An Innocent In Paradise

by Kate Carlisle

  “Me, too,” Aidan said.

  “She’ll love that.” Dad wiped away a happy tear. “Right now she’s off making plans for us to go somewhere special for a picnic.”

  “Sounds great,” Aidan said. “You two will have a fun day.”

  “But we’ll celebrate tonight, right?” Logan said. “I’ll reserve the table in the wine cellar and we’ll all go a little crazy.”

  “Sounds perfect,” Dad said.

  Before Logan went off to find Sally, he wanted to find Grace and invite her to the family party that night. He didn’t care what Aidan thought of his decision, he just wanted Grace to be with him for as long as she was on the island. He still didn’t know what had gone on between her and Sally last night and while he was anxious to find out, he realized that he trusted Grace enough to know it wasn’t anything sinister.

  Logan turned for one last look at his dad who was still grinning from ear to ear. He hoped and prayed his father would be wearing that grin for the rest of his life. Nobody deserved happiness more than he did. When Logan thought about all the years when he and Aidan were growing up, all he could see was his father, always there. Always steady. Always loving his sons enough to make up for the loss of their mother.

  Yeah, Sally Duke was perfect for Dad because Logan could see in her eyes how much she loved his father. And that made her perfect, period, as far as Logan was concerned.

  The following day, the Duke brothers and their wives, along with Sally and the twins’ dad, Tom, flew back to the West Coast.

  “Damn, I miss them already,” Aidan said as they stood together on the tarmac.

  Logan agreed, staring at the sky as the jet climbed higher then curved gracefully toward the west. “Funny how we all became a family in an instant. It’s like we’ve known them all our lives.”

  “I know,” Aidan said. “It’s comforting. A little weird, but nice.”

  “Really nice,” Logan murmured. “Glad we got to party last night with everyone. Dad was in his element.” Logan was especially glad that Grace had agreed to accompany him to the party. She’d looked beautiful and he’d been so proud to introduce her to his entire family. She’d fit in as well as he’d imagined she would.

  “Yeah, it was great to see Dad and Sally together,” Aidan said. “Can’t wait for the wedding. It’s going to be one hell of a celebration.”

  “Dad really deserves that.”

  “Yeah, he does.”

  Logan didn’t say it out loud, but he was starting to wonder why they all didn’t deserve that kind of happiness. Shaking his head, he said, “I was thinking…how about we build a house for Dad and Sally up on the bluff? I know they won’t live here full-time, but they might like their own place on Alleria.”

  “I like it. You know,” Aidan said with a grin, “you’re smarter than you look.”

  “Ah,” Logan countered, with a matching grin, “twin joke. Good one.”

  “Okay, bro, let’s get going,” Aidan said, and they strolled over to the limo. Once they were settled and the driver took off, he broached the subject they’d left hanging last night. “So, did you find out about the note Grace slipped to Sally?”

  “No, I didn’t get a chance to ask her yet.”

  “Dude, you were with her all night.”

  “I had other things on my mind.” Such as getting Grace back to his suite and into his bed. That note had been the last thing he was thinking about by then, and he smiled at the memory.

  Aidan snorted. “Fine, but you’ll ask her today, right?”

  “Of course.” Though he wasn’t real anxious to open up that line of conversation and he couldn’t really say why.

  “Because I’ll ask her myself if you don’t.”

  “No, you won’t,” Logan said, jabbing his finger in the air. “Just…back off. First of all, it’s probably nothing to get excited about. And second of all… Damn it, just…back off.”

  Aidan held his hands up in surrender. “Jeez, power down. Fine. I won’t ask her. As long as you do.”

  “I said I would, didn’t I?”

  “Good. It’s cool. I trust you.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  The car pulled to a stop outside the hotel entrance. Both men thanked the driver and climbed out, then Aidan checked his watch. “Look, I’ve got to go pack.”

  “Oh, hell,” Logan said, rubbing his head in frustration. “I do, too. In all of the excitement over Dad and Sally, I forgot we’re leaving for New York tomorrow.”

