The Billionaire's Bodyguard

by Elana Johnson

  He wasn’t her father.

  “The family mails him cards and letters every year, on the anniversary of the accident.” Esther sniffled, and Lexie wondered why she wasn’t crying. Was she really that cold? Blind? Something else?

  No one else seemed weepy, though, and Stacey took an extra moment to study Esther before she said, “Jason sends them gifts and cards too. It’s like they became a family. They forgave him, and instead of condemning him, incorporated him into their lives.”

  Lexie startled. A family. Jason had always wanted a tight-knit family.

  “It’s really quite touching,” Esther said. “I’ll forward you guys the article. It was just written this past March.”

  “Wait,” Lexie blurted, the first word she’d said. “This past March? Like six weeks ago?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Jason was here, in Getaway Bay, in March.”

  Sasha looked at her. “So?”

  “Did he give quotes in the article?” Lexie suddenly wished she’d read it.

  “Yes,” Esther wiped her eyes. “I’m such a baby. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

  Stacey put her hand on Esther’s. “In the piece, he says they’re more like his family than his actual family, and he’s so grateful they gave him a second chance.” She pinned a look on Lexie, who couldn’t hold still.

  “This would technically be our third chance,” Lexie said weakly.

  “Take it,” Sasha said immediately.

  Tawny nodded, as did Gina. But frustration filled Lexie. “It’s not that easy, you guys.”

  “No?” Stacey folded her arms and leaned back in her chair. “I flew to Michigan to get Fisher back.”

  “I went to Switzerland.”

  Lexie knew that, as she’d taken over The Straw so Sasha could go to Jasper, get him back, make things right.

  “So what?” she asked, throwing up her arms. “I just march over to his beach house and say…what? What do I say?”

  “That an accident—an accident—from twenty years ago doesn’t matter.” Gina shrugged, like it was no big deal. Like a lifetime of Lexie’s emotions and experiences meant nothing. “Ask him if he drinks. Believe what he says.”

  “That sounds good, actually,” Tawny said, twisting off the cap of her water bottle.

  “I don’t know.” Lexie wrung her hands, her mind racing as fast as her heart.

  “It’s simple,” Stacey said. “Do you love him?”

  “I—”

  “Just yes or no.” Stacey leaned forward and put her elbows on her knees. “Don’t think. Just—do you love him?”

  “Yes,” Lexie whispered.

  “Then fix this.” Esther swept her phone into her beach bag as a whistle rent the air, catching the attention of all the women.

  “Oh, it’s Tyler. He’s early. My class doesn’t start for another twenty minutes.” Tawny shaded her eyes though she wore a pair of sunglasses and stood up. “Um, guys? Tyler’s coming this way, and he has two dogs.”

  Lexie practically knocked her chair over she stood so fast. “Two dogs?” She couldn’t even find Tyler, but she did see his big golden retriever. The second dog seemed to be playing hide-and-seek really well.

  “I think I’m going to be sick,” Esther said, standing too and taking a few steps away.

  Lexie turned toward the group, her nerves firing on all cylinders. “Is it Steve?”

  “I don’t know,” Tawny said. “I told him to get another dog. Maybe he did.”

  Esther returned to the semi-circle, her nausea apparently gone. “Guys, real quick, before Tyler gets here and Tawny has to leave.”

  Everyone looked at her, and Lexie thought she already knew Esther’s news. “First, I think Lexie should go find Jason and talk to him. Isn’t everything better when we talk to our men?”

  Stacey gave a half-shrug and nodded. “Let’s vote. Who thinks Lexie should get back together with Jason?”

  Every hand went up. “Yeah, but this isn’t junior high and we’re voting on what to do on Friday night,” Lexie said.

  “It’s your choice,” Esther said, laying a hand on Lexie’s arm. “But he’s a good guy. Read the articles. You’ll see.”

  “He’s ten seconds out,” Tawny said. “Sorry, guys.”

  “It’s fine,” Esther said. “My news is quick. I’m pregnant.”

