One to Win

by Michelle Monkou

  Verona, Fiona’s mother, who also was Grace’s eldest daughter, had the most strained relationship, with no signs of improvement over the years. Whatever history had passed between her mother and Grace remained unknown, although their measured approach to each other was quite visible. Regardless of her cousins’ endorsement, going to the Hamptons did not rank as one of Fiona’s favorite ways to spend family time.

  Dana leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “What else would you be doing? You are now a benched superhero of the police department. And for the record, I plan to continue this family-vacation tradition when that time regretfully comes.” Her dark brown eyes reflected sincerity.

  “Okay, now that you’ve taken over from Grace to be the CEO of the family media conglomerate, don’t let it go to your head. You’re supposed to be on our rebel side,” Belinda reminded her.

  “Yeah, well...” Dana swallowed the rest of her defense in a long drink from her glass.

  “Maybe I can grovel and get my vacation postponed.” Fiona’s forehead was still furrowed as she resumed reclining with her legs tucked to the side. She munched on a piece of ice.

  “From what you’ve told me, I foresee that if you step foot into that office, you’ll regret it. Your boss may be new, but he seems to be as tough as a junkyard dog. So go ahead and disobey his order. I’ll sit back and wait to tell you ‘I told you so.’” Dana’s mouth pursed full of smugness.

  “You were always the mean one,” Fiona accused. Defeat set in, ratcheting up her grumpiness.

  “That’s why she’s running the Meadows empire. Someone’s got to walk in Grace’s queenly footsteps.” Belinda jabbed her thumb in the air toward their youngest cousin.

  “Stop calling Meadows Media an empire. And I’m not mean. I’m doling out the appropriate advice, that’s all.”

  Fiona ignored the bickering and drained her glass to chew on more ice. “Looks like I’m going to the Hamptons.” Something she’d suspected she’d get roped into when the invitation had come from Grace two months ago.

  Grace had a reputation for approaching each granddaughter with an invitation to join Meadows Media. Her invitation was predictable and always managed to tweak a bit of guilt from the ones who didn’t join the company after graduating from college.

  “Let’s move this inside now. I’m melting and I just got my hair done. My honey and I are going on a date tonight.” Belinda stood and brushed off the crumbs.

  “I don’t want to hear about any lovey-dovey stuff.” Fiona hurried ahead of Dana into the cool indoors. “I seem to attract men who can’t handle a woman working a demanding job or men who need to be put on a pedestal to be worshipped.”

  “It’s a bit more than that, Fiona.” Belinda was busy in the kitchen, retrieving fresh glasses for the delicious fruit punch spiked with a touch of white rum. “You, my dear, are a workaholic. You thrive off of four hours of sleep. You are prone to canceling dates. And you’d rather spend your free time with us than staring deeply into a sexy, horny man’s eyes.”

  Dana puckered her mouth and made kissing sounds.

  “Well, sue me for thinking that y’all were cool with hanging out together.”

  “Stop whining. I’m not the one giving you a diagnosis. However, I will say that you need to take these two weeks to relax. Then you can go back and be refreshed for the never-ending wave of cases that come across your desk.” Dana grabbed hold of Fiona’s shoulders and massaged them.

  “Maybe I should change what I’m doing.” Fiona wanted to test the waters with her cousins about the latest thoughts burdening her.

  “What?” Belinda walked out with the second round of drinks and handed one to each. “Okay, you really need to come to the Hamptons. We should talk about all this in a different setting. You sound like you need a life intervention when absolutely nothing is wrong with you.”

  “Oh, right, like I really need to figure out my future under Grace’s nose. If I recall, she has been all over both of you about holding down the family business. You, Dana, stepped up, but it was a no-brainer because you have the passion and business brains to run Meadows Media. And you, Belinda, you stood your ground to build your equine therapy center from the ground up. Now that leaves me to hold my stance with her or surrender and take the offer to be the head of Meadows security.” Fiona batted her eyelashes at Dana. “May I be your bodyguard?”

  Dana waved off her silliness.

