny was the most arresting, the most unforgettable. She had an inner glow that lit up her whole face. She possessed a luscious gold-shot braid he ached to unravel and see fall down her bare back. And she had those incredible sultry eyes that, even now, were making it hard for him to keep his hands off her. Who was he trying to fool? She made him hard, period. He inwardly cursed, thinking how he would need to manipulate her to get any access to his nephew.

  “I’m not… we’re not dressed to eat in a place like this.”

  Her magnificent eyes became clouded with worry. She bit her plush lower lip. A nervous hand smoothed the rebellious curl at her brow. It resisted her efforts and trailed over one eye.

  “Sunny, what are you worried about? You look gorgeous. You always do. Come on.”

  With a great deal of trepidation, she let him coax her out of the car. Together they got Billy free from his seat. They all walked up the sidewalk to a solitary door. A brass nameplate proclaimed it McIntyre. JD punched in a code on the keypad. Miraculously, it was pulled open by a man dressed in old-fashioned livery. He bowed his head. He led them to the only table in the small room.

  It was covered with a heavy damask tablecloth. And it was set as if for an elaborate dinner. Sunny was overwhelmed by the array of ornate silverware and delicate crystal. The centerpiece was low and tasteful. But she recognized orchids and expensive Gloriosa in the arrangement.

  JD didn’t wait for the server. He pulled a chair out for Sunny. She awkwardly sat down. The waiter pulled the opposite chair out for Billy. The boy followed his mother’s lead. JD seated himself.

  “Good day, Mr. McIntyre. We’re glad to have you and your guests joining us for lunch today. Can I bring you something refreshing to start?” asked the waiter.

  “Yes, the lady and I will have caviar and a bottle of the Krug 1928. And strawberries, we’ll need strawberries as well.”

  “Of course, sir,” the man said. He bowed his head again. “And for your young guest?”

  JD looked to Sunny for the answer. She wet her lips before responding. “Could he have a glass of chocolate milk?”

  “Of course, Miss. I will bring it straight away. Can I bring you today’s menu?”

  JD shook his head. “We’ll want two of the Chateaubriand. And what would Billy like, Sunny?”

  He looked across the table at her. Something inside him was gratified by the awe he saw written so plainly on her delicate face. He knew impressing her with his wealth was petty. But he hoped it would make her understand how very different their two worlds were. How his extensive resources and connections could benefit Billy. Then there was his physical desire for the woman herself. JD hoped flashing his money around might make Sunny consider a temporary arrangement between the two of them. He’d make sure she was very well compensated. Some man had to be her first. He’d already decided he would be that man. His teeth gritted even thinking of Sunny with another.

  “Probably just a hamburger and French fries,” she said with a grimace.

  “Is that what you want for lunch, Billy?” JD asked the boy.

  Billy nodded his dark head vigorously. His smile was wide and engaging. “Yes, sir,” he answered politely.

  “Will that be all, sir?” The man cleared his throat.

  It was clear to the girl that he was uncomfortable giving such a plebian order to the chef. She was uncomfortable just being here. She knew her simple tee-shirt sun dress and black sandals were very inappropriate for the setting. And her neat, tight braid began unraveling in the Texas humidity as soon as she’d walked out the door of their shabby motel room.

  She looked down at the hands she held clenched together in her lap. She was afraid to even set them on the lavish surface of the table. She’d been under a lot of stress lately. And her ragged nails, bitten almost down to the quick, showed her emotional upheaval. She and Billy didn’t belong in these surroundings.

  Well… maybe Billy did. Her guilt at keeping him from such a luxurious life was intense. He was Willie’s son. This was his world. Or it should be.

  “Stop over analyzing,’ JD instructed.

  She pulled her eyes off her hands. She looked at him with a fair amount of apprehension. He was slouched back in his chair, staring at her. It made her feel like a prey animal. One of his strong, lean hands lay resting on the white of the tablecloth. She couldn’t help watching him. It was almost as if she was hypnotized.

  The waiter had taken JD’s Stetson. His thick black hair looked rakish and rumpled. His sexy eyes were half closed as he watched her. His long denim clad legs sprawled out arrogantly under the table. Sunny couldn’t help watching the way his muscled chest bunched and played with his every movement under the simple long-sleeved white cotton shirt he wore. It might be simple, but she’d bet it was bespoke and tailored to fit only him.

  “I wonder what you’re thinking?” he spoke again. The deep, pleasant rumble sizzled over her heightened senses.

  “What?” she replied, confused.

  “You look like you’re carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, Sunny.”

  “My life is sort of… complicated right now. I’m sure you’d agree.”

  “It doesn’t have to be. I could smooth out all the rough edges, if you’d let me.”

  The girl frowned. She wasn’t exactly sure what he was offering. Surely the sexual innuendo she detected was a figment of her overactive imagination? This was no time to let her hormones do her thinking. She had Billy to protect. She had a business to run. And she had friends to cling to.

  “I can handle my own problems, thank you,” she said primly. She took a fortifying sip from the ice water the waiter had brought.