  He didn’t want to leave.

  Logan had been dragging his ass around his bedroom, throwing socks and T-shirts into his open suitcase and counting out the required number of dress shirts and suits for the hanging bag. But the realization didn’t hit him until he started pulling shoes out of the closet and lining them up next to the suitcase.

  Damn. He would never disclose this to Aidan, but Logan had the strongest urge to blow off New York and stay here with Grace. They’d spent almost every night together and he was forced to admit-to himself only-that he’d grown damned close to her. He liked having her around and knew he was going to miss her while he was gone.

  “Get a grip,” he muttered to himself. He was only going to be gone for three days.

  The problem was, he didn’t know how much longer Grace intended to stay. Checking his calendar, he realized she’d been here almost three weeks. He’d never asked her how long she planned to stay. But he wanted her to be here when he got back.

  If she did have to go home for a while, maybe Logan could convince her to just drop off the spores and come back right away.

  “Ah, jeez.” When had he turned into such a sap? Shaking his head in disgust, he stuffed his shoes into the soft cloth shoe bag, fitted them into the suitcase and zipped it closed. Nope, he definitely wouldn’t be mentioning any of that to Aidan.

  “What are you looking at?”

  Grace jolted, startled by the voice. She hadn’t heard footsteps approaching, but that was because she tended to recede into her own little spore world when she was out here among the palms.

  “I’m looking at these tiny creatures.” She turned over one of the palm fronds and pointed them out to the little girl who stood a few feet away. “Can you see them?”

  She took a step closer. “The little red dots?”

  “That’s right, although they’re not actually red. More of a brownish-green. But when they’re clustered together, they appear to be brick colored.”

  The girl frowned. “Who are you?”

  “I’m Grace,” she said, sitting back on her feet. “I’m a scientist and I collect these spores to use in experiments. Who are you?”

  “I’m Swoozie,” she said, and folded her arms across her narrow chest. “I’m staying at the hotel with my parents.”

  “I like your name,” Grace said. “Do you like science?”

  Swoozie made a face and shook her head. “I’m failing math and science.”

  “Oh, that’s interesting. Those are my two favorite subjects.” She smiled good-naturedly. “But I’ve always been kind of weird.”

  “My friend Charlotte likes math, too, but I don’t get it.”

  Swoozie looked about ten years old, thin, with long, brown hair and big brown eyes.

  “What’s your favorite subject?” Grace asked as she packed up her bag.

  “I guess I like English.”

  “Do you like to read?”

  “Yes, but mostly, I just want to graduate high school so I can go and be a model in Europe.”

  “You want to be a model?”

  “A supermodel,” she specified.

  “You’ll need to know math and science if you’re going to be a model,” Grace said casually as she stood and brushed the bits of sand and dirt off her legs.

  “No, I won’t.”

  “You will.” Grace began to walk with her back to the hotel. “Say you’re in Paris and you want to have dinner after your photo shoot with Pierre, the world famous French photographer. You’ll
need to calculate the daily exchange rate to make sure you’re on budget and not overtipping your waiter. So if you know that the day’s rate is 1.44 euros to the dollar, and your meal is twelve euros, you’ll be able to figure out that you’re about to spend over seventeen dollars, and that might not be within your budget.”

  “Oh.” Swoozie frowned, then her face screwed up in deep thought. A few seconds later, she grinned. “But I’ll be with Pierre and he’ll be happy to calculate all those numbers for me.”

  “Well.” Grace laughed and waved her hand in the air. “As long as Pierre is with you, he should just pay for your dinner.”

  Swoozie laughed. “That’s even better.”

  They walked through the palmetto grove until they reached the beach. “So what are you studying in math right now?”

  “Multiplication tables,” Swoozie said miserably. “I’m supposed to memorize them while I’m on vacation, but I suck at memorizing stuff.”

  “Oh, there’s a better way to learn multiplication,” Grace said, leading Swoozie over to a shaded table on the terrace. “I’ll show you.”

