by L. L. James
It was a gorgeous day on the island. Mid-eighties and balmy with a slight cooling breeze wafting in off the ocean. Maybe it was her giddy heart and newfound love that made everything seem to sparkle so fantastically, but she doubted it. The light of the island was unmistakable.
There was just something about the way the sun glinted across the water and hit the deep green foliage. There was magic in the way the palms waved in the gentle breeze as they towered over the ground. There was something special in the way the lush foliage grew thick and tangled.
The vibrant flowers pulsed with life and vitality. Even the birds chirping in the trees and flying overhead had feathers of brilliant colors. And the dazzling blue of the sky with white fluffy clouds made the perfect frame for the small paradise she currently resided on.
No wonder Marek had come back to this place. It was such a beautiful island, from the dryer east side with the many varieties of cactus and tall guinea grass to the much wetter west side with the lusher greenery and mango and fruit trees.
Carm knew she could be happy living on Tortola. It called to her and she wanted to make it home. She just had to get Marek to agree.
That was one of the reasons why Carm was on her way into town. She wanted to check on the status of Big Bubba and see if she could catch Maria at the inn. She still had some questions about the night she and Marek had met and wanted to ask Maria about the employees that worked at the inn. Find out if there was anyone who’d been working that night that she and Marek had missed talking to.
It still didn’t sit well with her that her first time having sex had been under such seedy circumstances. Granted, it eased most of the humiliation and inner turmoil knowing that she was in love with the man she’d given her virginity to. But still, she’d much have preferred a different sequence of events and she sure as hell would have liked to remember her first time.
Nothing like a girl waiting for that special moment only to have it pass by in a drunken blur. Carm shook her head at her musings and pulled into the brick driveway to the inn. Things could have turned out a whole lot worse than they had. She could have been drugged and married off to Big Bubba himself.
She shuddered at that thought and thanked her lucky stars that she’d wound up with Marek. Somehow, someway, she’d messed up big time and still managed to find the man of her dreams. Now all she had to figure out was a way to convince him that she was the woman of his dreams. He had opened up to her and let her in. He had to be pretty close to the edge of love himself. Didn’t he?
Well, if he wasn’t she was going to help him get there. And push him over the cliff if she had to.
Carm refused to get all stupid and silly now simply because she was in love for the first time in her life. No, she was going to keep her head and her wits about her. Stay strong and focused until she’d achieved her goal. Then when he was as much in love with her as she was in love with him she’d let herself act stupid.
It still amazed her how quickly her feelings for Marek had grown. How they’d changed from utter loathing to love in such a short time. But then again, she’d always figured that when she found her man it would happen fast. Quick as the snap of her fingers. And it had.
Part of her wanted to dance around and squeal like a boy-crazy girl meeting her favorite movie star, but she knew she had to keep it under wrap. For now. It wasn’t easy though, especially when she couldn’t stop smiling and her heart wouldn’t stop singing. But there were still things to be done.
Carm parked the jeep in the small parking lot next to a Vespa scooter and climbed out. Her flip flops crunched on the gravel as she made her way around the side of the house to the front brick walkway. She let her hand brush across the tip of a yellow hibiscus as she passed.
No one was outside on the wide front porch, the dual rocking chairs empty. Carm stepped inside and took off her glasses. Her eyes scanned the foyer a waiting room, searching for Maria, but came up empty. The room was empty but for a young black woman sitting behind the antique desk used for check-in.
As Carm approached the young woman she looked up from her paperback novel and grinned. “Well, hello der, Mrs. Stokes. Good ta see you feeling much better.”
She stopped short and studied the young woman. She must have been around eighteen and had a plump, solid figure, and a pretty round face. Large gold hoop earrings hung from her ears almost to her shoulders. A bright red scarf was wrapped around her head, covering her hair and falling down her back. A thin blouse in shades of red, orange and yellow complemented her mocha coloring. And her nails were painted the same scarlet red as her scarf.
She didn’t look in the least bit familiar. “Excuse me, but do I know you?” Carm inquired as she walked over to the desk. Carm sat in a high-backed wood chair across from the woman as a frown darkened the her face.
“You don’ remember me, Mrs. Stokes? I helped Marek get you upstairs about a week ago.”
Hot damn, a witness to that night! Carm placed her elbows on the desk and leaned toward the young woman. Glancing at the name tag over her left breast, she smiled and replied, “Forgive me, Shaunda. I was a bit out of it that night.” She ignored the girl’s snort of amusement over her choice of words and continued, “Would you mind refreshing my memory?”
Shaunda set down her novel and Carm noted that it was a romance. It was one she had packed to read by the beach but had been torn to shreds when her room had been raided. A tragic thing, really. Destroying books was practically a sacrilege.
Her eyes met Shaunda’s over the desk. “You wouldn’t really remember much dat night I suppose as you were passed out. Marek had ta carry you up the stairs ta your room. I happened ta be on the second floor and saw him with you. He looked pretty boozed up too, I tell ya. You two musta had some fun that night.”
Carm mumbled, “If only I could remember how much.”
When confusion clouded Shaunda’s eyes, Carm rushed on before she could be questioned, “Were you the one that put the newlywed basket in our room?”
