Flirting with Felicity

by Gerri Russell

  Guilt swamped her. She never should have left her father so soon after his procedure. Even though the doctor had said there was very little that could go wrong and had encouraged her to take a few days for herself, she should have known that something would happen. She’d never had the kind of luck that others experienced.

  The thought brought her up short. She couldn’t really say that, not after what Vern had done for her. His gift of the hotel and the restaurant had started her down a different path. If anything was to blame, it was her own inability to afford better care for her father.

  Felicity sat in her seat, unable to move, her stomach tightening. She’d talked with Mary Beth twice before the plane had taken off, trying to reassure her friend that she wasn’t to blame. She’d also talked with the assisted living facility to learn her father had slipped out of his room and out of the facility while the staff had been changing from the night to morning shift. They’d reviewed their security tapes and had witnessed him walking down the back stairs and out the door, heading south. Every spare employee at the facility was out combing the streets of Seattle for her father. Because of her father’s medical condition, the police had been alerted and the twenty-four-hour waiting period for a missing person had been waived. They were doing what they could to find her father, but was it enough? She squeezed her eyes shut. Beside her, Blake talked on a satellite phone. She’d given him permission to call in his own people to help aid in the search.

  Where was her father?

  Blake got off the phone, and she knew a moment of hope until he shook his head, confirming her worst fears. “No one can find him. I’ve hired two detectives and their teams to find where he’s gone. By the time we touch down, we’ll know something.”

  Felicity drew a deep, steadying breath. There was no time for fear or panic. Later she could fall apart, once they’d found him and figured out what was wrong. Her father needed her to be strong.

  Blake knelt before her and drew her into his arms, holding her close. A shudder moved through her. “We’ll get there, and everything will be okay.”

  If only that could be the truth.

  When the plane’s wheels finally hit the tarmac and the door of the cabin was pushed aside, Blake reported that the detectives had found her father’s location. “He’s in a house in Seattle. I have the address. They say he’s unharmed. He’s simply waiting there for something.”

  “What house?”

  He told her the address, and her stomach plummeted. Why would her father go back to the one place she’d worked so hard to escape? “Hurry, Blake, please? He’s at the trailer park where I grew up.”

  Without saying anything more, Blake guided her down the air stairs and to a waiting car. Peter sat behind the wheel. He nodded to her a moment before he fired the engine and drove off the runway at Boeing Field. For a moment, she wondered how the driver could be behind the wheel so quickly when he had also been on their flight, but she gave up questioning Blake’s abilities several days ago. He had the resources to move mountains if he wanted to. Finding her father so quickly was proof of that.

  As the car sped toward South Seattle, Felicity tried to push away the weight of her guilt without much success. When they pulled up in front of the dilapidated single-wide trailer, she hopped out. Only when she approached the detectives waiting in the yard, did she slow down. She looked past them to see her father sitting on the porch with his legs crossed, staring into the distance.

  At her approach, he turned toward her, and Felicity’s heart faltered. Tears streamed down his cheeks. It wasn’t the tears that sent a shudder of both fear and hope through her, it was the spark of awareness that lit her father’s eyes.

  Felicity couldn’t breathe as hope built. “Dad?”

  His mouth worked, but no sound emerged. Yet it was more of a reaction than she’d seen in him since the accident.

  Answering tears leaped to her lashes. She moved to her father’s side. Gently, she placed a hand on his cheek. “I’m here, Dad. I won’t leave you alone again.” Other than being covered with dust, he looked as he always did, except for the light of awareness in his eyes.

  Her tears spilled onto her cheeks. “It’s me, Dad, Felicity.”

  Blake knelt beside her and touched her shoulder. “Let’s get him out of here.”

  The tender look in his eyes stole her breath. “Okay.”

  Blake scooped her father up in his arms. He staggered for a moment from the weight, but made his way to the car. “To the hospital,” he said to Peter when her father was settled in the car between them.

