by Taryn Belle
“That’s not the story I heard,” Laina retorted. “He wrote it before that while they were together. On the night he played it on the piano for her, he asked her to marry him.”
“Hmm. Funny how stories can get twisted when you don’t have all the facts.”
“Or how some people can change them after their lies have been uncovered,” Laina threw back.
“Laina—” James reached for her arm, but she pulled away. “I’m sorry,” he said, lifting his hands. “I just—I can’t believe how wrong this has all gone. Can we talk? Away from this noise, I mean?”
She lifted her chin, standing her ground. “Not a chance.”
“Okay. But you have to believe that I never knew who you were. I promise.” He looked at her pleadingly. “I did want something from you—I admit that. The pelicans. I wanted to build on their cliff, and I thought that with your influence we could convince the council to relocate them, and—”
“So you weren’t taking tourist pictures that first day,” she said flatly.
He shook his head guiltily. “No. I kept meaning to ask you, but then we got involved, and...” He trailed off. “But I didn’t ask you. I couldn’t—”
“Why? Because asking me two big favors might have looked suspicious so you chopped it down to one?”
“No! I already had a meeting set up with the Reinhards—I mean your parents—before I even came here. I’m supposed to meet with them in Atlanta on Tuesday.”
“Oh, yeah? Well, don’t you dare think of asking me to help you out on that one! Or calling me when you’re in town!”
“Of course I wouldn’t ask—”
“Besides, they’d never sell this place,” Laina cut in, though her voice quavered slightly with uncertainty. “And what you say proves absolutely nothing. I don’t fool myself about my name change—anyone with half a brain could figure out who I was in about ten minutes. You made the connection before you came to Moretta, and then you used me.” Her voice was rising as her anger built. She started stalking away from him to avoid a scene, but he hurried after her as she hammered her accusations home. “I bet you couldn’t believe your luck! What a bonus! Some naive chick you could use to your advantage and have fun with on the side!” She stopped at the edge of the pool deck to turn on him.
James was shaking his head rapidly. “No! That’s not at all what it was!” He threw his hands up. “And did it ever occur to you that I’m the one who should be upset here? We were a hot and heavy thing, Laina, and you didn’t think to tell me you were staying at the very estate the wedding was being held at? That your family owned?”
“Don’t you try to put this on me!” Her eyes flashed at him. “What about Jennifer? Who the hell is she? To think that I actually came to my senses about your playboy ways long enough to kick you to the curb, and you reeled me right back in! Or maybe I should be thanking you for that one—yes, lesson learned, so thank you very much!” She started marching away again.
“Laina, Jennifer is my business partner!”
“Is that right? So mixing business with pleasure is just par for the course? Does she know that?” A new thought nearly knocked her sideways. No condom. Damn. “Do I need to get tested for anything?” she asked in a terrified voice.
He squeezed his hands to his head. “No! God, Laina! What we did—don’t you know how much that meant to me? You were my only one.” His voice hitched with emotion.
Her stomach was roiling. He was saying all the right things, bringing her back to all their beautiful moments together.
But she couldn’t afford this. Her heart wouldn’t take any more heartbreak from him, and that was all she could see. “Why should I believe anything you say?”
James stopped in his tracks. They were far from the crowd now, close to her cottage, but there were still enough guests milling around that they were drawing attention. He lowered his voice. “Listen. I’m not going to lie, because guess what? I’m not a liar. I did sleep with Jennifer once—no, twice. But that was before I met you. I never led her on afterward. She was asking me if I was avoiding her because of the development. I wasn’t making any progress here, and she likes things to move fast. So I didn’t return her text. It wasn’t the man-up thing to do, but I was...distracted. By you.”
Shit, Laina thought, is he going to cry? He was good—but not good enough. “You mean by waiting for just the right moment to strike,” she said, clarifying. “Which would have been at the rehearsal dinner if I hadn’t finally clued in to what you were up to.”
He groaned. “God, Laina, no! Isn’t there anything I can do—”
“Do?” She glared at him in the fading light. In the background she could hear the band starting up their first set with “White Wedding.” She stepped closer to James so he could hear her. Her nostrils filled with the scent of his aftershave mixed with musky sweat, reminding her of their bodies moving together. She still wanted him as much as she had every single second since she’d met him; how was that even possible? “Sure, there’s something you can do. You can take me to my cottage right over there—” she gestured toward its darkened shape in the background “—and fuck me. See what it feels like to have sex with someone who cares nothing for you, just like you did to me. How about that?”
As James stared at her, she was still trying to get over what she’d just said. Was she actually serious? And what if he said yes?
But he dropped his chin into his chest and shook his head sadly. “Laina. If that ever happened between us again, I wouldn’t be fucking you. I’d be making mad love to you.”
Then he shoved his hands in his pockets and went back to the party, leaving her staring at his back with her mouth hanging open.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“MY GOODNESS, HONEY, are you all right?” Laina’s mother, Beverly, asked her over the phone. “I can’t say as I’ve ever heard you this upset before.”
