Last Resort

by Amber Malloy

  “Ah, honey, you know we’re totally screwed.” A tall, strawberry-blond man walked in and headed straight for Simone. The man planted a kiss on the top of her head before he took the baby.

  “Holy shit, you’re Cayden Young!” He pointed at her, giving a perfect imitation of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

  “I told you I knew her.”

  “You also told me you were a lawyer working for her New York office … sorry if I’m not inclined to believe you.”

  “No,” Cayden said, shocked Simone lied about her career. The last she heard, the redhead sold real estate on the gold coast.

  “He’s kidding.” She giggled. “Sort of.”

  “Mark Bellingham.”

  “Bellingham Flowers?” Cayden blurted, surprised, before she shook his hand. They were the biggest flower chain in Illinois.

  “Yeah,” Simone jumped in. “Mark’s great grandfather started it, and now he’s—”

  “Head of sales, with no sign of being promoted any time soon. My degree was PR, but older brother, the good son, scored the job he’s unqualified for.”

  “Ouch!” Cayden groaned.

  “Yeah. Trust me, if the parents don’t like your wife, then…” Simone petered off with a little too much honesty.

  “Well, Mr. Head of Sales, I have a wedding I’m going to need flowers for.” Cayden hated that the conversation managed to stumble into a weird territory. Digging in her Chanel clutch, she grabbed a card. “Give Katie there a call.”

  “You’re getting married?” he asked while he took it from her.

  “No! The resort is planning something in a couple of weeks.”

  Simone’s eyes lit up with unasked questions. Cayden could guess what she wanted to know, but she had no plans to broach the topic on her love life. “Pizza?” she offered.

  “Is that deep dish? It’s like you’re an amazing angel.” He flipped the box open with one hand and managed to swipe the biggest slice. “Sorry, I skipped lunch to get here for bath time.”

  “That’s sweet,” she mumbled, for a lack of anything better to say.

  “Yeah, it usually goes much faster if he’s around,” Simone added. “So then we can … you know—”

  “Go to bone-town,” he said with a mouth full of food.

  Simone’s giggle morphed into a manic cackle.

  Grabbing her glass, she chugged her wine. Cayden figured their odd behavior had to do with their lack of adult interaction.

  “I’m going to start getting these little animals cleaned up. That way you guys can talk.”

  Without bothering with a plate, Simone reached into the box and grabbed a slice. “Tell me, great Cayden Young, what’s new in the rich bitch’s hood?” She stuffed the pizza in her mouth. “Mmmh, this is so damn good.”

  Cayden waited for Mark to wrangle the herd up the stairs before she dropped her big question.

  “Most of you guys at Chesterfield already had a history together. Senior year, I arrived as”—she made quote signs with her fingers—“the new girl.”

  “So?”

  “The big secret, what am I missing?”

  Simone looked away while she chewed. Buying time, Cayden figured as tears filled her big green eyes.

  “Everything.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Levi heard the front door over a half hour ago. First the hard sound of Cayden’s heels against the hardwood floor upstairs, then the patter of water from the shower soon followed.

  It crossed his mind to join her, but he already washed the grit from the day off. Besides, he had a feeling she wanted to be alone. While the tree house guy chatted his ear off on the phone, he puttered around the kitchen.

  Larry the Builder’s rates were astronomical. At this point, he had no idea why she recommended the guy. They couldn’t afford him … or at least Levi couldn’t.

  Snapping his fingers for Belle, his furry blue baby got up from her bed. He opened the back door to let her out.

  “I want to work with you guys, but it’s just the price is a bit steep for us right now.” He sat down at the table. The tree houses were good in theory, but without a bank loan, it wouldn’t work.

  “My understanding is that Cayden Young is part owner of Goosebay Lake.”

  Levi bit back a smart comment. They’d kept Cayden’s affiliation with the resort pretty hush hush until recently. When a Forbes article about her wealth listed her assets, Goosebay Lake came in at a meager number fifteen.

