A Kiss Beneath the Stars

by Sterling, S. L.

  Chapter Three

  Autumn

  The Whisperwind Inn was in the old courthouse and looked out over the bay of Kings Cove. It had been renovated to accommodate the restaurant. I had wanted to go there for years, but Jason always complained, saying it was far too expensive. It basically boiled down to the fact that I just wasn’t worth it. I walked up the front steps of the restaurant, and the doorman held the door open for me. I stepped inside. Everything was bathed in candlelight, and soft violin music floated through the air.

  “Do you have a reservation, miss?” a young woman asked.

  “Yes, I think so. I’m here to meet someone. I’m not sure if he is here yet or not.”

  “Do you have a name the reservation is under?”

  I hesitated. Since Evelyn never gave me a name, I hadn’t a clue what the reservation could be under. I could feel the heat rise in my face. “This is going to sound silly, but I’m here on a blind blind date. I don’t even know his name,” I whispered. I was going to kill my sister.

  “Ahh yes, you’re the secret blind date.” The young lady smiled at me and grabbed two menus. “Right this way, miss. The other party hasn’t arrived yet, but I can show you to your table if you like.”

  I nodded and followed her into the restaurant. She took me right to the back and sat me at a table that was overlooking the bay and marina. The view was amazing. As I sat waiting, I watched out the window. Snow had started to fall gently. I opened my menu and started reading, the smell of food causing my stomach to grumble.

  “Could I get you something to drink while you wait for the other member of your party, miss?” a young waiter asked.

  Looking down at the drink menu, I quickly read over each item. “I’ll have a glass of water for now please.” The waiter walked away as I glanced over to the door. I had no idea what he even looked like. If I had to endure this nightmare of a blind date, my sister best hope that he was at least good-looking. Soon, the waiter brought over my water and set it in front of me.

  My phone suddenly pinged with a message. Glancing down at my screen, I saw a message from Evelyn asking me if he had arrived yet. It was after eight-thirty. I went to type out a message when I heard a familiar voice behind me. I turned slowly, praying it wasn’t who I thought it was. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Jason. Jason was here—on a date! He sat at a table slightly diagonally across from me with Anna, my best friend. Funny, she had been ignoring my calls, and now I see the reason why. A fiery rage came over me. I picked up my cell phone and dialed Evelyn.

  “Hello there, beautiful,” Evelyn sang over the phone.

  “Is this guy showing up or what?” I demanded.

  “What’s wrong? You sound upset.”

  Upset wasn’t even the word. I swallowed hard, trying to fight back the tears. “That’s because he hasn’t shown up yet, Evelyn. I have been sitting here alone for forty-five minutes.”

  “Just calm down. Derek spoke to him today. I know he is on his way, Autumn. That can’t be the only reason you’re upset.”

  “Don’t tell me to calm down! It isn’t the only reason. Jason is here.”

  “As in your Jason?”

  “Yes, Evelyn, as in my Jason. He’s sitting here having dinner with my best friend. The same Jason who always told me this restaurant was too fucking expensive. I don’t want him to see me, Evelyn. Especially not here alone,” I whispered into the phone in a high-pitched voice, not even taking a breath.

  “Oh, honey, relax. Your date is on his way.”

  I glanced over my shoulder to see that Jason had disappeared from the table. I was just about to turn around when my eyes locked with Anna’s. She quickly pretended to be looking at her dessert menu. I began to panic, my eyes darting around the room trying to locate him. “Whatever, Evelyn. I’ve got to go.” I hung up my phone, got up from the table, gathered my things, and ran out of the restaurant.

  I made a mad dash down the front steps of the restaurant, almost colliding with a man who was on his way in. Ripping open my car door, I collapsed into the front seat, out of breath and with tears falling. I had just been stood up on the first date that I’ve had. To boot, I ran into the only man I’d never cared to lay my eyes on again—with my best friend, no less. There was no way I was going home right away. I wanted to be alone. I didn’t want to see or talk to Evelyn. None of this would have happened if she had just minded her own business. I was perfectly happy being alone in my room with the fantasy men in my books. Once I had calmed down, I drove for a bit, finally parking the car at the side of the water. I needed to find a way to get over everything that had happened, and I wasn’t going home until I figured out how to do it.