“You’ve never heard me upset, period!” Laina couldn’t help shouting back. She was sitting in the windowless bathroom of her cottage with the door closed against the noise of the ongoing party.
“I really don’t think—”
“It’s true, Mom! Everything is always so—perfect in our family. When do we ever communicate like normal people?”
“I don’t think there is such a thing as normal, dear.”
“Yeah, but still!” Laina took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. She’d reached out to her mother for two reasons, and calling her out on thirty-two years of repressed emotions wasn’t one of them. “Listen, I don’t want to argue, okay? I just want to know—” She took a deep breath. “You and Dad would never sell Hibiscus Heights, would you?”
There was a beat of silence. “What gave you that idea?”
“Long story. Would you?”
Beverly sighed. “I’ve been trying to get in touch with you all week. I wanted you to know that your father and I have an appointment with an interested party on Tuesday.”
Laina inhaled sharply. “But...why?”
“Why, darling?” Her mother gave a humorless laugh. “More like why not? We hardly go there anymore. Paul and Wesley use it every now and then, but it’s a family home, meant to be enjoyed together. And ever since you stopped going, that’s all fallen apart.”
Laina felt her blood pressure rise. “So it’s my fault?”
“That’s not what I meant at all,” Beverly said. “I meant that you were the one who held us together.”
Laina was sure she hadn’t heard right. How could she, the black sheep who’d always wanted to be different from everyone in her family, be the person who kept them unified?
Her mother continued. “When you were around, you forced everyone to look at the world around them. To enjoy the little things and see what was really important. You were the grounding force. Without that, we’ve all floated off into our separate universes.”
Laina’s head was spinning. Was it possible she’d been seeing things the wrong way this entire time? And why was her mother suddenly engaging her in the deepest conversation of their lives right now?
Okay, but you can’t do it. You can’t sell to him, she wanted to say to her now. But she had no right to. After over a decade of making sure her parents understood she wanted nothing to do with their estate and little to do with them, she couldn’t just step in now and dictate what they should do because she’d had a sudden change of heart. It was their property, and they could do what they wanted with it.
But she still needed something else that she’d never asked for before. She took a deep breath. “I need a favor.”
* * *
James stared at the vodka soda sitting at his elbow on the bar. He picked up the drink, took a small sip and set it down again with a sigh. Even if his body might feel like getting completely obliterated, his brain—or some other vital organ—apparently did not. The alcohol sat at the top of his stomach, making him feel nauseous and solving nothing. He’d been working on this same drink for over an hour, ever since he’d walked away from Laina, and his mind was in hell. He wondered when he could gracefully exit the reception, knowing his goodbye to Kiki would almost surely invite questions he didn’t feel like answering. He wondered if he should try going after Laina again, even if it was obvious she was done with him. He wondered what he could possibly do to win her back.
The only thing that was keeping him sane was the thought that he still had one more chance. Both he and Laina were due to fly out Monday morning, which meant he still had tomorrow—and he was certain she wouldn’t be able to avoid him all day. He would keep a clear head tonight and figure it out, just like he always did, and tomorrow he’d find a way to win her back.
His cell phone rang in his pants pocket. He fished it out and looked at the screen. Jennifer Liu. Shit—he may as well end the second most miserable day of his life on an even lower low. “Jennifer, I’m glad you called,” he said when he picked up.
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’m sorry I took so long to get back to you.” He walked across the lawn, leaving the sound of the band and the partiers behind. He stopped around the corner of the main house and took a deep breath. “Listen, it’s not good news. I haven’t been completely upfront with you—I hit a snag with the Moretta project a year ago, and I haven’t been able to resolve it.”
“What kind of problem?”
“I can’t secure the location I promised. Part of it is on public land, and I thought I could sway the council, but they aren’t budging.”
A beat of silence, and then, “Anything else?”
He hesitated. “Yes. One of the homeowners doesn’t want to sell.”
Jennifer sighed. “This isn’t good, James.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I know.”
“But these things happen.”
His hand stopped. These things happen? It wasn’t exactly the ream-out he’d been expecting. “You mean you still want to go ahead with it?”
“Without a doubt,” she replied, and then lowered her voice slightly. “As long as you’re onboard with me, that is.”
James felt his heart sink. Christ. Was she saying she wanted to continue the business deal because she wanted him? He couldn’t be sure. Asking her to clarify would be monumentally awkward. The easiest thing would be to go along with it, claiming to have missed her double meaning if and when it ever came up again. By then the project would likely be well underway, leaving her no choice but to see it through.
It was exactly what the pre-Laina James would have done.
He squeezed his eyes shut. “Jennifer, listen. You’re a beautiful woman, but if we move forward together it’s going to be as business partners only. I made a mistake by letting us get personal a few weeks ago, and it’s not going to happen again. I apologize if what I did gave you the idea that we might have any kind of future together.” He finally stopped and opened his eyes, preparing himself for the worst. Far across the grounds by the dance floor, he could see Kiki breaking away from the crowd and heading toward him. Shit. “Jennifer, are you there?” he asked quickly.
