Trouble in Paradise

by Capri Montgomery

  “What’s for dinner anyway?” Jocelyn walked back inside the room with Bambi following behind her.

  “We’re going out some place nice so put on one of those nice dinner dresses you bought the last time we were in Salt Lake.”

  Jocelyn nodded. “I’m glad Bambi made sure I packed them then. We’re going to dinner,” she turned to Bambi with a huge smile on her face.

  “You’re going to dinner. You and your dad.”

  “You’re not coming?” Jocelyn frowned.

  “We,” Sterling said; “have reservations for three.”

  He looked at her as if he were angry that she would insist otherwise. What was she supposed to think? He had put her in the guesthouse. Beautiful as it was, the house was still meant for guests, not family. This dinner should have been about his family, not about adding a “plus one” to the equation.

  “I didn’t bring anything for a fancy dinner. I can cook here. You said the refrigerator was fully stocked with the foods I like to eat so…” She watched him shake his head as he walked over to the French door closet area. He pulled open both doors and stepped aside, waving his arm to showcase the ten formal and dinner wear gowns and cocktail dresses.

  “I figured you might be thinking of work only so I made sure these were purchased for you. They’re yours to keep when we leave here.”

  “Sterling…”

  “They’ll fit. I know your measurements just fine.” He eyed her up and down and it sent a tingle up her spine. “You’ve worked for me long enough to know that.”

  She wasn’t sure if he were saying she should know that he knew, or that he knew because she had worked with him long enough for him to know what size she wore. Either way it went, his words reminded her that she worked for him and nothing more.

  “Put whatever you want on, just be ready in two hours because we’re going to dinner—all of us.” He uttered those words sternly as if he were closing a business deal and there was no room for negotiation. “You too, Jocelyn,” he pointed to her and she laughed.

  “You don’t have to tell me twice. I’m in paradise and I am so loving this. Wait until my friends see. They are going to get their Tuesday workout call with a view of the beach.” She threw her hands up in a raise the roof manner while doing her little happy dance.

  Sterling laughed heavily. His voice could always send vibrations through her body, but his laugh—now that laugh could start a raging inferno of need within her.

  “I have to make a call to Don. He’s starting up Protection Inc and he needs some advice.”

  “Won’t that cut into your business?” Jocelyn frowned.

  “Nope. He’s going to use some of the men I trained. Trust me; he can do more with his plan than I could. He’s putting Vets to work. The ones nobody else wants to hire. The ones living on the streets because our government abandoned them. While we’re in the same business of protection we won’t cut into each other’s profit. He’s even using my training facility for his employees, so it’s a win-win for both of us.”

  “Got it,” Jocelyn smiled. “So I guess I don’t hate this Don then.”

  Bambi chuckled. “She has your back,” she wrapped one arm around Jocelyn and hugged her before releasing her. “You better go get ready. We both know your hair and makeup routine will take you nearly an hour to get ready.”

  “Ooh, right. And I still want to shower first.” She nearly danced out the bedroom. Sterling chuckled.

  “That’s my girl. She has a lot of me in her, but she has some of her mother too. Don’t tell her that or she’ll try to cut out pieces of her just to expunge Jordana from her.”

  She nodded knowing exactly what he meant. The hair and makeup obsession was definitely from Jordana who couldn’t be seen leaving the bathroom without fake eyelashes and gobs of mascara. At least Jocelyn wore her makeup tastefully and not over dramatic in anyway unless she was playing with a photo shoot for one of her friend’s photography obsessions.

  “She’ll be okay. She has you.”

  “And you. She looks up to you. Thank you for all the help you’ve given me. I know it’s not in your job description to pick my child up from her mother’s so we can come here together. I know it’s not in your job description for you to spend time being her friend—but I do appreciate that you do it. She needs a good female influence in her life so I’m glad she has you.”

  She nodded. “She’s easy to love.” She meant that. Jocelyn was such a joy to be around and if she had a daughter herself she would want her to be like Jocelyn. That free flowing spirit of energy was invigorating. She hoped she kept it as she got older.

  Sterling walked toward her in long easy strides. She felt her feet moving her backwards until she bumped into the wall. Sterling came to stand in front of her. She looked up in his eyes. Heat was the only thing she saw there—a passion ready to explode. Was she imaging this or did he really want her?

  His hand came up to caress her cheek as his thumb slid over her lower lip. Her lip parted on its own. Her breathing turned shallow as her heartbeat seemed to be trying to pick up the count.

  “And just so you know, the guest house was for privacy—for so many reasons.” He leaned in, placing one hand on the wall beside her in a possessive move. He had to want her. What she was feeling couldn’t have been a mistake.

  “Oh yeah, Dad I forgot!” She knew Jocelyn was on her way back and obviously Sterling did too because he put distance between them with a near ravenous growl.