  After that piece of information went public, Levi could no longer get anything done on his own. In the past few years, Cayden had to step in and work out more than a couple of deals that he simply couldn’t afford. That article marked the beginning of most of their problems. They barely spoke after their fight, but the publicity from Forbes didn’t help. Business matters had to be done through email.

  “She is, but there’s no room in the budget…” Levi’s frustrations evaporated once Cayden stepped into the kitchen.

  The button-up shirt she wore buckled wide open. While the roundness of her breasts gave him an instant hard-on, her long hair hung down her back. Truly the stuff Playboy dreams were made of.

  “To spend damn near a quarter of a million dollars for three tree houses is a bit steep … even for my partner.”

  Revealing a sexy peek of her pussy, Cayden maneuvered her legs to straddle him. Whatever happened today must have been bad enough that she needed to forget it.

  “I was just verifying. You see,” Larry the Builder said, “we have a television show and we can do the tree houses at half the cost. And if we can get her on the show…” While Levi became distracted by the sexy Cayden Young, he let Larry babble out his idea.

  Allowing her to blow off steam by using his body would be beneficial to him. Since he had been running from early morning until damn near midnight, he pretty much made up his mind.

  “Let me see if I understand this correctly,” Levi posed his question as she kissed his neck at the base of his pulse, then licked his throat. He didn’t let on that her antics did anything for him. “You’re willing to give us a major discount if Cayden appears on your show?”

  “Our program just got optioned and she’ll help our ratings like you wouldn’t believe. I’m going to work on an idea and we’ll get this puppy started.” Larry stumbled over his words excitedly.

  Cayden gave him the thumbs up sign before she sank to the floor.

  “What in the—” he muttered, when she reached into his sweats and pulled him out.

  “Pardon?”

  “This sounds good. I’m, uh … going to have to call you back.” He hung up before she licked the tip of his cock. “Oh fuck,” he choked out before she took him into her mouth and bobbed up and down on his rod.

  While he accepted the warm feel of her mouth, she kept her eyes locked on his. Levi fought the urge to shove her head down. After a tongue swirl, a hard suck, then a sweet kiss to his tip, he could no longer allow her to tease him anymore.

  Pulling her up by her shoulders, he maneuvered her onto the table and took her pretty swollen lips into his. With the understanding that she didn’t want sweet and easy, he shoved himself into her.

  “From behind,” she huffed, while he grinded into her tight, wet pussy.

  He wanted to look into her eyes when he exploded. Nevertheless, he would always cater to her happiness, which became the sum total of their problems.

  “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”

  For a split second, he could tell she considered it but instead she lightly nipped his bottom lip.

  Not giving in so easily, he thrusted in and out of her until she groaned, and then he flipped her around. The shirt pulled over the bubble of her ass.

  “Yes!” she exhaled.

  Holding her down with one hand, he rocked into her tight body with his cock. The stress from the day poured out into his long strokes. There were so many things he wanted to say, but wouldn’t dare.

  He pulled her off the table and s
lipped his hand past her stomach to her crotch. Concentrating on the pace of his strokes, he played with her nub.

  “Arghh,” she moaned. Increasing his speed, he lightly spanked the front of her pussy. Her body shook hard under the weight of her orgasm.

  “Better?” he growled in her ear when he pulled her up.

  She gave him a sexy and low chuckle before she pushed her backside into him. Since he didn’t need to be asked twice, he screwed her until he blasted away his stress from the day.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Dead leaves floated off the trees.

  As Levi stepped across the field, the barn manager waved him into the stalls. Another group had booked an expedition that morning. After he took them out, Levi arrived back at the resort with an emergency text from Fernando.

  “Last night she was fine.” Blood dripped down the leg of his brown and white appaloosa, Stoney. “It looks like barbed wire.”

  “How the hell did that happen?” Levi hissed.

  “She must have gotten out,” Fernando offered.

  “Then back in again?” Levi stepped into the paddock to get a closer look. Little holes cut up her leg from the calf down. Getting on his knees, he reached up to rub her muzzle.

