by Marie Carnay
Daphne’s mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. Rachel had been her friend. Her only friend at work since they’d started. They hadn’t been close, but that didn’t matter. She’d trusted her.
She tried to swallow, but her mouth was too dry. “So the break up?”
“Never happened.” She sounded so smug. So superior.
“Why?”
Rachel sighed. “Come on, you know why.”
Daphne closed her eyes. She wasn’t above begging. She had to know the reason. “Please, Rachel. Just spit it out.”
Rachel’s sigh carried over the line. “Because you’re perfect. You always say the right things, do the right things. You’re always acting the part. Hell, you don’t even wear white after Labor Day. How can I compete with that?”
Daphne reeled. “I’m not perfect.”
“Well, not now, you’re not!” Her former friend cackled. “Now everyone in that office can see you for exactly who you are.”
“And what’s that?”
“A has been. I’ll get your promotion, I’ll make partner, and you’ll be crawling back to your parents’ Winnebago. Where are they now? Chino?”
Daphne’s heart sank. “Oakland.”
“Same difference.”
“You’ll never get away with this. I’ll make sure they all know it was a set up.”
Rachel’s laugh turned dark. Wicked. “That’s what’s so great about it. Don’t you see? All I did was have the pictures taken. All the evidence? You did that yourself. It was nice working with you, Daphne. I hope you have fun starting over at the bottom.”
The line went dead and Daphne threw the phone across the room. It slammed into the armoire and clattered to the floor.
Damn her. How could Rachel be so cold? Daphne had been her shoulder to cry on time and again. Every time she had a set back at work or she fought with her boyfriend, Daphne had been there.
She thought back to what Rachel said about her. Is that what everyone thought? That she was too perfect? Too staged? That wasn’t the real her. That was just the front she put out for the job. Wasn’t it?
She walked over to the window and looked out at the choppy waves. They crested and roiled in sync with the insides of her stomach. I’m so much more than an empty shell.
I’m not some plastic person who does everything right. She had emotions. Needs. Wants.
Oh, God. Did she have wants. The touch of Tony’s hand. The feel of Damon’s lips on hers. Their charm and caring. Their laughs. The way Tony mumbled in his sleep. The way Damon snored.
She reached out and touched the window. Too bad none of that mattered now. How could she keep seeing Damon and Tony? She’d already been fired from one firm because of them. If she kept it up, she’d never be accepted anywhere else.
She clutched at her chest. It was a mistake. That’s all.
Back in LA, she’d send out résumés and pound the pavement until something stuck. She’d done it before. She could do it again. It might not be the glamorous path to partnership Daphne had envisioned, but what choice did she have?
She turned away from the ocean and closed her eyes. A relationship with two men would never have worked. It didn’t matter that they lit her up with just a glance. Or that their touch spread happiness through her like a rocket.
Relationships weren’t built for three people. It’s what they had told her from the beginning.
The sooner she got off the cruise ship and forgot all about them, the better.
She shook her head and slumped down next to her suitcase. She might be able to fool her brain, but her heart was a different matter. The ache in her chest would take more than distance to heal.
* * *
DAMON
“He won’t budge.” Damon paced the office, wearing a track into the wool carpet.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure! I tried everything. Money, access to the ship, free publicity for their clients, anything I could think of. He just laughed.”
Damon ran his hands through his hair and stalked to the liquor cabinet. He poured himself a drink and gulped it down without a taste. He didn’t care if it was vodka or bourbon or rubbing alcohol. He needed to numb the pain and fear gnawing at him.
They were going to lose Daphne.
“So the job’s a dead end. We just need to come up with another way.”
“To what?” He spun around and faced Tony. “She’ll never forgive us. She told us from the very beginning how important that job was to her. Now it’s gone. All she worked for, Tony. All she’s sacrificed. And we ruined it.”
Tony stood up and came his way. He poured himself a drink and took a sip. “I spoke with Trent. He confirmed it was the co-worker who hired George.”
“Can we get her arrested?”
“Probably. He’s working on it.”
“At least that’s something.”
Tony took another sip. “I’ve been thinking about Midnight Cove.”
Damon snorted. “What about it?”
“People accept relationships like ours there, right?”
“I don’t see the point of dredging that up now, Tony. We’re not going to be in a relationship anymore.”
Tony set his drink down. “Hear me out. What if we took Daphne there? We could show her that there’s a place we would be accepted. Where she wouldn’t be at risk of losing her job.”
Damon shook his head. “If we had something to give her, I’d say yes. But now? She’s already lost her job. We can’t get it back.”
“What if we could get her another one?” Tony sat down on the arm of the couch. “I spoke with Ian earlier.”
“So?”
Tony shrugged. “He said he’d been looking for a full-time PR firm. Some other people in town need a good rep, too. Hell, so could we, Damon. Think about it.”
Tony wasn’t making any sense. “You want to offer Daphne a job?”
“No. I want to offer her a chance to build her own firm. In a town where we can live the way we want to live. Without judgment.”
