“Thanks for coming home, son,” RW said with genuine emotion as he released him.
No yelling. No slamming doors. This was a new world for Matt. He wasn’t sure how to negotiate it. He started to run his hand through his hair but touched Henry’s bandana instead. He pulled it off his head and tucked it in his pocket. “I have to talk to Julia.”
RW nodded, more stiffly now. “Of course.”
People blocked him, circling, all talking at once. Everyone tried to touch him as if he were a long-lost prince. Screw that, he had to find Julia. He lifted his eye patch so he could see better over their heads. Where did she go?
Mumbling his apologies, he strode around the group and was about to open the door to the kitchen when Maria, Julia’s cousin, stepped into his path.
“You’re Matt Harper?” Her hands were on her hips. Fury radiated off her frame. Her boyfriend stood behind her, looking menacing.
“Yep. I need to find—”
Maria took a swing and punched him in the eye. “That’s for breaking Julia’s heart. Do it again and it’ll be your balls. Come on, Jaime.”
With his eye pouring water, he tried to make sense of the last five minutes. Breaking Julia’s heart? How was he the bad guy here? Julia had gotten married and started a family without him. She’d chosen to block him from her memory. Hell, he’d never forget how the color had drained from her face when his dad had said his name.
Apparently, she’d really thought he was some stranger she’d picked up at Juanita’s. That thought didn’t sit well with him, since she was clearly turned on. By a stranger. The realization twisted in his gut while the rest of him still burned for her.
He couldn’t think straight when she touched him. When she kissed him? Hell, he’d almost lost it. She’d never explored his mouth like that before. Little Julia had become a sexy, passionate woman. He’d wanted to take her home and kiss every inch of her body. Slowly. The way she’d pressed her sweet ass up against him had made him think she’d be up for the idea.
So why had she run?
He shoved his hands in his pockets and pulled out Henry’s bandana. Only one thing left to do. He’d return what belonged to the kid and maybe get one last chance to clear the air with Henry’s mother before flying away.
He didn’t belong in Plunder Cove. Julia Espinoza had made that painfully obvious. He was no long-lost prince. He was a regular pilot who was wanted on the other side of the world.
Not here.
Seven
Angel watched Julia from behind the gazebo.
She wished she could run after her and stop the beautiful young woman from making the same mistakes Angel had made. How she ached to help the young lovers, but her hands had been tied long ago.
If she stepped out of the shadows, she’d be killed. Only RW knew her secrets and she trusted him with them since she knew his, but she had to be careful. Her own life mattered little when people she loved, especially Julia and Henry, could be hurt.
She couldn’t risk it. She let Julia go.
Her cell phone buzzed in the pocket of her pirate dress. “¿Hola?”
“You knew, didn’t you?” She’d been the brunt of Tía Nona’s anger for so many years that she’d recognize the woman’s voice anywhere. “Matthew Harper is alive.”
Angel sighed. “I did know, yes.”
She heard undecipherable Spanish swearing. “You’d think a person would’ve seen fit to tell me. I am Julia’s guardian, after all.”
Guardian? That was a stretch. Julia was a grown woman now. Nona should’ve pulled her nose out of Julia’s business years ago. In truth, Julia was taking care of Nona and her sisters far more than they were taking care of her.
“This is between RW and his son. Julia moved on a long time ago.”
“I don’t give one culo de rata about RW and his son. Those two destroyed Julia. You weren’t here then, so you don’t know.” That stung. Nona had a way of digging in and chomping down like a Chihuahua. “It was long ago, yes, but I haven’t forgiven the Harpers. You shouldn’t, either.”
Angel had learned that forgiving RW had been easy once she truly understood him. His demons were brutal. She doubted she would’ve survived what he’d lived through. No, kindness was what RW needed. If she didn’t have her own issues, she would take him up on his offer to stay, to love away his pains. Again, the choice wasn’t hers.
Angel was a marked woman quickly running out of time. Forgiving RW, getting to know the real man inside the billionaire’s shell, was a rare and special gift she hadn’t expected. She’d offered to be his therapist in secret because she longed for her own redemption. She knew him better than he understood and felt his pain and loss as acutely as she’d felt her own. Others might’ve taken advantage of his fragile state for money or fame but she wouldn’t hurt him. He’d made her feel almost whole, wanted. It was far more than she deserved.
She was the reason her family was in danger. She was to blame. Forgiving herself was the one thing she couldn’t do. And she wouldn’t stay with him just to feed her own desires.
“Julia has been sad for far too long. She deserves to feel joy and let her struggles go, even for one day. I hope you will let her have this, Nona.”
Nona huffed. “We all want to be happy. Do we Pueblicitans have a say in the matter? We bow at RW’s feet, scrape the crap off his boots and pretend to smile. He throws us a crust off his plate and we’re supposed to treasure it as if it’s a jewel out of his pirate’s chest? You forget, I worked in that house for many years. I saw what sort of man he really is.”
“He’s changed,” Angel said quietly.
“With you he is different, but how do you know he has really changed?”