  “Yeah, we haven’t quite figured that one out yet.”

  “Heard you’re in need of a doctor,” his animal vet called out from the stall door.

  Levi greeted the doc and let him get to work, before signaling Fernando to follow him out. “Did you check the security feed?”

  “The camera on the main building was taken out. That would have at least given us the right side of the barn. We’re still trying to pull footage from the front and back.”

  Most accessible from the north, he doubted the broken cameras were an accident.

  “Let me know if you find anything and I’ll get a look at the video by the trail,” Levi instructed his manager.

  Pissed beyond belief, he had to harness his rage. He couldn’t believe someone hurt one of his animals, let alone trespassed on his property.

  “Levi!” Katie shouted at him from her golf cart. She parked next to his truck and let a guest out on the passenger side. He sighed at the mere sight of her.

  “Hey, boss, this is Larry, the builder. He’s here about the tree houses,” Katie said, with a note of confusion.

  Less than a day had passed since he cut short an awesome blowjob. Not that he didn’t want to finish, but his ego had taken over. Cayden wanted control that he didn’t want to give. After he screwed her pretty little head off, without one word she grabbed the rest of his beer and moseyed up to bed. Complicated didn’t come close to describing their relationship.

  “I didn’t know we had a meeting.” He reached out and shook the man’s hand.

  “Oh no, we didn’t have an appointment. I wanted to get a feel for the place, because it-it will help with my designs ideas,” Larry stuttered. “Do you mind?” He pointed around the property.

  “Nope, be my guest.”

  Larry resembled a hobbit out of Lord of the Rings but without the charming feet. Levi wouldn’t have been surprised if the man actually lived in Middle Earth or some such place.

  “Tree houses?” Katie asked, still probably in the dark about the whole mess. “For kids?”

  “Adults,” he told her, fully aware where this conversation would go if he didn’t put a stop to it.

  “Huh?”

  “High-end luxury tree houses where honeymooners can reconnect in … the sky.”

  “Oh, wow, I bet that costs a lot.”

  “It does, but—”

  “Is Ms. Young available?” Larry shouted down the field. The man hovered near the edge of the forest, and Levi noted how far across the property he made it.

  “But what about the pumpkins?” Katie’s lip quivered, on the verge of tears.

  Capable of averting more than one crisis at a time, he addressed the tree-building hobbit first. “I’ll text her, but she has prior commitments. You’ll probably have to make an appointment,” he said as Katie sniffed. Full on waterworks, he predicted, if he didn’t handle this right.

  “We’ll make a pumpkin patch for the little ones. Maybe set up a petting zoo with cute animals that won’t get us sued for being disgusting.”

  “Really?” She smiled with unshed tears shining in her eyes.

  “Can you do me a favor and research it?”

  “On it, boss.” She jogged off to her golf cart, leaving him behind with the strange little tree man.

  “Where does this trail go?” Larry already started up the hill.

  Levi took his phone out of his pocket to text Cayden. She didn’t sleep much last night. Although she was probably conked out, he texted her anyway, and just to be sure, he suggested she put some clothes on. Fairly cool for the season, her yoga gear simply wouldn’t cut it. “Come on, I’ll take you around the property,” he said, with the understanding that he just shot his day to shit.

  ****

  December 2003—The Concert

  Fat flakes floated down to the ground, not the sticky stuff all the weather reports claimed. In the end, it wouldn’t amount to much. Levi turned off his lights and eased two houses down from the twins’ place.

  “Think they’ll come?” Greg asked.

  The porch light blinked twice. He drove to the front of the one-story yellow house and parked in front. They hurried out of the truck to help Bud load his brother’s wheelchair into the cab. Greg grabbed Mike while Levi stuffed the chair in the back. With the precision of a pit crew, they made it back in the pickup in no time flat.

  “Shit, my parents’ lights just came on … floor it!” Bud shouted.