Damon’s mouth fell open. He never thought Tony would be the one to offer hope of the future. “You’re really in love with her, aren’t you?”
He nodded. “Aren’t you?”
“More than I can say.”
Tony stood up. “Then what choice do we have? It’s either try this or watch her walk away.”
Damon nodded. “Can we route the ship to the Cove?”
“Already done. We can dock, escort her off the ship, and it can resume course. The cruise will end in LA just like usual and on time. No one will even know we had a detour.”
“We’ll need to pull out all the stops, Tony. She won’t agree without a fight.”
Tony smiled. “Believe me, I know. That woman’s more stubborn than anyone else I know.”
Damon had been riding a runaway rollercoaster all day. First they were going to tell Daphne they loved her, then she was fired and throwing them out of her suite. Now Tony had shown him a glimmer of hope.
Would it be enough? Would Daphne see that she could have a future with them in Midnight Cove or would she turn them down for good?
* * *
DAPHNE
The knock jolted Daphne out of her self-induced fog. Could they be in LA already? She hustled to the door and pulled it open.
The employee she’d met her first few minutes on ship stood there, hands clasped in front of her. “Samantha, right?”
“Sam. Can I come in?”
Daphne frowned. “Is the boat pulling into port?”
“Not yet, but I need to speak with you about that.”
“Okay.” Daphne stepped back and held the door open. “Is there some issue?”
Sam walked into the suite and stopped at the edge of the kitchen. “I want you to reconsider.”
“Excuse me?”
“You shouldn’t run away from Tony and Damon just because you’re scared.”
Daphne crossed her arms over her chest. �
�I’m not scared. I’m angry. Disappointed in myself, too.”
“You don’t understand what you’ve done to them, do you?”
Daphne’s outrage was plain. “Done to them? They got me fired!”
Sam held up her hands. “Not what I meant.” She exhaled. “They’ve changed because of you.”
“What do you mean?”
Sam pressed her lips together. “Before you walked on this boat, they were going through the motions. Tony was a shell of a man. Damon was depressed. They’d lost the spark they used to have when I started with the company.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I think you feel the same way. I’ve seen the three of you together. You’re in love.”
Daphne rolled her eyes. “Not today.”
Sam reached out. “Yes, today. When they heard you were fired they sent the whole ship into a tizzy. Tony had every employee grilled over the photos. Damon hauled in everyone who knew anything about PR to see if they could pull any strings and get your job back. They’ve been frantic.”
Daphne’s grip on her arms loosened. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I can’t be with them.”
“But you can. You can make it work. Isn’t that what your job is all about? Finding a way to let people live their lives on their own terms?”
Daphne blinked. She’d never seen it that way. “I’m sorry, Sam. I know you mean well. But…” She trailed off. There wasn’t any way to spin what she’d done. The cat was out of the bag.
All she could do was pick up the pieces and start over. Without them.
Samantha exhaled. “Don’t give up. Not yet.” She patted Daphne on the arm and walked past her to the door. “If there’s a way it can all work out, Tony and Damon will figure it out.”
Daphne stood in the kitchen and watched Samantha walk out the door. She meant well, but good intentions didn’t change the facts. She was out of a job and out of a relationship before it even began. No amount of strategy would change that.
Chapter 16
DAPHNE
Damon and Tony raced ahead of her, dressed in gold and silver waistcoats and holding pocket watches in their hands.
“Faster, Daphne, we’re late!”
“For what?” Daphne struggled on, trying to keep up, but the harder she ran, the longer the hallway stretched in front of her.
Tony and Damon ducked into a narrow doorway and Daphne raced toward it. She popped through and a voice rang out, stopping her still.
“Off with her head!”
“Rachel?” Daphne looked up to see Rachel sitting on a throne, robes of crimson and gold flowing down her body like rivers of blood.
“It’s the Queen of Hearts to you! Guards! Seize her!”
A pair of new PR associates she’d met a few weeks before grabbed her by the arms. Tony and Damon were nowhere to be seen.
“Let me go! I’ve done nothing wrong!”
“Yes you have! You’ve been living a lie! You’ve been living someone else’s life!”
“No! I want to be in PR. I want to make partner!” She tugged and pulled, but the two associates held her still.
“Off with her head!”
The shiny blade of an axe came out of nowhere and Mr. Hopkins held onto the other end. “Sorry, honey. Looks like I can’t use that body of yours after all. The Queen is taking your place.”
The axe swung down in a vicious arc and…
Daphne screamed. She reached for her neck and her breath came out in jagged sobs. It was a dream. One that hit way too close to home.
She gulped down mouthfuls of air as the terror receded. After a few minutes, she almost laughed.
In a way, she was Alice. She’d gone down the rabbit hole, chasing down two hot guys and a rush and ended up on trial. Too bad she didn’t wake up where she started.
She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and rubbed her eyes. In a few hours, she’d be leaving the Stardust, going home, and shutting the door on this week. On all of that lust and the heartache. The chance at love.
Damn it. She beat her fists on her pillow. Why did she let herself get carried away? Why did she open her heart?
