by Cate Beauman
Cade glanced at his watch as he hit the button on the Sanderson’s top-notch sound system, sending Top 40 music playing through the speakers wired throughout the spacious guesthouse. He hurried to the kitchen, officially back on track after the day had gotten away from him.
The original plan had been to cut the afternoon short and get home early, but just as he’d been packing up his stuff to walk out the door, his older sister, Jade, who headed up Paxton Enterprises’ US branch from the company’s Los Angeles offices, had called him into an emergency virtual meeting.
There were major permit problems with the Arkansas Project, which meant there was a decent chance he would be flying down South to help his family sort out the mess that was fucking up their timeline. By the time he’d assured Jade he would take care of whatever needed taking care of, he’d had just enough time to battle his way through the busy downtown traffic, hit the grocery store again, then get back to the house for his dinner meeting with Gwen.
He opened the refrigerator door, peeking at the bowl of marinating steak tips, the jumbo off-the-boat shrimp ready for cocktail sauce, and the salad he’d hurriedly tossed together. The bread he’d picked up wouldn’t be as good as a loaf from Molly’s place, but he would have been cutting it too close if he’d stopped off for his preferred option.
It definitely would have been easier to make reservations at one of the island’s numerous restaurants, but he wanted a quiet night at the house, which was better for everyone, especially when there was a good chance Gwen was bringing her daughter. He reached for the bottle of red wine he’d snagged as he perused the grocery store aisles, but hesitated with the wine key. Did nursing mothers drink? Deciding he would ask first, he set the bottle back on the marble countertop, then wandered around the large open-concept space, making certain everything was set to rights.
The doorbell rang at six thirty sharp. Cade opened the door, breathing in Gwen’s perfume as he struggled not to look her up and down. Gwen Carter was a goddess—sexy and summery in her little black spaghetti-strap romper and sandals. She’d pulled her hair up in a breezy, bun-type deal, exposing plenty of smooth, creamy skin and the delicate line of her neck.
She smiled, accentuating her glossy lips and bright-blue eyes. “Hi.”
He smiled back, deciding he probably should have gone with slacks instead of the khaki shorts and white golf shirt he’d put on after his quick shower. “Hi. Where’s your business partner?”
Gwen’s smile bloomed into a perfect grin. “Kay’s helping me out tonight. It’s a little weird traveling so light.” She gestured to the two bags she carried. “Typically, it feels like Kaitlyn and I are moving in wherever we go.”
He chuckled, liking that she seemed more relaxed than she had been at the office. “Babies need their stuff.”
“That they do.”
He stepped back. “Come on in.”
“Thank you.” She walked inside. “And thanks for this, too.” She handed him the windbreaker she’d borrowed. “You scored major hero points this afternoon.”
“I’ll always take hero points.”
She flashed him another quick smile, adjusting her laptop case strap on her shoulder. “Uh, here’s our dessert.” She handed off the Carter Island Deli and Bakery bag. “Molly’s lemon cheesecake with a raspberry sauce drizzle.”
He nodded. “Molly makes a mean dessert. Maybe we should start with this first.”
She chuckled. “I can be flexible.”
He was regretting the hassle of pulling together a last-minute dinner less and less. He didn’t hate that he would have Gwen’s undivided attention for the next little while. “Make yourself comfortable,” he said, moving to the fridge and setting the bag on the top shelf. “Can I get you a glass of wine?”
She stared longingly at the bottle as she set her bag down. “I wish I could say yes, but I should stick with water.”
“All right.” He grabbed two glasses, filling them with ice, then water. Heading her way, he handed her one. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” She took a sip, glancing around the pre-furnished space as she leaned against the massive island. “It looks like you’re all settled in.”
He nodded, leaning on the island close by. He had yet to add any of his own touches to the place. The Sandersons’ guest home was beautiful, decorated in pale blues and whites in an understated nautical theme. “Mostly, which is a bit surprising since the last couple of months have been a whirlwind.”