  As Levi hightailed it out of the twins’ neighborhood, he slid and slipped down the wet street. He almost sideswiped the Hammonds’ minivan, but righted his truck at the last minute. They laughed their heads off at their near miss and headed to Chesterfield. Mike coughed a rickety, dry rip that sounded bad.

  “Maybe this isn’t such a great idea,” Bud said.

  “Quit being such a girl,” Mike groused at his brother. Diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, the older twin didn’t have much longer to live. They tried everything, but nothing worked, and they were told to take him home and make him comfortable.

  Considering this their last hurrah, they managed to plan Mike a good send off. “I took an extra nap, so I feel like I don’t even have cancer! Let’s spend the whole night out.”

  Everyone chuckled at his joke, but they all knew the score. Instead of letting it get them down, they chatted about movies, girls, and school—empty, non-life threatening subjects.

  Once Levi arrived outside of the wrought-iron gates, an underclassman waved them into Chesterfield. She signaled for them to drive left around the bend.

  Thanks to Cayden sneaking him on campus, he had a good idea where to go. A large white tent had been resurrected on the football field.

  “I don’t know about this,” Bud said.

  Another girl used a flashlight to guide them in. He went around the fork in the road and parked in the back of the tent. In a matter of seconds, a gang of teenage girls came out to the truck.

  “Well, if it isn’t tasty.”

  “Simone,” he greeted the redhead.

  “I’m your guide. Lord knows why anyone would break into a private school.” She winked at them. “But let’s go.”

  “Hey, whoa!” Bud shouted at the three girls who grabbed Mike from the truck.

  “Don’t worry, they’re on the water polo team. He’s totally in good hands,” Simone assured him. More graceful than the guys ever were, the girls placed Mike in his wheelchair and rolled him into the tent.

  Bud gave everyone the stink eye before he followed behind his brother.

  “Intense, much?” one of the girls muttered.

  “Cut him some slack, it’s his bother.”

  “Coming?” Greg asked, deliriously happy.

  “I’ll catch up.” Levi waited for him to be out of sig
ht.

  “Not too many guys let their boys have all the fun,” Simone said, she held out her hand.

  Accepting the naughty redhead’s offer, he placed his inside of hers and followed under the tent. Blackout dark, he had to work around equipment from the band.

  “This is crazy sweet by the way,” Simone complimented him.

  “Couldn’t have pulled it off without you guys,” he admitted with deep appreciation. Mike’s favorite band, The Foo Fighters, were there to play a concert for the rich kids. No amount of money would allow the townies to attend. When Cayden clued him into the lineup for her winter dance, Levi knew he would need her help to sneak them in.

  A blue hue lit up the front the crowd, while huge twinkling snowflakes hung down.

  “We private school girls love a good heist.” Simone stopped abruptly in front of him. “You’ve got it bad, huh?”

  “Who doesn’t like the Foo Fighters?” he asked, playing dumb.

  “Yeah.” She laughed. “Lucky for you she’s figured Dale out sooner rather than later, unlike the rest of us.” Simone nodded toward the food station.

  With everyone fixated on the band, no one paid any attention to the mounds of desserts and snacks. Levi slipped behind a chocolate fountain that poured cocoa, while cookies and cupcakes were on display for what seemed like miles. Stationed at the punch bowl, Cayden stood facing the band. Grabbing her waist, he moved them away from any prying eyes.

  “It’s me.” He chuckled in her ear.

  “You’ve got to stop doing that.” Turning around, she hit his arm. “Glad you made it.” She smiled.

  “Pretty sure I’ll be in the dog house with my parents.” They stood merely inches apart from each other, while David Grohl belted out “All My Life”.

  “Yep, you’re royally screwed, Levi Scott.” Outdoor space heaters warmed the inside of the tent. It knocked the chill off the area but not enough to forego the hats and jackets.

  As her long, curly hair flowed past her shoulders, a fuzzy white cap covered the top of her head. A gorgeous ski angel stood in front of him.