  Logan stood at the bar sipping his single-malt scotch as he waited for Grace to finish her shift. This would be their last night together for a few days and he didn’t want to waste a minute of time, so he’d decided to camp out at the end of the bar and watch her in action until it was time for her to clock out.

  She was balancing cocktail trays like a champ these days, as long as she only carried two or three drinks at a time and moved very slowly. The customers didn’t seem to mind. Hell, half the time they followed her to the bar and grabbed the drinks on their own. It was a bizarre way to do business, but Logan was no longer complaining.

  A thirty-something couple walked into the lounge and headed straight for the bar. The woman called the bartender over and said briskly, “Which one of your waitresses is Grace?”

  Logan’s hackles stiffened as he watched Sam scan the room. Spying Grace across the room wiping off a four-top for a small group of guests who waited nearby, Sam pointed her out to the couple.

  “Oh, yes,” the woman said, nodding. “I was told she was a redhead.”

  As Grace walked back toward the bar, the couple met her halfway. Logan followed them. He didn’t know what this was all about, but he didn’t want any trouble, especially if it involved Grace.

  “So you’re Grace,” the woman said.

  “Yes, I am,” she said, smiling. “Can I help you?”

  “You spoke to my daughter Swoozie this morning.”

  “Oh, yes. She’s a sweet girl.” Grace’s eyes suddenly widened and she looked mortified. “Oh, I’m so sorry I suggested that Pierre pay for her dinner. I was thinking about that later and realized-”

  “Thank you so much!” the woman exclaimed, and grabbed Grace in a tight embrace.

  “Oh, well,” Grace said, nonplussed.

  “You have no idea what we’ve been through,” Swoozie’s mother cried.

  The woman’s husband glanced around the room nervously. When he made eye contact with Logan, he shrugged, clearly clueless.

  When the mother finally let her loose, Grace raked her hair back self-consciously. “But I really didn’t-”

  “She came back to the room and did three pages of math homework!”

  “Three pages.” Grace smiled and nodded. “That’s nice.”

  “She was so excited,” the woman continued. “She kept saying ‘I get it!’ over and over again. When I asked her what happened, she told me you explained it to her in a way that finally clicked for her.”

  “I’m so glad,” Grace said. “I just showed her an easy way I have of remembering number systems. I can show it to you if you’d-”

  “No, no,” the woman said quickly, holding up her hand as she took a step back. “Whatever you did, it worked and I’ll just leave it at that. Swoozie has seen the light! That’s all that matters to me. Thank you so much.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Logan stood next to Grace as the couple walked out of the bar.

  “Isn’t that sweet?” Grace murmured. Logan wasn’t sure what had just happened, but he knew right then that Swoozie wasn’t the only one Grace had helped to finally see the light.

  “Come with me to the airport,” Logan said early the next morning. “The driver will bring you back.”

  Grace was dressed in shorts, tank top and sandals, ready to leave his room. But Logan decided he didn’t want to say goodbye just yet.

  “Are you sure you want me there?” she asked.

  “Yeah.” He grabbed Grace with one hand and his suitcase with the other, and they left the suite to meet the limousine out front.

  He and Grace were already waiting in the limo when Aidan climbed inside. Logan ignored his brother’s fulminating glance and breathed a sigh of relief when Eleanor arrived a few seconds later. They all drove to the airport in companionable silence.

  Aidan assisted Eleanor out of the car and they walked to the jet, leaving Logan to say goodbye to Grace.

  Standing on the tarmac, Logan kissed her goodbye. “You’ll still be here when I get back?”

  “Yes, of course,” Grace said with a smile. “I still have a few weeks of work to do before I have to go back to Minnesota.”

  “Good. I’ll see you in a few days, then.” He kissed her again, then turned and walked away.

  “Have a good trip,” Grace called.

  “Hell,” he muttered. A glance at the plane and his twin standing in the open doorway watching him reminded Logan that he still hadn’t asked Grace about the stupid note. And if he didn’t, Aidan would rag his ass for the next three days. He turned back to her. “I keep forgetting to ask you something.”