  Lexie grinned, her guess at Esther’s news right on the bullseye. Shrieking and hugging happened, and Stacey and Tawny both wiped their eyes as the chatter intensified. Tyler must’ve sensed an overload of estrogen, because he paused out of earshot, a questioning look on his face.

  Then his dog dropped the Frisbee at his feet, and he picked it up and sent it soaring again. And the second dog that went tearing after it was Steve.

  Lexie hugged Esther and said, “Congratulations, Esther. You’ll be a fantastic mom,” and edged away from the Beach Club.

  “Tyler.” She tucked her hands in her back pockets. “Have you seen Jason?”

  Tyler just blinked at her. “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know if you’ve seen Jason?”

  Tyler sighed and ran his hand through his long, surfer hair. “I don’t know if he wants you to know.”

  “Know what?” Lexie exchanged a glance with Tawny as she arrived and stood at Lexie’s side.

  “How long are we keeping Steve?” she asked as Lazy Bones brought the Frisbee back again. Steve didn’t seem to have a clue what to do with the Frisbee, but he seemed overjoyed to be chasing it.

  Tyler sent them away again and met his wife’s eyes. “Indefinitely. Jason gave him to me.”

  Lexie’s heart dropped to the sand and rebounded to the top of her skull. “What?” she managed to rasp.

  “What do you mean he gave you Steve?” Tawny put her hands on her hips, her cut and tied shirt showing her neon lemon bra top underneath. “Where is he?”

  Yes, Lexie wanted to know that too, and she searched Tyler’s face for any hints.

  “I don’t know,” Tyler said for the third time. It was really starting to ignite Lexie’s anger. “He asked if I wanted Steve, because he was leaving the island.”

  Leaving the island.

  Lexie stumbled back a step as if Tyler’s words had pushed her. Tawny grabbed onto her hand and steadied her. “Tyler,” she said in a calm, even voice. “He didn’t tell you anything? Where he was going? What flight he was on? Anything?”

  “His first stop was in LA,” Tyler said, ducking his chin and dropping his eyes to the Frisbee Lazy Bones had just retrieved. “Sorry, Lex. I didn’t know what was going on with you guys, and every time I tried to talk to him about it, he shut me down.”

  “He’s a private guy,” Lexie said, dumbfounded that she was defending him. But of course she was. She was in love with him. Maybe that was all she had to do. Text him that she loved him and ask him where he was.

  Hope lifted her spirits and clogged her throat.

  “When did he leave?” Tawny asked.

  “Yesterday.”

  The word punched her in the gut, but Lexie fought against the panic. “Tawny, I have to go. Can you—I’ll ask Sasha. I know you have to get to work.”

  “Keep us updated!” Tawny called after her, and Lexie waved to indicate she’d heard. She arranged with Sasha to get her stuff off the beach, because Lexie couldn’t spare even another minute.

  I love you, she typed out. And Tyler said you left the island yesterday? Where are you? I’ll come to you. Please, Jason.

  She stared at the words, almost tripping in the sand as she walked back to her car. She didn’t care that she sounded desperate. That she’d told him she loved him for the first time in a text. She was desperate and she did love him.

  She mashed her thumb on send and headed for the airport. It didn’t matter that she wore a swimming suit and a pair of black shorts. She had a credit card—and sheer determination to find Jason, ask him the tough questions, and make things right between them.

  Because
she loved him. Could he love her too? After her radio silence and harsh judgment?

  She sure hoped so, but in all the time it took to get to the airport, buy a ticket, and board the first flight across the ocean to Los Angeles, he still hadn’t responded to her text.

  Chapter Twenty

  By the time Jason’s plane touched down, he wanted to crawl into bed and not get out for a good long while. He’d gotten the last seat on the plane, and it was in the very back row. So he stayed in his seat, his eyes closed, as the rest of the people gathered carry-ons, packed up laptops and headphones, and inched their way toward the exit.

  His phone chimed, but he ignored it. Probably Tyler trying to get him to talk about Lexie again. Or worse, Lyndsey offering to talk to Lexie again.

