by Jill Sanders
Lacey arrived right before dark. True to her word, she carried a plate of desserts they served at the restaurant. The triple chocolate cheesecake was Megan’s favorite. She felt guilty for eating both pieces that Lacey had brought.
“Maybe you can clear something else up for me,” she said, chewing her lip with worry. “Betty also mentioned something that I didn’t quite understand about Todd’s first wife.” Megan left the question open, waiting.
Lacey looked up from her cake. “Sara.” She set down her fork. “They were married for almost two years when she became pregnant. Almost a month into the pregnancy, the doctor noticed something wrong with her blood test. They had a choice: treat the cancer and lose the baby, or try to go full term and treat the cancer after. In the beginning of her third trimester, she went in for a checkup, and they put her in the hospital, where she stayed for almost two weeks before we lost them both.” Lacey looked up into Megan’s eyes.
“Losing someone like that, it does something to you. If it hadn’t been for your brother, Todd wouldn’t be the man you see today. Matt saved my brother. No, Matt saved my whole family. Less than a year later, we lost our dad and Iian lost his hearing. It was Matt that helped us get back in the swing of life. It was your brother who helped us see that we could go on. I know that if he was here, he would say the same to you.”
Megan stiffened. Lacey reached over and took her hand. “Please don’t pull away. I won’t pry. But your brother saved us, and all three of us feel the same way about you that we did about him. You’re our family now, part of us.”
Wiping a tear from her cheek, Megan took a deep breath. “Tell me your thoughts about Matt’s bed-and-breakfast idea.” She’d been going over it in her head all day. The business plan sounded solid, but she had never run her own business before, just marketed others.
Lacey smiled. “I know that Iian was more a part of it than anyone. I think they had come up with a business plan. I’m sure there are printouts and spreadsheets somewhere in the office.” Lacey scooped up the last bit of a yellow cake.
“I always liked the idea; the cabins are a perfect setting for a romantic getaway or a family fun weekend. They’re very close to the beach, which is a great bonus for bringing people in. Pride is the kind of place people love to visit and currently the only place to stay is the Motel 8, which is seven miles out of town and always full of truckers. Not a very nice place for vacationers.” Setting the plate aside, she scooted closer. “What are your plans, Megan?”
“I, well, I really hadn’t given it much thought. I had planned on coming out here to stay with Matt until I was back on my feet. Maybe find a job in Portland. That was before this.” She lifted her arm. “But I didn’t want to burden Matt. I didn’t want to upset him. He had always done so much for me; I couldn’t let him down like that. But before I could heal and get here…”
“Megan,” Lacey said, waiting until her friend looked her in the eyes. “Nothing you could have ever done would have made your brother think less of you. He was always so proud of you, and I believe even now he would be proud of you.” Tears formed in Megan’s eyes again, and Lacey bent over and gave her a hug. “I think we need some of my melted ice cream to wash this cake down,” Megan said. And even though she didn’t say it, at that moment they both knew that she was going to stay in Pride.
When the sun finally made an appearance a few days later, Megan decided to take another look at the cabins. She took a pad of paper and a pencil with her this time and wrote down everything that needed to be done. There were really only two cabins that still needed a bit of work. . She had painted rooms before and always found it relaxing.
She knew nothing about the electrical and plumbing and would need to hire a contractor to make sure everything was up to date. She would need someone to help paint and do the floors. She had painted rooms before and always found it relaxing, but the cast on her arm would make it difficult. Megan took notes for each cabin, scribbling as best she could with her left hand.
When she was done, she stood on the porch of the largest of the cabins, enjoying the wonderful view of the beach. She decided to head down to the surf and took the path that had been cut out of the tall grass. The beach itself was beautiful and private, and would make a perfect place for visitors to enjoy. Even on cold days, its charm outweighed the chill. She walked up and down the beach, enjoying the quiet and the fresh air.
She was humming a happy tune several hours later when she walked back to her front porch and saw Iian sitting in one of the wicker chairs, smiling back at her.
“Hi,” she said and sat down next to him, turning her body so that he could easily read her lips.
“Visiting the cabins?” he asked. When she nodded, he continued. “What did you think?”
“Oh, they are quite lovely. I think you and Matt were right. They would be perfect to rent out. They only need a little work.” She handed him her list. He chuckled at her writing, but read over it. As he looked down at the paper, she noticed how strong his profile was. He was quite different from his brother, not only in looks, but in the fact that she felt very comfortable around him. When Todd was around her, she was full of butterflies.
When he was done reading the list, he looked up at her. “I’m very impressed. Matt and I had come up with almost the same list. Come, I’ll show you.” He stood and held out his hand to help her up from the chair. She hesitated for a second, then put her hand in his larger one and walked into the house. Iian went into the office and pulled out a file from the cabinet that sat on the left side of the desk.
He set the file on the desk and motioned for her to sit. She sat in the soft leather chair and pulled open the file. Matt had done his homework alright, down to the contractor’s bids for the work and the color of the walls. He had even ordered furniture for each cabin. There were receipts in the file for the work done on the smaller three cabins that were almost completed. Holding the receipts, she looked up at Iian.
