by Nina Singh
Alex rubbed his jaw. The serious playacting he was attempting was severely undercut by the quiver of a smile at the corners of his mouth. “I don’t know, man. I mean, you’ve been the one out enjoying yourself on all these various excursions with a beautiful woman by your side who you say is ‘helping you.’” He added air quotes with his fingers as he spoke the last two words.
Reid had to groan out loud at the mention of Celeste. Alex noticed, of course. He immediately turned serious.
“What’s happened?”
He really didn’t want to get into any of this. Not ever. He didn’t want to discuss Celeste at all. In fact, he didn’t even want to think about her. Because doing that would undoubtedly tempt him to seek her out and drag her back to her room where they could run a replay of last night.
Just. Stop.
It was a risk he couldn’t take.
“Nothing happened,” he fibbed to his business partner. “I just overslept.” That part was at least the truth.
Alex’s eyes narrowed on him, clearly questioning whether to accept his answer as the whole truth. Reid knew he was too sharp and would see through it without effort. He was right. “I can’t recall another time you’ve ever overslept.”
“It was bound to happen sometime.”
Alex gave a slight shrug of his shoulder. “Suit yourself. Don’t tell me, then.”
“What did I miss around here?” Reid asked, in a blatantly obvious move to change the subject.
Luckily, Alex was going to play along. “The usual,” he answered. “A few minor guest complaints. The tennis pro asked that the courts be redone. And we’re running low on chardonnay.”
Reid gave him a nod. “Got it. I’ll go make some phone calls.” He pivoted toward his office.
“And then there’s your father,” Alex called out after him.
Reid stopped in his tracks and turned back to face his friend. “What about him?”
“He’s been calling the office all morning. Says he got tired of leaving you messages on your cell just to have you ignore him.”
Of course his father would say that. The truth was, Reid had given him every opportunity to change the course of the disastrous path they currently found themselves on.
“How’s that whole thing going anyway?” Alex asked.
“About as well as can be expected. He wants full control of the company back.” What made it so much worse was that Reid knew his father was ready to retire. The only reason he was doing this was to please his new bride-to-be.
“Any chance of that happening?” Alex wanted to know.
Reid shrugged. “He has some cronies on the board who are ready to vote as he wants.” Reid would risk an all-out battle before he let that vote go his father’s way—if it ever came to a vote.
Alex let out a low whistle. “Hostile takeover attempts can be brutal under any circumstances.”
“Let alone amongst family,” Reid finished his thought for him.
“I’m here if you want to talk,” Alex said to his back as Reid walked into his office.
Once there, with the door shut, he finally let out the full brunt of the frustration he’d been feeling since leaving Celeste’s bed this morning, by launching his priceless signed Red Sox vintage baseball across the room. It hit the wall with a loud thud and sent chips of paint flying.
Great. One more thing to have to fix. This time, he’d done it to himself.
If Alex heard the noise outside in the foyer, he was too astute to knock and ask him about it. Not that he ever actually knocked.
The angry calls from his father served as a reminder that he was right to leave Celeste this morning without lingering any further the way he’d wanted to. He’d so badly wanted to. The right thing to do was to leave her alone.
It wouldn’t be easy, and it would take a great deal of effort, but eventually, he might even stop thinking about the way she’d felt in his arms last night.
An internal voice immediately mocked him. Yeah, right. He’d be thinking about her touch for the rest of his natural life. He could only hope to stop missing her at some point during it. Forty or fifty years apart might do it.
But she deserved to be able to move on. He didn’t have the right to stand in her way.
* * *
He was going stir-crazy in this office. Reid cursed and threw his pen down on the desk blotter so hard it bounced off and landed on the carpet. He had to get out for a while. There were a dozen more calls to be made. Several documents to be signed and countless emails to answer. But he couldn’t concentrate. Before the start of this week he might have boasted about his superior focus skills. It didn’t help that he kept checking his phone to see if Celeste had sent him the text yet. As of three minutes ago, she had not. The short time frame didn’t stop him from checking yet again. Nothing.
Not from her, anyway. By cruel contrast, his phone was buzzing with texts and voice mails left by his father.
He stood up and stormed out of his office. The desk attendant in the concierge area smiled at him when he approached. “Reid. I was just about to come knock. Someone left a file for you.”
She handed him an envelope. He removed the papers within. Celeste’s report. But she was supposed to have sent it electronically.
“How long ago was this dropped off?”
“Just a couple of minutes. The young lady used the business office to print it then dropped it off here. She said you were expecting it.”
She couldn’t have gotten far. Reid knew he shouldn’t do it, but he found himself following the path she would take if she were to head back to her room from the concierge lobby. The least he could do was thank her.
The mocking voice reemerged. As if that’s the reason you’re trying to catch her.