  “What is it?”

  “You passed a note to Sally the other night in the bar. What did it say?”

  She flinched and her face turned pale. “You saw that?”

  “Yeah,” he said, warily watching her reaction to what should’ve been a simple question. “What was in that note?”

  Grace turned around and grabbed the limo’s door handle, trying to escape. “I don’t have to tell you.”

  “Grace,” he said, reaching for her, “do you have something to hide from me?”

  She glared at him. “Well, of course I do. And you have things to hide from me. People have their secrets. It’s human nature.”

  “What was in the note, Grace?” he asked, his tone deadly quiet.

  Her jaw was set in a stubborn scowl and as much as she tried to hold to her convictions, Logan continued to stare her down. Finally, she broke, and exhaled heavily. “Fine. I gave her directions. Are you happy?”

  “Directions to what?” he shouted. “Her G-spot?”

  “Oh, for God’s sake, Logan,” she said, throwing up her hands in exasperation. “Sally doesn’t need help finding her G-spot.”

  Oh, he so didn’t need to know that about his soon-to-be new mother. “Then what? Just tell me.”

  She huffed and puffed and fumed, and Logan had the strongest urge to kiss her senseless. But first he needed to know the truth.

  She wrapped her arms tightly around her middle. “She wanted directions to the hot springs. There, are you happy?”

  Seriously? The hot springs? That was the big secret? Logan frowned at that. “Why would she want to go there?”

  “You’re kidding, right?” Grace rolled her eyes, then slapped her hands on her hips and said, “She wanted to take your father there, but she didn’t want anyone else to know that they were sneaking off to have wild jungle sex.”

  “Oh, no, no, no.” Logan stumbled back a half step, pretty certain that his own face had grown pale, too. Grace had just painted a picture in his mind that he would’ve been perfectly happy never to have seen in his entire life.

  And if not for Aidan bugging him to find out, he never would have. It would be his pleasure to share that horrifying mental image with his twin.

  “And don’t you dare tell her I told you,” Grace sa
id, her voice stinging with aggravation.

  “I won’t, don’t worry. In fact, I’m going to do everything I can to forget you ever told me.” He stared at her for another ten seconds, then began to chuckle. “Jesus, Grace.” He laughed out loud, then yanked her close and planted a hot, wet kiss on her lips. “God, I’m going to miss you.”

  She pressed her palm against his chest. “I’ll miss you, too, Logan.”

  He gave her one more hard, fast kiss, then turned and jogged to the plane. Still laughing, he climbed the stairs, then spun around and waved goodbye one last time.

  Eleven

  Grace was a pathetic mess. She missed Logan terribly, and he’d only been gone one day. What in the world would she do once she was back home in Minnesota? Once she left Alleria, she would never see Logan again. So wasn’t it about time she pulled herself together and figured out the best way to deal with the pain?

  But a long, sleepless night wasn’t the way to get used to anything. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Logan. A tight ball of misery lodged in the pit of her stomach, reminding her with every breath that this was just the beginning. That leaving Logan would be the hardest thing she had ever done.

  By morning, she was exhausted and feeling sorry for herself, so she spent several hours in the rain forest, hiking and searching for more spore sites. But even her research couldn’t fill the void that was building inside her. That evening, she worked tirelessly in the cocktail lounge and even stayed an extra hour later to help the others.

  She loved the camaraderie among the waiters and bartenders and busboys. Sometimes she wished she could just go and be a waitress because the people were so much more fun than academics. Sad but true.

  But even though she wished she could stay on the island forever, she knew she needed to get back to the laboratory. She had important work to do there. Besides, this wasn’t her world. Was it? She’d lived her entire life in academia. Could she honestly leave it all behind? Could she really see herself living here in paradise?

  “Oh, dear,” she whispered, and tried to swallow around the sudden lump in her throat as she watched Dee laugh at something Joey said. She thought of Logan and all the nights he’d stood at the end of the bar waiting for her. And that’s when it struck her that she really could live here forever. And the realization scared her to death.