She didn’t know for sure, but she had hope, which was something the Pueblicitans lacked. The ancestors of the people in this town had been purchased as workers and the generations after them had been freed, but held down for so long that they’d forgotten how to hope, how to dream.
RW couldn’t make up for all that they’d suffered. But he was going to repair as much damage as he could. Because he had changed. She refused to think otherwise.
“I better go. Maria and Jaime are taking Julia home. She should be there any minute.”
“Good. She just needs time to adjust to having Matt home, alive. Please don’t discourage her, she is a grown woman with her own mind. Make sure she’s okay and then meet me at Juanita’s. We’ve got a lot to discuss.”
“That we do, mujer. My heart hasn’t beat this hard in a long time. Seeing him on the front porch tonight. ¡Híjole! I’m going to need tequila to help me sleep,” Nona said.
Angel nodded. Why should tonight be any different? “Kiss Julia for me.”
“I will.”
She knew Nona wouldn’t say the kiss was from her. It broke her heart.
* * *
Matt hopped on his bike and sped off toward Julia’s house. He didn’t take the long way this time. He roared through the curves. He couldn’t shake the feeling that somehow dear old Dad had something to do with why Julia seemed so shell-shocked. The sooner he spoke to her and understood what in the hell was going on, the sooner he could be done and fly out.
The lights were out at 3C Bougainvillea Lane. He shut the bike down and softly rapped on the door. He heard sniffling inside.
“Julia, it’s me.”
Nothing.
But she was there. He could almost feel her breathing.
“I need to talk to you.” He pressed his forehead to the door. “What has my father done?”
He was angry enough to pound his fist against the wall, but he didn’t want to wake her son. Instead he pounded his own leg. She was driving him insane.
“Julia, you promised to love me forever once. Or have you forgotten?”
She opened the door halfway. The wig was gone, so were the fi
shnet stockings. Her makeup had smeared under her eyes and she looked younger, more like the Julia he used to coax out of the house to sneak down to the beach for midnight skinny-dipping.
She was in a sheer nightgown with her beautiful, thick hair hanging over her shoulder. The one entryway light bulb provided backlighting enough that he could see through her nightgown. It took everything in his power to keep from pushing the door open and sweeping her into his arms.
“I thought you were dead,” she said, a mixture of what looked like pain and wonder pooled in her eyes.
He cocked his head. Who’d told her that? He didn’t want to believe it. Instead he let himself express the hurt he’d felt at losing her. “Good to know you thought of me at all, sweetheart.”
Confusion flashed in her eyes. “Why would you say that?”
He didn’t touch her. She didn’t come closer. “You moved on without me.” He couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his words.
“You didn’t even say goodbye.” He heard her anger, too.
“I wanted to.” This was killing him. Being this close to her, laying his past bare. Accepting all that his father had done. Was it possible they’d both been manipulated? He softened his voice. “Listen, Julia, can we just talk?”
She blinked fast, as if she was about to cry. If she did, it would be game over for him. He’d hold her and never let her go.
Luckily, she beat back the tears and let loose a string of Spanish words instead. Motioning to the sky and back to him, he could only catch and recognize a few of the phrases. Shaking her head, she focused on him.
He could feel her indecision, her desire, her...amazement?
“You were dead,” she whispered, stepping into him. “Oh, God, Matt, I thought I’d lost you. ” Her gaze was on his lips and tears dripped from her lashes.
That did it.
He swept her into his arms, needing to touch her, to taste her. The kiss she pressed to his lips was salty, not sweet. He returned it with heat and deep, raw craving.
It surprised him how much this hurt, kissing the woman he thought he’d never kiss again.
He’d lost her, too.
She wrapped her arms around his waist, holding on, as if worried he’d disappear.
His hands dove through her hair, cradling her head as he kissed her. Every part of him felt electrically charged. It was as if his cells were crawling out of an abyss. Crawling toward the sun. Toward Julia.
“Matt.” She pulled her lips away. Her fingers touched her swollen lips before she asked, “What happened to your eye?”
He touched the bruised one. “I ran into a fist.”
“Your father?”
“No. Another enraged relative. I’m fine. It’s you and those small white birds I’m worried about.”
She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “The snowy plovers?”
“Yeah.” She wasn’t buying his line. Those birds were not why he was there and they both knew it. But he’d use whatever he could to keep her beside him, talking to him. “I promised to help you get that intel from the house and you left too soon. We could team up to save the plovers before I leave. Matt and Julia against the world, one last time.”
“You’re leaving Plunder Cove?”
What was that on her face? Disappointment?
He watched her body language—the way she leaned into him, her palm on his chest, how her gaze kept drifting to his lips. He held still, mesmerized by the tiny circles she was drawing with her fingers.
“I just got you back. I don’t want you to go. Not yet.” She let out a tiny breath.
That statement shouldn’t make him as happy as it did. He fought to keep his lips from twitching upward.
“I was worried I’d forgotten how to...desire someone. I was dead, too,” she continued. “But when you touched me—even though I couldn’t believe it was you—all these feelings, sensations and heat bubbled up and made me...” She looked him in the eye. “You made me want.”
