She wanted to run to her room and hide under the covers.
*
When Drake caught his first glimpse of Amanda coming down the stairs, he thought he’d have a heart attack. He’d never seen anyone more stunning. None of the women in his high society circles came close.
The chauffeur opened the door for Amanda to enter the limo. Drake gave the man a nod and followed. Inside, a bottle of champagne nestled in a bucket of ice. Amanda took her bottom lip between her teeth and stared at her drink then back to him.
“A little privacy, Mr. Thomas.” The chauffeur raised the tinted glass separating them from the front.
Amanda paled.
“Don’t worry.” Drake smiled. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. I know you aren’t a drinker. This is complimentary.”
She nodded and tugged at the hem of her dress. How could he put her at ease? Reassure her that she deserved all the glitz and glamour?
“What’s wrong?” Drake handed her a bottled water from the small refrigerator.
She gave a soft laugh. “I feel as if I’m on a first date with a stranger.”
“Same Drake Thomas as yesterday.”
She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head as if he were a specimen she’d never laid eyes on before. “So you say. I think differently.”
“Which one do you like better?” He scooted closer, tilting her chin with his fingers. “Does this feel familiar?” He kissed between her eyes, then each eyelid, slowly covering each inch of her face before claiming her lips. “Surely, this is the same Drake,” he whispered, his lips against hers. He trailed his kisses down her neck, then up to her earlobe, loving the way she shuddered under his hands.
“No … this … is new.”
He chuckled, and straightened. If he didn’t stop there, he might not be able to. Not since Rebecca had he found himself so lost in a woman. Her sudden shyness made her more alluring. She might think there were two Drake Thomas’s, but he was meeting a new softer Amanda Samson, and found he liked her. A lot.
They arrived at Merriman’s and were led to a prized table in front of large glass windows. Perfect for watching the sun set over the ocean. Once Amanda was seated by their host, Drake took the seat opposite her. “Would you like me to order for you?”
“Why? So I can’t see the prices?” Her eyes twinkled in the low lighting.
“Yes.” He waved to their waitress. “Two of the lobster avocado salads to start, followed with two of the Mahi Mahi with sesame grilled shiitake. For dessert, we’ll have one Flaming Pepper Pineapple with two forks.”
“Very well, sir.” The waiter nodded and backed away.
“That’s a lot of food,” Amanda stated. “I don’t think I’ll be able to eat it all.”
He shrugged. “Then take it home to your sisters. In fact, let’s order them something to go. Maybe the molten cake?”
“Are you always this nice?” She spread her napkin in her lap. “I’ve known you for three months now and I’ve never seen you lose your temper or raise your voice. Even with Lilly putting a claim on you, you tried to spare her feelings.”
“I wasn’t always this nice.” He twirled his crystal goblet on the starched tablecloth. “I used to take what I could get when I could get it and didn’t care who got hurt in the process.”
“What changed?”
“I finally found myself on the receiving end of that type of behavior and didn’t care for it.”
“That’s when you came to Maui.”
“Yes.” He raised his eyes to meet her compassionate gaze. “So, now you know everything about me.”
“I think we’ve just scratched the surface.” She leaned back and pierced him with a steely gaze. “There are still secrets simmering under the—”
“This doesn’t look like the two of you aren’t an item.” Lilly appeared next to their table like a furious wraith. “And it definitely doesn’t look like a business meeting.”
Drake spilled a few drops of water as he rushed to set his goblet on the table. Keeping a firm grip to still his shaking hands, he forced a smile. “Good evening, Lilly.”
“You are nothing but a player!” She grabbed Amanda’s water and threw it in his face, before turning to Amanda. “I bet he never told you about the nights I spent on his boat, did he? The drinks we shared? The moonlight excursions out to sea? No?”
“Don’t listen to her. She’s lying.” Drake mopped his face with his napkin. “Lilly you’re making a scene.”
“Oh, I haven’t even started.” She whirled, told the maître de to shut up, and stormed from the restaurant.
“I would like to leave now.” Amanda stood and laid her napkin slowly on the table. “I will wait for you outside.” She followed in Lilly’s wake, leaving Drake to have their food placed in takeaway boxes.
When he made his way outside, Amanda leaned against the limo. “The driver isn’t here.”
“I told him he could take a two-hour break.” He held up the bag of take-out. “I had our food boxed. We could go to the beach—”
She shook her head, her eyes glistening with tears. “I want to go home. I need to sort through some … things.”
“Amanda, please.” He reached for her. “She’s lying. We’ve never had anything.”
“How do I know?” The tears escaped, shimmering down her cheeks like liquid diamonds. “You kept who you are a secret. I’ve heard stories of rich playboys who own yachts and have different women every night. I don’t want to be another notch on your rope.”
How could she think that? His heart shattered, lying at his feet in shards. Again, he’d let himself fall for a woman only to have her hurt him. The difference was that Amanda wasn’t doing anything out of spite or a greedy search for money. No, this was worse.
She’d taken his heart, softened it, made it love again, and then no longer wanted it. He tossed the food to the ground. “I’ll have the restaurant call you a cab.”