“I bet. Are you still going back and forth to Los Angeles?”
“No, I’ve mostly been flying back and forth between here and Boston.”
“The busy life of a pilot.”
He smiled, finding the flow of general conversation easy with Gwen. “For now, I have passengers one day a week, so everyone gets their two days off. I’m lucky that Buzz already had a great team in place when I took over, which has made the transition seamless. Plus, Charlotte stayed on.” He pressed his hands together, looking to the ceiling as if he were praying, thanking his lucky stars. “Now, that’s a woman who’s organized. There isn’t a question she can’t answer.”
Gwen laughed. “She’s been running Carter Island Air since the beginning. She and Buzz have worked hard to grow the airport to what it is today.”
He nodded. “I’m planning on adding a few tweaks here and there, but Paxton Enterprises bought into a gem.”
She narrowed her eyes slightly as she nodded. “Paxton Enterprises. Big stuff.”
And she didn’t seem the least bit intimidated by the power the Paxton name carried behind it. Most people he encountered were ass-kissers. Gwen didn’t appear to give a damn that his family was worth billions. He liked her all the more for it. “My father and uncle have worked hard to grow what my grandfather started.”
“I’d say they’ve outdone themselves.”
He grinned. “It’s hard to argue otherwise.” He adjusted his stance as he sipped his water. “But I’d say we’ve gone on long enough about my family and me. Tell me about you.”
She shrugged as she stood straighter. And with the change of topic, Gwen changed, too. The easiness was gone, and the coolly polite woman he’d shaken hands with at the office was back. “What you see is what you get.”
Nope. Not even close. He refused to believe that Gwen Carter was merely a sinful body and a stunning face. “I doubt that.”
“All right. I received my MBA from Boston College’s Carroll School of Management. I worked as an investment banker in the city for several years, then did a short-term stint as Carter Island Trusts’ branch manager to help out our family friends. Now I’m following a new path.”
That wasn’t exactly what he’d had in mind when he asked, but she clearly wanted to keep things professional, so he nodded. “When did interior design enter the picture?”
“I can’t remember a time when design hasn’t been a part of my life. My mother’s been in the business for as long as I’ve been alive. Nate never wanted to be anything but a cop, and Molly’s passions are in the kitchen. But I enjoyed learning from Mom and watching her work. I’m lucky she was willing to teach me so much. She hired me on, giving me my first summer job when I was fourteen. I honed my skills from there.”
He nodded. “It sounds like you’re a natural.”
She shrugged. “I’m a quick study. By the time I left for college, I was staging homes for Mini.”
“A natural,” he repeated.
She jerked her shoulders again. “But as a developer, I’m sure you know that interior design and interior decor aren’t quite the same things.”
Paxton Enterprises was responsible for buying up huge acres of land, then creating environmentally friendly, master-planned infrastructures, which they then turned around and sold for big profits to select, like-minded builders who created green communities. Typically, by the time interior designers came onto the scene, he and his team were long out of the picture. “For the most part, yes.”
“My mother has an
amazing eye. She can decorate a space with the best of them, but she prefers dealing with the structural aspects of a project—the floor plans, load-bearing walls, electrical, heating, plumbing, and the fire code stuff that I find hideously boring.” She waved away her words as she spoke. “Several architectural firms have her on speed dial—and she loves it. But I don’t get it.”
He chuckled at her obvious disdain for the architectural elements of design, studying her carefully while she held his gaze and spoke to him—all confidence and beauty.
Moments earlier, she’d spoken of herself as if she were basic—and maybe that’s what she’d wanted him to see. But there was nothing simple about the woman standing in front of him, which made him all the more curious about the ending of her marriage and the man who’d been rumored to have neglected his wife. Gwen was well spoken, intelligent, and absolutely stunning. What was he missing? Few spoke kindly of her ex. And for some reason, he wanted to know the rest of the story. “How would you describe what you do—as a designer?”
“In a nutshell, I maximize a space’s functionality and potential with décor. I make homes and businesses comfortable and pretty.”
