It Had To Be You

by Francis Ray

  “How do you know about the jet? Aren’t you a guard for the owner of the estate we just left?”

  His expression unchanged, he said, “Blade Navarone owns the estate and the jet that is taking you back.”

  Surprise widened Laurel’s eyes and bunched her brow. She massaged her temples. Nothing made sense . . . except she’d been a fool. The only reason Zach had been with her was to get her to let him produce her next album or to humiliate her since she’d refused to even speak to him. But how did he know Blade?

  Like a starry-eyed fool, she’d walked straight into Zach’s plan. She just hoped Blade’s security team was discreet. She had no such hopes about the man who’d revealed Zach’s identity or his two bodyguards. She’d be splattered across the media and TMZ. Everyone would be laughing at her. She had to leave LA as soon as possible and return to Nashville. “I’d like to return when the jet lands.”

  “Kyle will pick you up and take you to the airport,” he told her. “Is there anything else?”

  She heard the screech of tires and saw Zach jump out of the Jeep and run toward her. She started to rush inside, but she stiffened her body instead. She wouldn’t let him see how badly he’d hurt her. Besides, there were questions she wanted answers to.

  “Laurel, please let me explain.” Zach reached for her.

  She stepped back. She never wanted his hands on her again. “How did you get on the Navarone estate?”

  “Let’s go inside, and I’ll answer all the questions you have,” he pleaded, reaching for her again.

  Again she evaded him. “Just tell me.”

  He shoved his hand through his hair. “My sister, Paige, is married to Shane Elliott. He was head of security before he resigned and Rio took over.”

  “So you knew who I was from the beginning,” she guessed. “You planned everything.”

  “Yes, but—”

  Laurel turned and opened the door and let the tears fall.

  In desperation, Zach reached for Laurel and found the silent man who had been standing with her when he arrived blocking his path.

  “Get out of my way,” Zach said through clenched teeth.

  “If she doesn’t want to see you, that’s how it has to be,” the broad-shouldered man said, his voice quiet and calm, his gaze unwavering. He was six foot three of solid muscle dressed in black.

  Zach’s fists flexed. “I know you can take me out, but I’m going to talk to her one way or the other.”

  “Not tonight, unless she gives the okay.”

  “Get out of my way,” Zach repeated. He couldn’t get over the shattered look on Laurel’s face. He could well imagine what she was thinking, and it tore at his heart. He reached for the man.

  “Don’t you think you’ve caused enough problems?” Kyle said from behind him in a lazy drawl.

  Zach spun and faced the new adversary. “Tell him to move.”

  “Hugh is following orders, and Shane is not pleased at the moment with his brother-in-law and might not mind if you tangled with Hugh. On the other hand, I understand his wife is very fond of her big brother and would mind. If she’s unhappy, then Shane is going to be. He’s not a man I want to rile. Do yourself and all of us a favor and go home. She’s not in the mood to listen.”

  “I have to explain.” Zach drew in a shuddering breath. “Please.”

  “Personally, I don’t like my butt in a sling, and that’s exactly where you put it. We backed off as Rio ordered, and it blew up in all of our faces. Shane will meet you head-on, but Rio—” Kyle shook his head. “You better pray he believes you and it’s enough.”

  “I don’t give a damn whether he does or not,” Zach said. “All I care about is Laurel.”

  Kyle studied him. “Be here at nine in the morning. The jet leaves at ten to take her back to LA. If you can get her to listen, fine. If not, I wouldn’t want to be you.”

  “All I care about is Laurel,” Zach said again, looking at the closed door over Hugh’s shoulder. “Whatever happens, I couldn’t feel any worse. I hurt her. I never got a chance to tell her I love her.” Pulling the keys to the Jeep from his pocket, he handed them back to Kyle and walked away.

  Laurel couldn’t see what she was throwing in the direction of the suitcase on the bed. She’d been so sure about him and so horribly wrong. Her tears blinded her. She’d actually thought she was in love.

  Clutching a pair of slacks, she closed her eyes. How could she have been so brainless.