Tears stung his throat, making his voice hoarse. He’d never allow himself to love again. Maybe he should be what they thought him to be. A player who had no regards for a woman’s feelings.
Instead of acting the role of rich yacht owning playboy for customers wanting to experience the life of the wealthy, he should become one. That’s the label everyone put on him, anyway.
8
For two weeks, Amanda had found an excuse to leave the store when Drake arrived. With a steady stream of snorkeling customers, she hadn’t had to see him. Now, he stood in the doorway of her office, having walked up unnoticed. His hair was in its usual disarray. He wore a faded blue tee shirt and tropical patterned board shorts and flip-flops on his feet. He was the handsomest thing she’d ever seen.
The look of vulnerability on his face was almost her undoing. She wanted his arms around her, his lips on hers, and for things to go back the way they were before Lilly’s evil outpouring of unwanted information.
For several seconds, the two stared at each other before Drake cleared his throat. “The party grew by two. I need more food and equipment.”
“Why didn’t you tell Bethie and Cassie?” She ducked her head, taking an interest in the invoices in her hand. Anything so she didn’t have to look at the pained expression in his eyes.
“They aren’t here.” His tone told her he’d have done anything else before coming to her. “I really need a key to the rental equipment.”
“Yes, you do. We should have given you one a long time ago.” She withdrew a lockbox from the bottom drawer of the desk, opened it with a key from the chain around her wrist, unlocked it, and then withdrew the extra key to the equipment closet. She tossed it to him. “I’ll make up some more sandwiches.”
He tossed the keys up in the air and caught them, over and over, until Amanda wanted to scream. Why didn’t he just spit out what was on his mind?
“Have you had enough time?” He clutched the keys.
“For what?”
“To decide whether I’m an ass or not.
”
She’d heard plenty more to attest to the fact Lilly might have been telling the truth. Several times Amanda had gone by the harbor and seen lights from his yacht and the raucous laughter of drunken partiers. All of which attested to Lilly’s truth-telling. “I don’t know.”
“Then you’ve decided.” His shoulders deflated. “I’d thought more of you.”
She shoved her chair back and stood. “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean, I thought you were too smart to fall for the lies of a jilted imagined lover.” He frowned. “You believe the words of a woman not living in reality and could be throwing away something beautiful.”
“I’ve seen the parties, Drake! The women, the booze, and you right in the middle of it.” She planted her palms flat on the desk. “Those don’t look like the actions of a man who isn’t a rich playboy.”
“You have your mind made up about me. Why should I pretend to be anything else?”
Ice formed in her heart. If he were the upstanding man he tried to convince her he was, then he would do all in his power to appear so. Instead, he did everything to show he was the philandering rich man. Who was the real Drake Thomas?
Her heart said he was the easy-going surfer man she loved. Her brain said … Did she just say she loved him? God help her, she did. With all her heart. But she couldn’t get involved with a man who was everything she didn’t want, could she? What if her love wasn’t strong enough to change him? What if he didn’t want to change, even for her?
“Let me get the sandwiches made.” She brushed past him and raced behind the safety of the counter. Maybe she should fire him and hire someone else to take customers snorkeling. Knowing her true feelings for him, she couldn’t keep him around. She just couldn’t.
She sliced two freshly baked Kaiser rolls in half and piled them high with turkey, provolone cheese, and assorted vegetables, then topped it off with Bethie’s special sauce. As she finished and had begun wrapping the sandwiches, Drake stormed by with the snorkeling gear.
Her sisters pushed past him into the shop. “Where have you two been?” Amanda tossed the food into a bag with a sturdy handle. “We have extra people going on the tour and you two are nowhere in sight.”
“Sorry.” Bethie glanced at their younger sister and raised her eyebrows as if to ask what was up with Amanda. “A family of five rented the last of the bikes and one had a flat and the other a loose chain. We needed to fix them before sending them off, right?”
“I’m sorry.” Amanda hung her head. “My bad mood is no excuse to take things out on you guys.”
Cassie crossed her arms. “You and Drake need to resolve whatever issue you have. This is ridiculous!”
“I know.” Amanda shook her head and blinked back tears. “I can’t love a playboy.”
“Who, Drake?” Bethie stopped on her way to the door and turned. “He’s as far from a playboy as a man can get.”
“No, I’ve seen him on his boat. There’s a party every night.”
“He charges for those parties, idiot.” Cassie grabbed her arm. “I’ve been to a couple of them. All Drake does is play the part of rich yacht owner and caters to his guest’s every whim. If he’s pretending to be a playboy, it’s because you’ve driven him to it.” She slapped Amanda upside the head.
Could her sisters be right? Was Amanda forcing Drake to be something he wasn’t all because of preconceived ideas and the words of a jealous woman? They needed to talk, and sooner rather than later.
The bell over the door jingled.
A smartly dressed couple and fashionable young woman stepped through. The man headed to the counter. “We’re looking for Drake Thomas. I’m his father.”
*
When Drake docked the boat and saw Amanda standing on the pier he didn’t know whether to laugh that she might have come to apologize or to be fearful that she was there to give him bad news. He cut the engine and tied off, then approached her, his heart in his throat. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She stiffened her shoulders. “I thought you might want to clean up. Your family is here.”