  He didn’t need either item in his life at the moment, as his patience was already razor thin and his exhaustion was at its pinnacle.

  If he could just get back to his beach house, he’d be able to figure out what to do. He thought he could replace Getaway Bay with another beach, but he’d been wrong. Fill his life with other people besides Lexie, but that was the worst mistake of all.

  So he’d camped on the beach and gotten on the first flight back to Hawaii. At the beach hut, the six-hundred square feet felt perfect, and he dropped his backpack on the floor by the front door and moved to the back, wishing he could call in his Brittany spaniel and curl up with the dog to sleep away his foul mood.

  He plugged in his phone, the green flashing light mocking him. He swiped the phone open and sucked in a tight breath when he saw Lexie’s name on his screen.

  “She texted me.” His voice held a measure of awe, and he immediately started calculating how long it had taken him to get off the plane, get home, and get his act together to check his phone.

  Probably thirty minutes. At least.

  I love you. And Tyler said you left the island yesterday? Where are you? I’ll come to you. Please, Jason.

  Jason read the words again, and then again.

  I love you.

  I love you?

  Jason gave his head a little shake and started typing. I’m at home. Where are you? He sent the message, everything in him hoping she’d say, Just down the beach at The Straw. Come get a drink!

  But she didn’t respond at all.

  He gripped his phone for several long minutes, his desperation, exhaustion, and impatience growing more and more intense by the second.

  He didn’t understand. She’d texted him thirty minutes ago. She couldn’t have gotten too busy.

  “Maybe there’s a rush,” he said. “Or she could be in a meeting. She’ll text back.” He didn’t bother to get the Murphy bed out but simply lay down on the couch, his phone tucked right against his chest.

  He woke—hours later if the darkness in the sky was any indication—when his phone rang. Blinking, he tried to figure out what time it was, where he was, who was calling.

  Seeing Lexie’s name, he scrambled to a sitting position and swiped the call on. “Lex,” he said, his voice a bit rusty from sleep.

  “You’re at home?”

  “Yes.” He got up and walked to the front door as if she’d be waiting outside. “Where are you?”

  She exhaled, her frustration obvious, but followed it with a light laugh. “Well, I’m in LA.”

  “LA?”

  “Tyler said you flew to LA.”

  He could imagine her wiping her hair off her face and glancing around, trying to figure out what to do. He opened his front door, still half-hoping he’d see her there. He didn’t.

  “I did, yeah,” he said, feeling like a fool. “I thought…well, it doesn’t really matter what I thought. It was a stupid thought, and I got on a plane home this morning.”

  “I got on a plane to LA at noon,” she said.

  “And with the time difference….” Jason chuckled, his laughter growing at the irony of the situation. Once he sobered, he said, “Lex, I got your text.”

  “Oh.”

  “I love you too.”

  A sigh came through the line, and Jason hated that there were thousands of miles of ocean separating them. “I’ll get on the first flight back.”

  “Won’t be until tomorrow,” he said.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Seemed that way to me.”

  “I’ll do the best I can.”

  Jason stepped onto the front porch and took a deep breath of the island air. He couldn’t believe he thought he could leave Getaway Bay and be happy. “It’s so good to hear your voice,” he said. “I can’t…I mean, what changed your mind?”

  Had she read the articles?

  “We can talk about it when I get there. You sound tired.”

  “I am tired.”

  “So you go back to sleep, and I’ll call you when I’m back on the island.”

  “All right, sweetheart.” He leaned against the pillar. “Love you, Lex.”

  And the most magical words on the planet were “Love you too, Jason.”

  Dawn found Jason lying in the hammock in his back yard, listening to the waves roll against the bay. The only thing that could’ve made the morning better was Steve lying near his head, his somewhat obnoxious panting harmonizing with the waves.

  Or Lexie.

  Yes, Lexie would’ve made this dawn absolutely beautiful.

  He became aware of someone walking toward him, but it was still quite dark and he couldn’t see who it was.