  Her cell phone rang and she ignored it. She didn’t have anything to say to a despicable man like Rolling Deep. He was just as unconscionable and unsavory as she’d thought.

  The phone on the nightstand rang. She stared in that direction, trying to remember if she’d ever given Zach the phone number to the condo. Suddenly the doorbell rang.

  Her hands clenched. There was no reason for anyone besides Zach to be at her door. She should have asked the guard to stay.

  The doorbell came again with the ringing of her cell and the phone on the desk. Zach could be behind two of them, but not all three. She fished her cell out of her purse and saw UNKNOWN on her caller ID. She, Sabra, and their mother had unlisted phone numbers. A knock accompanied the ringing of the doorbell.

  Cautiously, she moved to the front room. “Yes?”

  “Ms. Raineau, your sister is trying to reach you by phone.”

  The phone in her hand rang again. She connected.

  “Honey, I’m sorry,” Sabra said quickly, her voice teary. “Everyone is upset about what he pulled.”

  “Everyone,” Laurel repeated and closed her eyes. Of course Kyle had notified Rio, who’d called Shane and Blade. Blade had told Sierra and she had called her brother Pierce, who’d told Sabra, who had called their mother. They all knew how gullible she’d been.

  “Pierce and I are flying out to LA tonight. We’ll meet you there. They’ll just have to shoot around me tomorrow. Pierce got Mother a reservation for a late flight out of Louisville.”

  “No, please, Sabra. I know you and Mama mean well, but I—I’d really like to be alone right now.” Somehow Laurel managed to get the words past the growing lump in her throat. She didn’t want to see pity in the faces of her mother or sister. She just wanted to go somewhere, pull the covers over her head, and not have to think or talk. “Please tell Mother not to come back.”

  “You shouldn’t be alone,” Sabra insisted. “I could kill him!”

  “We’ll see that he gets what’s coming to him,” Pierce said, his voice tight and filled with promise. He sounded so clear he must have been standing beside Sabra. Most likely with his arm around her. That was what Laurel wanted—complete love and devotion. She’d ended up with betrayal.

  “No, please. Just let it go,” Laurel whispered, her arm across her churning stomach. “I trusted the wrong man. My mistake. I don’t want anyone else involved.”

  “It might be too late,” Sabra said.

  “What—what do you mean?” Laurel gripped the phone, not liking the sound of that.

  “You’re family,” Pierce told her. “No one, absolutely no one messes with our women. Zachary crossed a line, and it’s going to be pointed out to him.”

  Laurel tried again. “Let it go, please.”

  “Too late. The wheels are already in motion,” Pierce said.

  Zachary hired a taxi to take him back to the cottage to pack. He didn’t see any of the guards, but he had no doubts that they were watching. Asking the cab to wait, he walked the short distance from the main house. He wouldn’t have been surprised to find his clothes already packed and on the porch. They weren’t.

  He almost wished they were. He didn’t want to go inside. Too many memories waited to assail and taunt him. He’d blown it big-time. His fear of losing Laurel had come to fruition. What scared the crap out of him was that he might not be able to get her to listen and forgive him. Once she left Mexico she’d be lost to him.

  He had another big problem: his sister Paige. She’d trusted him, helped him, and looked
up to him. How could he have screwed things up so badly? At least he had the answer to that question. He hadn’t wanted to hurt Laurel, had kept thinking he’d eventually find the right words. Instead it had all came crashing down on him.

  A foot inside he smelled the fish. He went to the kitchen and found the fire turned off. Kyle probably. Disposing of the fish and the rest of the food he’d prepared, Zach went to the terrace to clear the table. His gaze was drawn to the napkin and the jewelry beneath.

  One day, he promised himself, he’d slip the bracelet on her wrist, the earrings on her ears. If he didn’t believe that, he wasn’t sure he could go on. Putting the pieces into his pocket, he quickly finished, packed his suitcase and left.

  His plane didn’t leave until late the next day. He’d sent his travel agent a text message to get him out on an earlier flight, no matter the carrier. In the meantime he was going to head back to Laurel’s place and wait on the off chance Kyle hadn’t been truthful with him.