He saw her moments later on the path by the kiddie pool. She stopped to retrieve and toss back an inflatable ball to a toddler when it rolled by her feet. The action stalled her long enough for him to catch up.
“Celeste.” She froze.
“Reid?”
“Hey.” He lifted the envelope in his hand. “Thanks for bringing this by.”
“The text I attached it to kept bouncing back. The file must have been too big.”
That explained the printout. He could release any notion that she might have come by the office hoping to run into him. He should have discounted that possibility in the first place. She had left it for him at the counter after all.
“Oh. Thanks for taking the time to print it out, then.” How many times could he thank her in one conversation? He had no reason to be this tongue-tied around her. He had to get a grip already.
“You’re welcome.”
The toddler threw the ball back at her. Celeste flashed the child a bright smile and tossed the toy back once more.
“I’m looking forward to reading it,” he told her when she’d turned back to him.
“I hope it helps.”
“There’s still the matter of your compensation. I can have papers drawn up—”
She held a hand up before he could continue. “That won’t be necessary. I won’t accept any type of payment from you.”
A boulder settled in his chest. Part of him was convinced she’d take him up on the free annual vacations. That he would at least be able to see her again once every year. Though he’d feel gutted every time she left. “I don’t understand. I don’t feel right having you do all this work for nothing.”
The ball landed between their feet again. They both turned to find the same toddler boy giggling.
Come on, pal, Reid thought, groaning inside. This was hard enough without a toothless lothario intent on a game of catch with his woman.
His woman?
He cleared his throat. “I’d like to talk about this.”
She gave a slight lift of her shoulder. “If you wish. Sure, we c
an talk. But I won’t change my mind.”
Reid quickly took her by the elbow and led her to the poolside cabana bar before the beach ball reappeared. Celeste allowed him to guide her onto one of the stools. He motioned for the bartender and ordered two rum punches. He never drank during the day when he was working. But this was an extenuating circumstance if ever he’d encountered one.
He’d missed her. It had only been a few hours since he’d left her this morning. But he couldn’t deny that he’d spent those hours wishing she was still by his side. He missed her smile, her wit. The way she smelled.
“Tell me why,” he said once their icy drinks had arrived.
Celeste took a swig from her paper straw and his gaze immediately fell to her lips.
“I thought we had an agreement,” he added.
“I’ve changed my mind. Consider it professional courtesy on my part. As your resort guest.”
So that’s all she was going to classify herself as. He had no business being disappointed. He wanted this distance, didn’t he? It’s why he had fled her room after the night they’d spent together.
For such a hot, pleasant day, they were the only two people seated at the bar. The bartender was busy at work several feet away with his back to them organizing bottles and tidying.
If they were a real couple, Reid might take the opportunity to kiss her.
His cell phone started to vibrate in his shirt pocket before he took that thought any further. He quickly removed the device and set it to do not disturb, ignoring the risk of missing an important business call. And if it was his father calling yet again...well, he’d had enough of his father’s interruptions for a lifetime.
“I don’t mind,” Celeste said, pointing to his phone on the bar. “You can answer that, if you want.”
“I don’t want.”
She lifted an eyebrow in question. “Oh?”
Reid blew out a deep breath. “I’m in the middle of something rather unpleasant. It involves my father. He wants to talk about it. Only there’s nothing left to talk about.”
“Ah.” Celeste took another sip of her drink. “If it makes you feel better, I wish I hadn’t received a call from my own parent this morning.”
He laughed. “Yeah?”
“Oh, yeah. It was a doozy.”
“Maybe we’ll have to compare notes on our parents someday.”
She ducked her head, suddenly serious. “I’d rather not.”
“Tell me something,” she asked, not meeting his eyes.
“Yes?”
“You said before that you and Jack didn’t talk at all about me after we broke up.”
Where was this all leading? Reid had no idea. He only knew that the reminder that she’d once been engaged to another man had his gut tightening. He really had no desire to talk about her ex-fiancé. “That’s right.”
“What about before the breakup? You two must have talked about the woman he was about to marry.”
He shrugged, still confused about the direction this conversation had taken. He’d sat her down to try to convince her to accept payment for her hard work.
“What did he tell you about me, Reid? Did he say I was just after his money?”
He hadn’t seen that question coming at all, wasn’t sure how to answer. If he thought hard about it, Reid would have to admit that Jack had in fact insinuated that very thing. “Celeste, what’s this all about?”
She took another sip from her straw, looked away toward the crystal-blue water of the pool. “See, he would have been right to say so if he did. It’s the real reason he left me.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CELESTE COULDN’T REALLY say if her intention had been to shock Reid. But it sure looked like she’d done just that.
She hadn’t had anything to eat all day, just that pot of coffee this morning. And the rum punch was so much stronger than any drink she was used to. Combined with the confusion that seeing Reid always seemed to bring forth within her, the alcohol had gone straight to her head and loosened her lips.