Even if Rachel hadn’t blown her secret wide open, it would never have worked. Two men and one woman? Just the sort of scandal she worked to cover up. Not what a PR partner should be doing.
There was no way around it. Tony and Damon didn’t fit in Daphne’s life. They never would. She pushed herself up to stand and trudged into the bathroom. Might as well get on with it.
A few hours later, Daphne wished she’d thrown half of her things overboard. Her bag might as well have been made of lead.
She hiked her stuffed-full weekender over her shoulder and shook her head as Damon offered to carry it. Not a chance.
She wasn’t his responsibility. She never had been. They’d had a nice few days. A crazy fling she could look back on years from now and laugh about. That was all.
“We’ve got a car waiting.” He tried to catch her eye. She didn’t look up.
“I don’t need one. I can catch a cab.”
“Stop being a martyr.” It was the first sentence Tony had spoken since he’d shown up at the door to her suite by Damon’s side.
They’d escorted her through the hallways of the ship and toward the dock without more than a handful of words. It had been surreal. Two days before, she’d have been laughing, they’d have been stealing kisses, and Daphne wouldn’t have had a care in the world.
Now everything sucked.
She tightened her grip on her bag as Damon opened the door in front of her. Blue sky assaulted her and she tugged her oversized hat lower on her brow. The last thing she wanted to see was LA weather.
With her luck, there wouldn’t be a single cloud. Birds would probably sing her all the way to her car. Ugh. She pushed her sunglasses up her nose. Why couldn’t today be the day it rained?
Damon and Tony flanked her as they walked down the ramp to the dock. Odd. She’d expected more. Wouldn’t some passengers wonder why they’d docked early? Wouldn’t someone be there?
She’d almost anticipated a throng of paparazzi snapping her picture. But she wasn’t one of her former clients. She was just a public relations associate out of a job. No one cared what she did now.
She stepped down onto the dock, the employee said a few words to both men, and the ramp rose behind her. That’s it. I’m off the boat and back to my life.
Daphne took a deep breath. Might as well face it now. She lifted her head, expecting the familiar sights of LA. What she got wasn’t anywhere close.
Rocky outcrops dotted the shoreline. A wooden dock stretched on forever to a sandy beach with not a soul on it. A lighthouse perched on the edge of a cliff. A stone building with flowers hanging from every archway sat nestled on the other edge of the beach.
She’d never seen anything like it. This wasn’t Los Angeles. She glanced up at Damon. “Where are we?”
He smiled. “Welcome to Midnight Cove.”
What? Her mouth fell open.
“No. I need to go home. You told me…”
“We told you we’d be docking early. I never said where.”
Daphne wanted to smack the hopeful look right off his face. She crossed her arms instead. “I can’t run away with you to some vacation town and hide out. I need to get back to my life. Make calls, schedule interviews. I’ve got a million things to do.
“What about us?” Tony stood beside Damon, his hands stuffed in his pockets. For a man so large and in control, he looked…vulnerable. Exposed.
Daphne shook it off. “What about you? I told you, it would never work. Not now, not ever. How could it? I’ve already been fired.”
Tony tilted his head. “Maybe that was just the beginning.”
“So it’s going to get worse? No, thank you. I’ll pass.” She hugged herself tighter.
“What if getting fired turns out to be a good thing?”
“It can’t possibly.”
Damon s
tepped forward. “Daphne, look at me.”
She turned to him with a frown. He pried her hands away and she wished they didn’t tremble. “I’m listening.”
“We brought you here because there are some people you need to meet. After you’ve met them and gotten to know the town a little, if you still want to go home, we’ll take you.”
“When?”
“Tonight. We can have a helicopter here within hours.”
Daphne raised an eyebrow. “I don’t need you pulling out all the stops for me.”
“We can afford it.” Damon tugged on her fingers. “Say yes.”
It was against everything her sensible side told her to do. She should be back home in Los Angeles, picking up the pieces of her life. Not walking down a pier and into some town that looked like it had been pulled straight out of the movies.
Samantha’s words echoed in her head. If there was a chance Tony and Damon could find a way…
The smell of blooming flowers mixed with the surf and Daphne swallowed. A few hours. It would only be a few hours. She could meet these people, say goodbye to Damon and Tony, and move on.
Didn’t she owe it to them anyway? She bit her lip and gave Damon a nod. “Okay. I’ll stay. But no promises.”
He smiled. “Never.”
* * *
DAPHNE
The waiter pulled out her chair and Daphne slid onto the seat. The restaurant was beautiful. Dark hardwoods and walls of windows. Bright white linens and orchids on every table.
A glass of champagne appeared at her seat as a woman in chef’s attire whirled into the private room.
“Tony! Damon! So good to see you. I’m sorry I missed you when you were in town last week.” The woman gave each man a quick hug and turned to Daphne. “You must be Daphne. It’s so good to meet you.”
She held out her hand and Daphne shook it. “Holiday Jones. But call me Holly. Everyone does.”
“Your restaurant is beautiful.”
Holly shrugged. “Don’t thank me, that’s all Ian’s doing. I only make the food.”