  “Oh, there’s no question of that. You’re a woman who knows her mind. You’re also independent and capable. You don’t need me to fight your battles. But I could make sure the legal warfare was minimal, in regards to Billy’s future.”

  Sunny looked over at her son. She was glad he was preoccupied by the grandeur of their surroundings. He paid no attention to the adults at the table. And she would make sure their conversation would cause him no alarm.

  “I don’t want to talk about this right now,” she warned. Her intent gaze towards the child communicated her reason.

  JD’s grin kicked up one side of his mouth. “I understand. And since we need to speak privately, why don’t you and Billy spend a few days at the ranch? We could iron out all the details concerning him without letting the legalities get convoluted and messy.”

  “No, I agreed to lunch only,” she said through pursed lips.

  “Well, in that case, I’ll let Matt take care of my civil suit against you for concealing my nephew from me,” he said it with remarkable sangfroid. His pleasant expression never wavered. “Get ready to lose everything you own. I’m taking it all.”

  Sunny mentally made a note to never play poker with JD McIntyre. Nothing he felt showed upon his granite-carved face. She hoped and prayed the terror his words inspired in her was hidden. A crawling nausea caught her throat. Her fisted hands became clammy. She swallowed, hard.

  “Maybe we could stay for just a day or two.” She hated how thready and submissive her voice sounded.

  “I’d like that.” A spark of triumph lit the depths of his silver eyes. “I want to get to know you both.”

  There it was again. That smoky hint of sensuality in his words. The one that set her stomach churning. The one that lit an unintentional fire deep in her core. The one that made her hands tremble and her breath hitch in her chest. And he knew it, curse him. The next two days were going to seem like walking through the very fires of Hell. She needed to keep their interactions on a purely professional level. If she could.

  It w
as hard to feign indifference to a man you’d secretly been infatuated with for five years. It had to be infatuation. That’s what she told herself. Love took longer to develop. Love was sacred, binding. Once she spent some time with this man, she’d be able to think more clearly where he was concerned. Yes, it was a good plan. Spend a few days with JD McIntyre. That would cure her of any tender feelings she harbored for him.

  Sunny smiled. She was relieved to find a solution to all her problems. She’d work him out of her system and strike a deal with him about Billy. She had no issue with her son spending the odd weekend with the McIntyres. She knew Willie had intended for the child to know his biological family.

  JD didn’t like the satisfied smile that wreathed the girl’s perfect lips. She was up to something. He never let an adversary get the better of him. And he wasn’t about to start with little Sunny Murphy. She had her uses. He was convinced she’d be delicious to initiate into passion. Her responses to him were completely abandoned. She held nothing back. The simple kisses they’d shared had set him ablaze. Their recent sensual encounter at her home just served to fan an all ready out-of-control inferno. And the night he’d given her that first sweet climax on the beach still made him hard whenever he thought about it. Which was far too often for his peace of mind. He admitted to himself, he desired her in his bed. He was almost feral in his hunger for her. That had never happened with another woman. JD was not a man who lied to himself about anything. Even his sins.

  So he was sure, once he’d had Sunny, she’d be like all the others. Pleasant but forgettable. And he needed to forget her. She’d been simmering in the back of his mind since he’d met her five years ago. This little sojourn at his ranch would accomplish many things. Not the least of which was his seduction of the woman who’d plagued his soul for five long years. He would get the access he wanted to his sister’s child. And he’d enjoy initiating Miss Murphy into the carnal joys of womanhood. It was a win-win.

  Chapter Nine

  Sunny frowned when she saw the elaborate gates with the bold McIntyre brand emblazoned upon them. After the intimidating lunch with JD, she’d insisted on following him in her own car while he led the way to the ranch in his Maserati. She hadn’t thought the trip would take this long. She and Billy had been inching along behind JD for a good hour now. The land was very flat, tan, and desolate. He’d said the family ranch was just a short trip outside town. Sunny was guessing distances were measured differently in Texas.

  “I want to go home.”

  Billy had been good for so long. This day had been a trial for them both. He’d reached his limit a while back. And she couldn’t really blame him. She’d reached hers, as well.

  “I think we’re almost there,” she said.

  She licked her dry lips. Her hands were fisted on the battered steering wheel. It was taking every bit of her flagging courage to follow through with this plan. Second thoughts battered her. How was she supposed to persuade a high-powered billionaire like JD to accede to her wishes? Her thoughts were so jumbled. Who knew what would come out of her mouth when she began to speak to him? And the fact that he had agreed so easily to a discussion between the two of them without any lawyers present seemed suspicious to Sunny. If she was wealthy, she’d want legal representation.

  She watched as the ornate iron gate swung open in front of JD’s car. She drove onto the well-maintained blacktop after him. She and Billy were on McIntyre land. The harsh grate of the closing gate behind them sent an uneasy tingle down her back. Looking in the rearview mirror, she felt like they were prisoners.

  “Can I swim when we get there?” Billy whined.

  Sunny looked back at him in the mirror. His little face was red and sweaty with the heat. His dark hair stuck out from his head at odd spiky angles where he’d played with it. Billy’s eyes were drooping and sleepy. She knew he was looking forward to JD’s pool. But the boy needed a nap first.