“My what?” He stopped a few feet from her.
“Your parents and some woman. They’ve gone to dinner and should be here in the harbor within the hour.”
His parents and … it couldn’t be anyone but Rebecca. He thought Lilly was bad news. She didn’t hold a candle to his ex-fiancé. “What did they say to you? Were they unfriendly?”
“No.” Her brow furrowed. “They were civil. They arrived shortly after you left this morning, then did some sightseeing, came back, went to dinner, and … Oh, there they are.”
Drake glanced over. His blood chilled. His parents strolled toward him, smiles on their faces. Rebecca also smiled, but her smile closely resembled the hungry look of a shark. He shot out a hand to stop Amanda as she turned to leave. “Stay. Please.” He didn’t want to face them alone.
“I’ll intrude.”
“My family aren’t the kindest people in the world. Don’t leave me alone with them. They’ll badger me to return to Los Angeles.”
She shook free. “For crying out loud, Drake, you’re a grown man.”
“You’ll see soon enough. Please, play along.”
“Fine. But you’ll owe me big time. And to think I was going to fire you.”
“You were going to what?”
“Son.”
He transferred his attention to his father. “Father. Mother. Rebecca.” He couldn’t keep the scorn from his voice to save his life.
“Drake, honey.” Rebecca stood on tip-toe and kissed him.
He jerked back. “I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Amanda Samson.”
Rebecca transferred her icy gaze to the woman at his side. “Really? Aren’t you the woman we met at the surf shop?”
“Yes.” Amanda adopted the same chilly tone to her voice, causing Drake to straighten with pride. He knew she would be able to hold her own. “I’m the owner. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Rebecca’s gaze swept over her khaki shorts and floral shirt. “Charmed, I’m sure.”
“Not particularly.”
Drake snorted at Amanda’s response. If he weren’t sending his family home on the next flight from Maui, he might enjoy watching the two verbally spar for a while.
“Drake.” Mother stepped forward and planted a kiss on his cheek, leaving a sticky imprint of lipstick. “You’ve played long enough. It’s time to come home.”
“Don’t beat around the bush, Mother.” He wiped the crimson smear from his face. “Get to the point, please.”
“Don’t be childish.” Her nose crinkled as she glanced around the harbor. “Is there somewhere more comfortable we can all go?”
Drake waited for his father to speak up, at the same time realizing nothing had changed. His sharp-tongued mother still held the reins in the family. “I live on the yacht. You’re welcome to come aboard.”
His mother sighed. “Somehow I doubt Rebecca and I would manage.” She motioned toward her pencil skirt and heels.
Now, she’d brought up the real reason they’d came. Drake shoved his hands in his pockets so they couldn’t see how he clenched them. “Why is Rebecca here?”
“I’m sorry.” Rebecca stepped forward, putting herself between Drake and Amanda. “I never meant to hurt you. I was frightened and immature. Things have changed now. Please, forgive me.”
He stepped back. “Forgive you for killing my child?” No way. Amanda gasped beside him and slipped her hand in his. He drew strength from her nearness. “Nothing you can say will make me forget, or forgive, that.”
Rebecca’s features hardened. “Very well, then my father will withdraw our family’s business from yours.”
Now the truth came out. Drake laughed. “We’ll survive. Stopping any dealings between our two companies will also hurt your father. Don’t threaten me. I’m happy and content where I am.”
“Living the life of a beach bum!”
�
�Yes.”
“Drake Thomas, stop this idiocy this instant.” His mother clasped her hands in front of her. “You’ve made your point. If you don’t want Rebecca, your father and I will find another suitable woman for you to marry. One that will benefit both parties.” She flicked a condescending glance at Amanda.
Amanda slipped her hand from Drake’s and stepped forward. “Mr. Thomas. May I ask how you gained your wealth? Was it handed to you or did you build it from the bottom into the success it is?”
His father grinned. “From the bottom with my own sweat and blood.”
“Hmmm. Much the same way I’m building mine.” She raised an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t you agree?”
“Yes.”
“Then don’t you think it commendable that your son desires to do the same?”
“We do not!” Mother stomped to stand by her husband. “Stop filling my husband’s head with foolishness.”
“I can think for myself.” He held out his hand. “Ms. Samson, it’s been a pleasure meeting you. Son, I wish you the best. Although you need to never work a day in your life, I’m proud that you want to work for what you have.”
Drake’s throat swelled. When was the last time he’d heard his father say he was proud of him? His mother hissed and marched down the pier, followed by Rebecca. Amanda stepped to the side and seemed to gain a sudden interest in a coil of rope.
Instead of accepting the hand his father held out, Drake pulled him into a hug. “Thank you for coming to my defense.”
“Don’t thank me, son. Thank that little woman over there. She’s got a good head on her shoulders.”
Drake nodded, suddenly remembering that Amanda had mentioned something about firing him.
9
Amanda wrapped the thin strip of adhesive paper around the stack of twenty dollar bills and placed it inside the bank bag. She’d had to count the money three times because she couldn’t get the night before out of her mind.
Love Draws Near Page 5