  * * *

  Glancing down at the clock on my dash, I saw it was almost one in the morning. I pulled into the driveway and shut the car off. Evelyn probably had a small fit when I didn’t come straight home. The light in the front room was the only one on in the house. I silently prayed that no one was up; I just wanted to go to bed. I didn’t want to hear Evelyn’s crap. The tears had stopped long ago. Now, I had the greatest urge to just get out of this town for a while. Maybe Dr. Plante was right, maybe a change of scenery was what I needed. I of course had been adamant that he didn’t know what he was talking about, but after tonight, after seeing Jason and Anna together, I was beginning to think he might be more right than I cared at the time to admit.

  I opened the door and tiptoed into the entryway. When I was almost certain they were both in bed, I slowly released the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.

  “Well, how did it go?” Evelyn peeked her head around the corner, a grin on her face.

  “Fuck, Evelyn, you scared the shit out of me.” It took me a minute to catch my breath before shutting the door behind me. I stood with my eyes closed against the door for a second and took in a deep breath before I answered her. What was she supposed to think? It was after midnight. She didn’t know that I had run out of the restaurant after I had spoken to her. She would have thought that he would have shown up, and we would have had our date.

  “He didn’t show up, Evelyn, so I left. I agreed to this date and I got stood up. What does that tell you?” I kicked my shoes off and hung my coat up.

  “But, it’s after midnight. Where have you been?”

  “Does it really matter? Do me a favor, Evelyn. Don’t ever ask me to go on another date, okay? I can’t handle it, and I told you that. So next time, just respect my answer instead of shoving your opinion down my throat.” I left Evelyn standing in the foyer and headed up to the safety of my room. Once I was behind closed doors, I got changed, grabbed my computer, and flopped onto my bed.

  Chapter Four

  Hunter

  The alarm woke me from a deep sleep. Rolling over, I slammed my hand down on the clock. It was only five; I had been asleep less than four hours. I lay in bed with my arm over my face taking in the quiet, debating getting up for a couple of minutes. I had gone back to the office last night after my supposed date had left the restaurant. Throwing myself into work, I finally left the office around twelve-thirty. I had wanted to get the files closed for a couple of the cases I had finally finished. But now I had to be back at six-thirty as I had clients coming in this morning at eight, and I wanted to familiarize myself with the documents my paralegal had completed.

  My phone suddenly chimed with a message. So much for my few minutes of quiet this morning—surely it was either Bryce or Chase. Carter knew better than to message me this early in the morning. Grabbing my phone off my nightstand, I saw a couple texts from Derek and my appointment reminder for this morning. Frowning, I clicked open the messages. They must have been delayed from being delivered. The first message was Derek asking when I would be arriving at the restaurant, and the second was demanding to know why I had stood up Evelyn’s sister, which told me it was Evelyn, not Derek, who had sent the message. I threw the phone down on the bed and ran my hand over my face. I didn’t have time to worry about it. I’d call him later
and sort it all out. Right now, I had no choice. I had to get my ass ready and into the office.

  I grabbed my usual breakfast on my way: a coffee and bagel from the Starbucks drive-thru. When I got to the office, I was surprised to see I was the first one there. It wasn’t a bad thing. It would give me a chance to finish preparing for my meetings. I went in, got comfortable at my desk, and threw myself into my work. My coffee and bagel would soon grow cold just like they had done every morning these days.

  “Morning, big guy,” I heard Bryce call from the hallway.

  “Hey.” I looked up from my desk. I was just doing one final check over and watched as Bryce and Chase came strolling into my office with coffees in hand and made themselves comfortable on the couch. “What’s up?”

  “Hard at work already?”

  “Well, some of us have to work. Someone must keep money coming into the company. Don’t worry, though, you’ll thank Carter and me in about thirty years.”