He smiled and said, “The furnishings are already at the warehouse, ready to be delivered when the work is done. Matt, Todd, and I had been doing a lot of the work ourselves, but here is the list of contractors we used for the rest.” He pointed to a bid and said, “I’m sure he would be happy to add more work to this. As for the landscaping, well, there’s a place outside of town…” He trailed off.
“Oh, I could do that easily. I love working with…” Megan trailed off. She realized she wasn’t facing him and there was no way Iian would be able to read her lips. She blushed and turned back to him and repeated her statement. “I have quite the green thumb. I have some really good ideas, too. Of course, I would have to get familiar with what kinds of plants are best for around here.”
He smiled one of those quick, heart-stopping smiles. “Pretty much anything grows that you put in the ground. Matt said you were good with making things grow, and I kind of figured you would want to take care of that part. You know,” he said, walking over and sitting on the couch, “since the cabins aren’t equipped with full kitchens, you could provide meals here in the main house. How are you with cooking?” he asked.
“Hmm,” Megan said, frowning down at the paper. How could she tell him that she couldn’t even fry an egg without fire departments in two counties standing by? “Well,” she said, looking back at him, “not so good.”
“That’s okay,” he jumped in. “Lacey and I can help in that department. We’d talked about making it a joint venture as far as the meals go.”
“How so?” she asked leaning forward.
“Well, The Golden Oar would provide the breakfast and lunch—sandwiches and soups.” He waved his hands about.
“We could provide special discount rates to your customers for dinners. Of course, this could all be worked out later, but Matt had come up with the idea about helping each other out. We would have advertisements on the back of our menus for your cabins, and the extra customers coming in for the discounts would help the restaurant out.”
&
nbsp; “That sounds like a great plan,” she said, beginning to see the smart business plan her brother had put into motion.
“Have you given any thought to what you might want to call it?” he asked.
“Had Matt?” she asked with a smile.
He smiled back. Standing up, he walked back to the file cabinet. Pulling out a folder, he set in on the desk in front of her.
Megan slowly opened it and blinked in surprise. There in front of her was an artist’s rendering of her and Matt smiling in front of one of the cabins with the ocean behind them. “Pride Bed-and-breakfast” was printed across the top. It was an impressive sketch of the two of them taken from a picture before Megan had married. It brought tears to her eyes seeing that Matt had thought of her and made her a part of this.
Megan remembered one of the last conversations she’d had with her brother. No wonder he’d been so insistent on her coming out here to visit him. He had planned all along on her being his partner.
She, however, had been going through her own private hell and had kept putting off the visit. Guilt sank in and she kept her eyes focused on the paper.
“He had hoped that you would move out here to be closer to him,” Iian said, leaning over her shoulder and looking down at the picture of his friend. “He loved you very much. He would have done anything for you. You know, we viewed your brother as part of our family. Since he never stopped talking about you, we view you as part of the family as well.”
“Thank you,” Megan said, shaking her head and wiping her tears. She smiled back up at him. “I think I would rather enjoy having you as a…” She didn’t get any further. Iian had stopped looking at her and had glanced up towards the door. Megan turned her head to see what had taken his attention away.
Todd stood right inside the doorway, his fists balled by his sides. He had a fierce look on his face and was staring at his brother like he wanted to tear him apart. Todd quickly signed in jerked motions to his brother. Megan was starting to shake and feel uncomfortable around the display of anger. Iian signed something back to Todd, and his whole attitude changed and he became very relaxed. Todd shoved his hands in his jeans pocket and walked back out the door without another word. Megan could hear him pacing on the front porch.
“I’m sorry, what was that all about?” Megan asked, looking back up at Iian.
“He thinks I was the cause of your tears,” he said softly. He put a hand lightly on her shoulder and she winced. The bruises had started to fade, but the muscles would take a while still to feel better. Iian removed his hand as if he had burned her and quickly looked away. “He wants to talk to you. I must be going. Maybe you will stop by the restaurant for dinner tonight? We could continue our conversation,” he said, looking back at her for an answer.
“That sounds great,” Megan said.
“Good, I’ll see you tonight then.” He leaned over and placed a small kiss on her cheek. Megan really did like Iian and his laid-back ways. She was starting to feel more comfortable around him every time she saw him. Todd, on the other hand, made her feel like a bundle of nerves. She didn’t know what to think about the anger she had seen in his face, but she felt comforted that he cared about her.
When Iian left the room, she started to look through some of the advertising ideas that they had come up with. She didn’t hear Todd come back into the room but instantly knew when he stood in the doorway. Her stomach did this little nervous jump, and her skin tingled. She looked up slowly and stared into those silvery eyes.
“I’m sorry about barging in. The front door was open, and well, I suppose I’m used to coming and going around here,” he said with a shrug as he walked over and sat on the couch.
“That’s alright. I don’t mind. I’m actually enjoying feeling like part of your family. Everyone has made me feel very welcome. Your brother said you needed to speak with me.”