  Arriving back at the condo in the taxi, Zach saw a dim light on in the front room and no guards. This was his chance, and he was taking it. “Wait here,” he told the driver.

  Opening the door, he quickly went down the walk and rang the doorbell, rang again when there was no answer.

  He checked his watch. He’d been gone for less than an hour. He looked around, then tested the door. It opened. Even as it did, he berated himself and the security detail. He had made her forget to lock the door, but they were supposed to protect her.

  He’d taken two steps when the overhead light came on. He swung his head around to see Rio standing by the light switch, his gaze piercing. “Where is she?”

  “Gone.”

  Zach spun around and reached for the door.

  “You won’t find her.”

  Zach slammed the door and walked across the room to face Rio. “Then tell me where she is.”

  Nothing moved on Rio. It was like looking into a mirror reflection. Zach got the impression of danger and a keen intelligence. “You betrayed a trust.”

  “I made a mistake. Nothing you can say or do can make me feel worse,” he said.

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

  Zach blinked. A chill raced through him.

  “You hurt a woman entrusted to me to watch over,” Rio said slowly, his voice devoid of warmth and inflection. “Be glad I’ve seen the look on your face before or we’d test your theory.”

  Zach hadn’t the foggiest notion what Rio was talking about, but there was something more important that needed to be said. “Lee Wilson and his goons were there. Kyle threatened him, but I don’t know if it worked. Lee is the vengeful type. He’s pissed because I refused to produce his next album. He’ll shoot off his mouth and try to get back at me by hurting Laurel. You can’t let that happen.”

  “Already taken care of.” Stepping around Zack, Rio walked to the door. “You have two weeks to make things right or you’ll see me again.” Opening the door, he was gone.

  Zach again gave points to his little sister for standing up to Rio, no easy feat. He’d never seen eyes that hard and flat. Zach believed every word Rio said. He’d be in his face in two weeks, but before then he’d be in Lee’s and his two goons’. For that, Zach would let Rio do his worst to him.

  Now he had to call Paige. He pulled out his BlackBerry and dialed her home phone number. He wasn’t looking forward to the conversation.

  “Zach, how could you?”

  There was censure and condemnation in her voice. He’d never heard either directed at him before from Paige. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

  “You betrayed my trust. How do you think I felt when Shane told me what had happened?” Paige said. “I helped you hurt Laurel. You used Shane as well.”

  He didn’t think it possible to feel worse, but he did. “Paige, please, listen. I might have come to Mexico with the intention of getting Laurel to let me produce her album, but that changed when I met her. I care about her. I didn’t tell her who I was because I was afraid of losing her.”

  “Two weeks. Fix it or else,” Shane said.

  “Rio already delivered the message,” Zach snapped. What the hell did they think he was trying to do?

  “Good thing he did, or I’d be knocking on your door and, when you answered, it wouldn’t be pretty,” Shane continued. “Count yourself lucky that you’re Paige’s brother and she loves you.”

  Zach had had enough. “I didn’t want this to happen,” he almost shouted. “I’m trying to fix this, but Kyle gave me wrong information and Laurel is gone.”

  “Don’t try. Do. Two weeks.” The line went dead.

  Zach hung up the phone and headed out the door. He wasn’t worried about Rio’s or Shane’s threats. His fear was that Laurel was lost to him. By the time he reached LA, he had to have a plan that would keep her there until he made her understand.

  Arriving at the airport, one idea kept running through his mind. It had the best chance for success, but it was tricky. The plan could very well widen the chasm between them even farther. Could he risk it?

  Getting out of the taxi, he wasn’t sure he had a choice.

  Seven

  Laurel rose from her seat on the jet as soon as Rio came through the hatch. He didn’t look any different from when he’d left thirty long minutes ago to “take care of something.” “Is Zach all right?”

  “Depends.” Rio closed and locked the door himself, then spoke to the waiting flight attendant. “We’re ready for takeoff.”

  “Yes, sir.” She went to the cockpit.

  “Buckle up.” Rio moved to a seat on the other side of the jet at an angle from her.