  “Yeah, yeah. So, did you get laid last night or what?” Chase laughed.

  I rolled my eyes. It was too early for their shit this morning. I was tired, and I felt bad. I had never not made a date on time. “No, fuck, I got stuck in traffic on my way. I was really late, and by the time I had gotten there, she had already left. So, I came back here and continued working.”

  “Ah well, next week. Don’t worry, Hunter, you can get your dick wet then.” Bryce chuckled to himself.

  “Fuck off, Bryce.”

  Oh, by the way, Carter won’t be joining us this year,” Chase said as he took a sip of his coffee.

  “What? Why isn’t he going with us?” It was our annual brothers’ vacation. Every year the four of us ventured off and went to a vacation spot in the Caribbean. This year we were off to Jamaica, to the Pacific Jewel Resort. I couldn’t wait to get away. I needed this much-deserved vacation time after the long hours I had been logging in this office.

  “Hope wants to work on some home renovations,” Bryce and Chase said in unison.

  “Yeah, well, that’s what happens when you get married. Your life is no longer your own. Listen, guys, I have an appointment coming in in about thirty minutes, and I have to make a private phone call.” They looked at me, then at one another, and finally stood and headed to their offices.

  As soon as they were gone, I got up and closed my office door. I didn’t need those two listening in on my call. I dialed Derek and waited while his phone rang.

  “Hey, Hunter. What the fuck happened to you last night? Evelyn was freaking the fuck out all night, in case you couldn’t tell.” Derek’s voice came over the phone.

  “Hey, Derek. Man, traffic was insane when I left the office to head home to change, so I was already running late by the time I left home. I was buried deeper in traffic on my way to the restaurant due to a couple of bad accidents, and by the time I finally got to the restaurant, it was almost nine. She’d already left. I’m sorry. I feel horrible, man. I hope we aren’t in too much shit with Evelyn.”

  “She was pretty pissed. Especially once her sister came home. She thought you stood her up.”

  “Man, you know me better than that. I don’t stand up women. Listen, I’ll make it up to her. We can reschedule for tonight. I’ll come pick her up.”

  “No, it’s okay. Evelyn says not to worry about it.”

  “You sure? It would make me feel better.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure. She says it’s fine.”

  “All right, well, as long as you know the truth, and you pass it on to Evelyn that I didn’t stand her up. Let Evelyn know I’ll make it up to her. I gotta run.”

  “For sure, man, I’ll pass on the message. We’ll get together for drinks soon.”

  “Yep, once I’m back from vacation. Have a good one!”

  I ended the call, grabbed my cold coffee, and headed off to the boardroom to wait for my clients. I couldn’t wait—in a couple of days I’d be lying on the beach in the hot sun, looking for my next piece of ass.

  My cell phone rang just as I was about to walk into the boardroom. I hoped it was Carter. I was hoping to run a couple things by him before my meeting, but he was late.

  “Hunter, it’s me, baby. I need to see you.” I rolled my eyes as I heard the familiar voice over the phone.

  “Jocelyn, this isn’t a good time,” I barked. Jocelyn and I had dated for the past couple of years, but when she became super possessive, it had ended quickly for me, and I cut her loose. Unfortunately, I couldn’t say the same for her.

  “I need you. I want us to try again,” she begged over the phone, practically crying.

  “Jocelyn, begging and crying isn’t going to get you what you want. I told you it’s over.” I slammed the files down on the boardroom table. Fuck, why did I answer this call? She was the exact reason why I had call display. I should have checked it. This woman was severely unhinged. Looking up, I saw Cynthia, our receptionist, walking down the hall toward the boardroom, no doubt to tell me my clients were here. I held up a finger, signifying I needed another minute. She nodded and headed back to the front.

  “Please, baby. I miss you so. Maybe we could take a vacation together—you know, rekindle the flame.”