“I’ve seen some of your stuff—before and after pictures from your staging projects. You do excellent work.”
“Thank you. Every space deserves a purpose and an opportunity to shine.”
“Perhaps at some point, you’d be willing to give me a hand with those.” He gestured to the stack of framed photographs he hadn’t bothered to deal with. He’d taken some of them off his walls in California long ago and had hardly looked at them since.
She glanced to where he pointed, her brow furrowing slightly. “Is that all you brought with you?”
He shrugged, glancing from the various sized frames to her. “That and my clothes. I don’t need much more.”
She sent him a small nod, scrutinizing with considering eyes as she held his gaze—like she’d done in his office. Gwenyth Carter was trying to decide if he was full of shit.
“Maybe you were expecting a gold-leaf pool table or a servant or two?”
She raised her chin a touch. “I wasn’t expecting anything at all.”
“Mum and Dad have a housekeeper and cook that stay with them out at their house in L.A., but otherwise, we leave the fancy, over-the-top stuff to the other billionaires.”
Her lips twitched before she sent him another one of her fantastic grins. “We can take a look now if you want.”
He smiled back. “Sure.”
She started into the living room area ahead of him, giving him a moment to appreciate her long, glorious legs, excellent ass, and soft, naked skin exposed in her backless top. It was hard to believe that the woman he followed across the room had given birth mere months ago.
“It looks like we have several to work with here.” She settled on her knees. “Do you mind if I pull them out so we can see what’s what?”
“Not at all.”
“Wow, these are great shots.” She looked up quickly as she made herself at home on the floor, then gave her attention back to the photos. “They’re of you.”
He grinned, sitting down next to her, crossing his ankles, watching her study the shot of him riding a massive wave on Hawaii’s Pipeline.
She picked up the next of him mid-flight, grinning and giving the camera a thumbs-up moments after he’d dove from a plane. Then another, where he careened to the ground after his base jump off the Kjerag in Norway. “Cade.” She picked up yet another, her brow furrowing again as she pressed long, graceful fingers to her chest as she stared at the picture of him in a scuba cage, face-to-face with a great white. “You’re an adrenaline junkie.” She looked at him, beautiful and relaxed, the cool professional gone. “Or you’re crazy.”
He shrugged, not entirely sure which description fit him better. He’d always been a daredevil, but after Cadence’s passing, he’d taken it to the extreme. “I like adventure.”
“Huh,” she said as she looked toward another stack of frames he’d tucked back by the arm of the couch. “It looks like we have some more.” She knee-walked her way to the rest. “Aw, family.” She smiled. “The Paxtons. All of you have a strong resemblance. To your father. He’s American, right?”
He nodded, staring at Cadence as she grinned with her arms hooked around their brother Harry and sister Willow—still vibrant and healthy. “Yeah, he grew up in San Francisco. Mum’s the Aussie. They met when he moved to Sydney to grow the business internationally.”
Gwen beamed at him. “There are a bunch of you.”
“Seven of us. Plus, spouses and kiddos, now that we’re older.”
“We’ll have to decide if you want to mix and match your pictures, but it might be better to figure out two different spaces for two different themes—the living room for family and the den for your death-defying acts.”
He nodded, swallowing, struggling not to look away. He thought he’d been ready for this—for taking out the past again. It had been nearly three years since he’d lost Cadence, but as he stared at the happy family, he wondered if he would ever be able to look at or think about his sister again without it absolutely destroying him.
Gwen laughed quietly. “I thought we had a big family. I guess when we add the Sandersons to the Carter bunch, we do.” She picked up the next photo of him and Cadence, hugging and laughing as he towered over his twin. She’d been a foot shorter than him. “One of your sisters, I assume.”