“Yes, well, how are you adjusting?” he said, looking a little uncomfortable. “I hope my brother doesn’t bother you too much.”
“No, not at all, we were discussing business. I’ve decided to follow through with Matt’s plans for the bed-and-breakfast.”
“That’s great, and that’s actually why I came to talk to you. As you may know, your brother and I were business partners. I took care of all the legal aspects of the business, and well, Matt trusted me to take care of this part as well,” he said and picked up the file he had tossed on the couch beside him. “This is a copy of your brother’s will,” he said, walking over and setting it on the desk. “I know you have already talked to Matt’s lawyer, but I wanted to deliver these other papers directly to you.”
Megan slowly opened it. At first glance, it seemed very confusing.
“It looks complicated, but it is actually pretty simple,” Todd said, moving behind her. “You know that your brother left you all his assets. Well, it’s the stock he had in our business I wanted to talk to you about.”
She knew from the meeting with Matt’s lawyer a few days earlier that there were about twenty acres that came with the house and five cabins and other buildings. There was only the old jeep left after the accident, but it was paid for. The lawyer said that the auto insurance company was going to be cutting a check for the Porsche. Then there were the stocks he had in Jordan Shipping, as well as other holdings. There was also a property in France somewhere. It had been too much for her to take in the day she had met with the lawyer.
Megan herself had quite a bit of money left over from the inheritance her parents had left her. Thank goodness Derek had never known about it. It had been released to her when she had come of age, but she had never touched it. She had assumed she would have to pull money from it to help pay her way until she could find a job.
A stock sheet labeled Jordan Shipping sat in front of her. Megan could feel the heat from Todd’s body as he leaned over and turned the pages, looking for the right one. She could smell the clean scent of his soap and it had her stomach doing little twists.
Turning to yet another page, he continued, “Let me know whether you want to liquidate any of Matt’s assets. I have personal interest in the stock, but I could help you find someone to help you sell anything else.” He finished speaking, but didn’t move away.
Megan turned her head to thank him and realized how close he was to her. She could not only smell his soap, she could almost taste it.
********
He had meant to move away, really he had, but then he had smelled her hair. It smelled of violets and spring. She had her head turned down towards the file, and her neck was exposed to his view. What was his fascination with this woman’s neck?
When he had walked in earlier to see her sitting in Matt’s leather chair with tears in her eyes and Iian leaning over her, he’d had a flash of rage so strong he had wanted to take his brother outside and pound some sense into him.
She turned her eyes towards him. Her eyes were the color of the fields after a rain. When she let go of a small breath, he groaned. Then, when her tongue darted out to moisten her full bottom lip, he lost it. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her up out of the chair and to her toes.
“Why are you doing this to me?” he asked, right before he crushed her lips under his. He liked to think of himself as controlled, but now he didn’t care if he was losing it.
When he had pulled her closer to his chest, her left hand had gone up in defense. But when his mouth came down to hers, she let go and melted against his chest.
He played his tongue against her lips, then took advantage when she opened them, darting his tongue inside for a taste. He knew that once he got a taste of her, things would only get worse. She was spoiling him for any other and he didn’t care. This was madness and he was slowly losing his grip and sinking.
He was about to push her away from him, when he heard her moan and felt her melt further against him. Just that small sound coming from deep down caused him to pull her closer, instead. He put his hand on the back of her neck, interlacing his f
ingers in her soft hair, and lowered his other hand to the middle of her back, flexing his fingers and bunching up the shirt she had on.
When he realized it was one of Matt’s old shirts, it was like a cold bucket of water hitting him full force.
He released her at once, stumbling back. He was going mad—this was Matt’s little sister. He had all but swallowed her whole and on Matt’s desk, too. In Matt’s office! Matt’s sister! Damn it, he had to get it together.
He shook his head and looked at Megan. She was flushed and her lips were swollen from his. She had her hand on her cheek and he could see that it was pink and heated. Her hair was messed up from his hands, and her eyes showed shock and confusion as she remained standing there like a statue.
“I won’t apologize for kissing you. I’ve wanted to do that for a long time. But I’ll apologize for not handling it more smoothly.” She was still bruised, and he hadn’t been as gentle as he should have. “The papers are all there. If you have any questions, call me.” He turned and walked out, leaving her leaning against the desk with her hand still against her cheek.
********
She wasn’t quite sure what he meant by a long time, since she’d only known him for a month. But she did know that she’d never been kissed like that before. She was small, but she didn’t want to be handled like she would break, at least not by him.
Her lips were still vibrating. Hell, her whole body was vibrating. She sat down in the chair since she was sure her knees would give out any moment. She could still taste him and she wanted more. What was she thinking? She sat there for a few minutes, playing it over and over in her mind.
The more she thought about it, the more she was sure she wanted it to happen again. She had come here trying to start a new life and right now that meant no men. Period! End of story. No way! She couldn’t trust anyone again, let alone herself around someone new. She needed to stand on her own, find out who she truly was.