“I’ll take your statements under consideration and get back to you,” she said flatly, and then the phone went dead in his hand. He shoved it back into his pocket as Kiki marched up to him. She’d changed into a cocktail-length orchid-pink dress that matched the angry flush in her cheeks. Once more, James braced himself.
Kiki fixed him with a square look and placed her tiny fists on her hips. “So here’s the deal, cuz. Since I’ve just gotten married, I’m having the best day of my life, I’m a little drunk, and I think you’ve had enough for one day, I’m going to spare your life. But make no mistake about it—tomorrow over a hangover breakfast, you are going to explain to me exactly why my best friend just left on the last private plane off the island.”
James gaped at her. “What?”
“You heard me. She said goodbye to me twenty minutes ago, and I’ve been hunting you down ever since.”
“Jesus.” He raked a hand through his hair and shook his head wildly. So much for his chance to turn things around tomorrow. “I’m sorry Kiki, but I have to go.”
He turned and jogged toward Laina’s cottage, but he could already tell by the darkened windows that he was too late. When a knock on the door went unanswered, his gaze settled on a golf cart parked nearby. He ran over to it and, seeing the key in the ignition, started it up and drove toward the main road. Had he noticed a plane fly overhead earlier? He hadn’t been looking for one, and the reception had been noisy enough to mask the sound. Maybe he wasn’t too late.
“Fuck!” he roared into the darkness, pounding a fist on the steering wheel.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“THANK YOU AGAIN for meeting with me,” James said as he stood, extending his hand first to Beverly and then to Conrad. “And also for your cooperation. I’m sure you won’t regret it.”
Conrad smiled at him, and as James shook his hand, a regretful feeling came over him. Even though he and Laina hadn’t been together long, it was very possible that this man could have become his father-in-law. He couldn’t help wondering for just a moment what it would have been like to look up to him like the father he’d never had, and to have a mother figure in his life after so many years without one.
But of course he knew that could never be. Not only was Laina distant from her family herself, James had blown his chance at any future with her. There was almost zero hope that this well-dressed, gentile couple would ever be anything more than passing business associates to him.
Walking across the graceful white lobby of Atlanta’s St. Regis Hotel toward the valet desk, James took a moment to reflect on the meeting. It had been a success. He’d gotten everything he’d wanted out of it, and now he just needed to make a couple of phone calls to set the wheels in motion. But he still needed one thing from Laina, and getting it wasn’t going to be easy. Since he was certain she wouldn’t take his call or answer his text, a face-to-face visit was the only way to go. But he only had her work address, where she would easily be able to avoid him or maybe even have him hauled off by security. He’d briefly considered asking her parents for her home address, but squashed that thought when he imagined what a creep he’d sound like.
The valet brought James’s rented Land Rover to the curb and opened his door for him. James pulled away from the hotel toward Piedmont Heights, scanning the streets as he drove. He’d left Atlanta for Miami when he was twenty-three, and he’d only returned here a handful of times since. A lot had changed in fifteen years. The streets were mostly strange to him now, full of memories that no longer matched their surroundings.
Or did they?
On impulse, James turned off Peachtree Road toward a nondescript strip mall twenty blocks east. When he arrived, he pulled into a parking space beside a
pickup truck and stared straight ahead.
It had barely changed. Same narrow storefront, same long lineup of customers, same retro-looking pink-and-green sign with the name painted across a smiling takeout cup. Sally’s Smoothie Stop, named after his mother. James had known it would be here. He no longer ran it, but he still owned it, even if he hadn’t visited it since shortly after his mother’s death.
He would still build her castle in the sky, even if it would look different from what he’d always imagined.
Taking his phone from his pocket, he pulled up the name he’d gotten from Laina’s parents and typed it into Google.
* * *
Locking her office door behind her, Laina left the building and took the stairs down to the parking garage. Coming in to work today had been a mistake. This morning she’d been driven in by the guilt of two projects she’d fallen behind on because of her week on Moretta. But after staring blankly at her computer screen for most of the day, she’d finally given up and left. Life without James not only felt miserable, it made everything else she used to take pleasure in feel pointless—her work, her goals, even her friends. She was shrinking inside her clothing and lying awake for most of the night. And the worst part was she didn’t even want life to get back to normal again, because she didn’t want the normal she’d had before him. At this point, the best she could hope for was that one day, if she was really lucky, she might be able to get back to a dating life filled with lackluster connections and tepid sex.
She’d thought that leaving the island early would help, but if anything it had only made things worse. As the plane lifted off on Saturday night, all she could think of was whether she was making a huge mistake. Whether she was being too stubborn, whether she should have given him the benefit of the doubt. His last sentence to her rang in her ears over and over again: I’d be making mad love to you. The words had punched into her gut, stamped her soul with eternal hopeless yearning. But was it the truth or just more manipulation?