  “No,” Felicity interrupted. “Take him to the Bancroft. I want him with me.”

  Without a word of objection, they headed to the Bancroft Hotel in record time. They managed to get her father in the front door and into a transport chair, then up to her suite. There, Blake once again lifted the older man from the chair and settled him on the gold and black contemporary sofa.

  “I called the paramedics. They’re just outside the door, waiting to check him out,” Blake said.

  She nodded, then stepped back, allowing the medical professionals to make the determination if her father was well enough to remain at the Bancroft. When they were done checking his vitals as well as his surgical site, they gave her the okay to keep him with her. She was reluctant to put him back into the assisted living home he’d escaped, for fear that painful memories lingered there as he remembered what had happened all those years ago. Why else would he have gone back to the house if he wasn’t remembering? His brain was starting up again.

  Felicity’s heart wrenched at the coiled emotions in her father’s eyes—pain, acceptance, fear, gratitude. Again, she placed a loving hand to his cheek and smiled. “I’m glad you’re with me again, Dad.”

  His lips quivered, then the corner of one pulled up in a half smile. “Alligator,” he said, the word brittle and dry as he forced it out.

  Unbridled joy filled her. “After a while, crocodile,” she echoed in the phrase he’d said to her every time he left her. Yet he wasn’t going away this time. He was here to stay, of that much she was certain.

  He said nothing more. It was as if that word cost him most of his energy. He nestled back against the sofa, spent.

  Felicity sat beside her father until his eyelids grew heavy and his breathing settled into a slow, even pattern before she moved away.

  “You sure he wouldn’t be better off in the hospital?” Blake asked.

  “No. The EMTs cleared him, and something good is happening here. I don’t want to go backward. It’s best just to keep him safe and see where this leads. If he does need to go back there, we’re close enough for safety’s sake.”

  “You know best.”

  She hoped she did. Felicity turned her head to watch her father. His breathing was slow and easy.

  “Why was he in the hospital?”

  Felicity stood and motioned for Blake to follow her to the opposite side of the room. She didn’t want anything to wake her father, or worry him. “My father hasn’t said one word since my mother’s death, not until today.” She’d told Blake that much, she might as well tell him the rest. “He had a procedure I paid for with money I saved by moving into the Bancroft. An experimental procedure that was supposed to kick-start his brain.”

  “Looks like it worked,” he said softly.

  “Yes,” she responded, her throat suddenly tight.

  “What happens now?”

  She shrugged. “We see what he remembers and get him therapy to help pull out the rest.”

  “Will it return him to normal?”

  “Doubtful, but just the return of some of his speech is more than I’d ever hoped for.”

  Blake was silent for a long while before he spoke again. “What’s next for us, Felicity? Where do we go from here?”

  He couldn’t be asking her what she thought with that statement. “You mean with the hotel?”

  Again, he hesitated. “Of course, what else is there to discuss? Did I con
vince you of anything in Hawai‘i?”

  She looked over at the sofa, to her father sleeping there. “I need time to think about things, Blake. This is a big decision for both of us.”

  He nodded, then turned and left, shutting the door silently behind him.

  Taking a seat in the chair opposite the sofa, Felicity looked up at the ceiling and released a soft, nervous laugh as she pondered her options with the hotel. She played out every scenario that came to mind, trying to determine how she and Blake could both win when it came to the Bancroft.

  Could she keep the restaurant and give him the hotel? He’d said before that he intended to tear much of the hotel apart. Did that include the Dolce Vita? And if the hotel were under construction, would her clientele still come to dine as they had in the past?

  Plus, that solution wouldn’t solve any of the problems with her staff. If Blake took over the hotel, they would most likely lose their jobs. And she knew most of them didn’t have any savings to carry them through until they found new ones. If new employment were even possible.

  What if she sold the property back to him for the million dollars he’d offered her? Could she use all that money to establish a salary fund for her furloughed employees?