  “I—” Laurel began; then she heard the engines start. She took her seat and buckled her seat belt. Rio wouldn’t talk until he was ready. Kyle and Hugh weren’t afraid of him, but they obviously respected him and didn’t know what to expect when Rio came off the jet to meet them.

  Without a word, Kyle had met him at the bottom of the steps. The conversation was short, their voices so low she couldn’t hear what was being said. She’d tried. She hated Zach for his lies and deceit, but he hadn’t forced her into going to bed with him. She was an adult and had to take responsibility for her actions.

  She felt the jet picking up speed and then lifting into the air. She watched Rio the entire time. He stared straight ahead. He remained expressionless. She’d never met anyone so self-contained. Surely something moved him, but nothing showed, not happiness or anger or fear.

  His head turned, his gaze locked on her. She leaned back against the seat. She didn’t know why. Yes, she did. There was something dangerously menacing about him, but he was a strikingly beautiful man. The combination made you pause.

  “Don’t worry about Wilson or the men with him talking,” he said, his deep voice oddly compelling.

  “Wilson?” she asked.

  “Lee ‘Big Man’ Wilson. He’s a rapper, and he’s the man Zachary Albright punched out tonight for insulting you,” Rio answered

  Laurel’s eyes widened. “Zach hit him?”

  “If you had stayed, you would have seen it.”

  She frowned. She couldn’t tell if there was censure in his voice or not. Probably so. Rio didn’t appear to have the emotional baggage of others, but then he wouldn’t have the joys, either. “How do you plan to keep him from talking?”

  “I have ways” came Rio’s simple answer.

  She believed him. “Is Zach—Zachary all right?” she asked again.

  “Depends,” Rio answered as before, and then lifted the top of the laptop on the built-in desk in front of him and began typing. For a man with such large hands, his fingers flew effortlessly and gracefully over the keyboard. He moved the same way, reminding her of a large healthy animal.

  “Is he all right?” Laurel repeated, her voice rising in irritation.

  Rio looked up. “Are you?”

  Laurel felt the hurt, the betrayal, the embarrassment again. “Nothing happened to him.�
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  “You’re wrong.”

  “How can you say that?” she hissed, not caring that her voice carried. “What did he lose?”

  “You,” Rio said slowly. “He lost you.”

  Laurel looked away. She hadn’t meant anything to Zach. He’d used her. Memories tried to surface—the tender way he’d held her, the way he’d tried to please her, looked after her—but she ruthlessly squashed them. He’d played her, as they said. She was through with him.

  She thought Rio was perceptive, but obviously she’d been wrong. How could he be if he thought Zach was even a hundredth as miserable and wounded as she was. He was just sorry he’d been found out. She swallowed hard around the lump in her throat.

  Somehow she’d forget and move on. She never wanted to see him or hear from him again.

  Laurel entered her bedroom in Los Angeles, turned on the lights, then promptly turned them off as she crossed the hardwood floor to the wide bed raised on a dais. Stripping down to her bra and panties, she crawled beneath the covers, drawing the down comforter up to her nose.

  She hadn’t slept on the plane, and she wasn’t sleepy now. She could only hope and pray that neither her mother nor Sabra showed up tomorrow. They’d want to talk, try to console her. Nothing could take away the pain and humiliation she felt.

  The cell phone in her purse rang. It had rung every fifteen minutes since they landed. Instead of answering, she’d disconnected the call and phoned her mother, then Sabra, to let them know she had landed and again ask for time. Reluctantly, they’d agreed. While talking, she’d learned that neither of them had called. It was Zach then, and it was him calling now. The ringing stopped.

  Throwing back the covers, Laurel flicked on the light and then went to her handbag to retrieve the cell phone and shut it off. Putting it back in her bag, she glanced at the clock: 2:43 AM. She wasn’t going to sleep.

  Going to her closet, she slipped on a silk robe then moved to the violin case, the only thing on the narrow desk, and opened it. Her unsteady fingers traced the strings, the wood. Picking the instrument up, she tucked the base beneath her chin and began to play a sorrowful piece that tugged at her heart. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she walked to the terrace and kept playing.