Reid suddenly stood. Dropping several bills onto the bar, he picked up his cell phone and the report. Then he gently nudged her up out of her stool.
“Let’s go.”
Celeste followed without question. The cat was out of the bag now. Might as well get everything out in the open.
He led her to a rental cabana that must not have been reserved for the day and pulled down the privacy flaps. A shiver of apprehension ran down Celeste’s spine when he turned and fixed his gaze on her.
“Care to explain?” he demanded.
She dropped down onto the padded lounger and studied her toes. “I didn’t grow up with any money, Reid. Unlike the way you and Jack grew up.”
“Don’t make assumptions, Celeste.”
“What does that mean?”
But he wasn’t going to allow the switch in topic. “Never mind. We’re talking about you.”
She let out a deep breath. “Why do you think Jack decided he couldn’t go through with the wedding?”
“He got cold feet. It happens.”
She laughed without any real mirth behind it. “He got cold feet because my mother and sister made no secret of the fact that they were very excited about how rich he was. They acted downright giddy.”
Nausea roiled through her stomach at the memories. There’d been times when Momma had come right out and asked Jack about his net worth and how much he was willing to part with to help his future in-laws.
The humiliation had been unbearable.
She sucked in a deep breath. “Jack insisted we needed to get away from my mother and sister, starting with the wedding. Hence the desire to elope—so they wouldn’t be there. He also suggested we consider living on the West Coast afterward. To stay far away from them.”
“You said no.”
“In no uncertain terms. I’m all the family Tara and my mother have. There is no one else. I couldn’t just turn my back on them.”
Reid remained silent, simply waited for her to continue.
“So Jack can’t really be faulted for walking away, can he?” she asked. “I can’t really blame him.”
Reid crossed his arms in front of his chest as he analyzed her. “Is that what you really think?”
She could only nod silently, still staring at her toes.
“What about the fact that he waited until the last minute to do it? Or how cowardly it was to leave you waiting there with a church full of guests? Can you blame him for any of those things?”
“I’m not saying he’s a saint. I’m not defending him. And I’m not defending my mother and sister. I’m just saying I understand why he did it.”
“No, you’re just finding ways to blame yourself. For the cowardly way he treated you. For the way your family members treated you. None of which had anything to do with you.” He emphasized the last word with heavy inflection.
Suddenly, anger and frustration flooded her chest. She hadn’t confided in him to be scrutinized or lectured to or somehow analyzed.
“Spare me the empty platitudes, Reid. I’m not telling you any of this to garner some sort of sympathy or for your pity.”
“Then why did you tell me?”
“So that you know why I can’t keep coming back here year after year. Seeing you again. That part of the deal is absolutely off the table.”
She sucked in a labored breath. “And there’s absolutely no way I’ll take any money from you. I just wanted you to understand why.”
She brushed past him and rushed through the canvas flap before he could see how close to breaking down she really was.
He didn’t try to follow her.
* * *
Celeste hadn’t stopped shaking by the time she reached her room and slammed the door shut. Her gaze immediately fell to the bed, bringing forth haunting an
d erotic images of all that she and Reid had shared the night before. How foolish she had been to fall in love with a man who was so terribly wrong for her. Her heart felt heavy and bruised in her chest. Like someone had struck a physical blow. She didn’t know if the ache would ever heal. Her breakup with Jack had been a hard hit to her ego. The loss she felt now felt like an open wound, one she might never recover from.
But now wasn’t the time to dwell on any of that. She had a call to make. With shaky fingers, she reached for her phone and clicked on her mother’s contact icon.
Wendy picked up after several rings. “Did you pay the bill?”
Not even a hello. Why was she even surprised?
“Momma. Listen to me. There’s something very important I need to explain to you.”
Celeste didn’t give her mother a chance to protest. She just calmly and distinctly went over the decisions she’d recently made. Then she clearly explained the steps she planned to take in implementing them all.
Her determination must have rung through clearly in Celeste’s voice because her mother didn’t argue. In fact, Celeste thought she might even have heard a tinge of relief in Wendy’s voice.
* * *
The perfect setting to fall in love...speaking from personal experience...
Reid reread the same passages from the file Celeste had turned in yet once more. He’d lost count how many times he’d already read them. As a marketing plan, she’d handed him pure gold. Her suggestions were sound, and many of her ideas could justifiably be described as brilliant. But those were the only lines he cared about.
She’d made it personal. And she was telling him she’d fallen in love with him. He was glad he’d made it back to his living quarters before taking the time to read her report. Something had told him he should be alone while looking at the file, someplace he wouldn’t risk being interrupted. Finally putting the papers down, he walked over to the wet bar across the sitting area and poured himself a generous amount of aged dark rum.
She loved him. It said so in black and white. Written by her hand.