  “Yeah,” he said as he took quick steps out of the bedroom. He obviously met Jocelyn down near the end of the hall because she could hear them together. Their voices got distant as they walked toward the front of the house together. Then the door closed.

  “Whoa,” she whispered. “You’re either imagining things or that man really does want you.” She brushed her fingers through her hair. “Imagining,” she conceded. “Sterling Lancaster is not a man who doesn’t go after what he wants. If he wanted you, Bambi, he would have made a move a long time ago.”

  She took a quick shower, fixed her hair, put on a little lip balm and then opted to wear the sexy green ankle length dress he had bought for her. The dress was cut in a way that showed just enough cleavage without being too low or slutty. She felt comfortable and tasteful, which was good because where they were going was a high end, high class, and strict dress code eating establishment.

  Chapter Three

  A week and a half of meetings and filming and Bambi was ready for a little break time. Jocelyn had been glued to the set each day, picking up tips and moves to incorporate in her own workout routines. She loved every second of the shoot even when there was a lot of stop, touch up makeup and start over action. Bambi had laughed. No way would any sane woman wear this much makeup to workout in. This was a pore explosion waiting to happen, but when on camera one had to try to look good. The camera’s eye was not as forgiving as the human eye.

  Jocelyn had said she wished she could be in the video. Bambi thought it could be fun to have somebody other than just herself doing the video, but they would have to get Jordana’s approval on it and Sterling doubted that would happen without giving up half the proceeds. The proceeds were already going toward getting the safe house for victims of crime together. That house would be a place people who were attacked and had the guts to press charges could go—whether they were fighting against a domestic abuse case, or some random gang related criminal, some people needed more help than what the police could give them. They needed serious protection and one of Sterling’s friends, a Linda Holt, was eager to give them a place they could go. After they broke foundation on the facility she was set to hire about ten of Sterling’s trained security men to protect their place.

  Sterling has a good supply and demand method going here. His friends needed what he provided and so he was always in a position to see they got it while still keeping his own protective services going strong.

  Today was her half day off. She and Jocelyn was going to go shoppin
g at the open market for fresh fruit and vegetables. Bambi had already planned a meal for her evening alone, but Sterling, once again, said she was to eat with the family and Jocelyn had demanded as much as well, so she agreed but only if they allowed her to cook. It required compromise on all sides, but somehow it ended up meaning more work for her since she technically had to cook more than she planned. Still, she was happy not to have to eat alone. Dinner with Sterling and Jocelyn each night had been great. She had breakfast solo; lunch was here and there because while she was filming everybody else had something they were doing. Sterling was working and Jocelyn had a security detail taking her around the island. She was traveling with Galinda Montoya who was beautiful, sweet looking, but lethal. Sterling said she was a woman who could be a one person army if need be because she was that good.

  “If it isn’t Bambi.” A deep masculine voice caught her off guard because it was too close for comfort. She and Jocelyn turned around, she more swiftly than Jocelyn. What met her eyes sent her into a world of jumbled emotions. “Well now who knew I would ever see you again,” he grinned wickedly.

  Peter Banks, the frat boy who raped her was standing right in front of her. He was balding already, which didn’t surprise her at all seeing as though his father had gone bald in the same center of head region. She could see his scalp even though he tried to use jail to spike up what hair was left on the top of his head.

  He had also gained muscle. He was cut before, but now he looked like a linebacker only more solid. He scared her that night, and he scared her now.

  “Go away,” she said firmly because showing fear would be a mistake. A guy like him would thrive in his knowledge that he was scaring her. He would take great pleasure from it and would no doubt continue the taunting.

  “Maybe I’d like a do-over,” he grinned.

  She pulled on Jocelyn’s hand and tugged her away. If he wouldn’t leave then she would.

  “Who is he?” Jocelyn looked backward.

  “Nobody,” she mumbled. She put her bag on the counter and walked out the pay area without her groceries that she had just spent the last half hour acquiring. This couldn’t be happening. This just had to be one big nightmare. But she knew it wasn’t. Peter Banks was really there—but why? His family had their big tech company in Silicon Valley. It’s why she refused to go there for years after getting into the work she did. Had she made the business move to head that way, out to California where everything glittered then maybe she would have put this DVD together years ago, but she hadn’t and she knew then that part of the reason—a major part of it—was because she didn’t want to risk the chance of running into Peter or one of his family members. His brother, Jake, was just as scary as Peter was.

  She met Jake when he cornered her at the police station and told her if she continued with her nonsense charges against his brother he would give her something to scream about. He told her she knew she liked what Peter had done and if she couldn’t remember that he would just have to remind her. She wanted to kill him, but the man was standing six two, had the body of a world champion bodybuilder and the look of murder in his eyes. She gathered people didn’t say much to him because they were afraid of him, otherwise if they weren’t they would probably let him know his rough around the edges exterior didn’t fit in with their high society lifestyle.