  But if she kept the Bancroft and the restaurant, things would remain exactly as they were—everything, that was, except her heart. All she’d ever wanted for herself and her father was a normal life, job, house, and family.

  Normal did not include owning a restaurant, living in a hotel, or having an extremely pleasant physical relationship with a billionaire. There was nothing normal about any of that. The irony was that she wasn’t sure she’d know what to do with normal. Or if she even wanted that anymore.

  She liked the extraordinary feeling of owning her own restaurant and hotel. Added to that, nothing would make her happier than to see a spark of awareness in her father’s eyes each day when he woke. Then there was Blake. Nothing about him was normal, or easy, or as expected. And she liked him that way.

  Since she was trying to be brutally honest with herself, she and Blake had no future together in any of the scenarios she’d thought out. How could they? They were two very different people. They came from two different worlds, miles apart.

  Blake might have lost his parents when he was a young man, but he’d had a safety net in his uncle Vern, even if the two of them hadn’t gotten along. Money could buy things that she’d only dreamed about when she was growing up.

  She’d allowed herself to be vulnerable in Hawai‘i. She’d let him sway her with his wealth and his passion for the environment, she’d even given in to the man’s seductive pull, but there was one thing left to cling to, and that was the promise of a future for herself, her father, and all the other people she now employed.

  The future was what mattered.

  Later that night, Mary Beth knocked on the door of Felicity’s suite. “Can I come in?”

  A welcoming smile on her face, Felicity stepped back and let her friend in.

  “I’m so relieved you found your dad.”

  In a hushed voice Felicity said, “Me, too.” She waved her hand toward the man sleeping on her sofa.

  “Where did you find him?”

  “At our old house.”

  Mary Beth narrowed her eyes on Felicity. “I shudder to think how he went all that way alone. But he looks okay. Is he?”

  Felicity nodded. “He spoke to me.”

  Mary Beth drew a startled breath. “The procedure worked. Oh, Felicity, this is so exciting. Everything you’ve ever hoped for is coming true.”

  An eerie chill went up Felicity’s spine. “Don’t say that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because every time someone says something like that, the opposite comes true.”

  Mary Beth arched a brow at that. “Not this time. I heard Blake rushed you back here like a man possessed.”

  “Out of a sense of obligation for taking me away. He had no idea my father was in the hospital.”

  “Are you serious?” Mary Beth shook her head. “Is that what you think? Do you really not see the way the man looks at you?”

  “He’s a businessman who is making a business agreement with me. Nothing more.”

  Mary Beth’s gaze narrowed on Felicity. “Tell me you finally gave in to that man in Hawai‘i.”

  Felicity nodded.

  Mary Beth raised her hands toward the sky. “Finally, she listens to me.” Then with less drama she added, “I’m glad. I think the two of you would be good together in more ways than one.”

  Wild longing tore through Felicity. A part of her desperately wanted Mary Beth’s belief in her and Blake to be true. Felicity wished she could tell Blake how much she cared about him. She ached to say the words, but doubted he’d want to hear those feelings. He’d had plenty of opportunities to tell her his own feelings in Hawai‘i, but he hadn’t. Not directly, anyway. She’d been the one to read into his words.

  The hotel was all he’d ever wanted from her.

  “Why did you stop by?” Felicity asked, trying to force her thoughts in a different direction.

  “To see if you want to help with dinner tonight at the restaurant. Marie volunteered to come sit with your dad if you do.”

  Felicity frowned. “I don’t know. I’m hesitant to let him out of my sight now that he’s back and remembering.”

  “How about if, when he wakes up, Marie comes down and sits with him in the restaurant. He’d be close.”

  “All right,” Felicity relented. “When he wakes up. I could use the distraction.”

  Mary Beth smiled. “Yeah, it must be tough having to think about a man like Blake all the time. Really, Felicity, I think you have the wrong impression about why he’s still here. If he wanted to, he could have brought his lawyers into this battle days ago. Instead, he’s the one trying to negotiate.”