He nodded again, forcing himself to look at their beaming faces. Their last family trip to Hawaii. Everything had gone so wrong after that vacation. Weeks later, the headaches and nausea had started. Eventually, Cadence collapsed while the two of them had been out on a boat on a Texas lake, schmoozing the locals to finally get the clubhouse permits passed. She’d fainted and had a seizure. Hours later, they’d gotten the unimaginable news—stage-four glioblastoma. Mere months, and she would be gone.
“She’s gorgeous.” Gwen chuckled. “You’re so much taller than her, Cade.”
He clenched his jaw, staring at the beautiful, green-eyed blond. “That’s Cadence.”
Gwen’s left eyebrow arched as she looked at him. “Cade and Cadence?”
“We’re twins. Mum and Dad thought they were clever.”
Gwen laughed. “That must have been awful for you two.”
He tried to smile. “By middle school, we’d both had enough of it. Cadence decided she would call me Paxy. She told me that girls had to give up everything, so I was going to be the one to give up my name.”
Gwen hooted out another laugh. “Oh, I like her. Molly and Callie will, too. You’ll have to introduce us when she comes for a visit. We’re taking her out for lunch.”
He swallowed regret and grief. “She’s gone. She passed away.” And it still shattered his heart to say the words.
Gwen’s smile vanished as horror and sympathy filled her eyes. “Oh, Cade.” She pressed her hand to her heart again. “I’m so sorry.”
“Me, too.” He gained his feet, reaching his hands down to help her up, ready to be finished with the pictures and any more conversation about Cadence. “What do you say we get dinner started?”
She accepted his hands and stood. “Sure. Just let me know what I can do.”
An hour later, Gwen took her last bite of exceptionally cooked steak. Cade’s sweet and spicy marinade was out of this world. Setting down her fork, she wiped her mouth on her napkin, sighing her contentment while they sat outside at the patio table, listening to the waves mingling with the music playing through the outdoor speakers.
The evening was spectacular, with the warm breeze blowing and their breathtaking view of the Atlantic a hundred yards in the distance. The sun was starting its dip toward the west, but there was still plenty of daylight left before nightfall came. Smiling, she returned her napkin to her lap. “This was absolutely delicious—far better than most anything we would have found in town.”
Cade swallowed a bite of shrimp. “I’m glad you’re
enjoying yourself.”
“Very much.” He’d created a surprisingly fantastic meal. And actually sitting and savoring instead of hurrying through her dinner had been a luxury. Kaitlyn had a knack for wanting to eat anytime Gwen sat down with a plate. “Where did you learn to cook?”
“Mum and Dad wanted us to be self-reliant. They taught us early on to respect our financial advantages. Mum made sure we had chores, did our own laundry, knew how to cook, etcetera—said she wasn’t raising a bunch of overprivileged bums.”
Gwen grinned, deciding she liked Cade’s mom. “She sounds great.”
“She is.” He grinned back as he picked up the last hunk of bread on his plate. “Although, our cooking teacher, Felicia, was a five-star chef, so I’m not sure what I should say about that.”
She laughed, admiring that Cade appeared to be down-to-earth and relatively unaffected by the enormity of his wealth. “Perhaps you should say Felicia did an excellent job with her pupils because dinner was wonderful.”
“Good,” he said with a nod.
“Everything’s been perfect.” Or at least it was now. She still struggled with an inner cringe every time she thought of how badly she’d fumbled the first half of their meeting. She’d gone on and on about his family and sister. If she’d been paying any attention at all, she would have noticed the anguish in his eyes, but she’d been too busy enjoying his pictures. More than once, she’d wanted to apologize again for causing him pain, but it was clear that Cade didn’t want to talk about Cadence.
They’d course-corrected quickly enough, moving on to simpler, less tragic conversation—mostly small talk about the new developments already underway on Carter Island. Like the charming, traffic-alleviating, environmentally friendly trolley system that would officially start running next week, and the nautical-themed splash pad currently under construction in the park that would include a bucket dump, small climbing structure, and slide tall enough to give little ones a soggy thrill. There was still plenty to be accomplished here on the island, but Paxton Enterprises, Buzz, and the town council were off to an excellent start.