  “Oh, this is going to be fun.” Belinda was too cheerful for Fiona’s liking. “Consider the exercise of finding your path a rite of passage. And you get to go through it at a prime beachfront location.”

  Although Belinda’s buildup sounded good, from Fiona’s headspace, the “rite of passage” didn’t fill her with a cheery disposition. She really was questioning her future and to be faced with Grace’s intense focus on the family’s legacy and the cousins’ roles in continuing the decades of success made her stomach flip and flop and tie itself into knots.

  “Would it help if I said that Leo Starks will be there?” Dana’s voice dropped low and seductive.

  “Leo? The same Leo Starks?” Fiona kept her gaze on the golden liquid in her glass, a mix of naturally sweet tropical fruits. She couldn’t blame the splash of alcohol for the instant flush to her cheeks. “Why will he be there?”

  Dana’s expression just about glowed over the news. Her animated hand gestures added emphasis. “Word is that he’s there at Grace’s invitation. She was always impressed with him, from his days as a legal intern several years ago at Meadows to landing a job at Grayson, Buckley and Tynesdale after he earned his law degree. No real information about the reason for his presence, though. And Grace is not telling. But that will make it more fun for you to sniff out why your onetime Brazilian Sweet Lips is coming to the Hamptons.”

  “Don’t call him that.” Fiona had to agree that the moniker was 100 percent accurate, but she wasn’t sure if said lips were still one of Leo’s most attractive points. “So Starks will be there? For the entire stay?” Her cheeks remained warm. The sensation spread over her entire face and down her neck, as if she sat too close to a roaring fireplace.

  Memories of Leo Starks didn’t float away into the black hole of forgotten experiences. Falling in love had the power to keep its hook in for the long haul. Though she’d allowed doubt to creep in like wild weeds and fracture what they had between them, she couldn’t close the door completely on their special time.

  Dana shrugged her slender shoulders. “I don’t know if he’ll be there for the entire month. I can only stick around for the first week.”

  Belinda raised her hands. “I’m there for two, but Jesse will come back to the center after one week. And, yes, I’m making him attend. He might as well see us in all our glory if he’s going to be a permanent part of this family.”

  “Oh my gosh, did he propose?” Dana asked, while Fiona screamed with joy.

  “No. Don’t rush us. But we are truly committed to each other. I haven’t been this happy in a long time.” Belinda’s voice dipped with a tender note.

  The two cousins had stopped their excited outbursts, but they grinned at Belinda’s declaration.

  “I’ll stay as long as you all are there.” Fiona loved seeing her cousins immersed in their loving relationships with the special men in their lives.

  Love had played the chasing game with all of them, but now her cousins had nabbed their perfect soul mates. She tried not to wonder when she’d get so lucky. Or maybe the reality was if she would get so lucky. The thought of falling in love without a safety net, revealing the inner private side of her life, caused a queasy, weak-kneed reaction in Fiona. Not her thing. She’d rather convince herself that the tender side of life, where soulful sighs and sensuous cravings resided, wasn’t a high priority.

  “I suspect that you’ll stay as long as Leo is there,” Dana teased
in a singsong voice.

  “He means nothing to me.”

  “Don’t toss that out so fast. You’re not fooling us. I know you sampled those gorgeous lips when he was an intern at Meadows.” Belinda took up the baton of teasing and echoed Dana with a series of exaggerated kissing sounds.

  “Who’s got gorgeous lips?” A familiar deep male voice interrupted the noisy exchange among the cousins.

  Silence. Then the women erupted into fits of giggles.

  “You, baby.” Belinda opened her arms in invitation to Jesse. Without hesitation, he stepped into her embrace, where she locked him to her chest. No complaints came from him as Belinda planted a wet, sloppy kiss before releasing her man.

  Fiona and Dana groaned and made a show of shielding their eyes.

  “On that note, Dana, let’s go. Take me home. I think the lovebirds are not going to wait for us to leave before the scene turns into Mature Audiences Only. And I’m too young to see any of this.” Fiona grabbed her cousin’s arm for their quick goodbye. “Besides, I’m sure your love muffin is also home waiting for you.”