Shaunda nodded her scarved head and tapped her killer red nails on the glossy desk surface. “That was me. When Marek was weaving down the hall I saw him struggling with a piece of paper while carrying you, so I took the slip from him. I noticed the paper was a marriage certificate, so after I opened your door for him I rushed downstairs ta get a basket. We keep them in the back all made up, just in case.”
Carm nodded, her heart pounding wildly in her chest. It was the most she’d learned about that night to date. Please, please, please let Shaunda know what else happened.
She placed her hands in her lap and crossed her fingers. Using her yoga breathing to calm her racing pulse, she managed an easy smile and said, “It was wonderful, thank you. I don’t recall placing it on the dresser, however. Did Marek do that?”
Shaunda laughed, her young voice full of humor, and shook her head. “By the time I came back with the basket you two was passed out colder than a dead fish on the bed.”
Carm leaned forward, her brow wrinkled, and whispered, “Were we naked?”
Shaunda laughed again, her deep brown eyes twinkling merrily. “I would bet money on it. Clothes was all over the room. Yours and his. But you both was covered by the bedsheets all the way up to the chin, so I’m not positive. Boy, you and Marek had one wild night, huh?”
Carm tried to swallow around the not in her throat. Her heart almost hammered right on out of her chest. She had one final question to answer and her gut clenched at the thought. Maybe things hadn’t happened they way the way she and Marek had thought they had. Please God, let it not have happened like that.
Leaning far over the dark stained desk, Carm lifted a hand and crooked a finger at Shaunda to come closer. When they were a few inches apart, she glanced around to make sure no one could hear her then asked in a small whisper, “Do you think, I mean in your opinion, could Marek and I have done . . . you know . . . it . . . by the time you made it back?”
The young woman’s eyes grew large and round
with understanding and she bit her plump bottom lip to keep from laughing. Her round shoulders shook inside her thin blouse as she tried to contain her amusement. Her eyes glimmered with joy.
As she waited for Shaunda to answer Carm’s stomach flip-flopped like a fish out of water. So much rode on the answer. Mainly her dignity and peace of mind.
The young woman cleared her throat and Carm whipped her eyes back to her, waiting. Finally the answer came on an amused chuckle. “You was passed out cold and Marek was darned close too. He couldn’t even manage to open the door himself.” Shaunda grinned and shook her head. “I was only gone a minute or two. No, I don’ see how he could have managed to get you both undressed and do the deed that fast under those condition. Besides, if the rumors are true, Marek is anything but a minute man, you know?”
Carm’s stomach bottomed out and hit the floor. She thought she might faint from the force of her relief. They didn’t do it that night! She couldn’t believe it!
Looking at Shaunda, Carm gripped her dark hand with hers and demanded, “Are you certain about this? You came back in a minute or two and we were passed out? No time for hanky panky?”
When Shaunda nodded her head, Carm let out a sigh of relief that almost toppled her out of her chair. Then the woman quipped, “If you don’ want Marek anymore, you go right on and divorce him. There is a lot of women waiting for a chance at that man. We’ve all heard what a good time he is in bed. Rumor is, that man can make a woman walk funny for days, if you get my meaning.”
Yeah, Carm got her meaning all right. And the only woman that was going to be walking funny from Marek was her. Starting tonight.
Before she could reply to Shaunda’s outrageous remark, Maria breezed into the room with a bouquet of fresh flowers in her hand. Sending Shaunda a whispered, “Thank you,” Carm pushed out of the chair and crossed the room to Maria.
“Ah, there you are mi ami. I have been trying to phone Marek all morning but no one has been answering.”
Carm replied as she took in the somber state of Maria’s clothing, “Marek is down on St. Kitts today. Is there a message you would like me to pass on to him?”
Maria nodded, the silver dangles in her ears jingling. She looped her arm through Carm’s and led them out the door to the front porch. She tossed one last glance Shaunda’s direction and stepped onto the shaded porch.
Maria turned to Carm and said, her voice touched with sorrow, “Tell Marek that Big Bubba passed away this morning. I just heard the news while I was at Sunny Caribe Market picking up some spices. He didn’t pull through the heart attack. Tell Marek for me, will you? He’s been playing in that band of his almost every Friday at that bar for as long as I can remember.”
Carm squeezed Maria’s hand and nodded, “I will.” But her mind was still reeling from the shock of learning she was still a virgin. Maria’s message barely registered.
Suddenly Marek’s mother put a hand to Carm’s brow and stated, “Ami, you don’t look so good. Go back to Marek’s and get some rest.”
Good idea. She said her goodbyes, promised to relay the message, climbed behind the wheel of Marek’s jeep, and head back home. She completely forgot to swing into the police station and file a report on her stolen passport. Her mind was on much more important things.
Like her still intact virginity.
Marek stared out the window of Landon’s helicopter to the aqua water below. An ache in his lower back forced him to shift positions and he stretched his long, dirt covered legs in front of him and sighed. It had been a long, frustrating day.