  Maybe that was a major part of the reason she didn’t insist the DA try the case and let the jury decide. Maybe she realized if this man could corner her at the police station—not just at it, but in it—and nobody saw anything or did anything, then he could just as easily corner her on campus and kill her.

  She pulled the jeep into the parking spot in front of the beach front café.

  “You don’t have to come in with me.” Jocelyn unhooked her seatbelt.

  “It’s safer if I do,” she said as she got out the car. She would normally let Jocelyn run into the store and café on her own if all she needed to get was one thing. After all, she was parked right in front of the door so she could keep an eye on her, but this time it felt safer for her to go in with her. Something within her just screamed at her telling her not to let her out of her sight. Gosh she was going to go mental. She hoped she could get her mind back on work before the shoot today otherwise she was going to be a mess.

  A short ride to drop Jocelyn off at Sterling’s hub office and park the car and she was on her way walking to the beach where they were going to be shooting a segment of the video today. They were shooting for the lower body tone segment and they had picked a perfectly secluded spot of the beach to do it at. This would have been perfect if she weren’t on edge already. Walking to the beach was routine for her since they had come here because Sterling would need the jeep to get back home, and to pick her up after a long day and she had refused a private car service. Why ride when she could walk and warm up before getting to work on filming portions of the workout video? Today she wished she weren’t walking. She moved swiftly at more of a jogging than a walking pace.

  By the time she hit the beach her nerves were completely fried. She couldn’t count how many times she stopped and looked behind her just to make sure nobody was following her. “Get a grip,” she mumbled before her makeup artists started piling on the layers and her stylist started maneuvering her hair up into a sleek and sexy up-do style that would keep her hair out of her face and off her neck.

  An hour later and there she was, trying to concentrate on doing the warm-up sun salutation into a squatted leg lift extension move and for some reason she kept going from sun salutation to windmill which meant she was twisting in warm-up movements for abdominal work, not prepping her body for lower body intense workouts.

  “Bambi what’s going on? Do you need a break?” Jonathan Sigel, the director, looked concerned. She realized this was the first time during shooting when she just couldn’t seem to get it right.

  “No, I’m sorry. I’ll get it.” She held up her hand and told him to move forward. She would just focus more this time. At least that’s what she tried to do—focus. “Focus,” she exhaled slowly. “Just breathe.” And there she was, moving along to the warm up and getting it right when she started giving the wrong instructions. Talk, move, workout, smile, and all of that was normally easy to follow, but not today. Today it seemed like an impossible task.

  “Bambi,” he sighed. “Maybe we should take a—”

  “Break,” the deep voice of the man she called her boss broke all of their concentration. Jonathan turned around nearly as quickly as the rest of the crew. She didn’t need to turn around to know it was Sterling who was now calling the shots. She didn’t need to turn around to realize he was angry, but she turned around anyway and her observation proved correct. He was angry.

  “All of you take the cameras and take a walk—a long one. Come back tomorrow and set it up to shoot. If we need to extend our stay to get the last of this video done then that’s what we’ll do.”

  “Yes sir,” Jonathan said as he directed his people to pack up their stuff quickly and go.

  “Bambi,” he looked at her sternly. “We need to talk.”

  Sterling waited for the beach crew to get their gear and clear out; all the while he stood beside Bambi watching her trying not to look at him. She should have come to him. She should have told him. But instead it was Jocelyn who came to him. He was on his way back into the conference room with the staff in tow when her valley girl voice yelled out, “Dad!” Her tone hadn’t given away the seriousness of the situation so he had tried to tell her he was still in the meeting. They had simply taken a walk around the facility again and pointed out some new improvements that could be, and some that should be, made. She knew she could go sit in the break room and play on the computer if she wanted to. Or she could have had the driver and an escort accompany her to a mall if she wanted. He had told her that much before she left with Bambi that morning. She didn’t have to ask him.

  “It’s urgent, Dad. I wouldn’t interrupt you if it wasn’t.”


  He had stepped away from Trent and Emerson and told them to go on in and he would be in shortly. Emerson had gone in, Trent hadn’t. Trent stood by the door and watched as if he sensed something was wrong, as if he knew this something “urgent” was going to be trouble.

  “There was a man at the market today, he approached Bambi. He said some things I didn’t understand, but she looked afraid. I could see it in the way her eyes looked—like she was scared. I asked who he was, but she wouldn’t say.”

  “Can you tell me what this man said; what he looked like?”

  “He said something about wanting a do over. Maybe he’s an ex, but I don’t think she’s dated anybody since coming to work for you—at least not that I know about.”

  “What did he look like?” He had asked her. She gave him a short description, one that had the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. He had asked Trent to look into something for him, and that something that Trent found sounded a lot like the description Jocelyn was giving him only the guy she described was bigger with less hair. He still had the photo of the young man Trent had found so he pulled it out of his dossier and showed it to her. “Does this look anything like him?”