  “Now you sound like you’re hatin’. But yeah, Kent is home. Tomorrow he’s heading back to England to be a coach for the executive staff of an airline. Fingers crossed that he’ll be back in time to spend a few days at the Hamptons. We both need the time off.”

  Fiona nodded. How would she survive being surrounded by couples madly in love?

  As they walked to Dana’s car, her cousin playfully bumped Fiona’s shoulder. “Thinking about the owner of those wicked cheekbones and that chiseled jawline? I remember when those females at Meadows Media were salivating every time he arrived. Emails would whip through the office with the announcement. Yet you were the only lucky one from the company to road test those lips. Maybe more than that?” Dana aimed the car remote at her Audi and popped open the locks. She leaned against the car and continued, “And that’s my dose of encouragement for you to look forward to the Hamptons. In two days, your secret nighttime thoughts and the sexy reality can become one.”

  “And that’s what I’m afraid of,” Fiona mumbled as Dana got into the car.

  “I’m rooting for you.”

  She took a moment longer than Dana to get in the car. Her imagination wasn’t waiting for the darkness of her bedroom to go to work. If the embarrassing memories of those hot kisses kept up, tonight she’d suffer a sleepless night, tossing and turning in her bed from reawakened delicious torment.

  On the ride home, she was mostly silent. Along with recalling the unusual passionate response to Leo’s touch, she also couldn’t ignore the thought that she’d ultimately rejected him three years ago. Back then, her fear of love and all its side effects was more potent and undisciplined. Now the fear had become ingrained like a habit that could be relied upon in other relationships, but one that provided zero comfort to her soul. A year and a few days with Leo as a friend and lover had changed her life, her outlook and what she desired in her heart. She’d never moved on, knowing that she’d made a huge mistake. All she’d wanted was to let him go so he could fulfill his dreams of being a top-notch lawyer without the added stress of an unlikely romance. All around her, women—her mother, aunts, even grandmother—had life stories where career and romance were two colliding forces that demanded their time and energy. Their men seemed the exception to the rule of finding that precious balance, without setting conditions on their partners. Fiona didn’t ever want to force sacrifices or obligations on anyone. In an impulsive move, she’d taken a stance and lived to regret it.

  In two days there would be a chance for a do-over or maybe a continuation of this unresolved episode between them. The possibility of an amended ending, however, didn’t hold any promise of a change of heart. There still would be no commitment. She didn’t believe in surrendering every part of her soul into the heady mix of deep emotions; love would eventually get ripped apart, either because a couple grew distant and fell out of love or because the randomness of life had a way of snatching someone away. Her job taught her that one, while her childhood with an emotionally distant mother and emotionally constrained father left her unsure of what was best when it came to opening up and being vulnerable and in love.

  On the other hand, Leo had been so hurt by her rejection that he’d probably moved on to someone who appreciated him. Someone who didn’t live life with that undercurrent of fear guiding important decisions.

  By the time Fiona climbed into bed for the night, she toyed with the thin sliver of a chance that she would have a change of heart. Dare she entertain the possibility? Was she up for a second attempt with Leo Starks? She hugged her pillow and closed her eyes. His face filled her memory. A small smile curved her lips. She could hear the unique cadence of his voice in her head. And he was the best kisser...ever.

  A vacation at the Hamptons suddenly had great appeal.

  * * *

  What to do when Grace Meadows sent an invitation that was really a command? Leo knew his response would be clear in two days when he arrived at the family’s eleven-acre vacation estate in the Hamptons.

  “Leo Starks, you are the man.” His coworker collapsed into the nearest chair in his office.

  Leo ignored Eric, although he knew that wouldn’t stop the envious jabs thinly disguised as ribbing. Working on anything related to the Meadows Media business was not just a perk but a guaranteed career boost at Grayson, Buckley and Tynesdale.