  He sat up, the wires on the hammock squeaking, and someone said, “Jason?”

  “Lexie.” He launched himself out of the hammock, the sound of her voice like a balm to his weary soul. He strode toward her, a darker silhouette on the lightening horizon, and he cupped her face in his hands, his eyes searching hers.

  “Jason.”

  There was a lot to say, many things to work through, but Jason never was one to beat around the bush. He dipped his head and kissed her, this woman who he’d loved for so, so long.

  She kissed him back, matching his passion stroke for stroke, until finally she leaned her forehead against his. “I can’t believe I was flying to Los Angeles while you were on a plane back here.” She giggled and wrapped her arms around him. “We must’ve crossed paths at forty thousand feet.”

  He chuckled and ran his lips along her neck. “Probably. No cell service that high, right?”

  “Right.”

  He kissed her again but pulled back swiftly. “Hey, how did you get here so fast?” Even with the time difference, he hadn’t expected her until much later in the day.

  “Jason, I’m a billionaire. I didn’t wait for the next commercial flight.”

  He gazed at her, struck by her beauty, her resourcefulness, her wit. “Don’t tell me you bought a jet.”

  “Just a one-time use,” she said. “And I paid a crew to leave immediately. It was quite an expensive flight.” She pressed into him and smiled. “But totally worth it.”

  Jason had spent so long wondering if anyone could love him, and then Lyndsey Brown had come into his life. She’d loved him, even though he’d done something unspeakable to her and her family.

  And now Lexie stood in front of him, making him feel worthy of being loved.

  “Did you read the articles?”

  “Only one.”

  “Which one?”

  “The one that just came out a few weeks ago.”

  He’d been hoping she’d see that one. Lyndsey and Peter had said such nice things about him. He almost believed they were true, and now with Lexie looking at him with such adoration in her expression, he thought what the Browns had been telling him for years might actually be true.

  “It’s in the past,” she said. “But I do need to ask you one thing, and I hope it doesn’t offend you.”

  “I already know what it is.” At least he thought he did. “But go ahead.”

  She stepped out of his arms, the golden light from the sun starting to halo her. She was positively radiant, despite being on a plane for much of the l
ast eighteen hours, despite the way she pressed her fingertips together and swallowed hard.

  “When’s the last time you had a drink of alcohol?”

  “March nineteenth, seventeen years ago.”

  Lexie nodded, her jaw set. “I believe you. You’re an amazing man, Jason.”

  “I am not.”

  “Not many men could overcome what you have.”

  “I’m a drifter. No goals. No idea what I’m doing with my life, and I’m almost forty years old.”

  She grinned at him, though he wasn’t sure what she was so happy about. “Just like the rest of us, then.”

  He scoffed. “Come on, Lex. You’re the CEO of a huge financial firm.”

  “I work part-time at a drink stand on the beach.”

  “But you don’t have to.”

  “I’m less lonely when I do.”

  “Sweetheart.” He drew her close again, tucking her right against his heart. “I’m hoping I can help with that too.”

  “I’m sure you can.” Her eyes sparkled with inner light, with happiness, with love.

  Jason touched the tip of his nose to hers. “I love you, Lexie. Even if you work part-time at a drink stand.”

  “And I love you, Jason, even if you are a drifter. It’s kind of romantic.”

  Jason tipped his head back and laughed, his emotions such a different kettle of fish from yesterday morning. He’d only been this happy once before—when he was Lexie’s secret boyfriend in New York.

  She traced her fingers down the side of his face, and he sobered long enough to kiss her again.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Lexie dozed in Jason’s arms, her arms wrapped around him, never wanting to let go. He seemed to feel the same way, because he kept the hammock swaying slightly and didn’t complain when the temperature reached unbearable levels.

  So snuggled in to his side and said, “Should we go inside? I’m boiling.”

  “Mm.” But Jason didn’t move, so peaceful and content with their current situation.

  Lexie pushed herself up, using the hard planes of his chest to balance. “Do you have any ice cream in your freezer?”