  “You can swim this afternoon,” she promised, not actually giving him the answer he wanted.

  Billy nodded. He went back to playing with his toys. He yawned.

  Sunny focused her eyes on the mechanical beast growling down the road ahead of her. Off in the distance she saw a huge home that must belong to the McIntyres. It looked more like a family compound than a single dwelling. The middle section was very much like the mansions she’d seen lining the historic district of Mobile. But two-story wings had been built to flank the main house on either side. A lovely circular drive was set off by a large fountain in its center. Sprays of sparkling water jetted high and splashed down into a massive marble reservoir surrounding it.

  As she pulled her car up to the entrance, a man in cowhand’s clothing appeared to open her door.

  “Afternoon Ma’am,” he said. He tipped the brim of his weathered hat politely.

  Sunny was not sure what to do. So she scrambled out of the car with as much grace as she could muster. She went to open the back door for Billy when JD’s deep voice stopped her.

  “Let me get him for you,” he said.

  Somehow he was standing close to her. Too close. He towered over her and brushed her hand away from the door handle. Sunny felt a shaft of heat all the way up her arm. She jerked her hand back.

  “Did I hurt you?” he asked concerned.

  “No… no, you didn’t hurt me,” she mumbled, embarrassed by her uncontrolled reaction at the contact.

  JD’s predator eyes drilled down into hers. It was as if he was trying to read her mind. Again.

  “Sunny, you know I’d never hurt you?” He might want her until his teeth ached with it. But he’d never lifted a violent hand towards a woman. He wouldn’t start with this trembling little virgin.

  “I do,” she stated with more force than she felt. JD McIntyre might not damage her physically, like her drunken father had. But he had the ability to hurt her far more irrevocably.

  “Good, because what I have planned for you involves pleasure, not pain.”

  Sunny had to look away. When she spoke, it was low and intense. “Don’t do this to me, JD. I’m only here to work out a settlement for sharing Billy with you and your family. We need to keep everything on a purely business footing.”

  “Everything?” He brushed the back of his fingers against her hot cheek. He smiled when she caught her breath.

  The lovely girl standing by the car nodded. It was a jerky movement that told him realms about her budding desire for him. He intended to fan that flame until she couldn’t even think of refusing him. Until she couldn’t fathom ignoring the white-hot chemistry between them.

  He slowly shook his head. His intimate tone mocked her. “I think we should combine business with pleasure.”

  “No,” she croaked out. She took a precautionary step back.

  “Haven’t you wondered?” he whispered, tracing her quivering lower lip with his fingertip. “Haven’t you ever wondered how it’d be between us? How deep I could take you. That night on the beach was just the beginning. As was the pleasure I gave you three nights ago. There’s more Sunny. So very much more I want to share with you.”

  The cowboy standing by JD’s Maserati cleared his throat. McIntyre’s head whipped up. He frowned at the man for interrupting.

  “What do you want, Bower?”

  “I was just wondering if I should take both cars back around to the big barn, Boss?” The man had the gall to grin at his employer.

  “Isn’t that what I pay you to do?”

  “Yeah, that along with a whole bunch of other chores.”

  “Then get to it,” JD snarled.

  He was clearly irritated. The hired hand had broken the sensual spell he’d been weaving around Sunny. When he turned back to her, he saw she’d opened the car door and was helping Billy out. He didn’t like the fact that she wouldn’t look at him.

  “I’ll have Consuelo show you to your rooms,” he said, as he indicated they should proceed him up the broad marble steps to the front door.

  “Who’s Consuelo?”
asked Billy as he rubbed at his eyes.

  “She’s our housekeeper. You’ll like her. She bakes cookies every day.”

  “Every day?” Billy’s astonishment was apparent.

  JD nodded. “She will take care of you while you’re here.”

  “I’ll be taking care of Billy. Just like I always do,” Sunny said coolly. With a little time and distance, she’d regained her equilibrium.

  “Of course, you’re his mother. But I thought you wanted to keep our discussions private.”

  Oh, he was good. Very good, she mused as she looked over at him. “Yes, I do.”

  JD nodded. “Consuelo will keep the boy busy while we talk, if that’s agreeable.”

  “What about your mother and brother? Wouldn’t they like to spend some time with Billy?”

  “My mother isn’t exactly… maternal.” His smile was enigmatic. “And Sam has no experience with kids. He’d probably take Billy out to where we’re processing steers.”

  “Processing?” It sounded like a factory operation. Shouldn’t a ranch be more organic?

  “Yeah, we inoculate them, brand them, and castrate them out on the range.”

  “What’s castrate?” Billy asked in a peevish voice.

  “Nothing that you need to know about right now,” Sunny hurried to answer. She turned to speak to the man. “Consuelo will be fine. I’m sure Billy will enjoy spending a little time with your housekeeper.” Her face flamed with embarrassment.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” JD’s voice was as dry as the range surrounding the ranch.

  As soon as he opened the door, Sunny heard a flurry of heated Spanish. A Hispanic woman rushed up to meet them.

  “Mister JD, what are you doing coming in this way? You always use the back door,” she said in thickly accented English. Her eyes widened as she took in Sunny and Billy.