  Although Grace Meadows was no longer leading Meadows Media, she had a sizable net worth that required her to have the best legal counsel. His firm had served both the personal and public sides of the Meadows family for two decades. Now the next generation of lawyers was being groomed to smooth the transition as staff retired. To be selected for that esteemed position took hard work and long hours, the savvy to navigate the sharklike office politics, and, of a more personal nature, a passion for looking out for the rights of his clients.

  All of that didn’t matter if Grace was unhappy with any part of their service. Heaven help the person who ticked off the indomitable woman with error or incompetence. That lawyer might as well voluntarily banish himself to the darkest, coldest and most wretched place in the world.

  “Not too many of us mortals have visited the palatial digs in Water Mill. I could put four of my condos in that house and still have room.”

  “It’s not a vacation, Eric. And imagine working under Grace’s scrutiny for an unknown number of days.” Leo tried to dim his excitement. Plus there was the potential to see Fiona. As far as he knew, the entire Meadows family was expected to show up. The grain of hope for a meet-up with his ex had steadily expanded to the point where his gut now reacted under the flurry of what-if scenarios.

  “Come on—cough up the details. What are you working on with Meadows? Another company in the mix? Will she need more lawyers working on a project?” Eric fired his questions at Leo without a breath between each piercing inquiry. His colleague’s easy smile faded into a mask of intensity.

  “Aren’t you on the Van Buren files? That’s a hot new opportunity.” Leo did his best to push Eric back into his own lane. His connection to the Meadows family, whether because of his work or because of his romantic past with one of the granddaughters, wasn’t going to be part of any discussion with his colleague.

  “Yeah, they’ve come into new money.” Eric shrugged, clearly unimpressed by the recently acquired wealth.

  “Still, it pays the bills. Yours.”

  “Yeah. But I’m going for the big guns.” Eric scooted his chair closer to Leo’s desk. “So, like I said, if they need additional lawyers, don’t forget to play nice and share the toys.” His gleaming white teeth were bared in a fake grin.

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” Leo pushed back his chair and stood. This conversation was over. He deliberately used all of his six-foot-five-inch frame to dominate his annoying colleague. “It
’s time for me to get out of here.”

  “Okay.” Eric rose out of the chair and took a step in retreat. “Coming with the guys to the usual hangout?”

  Leo shook his head. “I have to pack. Enjoy a drink on me.”

  “Cool. And I’ll text you about what hot babes I landed for the weekend. You know they are suckers for us lawyers.” He slid his hand along the side of his head. His sleek black hair was always in place, trimmed, a ready magnet for the women.

  Leo accepted that he was a nerd. Nothing about his looks stirred a stampede of women toward him. According to his male colleagues, he needed to loosen up and stop scowling. The women who showered him with their suggestions for improvement shared the belief that his eyes were too serious and intense for someone his age. His short last relationship ended with her saying that he was too young to act so old. Apparently, his speedy retreat from her surprise weekend trip to a nudist camp for swingers in Oregon did them in. Some things, he couldn’t unsee.

  “Here’s my last bit of advice. Don’t get in the tabloids with the Meadows granddaughters. Now, that would be a threesome to end all threesomes.” Eric grinned and slipped out of Leo’s office whistling a nameless tune.

  “What an idiot,” Leo remarked in the empty office. He got his briefcase and suit jacket and headed out of the building.

  The oppressive heat walloped his face with its humidity. He hurried to his car, grateful to set the air vents on a cold maximum blast. The car’s interior took its time cooling while he sat with his hands clenching and unclenching around the steering wheel. His thoughts wouldn’t let up on the barrage. What would happen when he crossed paths with Fiona Reed?

  Their mismatched hookup had been kept a secret from most. The reactions and snide comments had hit their mark: a young lawyer dating an older woman had raised a few eyebrows, caused a few jokes at his expense. An intern dating his employer’s eldest granddaughter had prompted whispered warnings to be careful because it was career suicide. A man who’d fallen hopelessly and secretly in love with this woman. A woman who refused to see him as more than a casual boyfriend. A painful memory that he carried with him, and a heart that had suffered the way she’d trampled over it during her departure from his life.