  “Jocelyn, there are no flames to rekindle. There isn’t even a match. Now I’m going to hang up, and I don’t want to hear from you again. I have to go.” The last thing I heard was her uncontrollable sob into the phone as I ended the call. I took a minute to compose myself. This case was too important to fuck up. I glanced at my watch, inhaled deeply, and pressed the call button on the intercom. I needed this vacation more than ever now.

  Chapter Five

  Autumn

  I poured the hot coffee into my favorite mug. I had barely slept all night; it was going to be a long day. Removing the eggs and bread from the fridge, I started to make myself some breakfast. I figured after I ate maybe I would go crawl back into bed for a couple of hours.

  “Morning,” Evelyn sang as she walked into the kitchen.

  Why was she always in such a good mood? Oh yeah, because her life hasn’t fallen apart, I reminded myself. “Morning,” I mumbled.

  “Listen, I want to apologize. I should have listened to you, but you need to know that you weren’t stood up; he got delayed with traffic. So that is good news. He would like to make it up to you. He said he would come pick you up tonight.”

  I put my hand up in front of her face. “Evelyn, please. I told you last night, I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “I’m sorry, Autumn.”

  “Don’t be sorry. Whether he stood me up or not, it doesn’t matter. I told you I am not ready to date right now.” I cracked two eggs into a bowl and started whisking them before dropping them into the hot pan.

  “I know. I just thought it would do you good. I care about you.”

  I took a sip of my coffee. I felt bad for being so hard on Evelyn, but she needed to understand. “If you care about me then please just listen to me. Even if it was only dinner as friends, I’m not ready to be out in public dating. I’m not ready to get involved with anyone, especially when it isn’t on my terms.”

  Evelyn sat down at the table and started reading the paper. The silence, combined with the tension in the room, was starting to make me feel like a caged animal. I really needed to remember that Evelyn was only trying to help me; she only wanted what was best for me. I also knew it wasn’t really Evelyn that was making me so edgy, but the fact that I had seen Jason at that restaurant.

  I cleared my throat and took a sip of coffee. I may as well drop the bomb on her now, I thought to myself. “You’ll be happy to know that I booked a trip.”

  Evelyn immediately stopped flipping the pages of the paper and looked up at me. “What? Where are you going?”

  “Jamaica, to the Pacific Jewel Resort. Dr. Plante thought it would be a good idea for me to get away. So, I booked it last night after I got home. It was the last straw when I saw Jason last night at the restaurant. It’s just me and my e-reader on the beach f
or one week.”

  “By yourself? You’re going all the way to Jamaica alone?”

  “Yes, Evelyn, by myself. Don’t worry. I am perfectly happy going away alone. I need this.” I sat down at the table with my breakfast. “It’s all good, really,” I said, taking in her surprised expression.

  “Okay. If you’re sure. When do you leave?”

  “I’m sure. I leave in two days. Now, onto the fun part. I know you love to shop. We need to go out and get some shopping done for my trip. I need a few new things.”

  Evelyn’s eyes lit up and she rubbed her hands together in excitement. She loved to shop, and now with that project, she would hopefully drop the dating crap. “All right, yes, we can hit the mall tonight after I finish work. I want to make sure you’re the sexiest thing on that island. Maybe you’ll meet a tall, dark, handsome stranger who will rock your socks off there.”

  I dropped my head into my hand. She wasn’t going to let it go. Instead of arguing with her, I just ignored the comment and continued eating breakfast, making plans to shop.

  * * *

  “I don’t know about this bathing suit either, Evelyn,” I called from inside the dressing room. I was beginning to feel very insecure. I hadn’t bought a bathing suit in close to five years, and from what I remembered, they had way more material to them than they did now.

  “For the fifth time, just open the door and let me see. I’m sure it’s all in your head.”

  I unlatched the door and came walking out in the multicolored bikini Evelyn had forced me to try on. “I don’t know, Evelyn. This is basically string holding three scraps of material together. I think I like the black bikini instead; it at least has more material to it than this one.”

  “Girl, you look amazing. Don’t be stupid. You have to have this!”