  “He offered me a million dollars for the hotel.”

  Mary Beth’s eyes widened. “That’s a lot of money.”

  “The building and the businesses within are worth more than that.”

  “What’s your relationship with Blake worth to you?”

  Felicity stiffened. “I have no idea what to believe anymore when it comes to that man. Is he the best thing that has ever happened to any of us, or the worst?”

  Mary Beth tilted her head, studying her with a mixture of hope and resignation. “I think you know the truth, if you’d only be willing to acknowledge it.”

  Felicity’s throat closed up at the quiet observation. She didn’t like the turn this conversation was taking. It was getting entirely too personal for her. “Blake will show his true colors soon when we must make a decision about the Bancroft. Of that, I have no doubts.”

  “There might just be a happy ending for all of us because of Blake, especially for you,” Mary Beth said with a smile.

  Felicity bristled. “I wouldn’t count on it. I’m not sure happy endings exist outside of fairy tales.”

  “Well, maybe it’s time for that to change,” Mary Beth said, fixing her friend with a look of sheer determination.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “You look happy,” Mary Beth said as she moved past Felicity to deliver a fresh batch of focaccia to be sliced and served to their guests.

  The door between the restaurant and the kitchen flapped open as Casper entered, revealing a quick glimpse of Felicity’s father. He sat at a table in the restaurant with Marie who coaxed him to eat the cioppino Felicity had just sent out for his dinner. On the other side of the kitchen, helping Michael with prep, was Blake. He looked so at ease in her kitchen now, like he belonged there. Felicity allowed herself a satisfied smile. “I am happy. As weird as it seems, everything is going better than it ever has for me. I could get used to this.”

  No sooner had the words left her mouth, when the door opened again revealing two uniformed police officers. Felicity’s body flushed hot then cold as she stared at the two men. What were they doing here? She and the policemen sta
red at each other for a second before she moved away from the pass-through window and said, “Can I help you?” in what she hoped was a steady voice.

  The older of the two uniformed officers stepped forward. “We’re working a case, ma’am. We need to speak with Blake Bancroft.”

  All the voices of her crew died, and the staff members turned to stare at the men as they made their way toward Blake. The only sound in the kitchen was that of sizzling meat. Instinctively, Felicity’s eyes moved to where Blake stood beside the prep table.

  “Thank you, ma’am, we’ll take it from here.”

  They moved past her to Blake. “Are you Blake Bancroft?” the older officer asked.

  “I am,” he said, his eyes narrowing on the two men before him. “What’s this about?”

  “Is there somewhere we can talk privately?” the older officer asked.

  Blake’s jaw set into a hard line. “Not until you tell me what this is about.”

  “You’ve been named as a person of interest in the assault of a young photographer named Jack O’Conner.”

  “Who?” Felicity asked, coming to Blake’s side.

  Blake’s gaze softened momentarily at he turned to her.

  The younger officer responded, “We have a witness who saw you leaving the scene of the attack, and we found your fingerprints on his camera—a camera that was used a few times to bash him over the head.”

  The photographer from Hawai‘i? The one Destiny had sent to capture pictures of her and Blake?

  Blake remained silent as he reached inside the pocket of his pants, withdrew his cell phone and placed a call. “Marcus, send my legal team to the Bancroft Hotel immediately. Thanks.” He hung up and returned his cell phone to his pocket. “As soon as my lawyers arrive, we can talk about whatever you want.”

  The young officer paled, but the older man stepped forward and signaled for Blake to walk before him. “We can take you in to the station, if you’d prefer.”

  “No,” Felicity objected. “You can talk in my office.” She moved in front of Blake. “Right this way.” The four of them made it as far as the doorway of the restaurant before two men with cameras rushed forward, snapping pictures, one after another. And standing off to the side, but instantly recognizable by the bright color of her hair, stood Destiny Carrow.