All day he’d questioned his employees, searched the fields, hiked into the jungle, and worked with his crops. All day he’d kept busy as two men and all he’d been able to think about was the way Carmen had arched her neck in her sleep, reaching out for him.
He couldn’t escape her. And he tried. He’d tackled his work with singleminded determination, hoping to force her from his thoughts. But it hadn’t worked.
There had even a point during the day when he’d been so disgusted with himself he’d thrown down his gloves and stalked off into the trees to cool down. It had been the moment when he’d been down on his hands and knees in the damp soil working organic fertilizer into the base of one of his plants—and he’d realized he was comparing the blue of Carm’s eyes to the sky overhead.
That had been the last straw. He’d dropped everything and walked away. It was just pathetic the way he obsessed over Carm. Every thought lately was filled with her, every breath he took, he breathed her scent. Even when she wasn’t there. He’d memorized her private perfume, that intoxicating mix of vanilla and coconut with a hint of spice.
The one good discovery of the day had come then, however. He’d stalked far away from the rest of his crew to the spot where he and Carmen had stood when she’d asked him about the poppy-like flower. Standing in that same spot, he’d noticed the plant had disappeared. That in and of itself wasn’t odd—his crew pulled the annoying plants out all the time. But the fact that it was well past the edge of the carefully tilled fields over by the trees and had been pulled anyway was odd.
He’d walked over the grounds then and parted the tall grass, seeing the footprints. Marek had followed them through the thick jungle down the mountain to a clearing. The grass there had been mashed flat and tire tracks led out through the trees to the dirt road farther down.
Standing in the clearing, he noticed one of the plants that looked like a poppy, plucked and laying limp on the ground. Marek picked it up and studied it. A full pod at the top had split open and a milky substance oozed from the crack.
Experiencing an odd sense of déjà vu, Marek gathered a bit of the liquid and rubbed it between his fingers. It was tacky to the touch. Just like heroin was in its raw form.
Everything fell into place for him then. He suddenly knew why Carmen had been threatened and why he’d been attacked outside the bar. Carillos had given him the final puzzle piece. The new drug Euphoria 9 was being grown in his coffee fields. His fields were playing host to the most sought after drug on the black market.
And he’d been ripping the plants out to make way for his beans.
Someone was mad as fuck.
Marek turned in his seat and looked over at Landon, all calm and collected at the controls of his chopper. “I need to tell the authorities when we land. I spent a good portion of the afternoon down at the station in Basseterre giving them what information I have about what’s going on up on my land. Man, it pisses me off that my fields are being used for the cultivation of illicit drugs.”
Landon glanced over at him, his black headphones making his blond hair lay flat over his forehead. “You can’t blame yourself for that, bro. How were you to know? Hell, I’ve been up to your fields many times and have never looked twice at those flowers. It’s kind of ironic though, isn’t it? You used to grow pot back in the day and now you’re growing this.”
A snort escaped Marek. Oui, he’d had a pot plant or two when he was a kid. Until his mother had discovered it wasn’t some sort of bamboo plant like he’d told her it was. She’d believed him for the longest time too. Man, she was gullible about some things.
No doubt about it he’d been a wild kid. Made a pretty decent profit for a time selling his homegrown stuff to the tourists too.
Marek shook his head at his youthful stupidity. Thank God those days were long gone. The best thing that had ever happened to him was getting caught by that detective. Being sent to the states had given him a second chance at life—one with a future.
After a while he’d been smart enough to realize it.
Landon broke his train of thought when he asked, “What are you going to tell Carm?”
Marek shrugged and settled back against the seat. “The truth. I’m not going to lie to her, man. Besides, I gave the police on St. Kitts enough evidence to go on and they’ve already been nosing around. Apparently someone saw a yacht anchored in an undesignated location, loading boxes of cargo a few weeks ago and
told the police about it. They police are just about to go after the yacht owner for information.”
Tortola came into view on the horizon, rising out of the water steep and tall, the spine of the island high in the sky. Marek squinted his eyes against the glaring sun and added, “I’ll let the police here know and let them do their job. In the meantime I’m not going to let Carm out of my sight.”
“Smart thinking. I wouldn’t let her go anywhere without you until this is over. The drug pirates will be feeling the heat pretty soon and might take it out on you.”
“I’ll be ready.”
Landon chuckled and replied, “I don’t doubt that for a minute, bro.”
Marek scrubbed his hands down his face and grinned, “Damn straight. Never underestimate a man who’s been on both sides of society, man.”
The island stretched out before them and Landon picked up his control and spoke into the microphone as he made his way toward the landing pad. Marek watched the newly renovated airport grow closer and felt anticipation build.
He’d avoided thinking about Carm’s reaction to the things he’d left her but couldn’t help it now. Impatience clawed at him, urging him to get to her. What did she think?
Marek pushed the question aside as Landon settled them smoothly on the ground. He had one more stop to make before he went home to his woman.
When they were settled in Landon’s white Ranger, Marek drove them down to the police station and pulled into the parking lot. He had some very interesting news to pass on.
Seventeen
The sun was hanging heavy on the horizon, only a few minutes away from setting when Landon dropped Marek off at his house. All day he’d thought about Carm, wanted her, craved her.