His pulse kicked up.
“I haven’t felt that in a long time. Didn’t think I ever would. Please, Matt. Let me...feel.”
“What do you need to feel?” He pressed his lips to her forehead, softly.
She seemed to savor the kiss before answering, “Alive.”
He ran a knuckle down her soft cheek. “Oh, babe, you are the most alive person I know. Your spirit, your drive, your light. Those are the things that kept me going in battle.”
“I’m not that girl anymore. I seem to have lost those bits of myself. But maybe if you stay in Plunder Cove...”
A slice of despair tore through his chest. He wasn’t staying. He couldn’t.
“Julia, I have an airline to run. I’m leaving on Monday.”
“I have you for the weekend, then. ” She blushed, “I mean, if you don’t have other...plans. The two of us can...I mean, if you want to...we could be together. For one last time, or for three...” She swallowed hard, not meeting his eyes.
He tipped her chin up so he could look in that amazing smoldering gaze of hers. “One last time or three?”
Her cheeks were bright pink but she nodded. “Four?”
He grinned. “Are you propositioning me, sweetheart?”
“Yes?”
“I heard the question mark. Try again.”
She bit her lip but didn’t continue.
“Say you want me to make love to you all weekend. Say you want me to kiss every bit of you. Tell me you want me to lick, suck, nibble and make you come four times—” he rubbed her arms, slowly deliberately “—in a single hour.”
“Yes, please,” she croaked.
He laughed—because she wanted him and he desired her. And maybe they could have something like that honeymoon they’d never had before he flew out of Plunder Cove for good.
She rushed into his arms and sealed their deal with her kisses on his neck. “Thank you. This will be the closure I’ve always needed. We can both use this time to help us move forward.”
“Closure. Sure.”
The words nearly stuck in his throat. It was the first time in his life that he felt disappointment while a beautiful woman kissed his neck. He wouldn’t show it, or any of the other emotions he couldn’t name. Not when Julia wanted him for hot sex.
He couldn’t tell her why he hadn’t said goodbye ten years ago, and he might not ever understand why she’d believed him to be dead. Those misunderstandings didn’t really matter anymore. She’d married someone else. Had someone else’s child. And he had his own dreams to fulfill, away from here.
They couldn’t go back to what they’d once had. But maybe they could have this short time together.
She gave him a kiss on his chin. “Tomorrow.”
He grinned. “We could start right now.”
She smiled up at him. “No. Henry’s inside and I have to go back to him.” Gently, she petted Matt’s jaw and cheek, as if she still couldn’t believe it was him and really liked the feel of his beard. Her hands felt so good on him. She could put them all over his body. “Come by in the morning. I’ll make you breakfast.”
He kissed her long and slow. When he finally pulled back, he liked the soft and pliant Julia looking back at him. The anger was gone.
“I’ll be here. Good night, Julia Espinoza.”
Her lips turned up into a smile. “Good night, Matt Harper.”
Then he watched her turn and go inside.
Eight
When he returned to Casa Larga, Matt was surprised the party was still going full-swing—until he remembered how much Julia’s family liked to fiesta. He’d discovered it the hard way at Julia’s quinceañera.
Her aunts had done things up right for Julia’s fifteen-year-old coming of age party. They’d rented out the patio of a five-star resort in the closest big city. He’d worn his tux and waited in
the parking lot for the rented limo to pull up, like everyone else.
The mariachi band had trumpeted in his ear when Julia had stepped out of the limo with a passel of girls trailing behind. She’d looked like a fairy princess in light pink and it had been hard to keep his tongue off the pavement. Her gaze had searched the crowd and found him. When she’d smiled at him, he’d thought he was the luckiest guy on the planet.
The food and drinks had started flowing and he’d learned everyone in her family danced. He’d kicked himself a thousand times that night for not being able to spin the fairy princess around the floor. Relegated to leaning against the wall, he’d watched his beautiful girl dance with everyone but him. That night, he’d sworn he’d learn to salsa if it killed him.
Now music pulsed inside Casa Larga, spilling out into the night. He could hear laughing and singing. He didn’t go through the side entrance this time but walked right in. The two ape guards were no longer standing at the door. Was it too much to hope that they’d been sacked already?
“Matthew! Over here,” RW’s voice rang out. “We waited for you to make the announcement.”
His old man was upstairs, sitting on a couch surrounded by two faces Matt hadn’t seen in a long time. Jeff had been kicked out of the house right after Matt. At least Jeff got to go to an exclusive Hotel Management and Design school in New York, but sixteen was still too young to be booted out of the nest. Chloe, his baby sister, had gone to live with Mom in Santa Monica, or Malibu, or wherever Mom had moved to after that. He hadn’t stayed in touch with either of them.
He climbed the stairs and grinned. “Old home week.”
“Matt!” Chloe jumped to her feet and rushed to hug him. Her long blond hair was pulled back in a braid that dipped and swayed low across her back. Her face was as expressive and sparkling as it always had been.
He held her, marveling. She had to be twenty-four already. “I don’t know who you are, lady, but you remind me of a little girl I once knew.”
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